《Minute Mage: A Time-Traveling LitRPG Progression Fantasy》


 Chapter 1: Disastrous Day

    Chapter 1: Disastrous Day


    On my twentieth birthday, I had my first near-death experience.


    I awoke that morning, anticipating the life-changing day I had ahead of me. Now, I had no idea <em>how</em> life-changing it would be, but just about everybody¡¯s twentieth was a big one. Not just for people aiming for a ss, either.


    For most, their twentieth birthday celebrated the day they finally became an adult. One who would forge ahead, make their own decisions, and try their best to leave their mark on the world. It was argely symbolic celebration, but an important one nheless. But for people who wanted to acquire a ss, those symbolic sentiments became decidedly literal.


    I was one of those people who was going to take their birthday literally.


    I got off my lumpy mattress and exited the dingy room where I lived. I walked down the tavern stairs, each one creaking under my weight, and exited into the main barroom. Waving at the friendly owner of the cheap tavern, I left the building, skipping breakfast to save on food costs.


    The reason I was saving money wasn¡¯t that I was poor; I had a job that, while not exactly high-paying, would have been enough for a modest peasant¡¯s life. No, the money I¡¯d been stockpiling all these years had all been going toward something ¨C this single day. I wasn¡¯t going to let trivial things like difort take it away from me. My hands trembled as I fingered the dozen-or-so silver coins I¡¯d collected in my pocket ¨C my life¡¯s savings. Then, I took a deep breath and headed toward the edge of my simple vige¡¯s walls.


    I nodded to my employer as I walked past his cksmith¡¯s shop. I wasn¡¯t a cksmith, myself ¨C or even an apprentice ¨C I was just a manualborer, carrying around metal ingots and working the bellows. I passed by the library, which was where I spent another bulk of my time. I wasn¡¯t reading bard¡¯s tales or anything so luxurious ¨C I was studying. Having a ss was an extensive responsibility, and one that took a great deal of effort to keep track of. Combat theory, arithmetic, long-term nning, and many other skills were necessary to make effective use of one. So, the vast majority of my time was split between the cksmith, reading the free literature at the library, and, of course, the sparring ground.


    The sparring ground was the only non-survival expense I afforded myself. For a modest price, I gained ess to training weapons, dummies, sparring partners, and, of course, the best Swordsman teacher in the whole vige. He was a retired adventurer who had reached Level 32 beforeing to our vige to live out the rest of his life in quiet peace.<em> Thirty-two</em>! He was the highest-Level individual I had ever seen. I heard high-Level people like that were moremon in the big cities, but out in a frontier vige like mine, even seeing someone with a ss in the first ce was rare.


    Since he had the Swordsman ss, I decided that that was the ss I¡¯d try to get for myself, too. Who else to learn from but the best, right? Besides, Swordsman was one of the easiest sses to get, and it benefited a lot from raw physical strength, which I had a decent bit of from all my work at the cksmith. I smiled as I touched the handle of the longsword, sheathed at my waist. It wasn¡¯t exactly high-quality, but it¡¯d get the job done for today. Besides, after I got my ss, I could start making some real money in the adventuring business, which would hopefully help me rece my pitiful gear.


    After a few more minutes of walking, I finally arrived at my destination. I saw the man I¡¯d agreed to meet with, steel te shining on his body and a battleaxe fastened to his back. He had a woman standing next to him. He waved, and I waved back, taking a deep breath to calm my excitement.


    ¡°Hey! An, right? Hope you¡¯re ready for today!¡± He approached me and took my hand, shaking it. I nodded and shook back, trying not to feel intimidated by his iron grip; it was simply the results of a sser¡¯s higher Stats. He probably wasn¡¯t even trying to squeeze any harder than I was. He let go of my hand and introduced me to the woman he was with. ¡°This is my partner, she¡¯s a Wizard,¡±


    I nodded to her and held out a hand, but she didn¡¯t take it.


    ¡°Are you sure you are twenty years old?¡± she asked. ¡°You know that if you are even a day younger, this will be a waste of time and money.¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah¡­¡± I said, taken aback by her abrasiveness. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll pull up my Status window to make sure, if you really want me to.¡±


    Name: An Nota Age: <strong>20</strong> Strength: <strong>10</strong> ss: N/A Level: N/A Endurance: <strong>10</strong> ss Type: N/A XP: N/A Dexterity: <strong>10</strong> Health: <strong>100</strong>/<strong>100</strong> Health/Minute: <strong>0.042</strong> Stamina: <strong>58</strong>/<strong>60</strong> Stamina/Minute <strong>0.36</strong>


    ¡°Yep, it says my age is twenty.¡± When I looked at my Status, I couldn¡¯t help but smile. Everything in bold was something that had changed since thest time I had looked at it, so I could see that all of my Stats had increased from 9 to 10! Of course, that wasn¡¯t due to any merit of my own; everyone in the world got one point of Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity every two years until they turned twenty. So everyone that was at least twenty years old and without a ss would have the exact same Status as me ¨C minus the name, obviously.


    It wasn''t like that meant everyone was exactly as strong and tough as everyone else, of course. One of the first things you learned when researching the System was that Stats only added on top of one¡¯s own base abilities. So, someone with only 10 Strength could still technically beat a sser with 50 Strength in an arm-wrestling contest, as long as the one with 10 had a much stronger body. It¡¯d be pretty hard to pull that off, of course, but possible.


    ¡°Okay,¡± the robed woman interrupted my thoughts, ¡°and are you sure you want the Swordsman ss? There are no take-backs, remember. Once you have a ss, you cannot get rid of it, and you cannot get another.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I was starting to get frustrated with her. I knew all this already. ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡±


    ¡°Rx, An,¡± the man chuckled and patted the woman on her back. His immense Strength Stat caused her to stumble and catch herself. ¡°She does this with everyone we get ssed. Had a few too many incidents with people asking for a refund after things didn¡¯t go their way. Speaking of, you got the payment?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I walked over and ced the silver coins in his hand. My money-saving instincts were screaming at me to hold on to therge sum, to wait another day and make sure this was what I wanted, but I let go, and the coins fell into his hand.I was determined.


    ¡°Alright, now that the job¡¯s official, let¡¯s go over the n. I know you¡¯re probably familiar with the process, but like I said before, we¡¯ve been burned a few too many times to skip over it.¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°So, to get the Swordsman ss, you¡¯re going to need to use a sword to kill a monster that¡¯s at least Level 10. Straightforward requirement, I know, but easier said than done.¡± He was right about the Swordsman ss¡¯s requirement being straightforward. Some other sses needed you to kill a specific type of monster, kill them under specific circumstances, or kill a multitude of different monsters in a limited timeframe. Just using a sword was child¡¯s y inparison. ¡°You¡¯re not even Level 0 yet,¡± he continued, ¡°so if you tried to do that alone, you¡¯d die before you could pull a de from its sheath. That¡¯s where wee in. We¡¯ll find a monster, get it to the edge of death, and then youe in and get the killing blow. The killing blow is all that matters when ites to getting your ss, unlike how XP is earned ording to your contribution to the fight.¡±


    ¡°I do not think my partner emphasized thatst part enough,¡± the woman interrupted. ¡°You are to get the killing blow, and <em>only</em> the killing blow. You are to stay out of sight for the rest of the battle. It does not matter if we look like we need help. You, as an Unssed, are so weak that joining the battle will only force us to worry about protecting you.¡±


    My face hardened. ¡°Yes. I know I¡¯m weak right now. But I¡¯m not stupid. I won¡¯te out of hiding until I¡¯m sure it¡¯s safe.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± The woman closed her eyes and breathed, seeming to only rx just now. ¡°We are to be fighting together, so we should get to know each other. I am Feiya, a Level 16 Wizard. I specialize in damage-dealing elemental Spells, with some additional Alteration Spells to temporarily make my partner stronger if things ever get messy.¡±


    ¡°And I¡¯m the one she uses those Alteration Spells on,¡± the man nodded. ¡°Name¡¯s Dorrn, and I¡¯m a Level 18 Berserker. And I know the stereotype about my ss, but I¡¯m really not that dumb and battle-addicted.¡±


    ¡°He is only a little dumb,¡± the woman ¨C Feiya ¨C added with a smile. Dorrn just rolled his eyes with a chuckle.


    ¡°Well, since I¡¯m Unssed, I¡¯m not sure if I can say much about myself that you wouldn¡¯t already know,¡± I said, ¡°but I¡¯ve had a good amount of practice with the sword. I¡¯ve been going to the training grounds every day for a few years now, so I¡¯d hope that¡¯ll help at least a bit with today."


    Dorrn simply nodded. ¡°If everyone¡¯s ready, let¡¯s head out.¡±


    It was surreal being out in the forest surrounding my vige for the first time ¨C I¡¯d never been outside the walls due to the roaming monsters that patrolled the wilderness. The only way anyone Unssed came out of shelter in these parts was like me: surrounded by an escort of powerful ssers.


    The forest felt greener up close. Back from the walls, it was just a few splotches of whatever. But here, I could look to my left and see hundreds of trees ¨C individual trunks all sprouting from the ground and covering the air with a thick canopy of leaves ¨C or I could look to my right and see a hill topped with a strange rock formation ¨C probably formed by some sser casting a powerful Spell.


    It took about an hour of hunting before we saw anything worth noting ¨C arge, furry beast that I immediately identified as a Dire Bear. I recognized it from the monster manuals I¡¯d read, but the experience of reading about it versus seeing one up close waspletely different. On all fours, it was still about as tall as I was, and blood-stained ws tipped its paws. Still, despite its imposing figure, Dorrn and Feiya leapt into battle. Dorrn charged and cleaved his axe through the beast¡¯s side and Feiya cast a Spell that flung a spiked chunk of earth at the monster¡¯s head, exploding into shrapnel on impact. Within seconds, the wild beast was dead.


    ¡°Only Level 8!¡± I heard Dorrn call, but I was still frozen in ce by the show of absolute power. I blinked, barely recognizing that he was speaking to me. Sure, I knew that someone at a Level as high as theirs could single-handedly ughter a vige of Unssed people, but experiencing that power myself truly got the message across.


    ¡°Not quite high enough for a ss,¡± Feiya said. ¡°Do not worry, though, we will continue our search.¡±


    We marched on, repeating encounters like that, with the adventurers killing strong-looking monsters while I watched, waiting for the call toe and get the killing blow. The call hadn¡¯te yet, but I was ready. It had been hours upon hours upon hours by now ¨C I could even see the sun begin to set in the brief times we passed through a clearing and the thick canopy of leaves disappeared for long enough for me to see the sky.


    We weren¡¯t following any sort of road or trail; most monsters avoided man-made structures, recognizing them as dangerous. So instead, we wandered the deep wilderness, straying away from any town or farm so as to find thergest and most dangerous beasts. I''d long sincepletely lost track of where we were, or even what direction we''d need to go to get back to town. Sure, we left through the south exit, but had we strayed to the west? East?


    I wasn¡¯t worried about not being able to get back, though. Dorrn and Feiya knew these areas like the back of their hands, so even though it was my first time out here, they¡¯d always be able to lead us back to civilization. Still, I imagined we must have gotten very far and very deep into the forest after such a long time traveling and hunting.


    At some point, I felt something brush up against my ankle as I trailed behind my escort. I was so nervous that I swung my sword at it without even looking to see what it was.


    You have struck Level 0 Rabbit for 22 damage using Sword.


    You have in Level 0 Rabbit.


    Due to being Unssed, you have earned 0 XP.


    I stared down at the decapitated bunny, my face turning red with embarrassment. Dorrn and Feiya looked at me with amused expressions, but thankfully they didn¡¯t say anything. Everyone had a first time in the forest, so I was sure they understood how scary it was for me.


    Just then, though, Dorrn¡¯s head snapped over, looking at something through the treeline. He held up a hand in a gesture that, at this point, I¡¯d learned was one he made whenever he saw a hunting target. This time, however, he didn¡¯t rush into battle like usual. He waved me and Feiya over toe look at whatever he saw. I crept forward, taking care not to make any noise, and gazed through the break in the treeline. What I saw made me immediately understand his hesitation.


    The being I looked at was obviously Humanoid. It had two arms, two legs, and generally standard proportions. That said, it definitely wasn¡¯t Human. It was facing away from us, but even without seeing the front of its body, I could tell that much. It was taller than the average person; it could easily stand head-and-shoulders above me, and its fingers ended in sharp ws rather than rounded fingernails. Its skin was crimson red, with veins of blue blood shining an unnatural neon through its skin. It was bald-headed ¨C in ce of hair, it had two long, pointed horns. And instead of standing on the ground, it hovered, its feet suspended barely above the dirt.


    It was a Demon ¨C the red-and-blue coloring gave that much away ¨C but I had no idea what kind it could possibly be. I¡¯d heard of horned Demons, but those were normally the animalistic variants, like Hellhounds, not the Humanoid ones. And I¡¯d also never heard of a Demon that could float off the ground like that. Flight was advanced magic, and I¡¯d certainly have heard of a Demon that could use it. From the looks of their faces, Dorrn and Feiya were just as confused by the monster as I was.


    ¡°n?¡± Feiya muttered to Dorrn.


    ¡°We kill it. If we flee, it could notice and get the drop on us. We got the upper hand now, so we need to make use of it.¡±


    ¡°We do not know how strong it is.¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s out here and we haven¡¯t heard of it, it can¡¯t be too strong. If it¡¯d been terrorizing the locals for months, they¡¯d¡¯ve put out a request to kill it.¡±


    Feiya seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded.


    Dorrn and Feiya crept toward the two-horned Demon, taking care to stay silent, while I hid behind a tree, head poking out so I could watch the fight. The monster¡¯s back was still to us as Feiya prepared a Spell and Dorrn hefted his battleaxe. Then, as quick as lightning, he lunged forward, swinging his axe with supernatural speed at the Demon. The axe struck the beast in the side of its chest, sending it careening into a tree. It swiftly recovered, however, turning and ducking to dodge a chunk of earth that Feiya had cast at it.


    Dorrn was on it yet again, swinging his axe in a wild spin, but the Demon dodged yet again, and counterattacked with a mad set of swipes with its ws. They struck Dorrn with a <em>ng</em>, his thick armor protecting him from major harm. The Demon was pelted at with another stone projectile by Feiya, and this one was a direct hit. Stunned by the rock, it couldn¡¯t dodge Dorrn¡¯s axe which sliced across its belly, followed by a hefty kick that flung it to the ground.


    Dorrn¡¯s follow-up strike hit empty dirt as the Demon¡¯s flight magic carried it off the ground and back away from its attackers, but Feiya once again flung a storm of projectiles its way, not giving the monster a second to rest. Then, in a single bound, Dorrn closed the distance between himself and the Demon, swinging and cleanly severing the Demon¡¯s arm from its body. Blue liquid poured from the beast¡¯s shoulder. It seemed to realize it was defeated, and turned to flee. However, a strike at its back hit it to the ground, and this time it couldn¡¯t get up; Dorrn¡¯s foot was stomped hard on the beast¡¯s back, putting the man¡¯s entire weight down on it.


    ¡°It¡¯s Level 14, An!¡± He called out, ¡°Come on over!¡±


    For a moment, I didn¡¯t even recognize my own name ¨C I was too mesmerized by the battle to remember why I was watching. But once I realized what he was saying, I jolted, took a deep breath to calm myself, and stepped out from my hiding spot. The Demon¡¯s head was turned away from me, so I couldn¡¯t even tell if it was dead or not, but I assumed they¡¯d kept it alive for me. Once I stood next to it, I hefted my sword, aimed for its neck, and swung downward, cleanly severing the Demon¡¯s head from its¨C


    Dorrn and Feiya crept toward the two-horned Demon, taking care to stay silent, while I hid behind a tree, head poking out so I could watch the fight. The monster¡¯s back was still to us as¨C wait. Two-horned? It only had one horn poking out of the right side of its head. The horn on the left was nowhere to be seen, as if it were never there. Was I mistaken? Suddenly, the Demon jolted, looked behind itself straight at Dorrn and Feiya, and dashed off.


    ¡°Shit! It¡¯s getting away!¡± Feiya shouted as she cast a Spell. Immediately, four walls of light appeared from nowhere, surrounding the clearing and boxing the Demon in with us.


    ¡°How¡¯d it notice?¡± Dorrn asked Feiya while keeping his eyes on the Demon. It had turned to face them, realizing it couldn¡¯t get through the magical barricades.


    ¡°No clue. It¡¯s like the knowledge that we were there was suddenly beamed into its head.¡±


    ¡°Well, whatever. If it¡¯s running away, it means we can probably beat it.¡± Dorrn hefted his axe and lunged forward, swinging at the Demon. It ducked, and Dorrn followed up with a kick, but the Demon dodged to the side before he even lifted his leg, as if expecting it. Without looking, the Demon swiped its w to the side, perfectly deflecting a well-aimed hunk of stoneunched by Feiya. I had no idea how it knew their fighting style already ¨C they had only just started the battle.


    Left wide-open by his two missed attacks, Dorrn couldn¡¯t block a set of w strikes that the Demon hit him with ¨C aimed perfectly at the gaps in his te armor. However, his Health pool seemed to berge enough to protect him from significant harm. That said, they hadn¡¯t gotten one solid strike on the monster, while it seemed to already know everything about them. They were fighting a losing battle.


    Dorrn stepped back, adopting a more defensive stance. ¡°Feiya! I need a buff!¡±


    ¡°On it!¡± Feiya cast a Spell that caused Dorrn¡¯s skin to glow a slight red and his muscles to bulge. The Demon watched, looking surprised ¨C it seemed it didn¡¯t know everything about them, after all. Dorrn set himself and lunged forward, swinging his axe twice as fast and twice as hard. The Demon tried to dodge, but the boost in power seemed to be too much for it, and it was caught by a sharp swing that cut a deep gash in its side. It backed up, looking defensive and calcting, as if trying to memorize everything about its opponent.


    Dorrn didn¡¯t seem to care, though. His blows came in a flurry so fast I could barely follow them. The Demon also seemed to have trouble keeping up with them, cuts and wounds forming all across its body.


    It seemed to realize that it couldn¡¯t beat Dorrn like this, and it also seemed to realize who had made him so much stronger. Its eyes locked onto Feiya and it made a mad dash toward her, rushing straight past Dorrn. Feiya shot two hunks of stone at the beast, but it ducked and weaved through them, tackling her to the ground in a split second. It reared back and wed at her stomach once, twice, three times before she cast a Spell that sted it off in an explosion of me. Her Health pool seemed to have protected her from the first swipe, but hers wasn¡¯t nearly asrge as that of a Berserker ss, and the next two left longcerations across her torso. They didn¡¯t seem to be fatal, but she was obviously in a lot of pain, clutching at the wounds and groaning as she attempted to push herself to her feet.


    The Demon¡¯s luck ran out, though, as Dorrn caught up to it while ity on the ground, stunned from Feiya¡¯s fiery st. He unceremoniously brought his axe down with a grunt, severing the beast''s legs from its torso and stepping down on its chest.


    ¡°It¡¯s Level 14, An!¡± He called out, ¡°Come on over!¡±


    I rushed over. ¡°Is Feiya gonna be okay? Those cuts look bad.¡±


    ¡°I will be fine,¡± Feiya coughed. ¡°Just kill it and we can go home.¡±


    I looked down at the demon. It seemed dazed, probably from the intense pain of being blown up and then bisected. At least I¡¯d be putting it out of its misery. I raised my sword and chopped down at its neck, decapitating the Demon as its head rolled¨C


    Dorrn and Feiya crept toward the two-horned Demon, taking care to stay silent, while I hid behind a tree, head poking out so I could watch the fight. The monster¡¯s back was still to us as¨C wait. Two-horned? It didn¡¯t have any horns at all on its bare head. Why did I think it did? Did they disappear or some¨C <em>oh, shit! </em>The Demon turned around and lunged toward Dorrn, catching him off-guard and swiping at his head with its ws. He brought up his battleaxe to defend, but was a bit too slow, getting knocked across the head and stumbling to the side.


    However, even if Dorrn was caught off-guard, his armor and Endurance Stat would protect him from any attack the Demon could throw at him. But wait, the Demon waspletely ignoring Dorrn. It sidestepped the stunned man and headed straight for Feiya. I mean, judging from the fights I¡¯d watched them have with previous monsters, that would objectively be the right y ¨C Feiya relied on Dorrn¡¯s protection to cover for her rtively weak defensive options ¨C but how could the Demon have known that?


    She threw out a few stone projectiles at the Demon as it approached her, but it seemed to be expecting just that, dodging and deflecting them as they came. It tackled her to the ground, swiping at her unarmored torso a few times before she cast a Spell that caused an explosion, flinging the Demon back. But itnded on its feet, somehow prepared for her Spell. Just then, Dorrn finally reached it and swung at its back with his battleaxe, but the Demon turned around at the perfect time, and deflected the axe with its ws.


    It swiped at Dorrn a few more times, aiming perfectly for the gaps in his armor as if it already knew where they all were. Feiyaunched another chunk of rock at the Demon from behind, but it ducked without even looking, allowing the stone to continue in its path and hit Dorrn square in the face, knocking him backwards.


    The Demon turned back to Feiya, who had to have been running low on Mana at this point, and rushed at her again, seeming intent to finish her off. It swiped at her over and over, slicing gash after gash into her stomach and chest, but it seemed she didn¡¯t have enough Mana to cast another explosion Spell. Magic-Type sses couldn¡¯t use any sort of melee weapon, either, so she was defenseless.


    However, Dorrn soon recovered, and swung at the frenzied Demon with his axe. It seemed that it had gotten too focused on Feiya, because it didn¡¯t even notice the weapon bearing down on it until it was toote. Dorrn cut a huge slice down the Demon¡¯s back, and then grabbed it and threw it aside. It tumbled across the dirt while Dorrn bent over to check on Feiya, who was in much worse condition. The entire front of her body was torn to shreds. She kneeled on the ground, coughing up blood and breathing raspily.


    ¡°Get behind me,¡± Dorrn ordered Freiya, putting a hand out to protect her as he stepped forward. ¡°Do you have enough Mana for a buff Spell?¡±


    ¡°N-no.¡± Feiya managed to get out.


    Dorrn took a deep breath and hefted his axe. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll get us out of this.¡±


    The Demon had already gotten back to its feet during their conversation, standing tall once again despite the massive wound on its back. It tore forth, seeming energized by the felling of one of its enemies. It swiped madly at Dorrn while also dodging and weaving through Dorrn¡¯s own counterattacks as though it¡¯d already memorized the man¡¯s fighting style.


    The Berserker was obviously losing the fight, taking hit after hit. His Health must have been running dry, but he was putting his all into the fight. He swung his battleaxe at the Demon in a wild attempt to kill the beast, but it blocked the strike, stopping the axe in its tracks. It twisted the weapon from Dorrn¡¯s hands, grabbing it and flying back out of the man¡¯s striking range. Then, it twisted its arm and flung the axe at Dorrn. He dodged, but didn¡¯t ount for the woman lying behind him.


    ¡°Huk¨C!¡± A raspy breath came from behind. Dorrn looked in horror at Feiya, impaled through her chest by therge de. She was shaking, staring down at the handle of the axe that pierced her. Then she wordlessly and slowly closed her eyes, falling limp and motionless.


    Dorrn turned to the Demon. ¡°You, you bast¨C!¡±


    His words were cut off by a w in his throat, stabbing all the way through and poking out the back of his neck. Dorrn slumped over. The Demon, beaten, battered, and bleeding from the back, let out a grin as it retracted its w from the man¡¯s throat.


    But just then, Dorrn surged forth, a wave of energy invigorating him. ¡°¨CBastard!¡± he shouted as he reached around, gripping both sides of the gash on the Demon¡¯s back, and ripping it open, every ounce of strength in his arms going toward doing as much damage as possible.


    The Demon hissed and snarled in agony, swiping at Dorrn and shoving him away to the ground. Its back poured out a fountain of blue blood from the ripped-anew wound and it fell to the ground.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you ever¡­ interrupt me¡­ again,¡± Dorrn muttered. Heid his head on the dirt.


    Dorrn didn¡¯t get back up.


    The Demon, however, did. Slowly, it got to one knee, then to the other, and then to its feet. I realized with more and more certainty that it would survive this encounter.


    I couldn¡¯t let that happen.


    I hadn¡¯t known them for long, but this Demon, this monster, killed two people. I couldn¡¯t let their lives be lost in vain. Staring at the monster¡¯s bleeding back that was turned toward me, I ran out from my hiding spot, sword held out at my waist.


    <em>Shunk</em>.


    The sword slid easily into the Demon¡¯s open wound.


    You have struck Level 14 Temporus for 37 damage using Sword.


    The Demon ¨C Temporus, it seemed to be called ¨C turned to me in shock and pain. It looked at my sword, and chuckled, shaking its head. It had an almost self-deprecating expression, like it realized it had forgotten about something obvious. I withdrew my sword, and it copsed to the ground.


    I watched the unmoving body, breathing heavily.


    You have offered minor contribution toward the ying of Level 14 Temporus.


    Due to being Unssed, you have earned 0 XP.


    I took a breath. Was that it? Was I finally going to get my ss? I looked around wildly, waiting for the fateful System message.


    It only took a few moments ¨C probably only a second or two ¨C but it felt like hours.


    Feat of strength performed. You have used a sword to kill an enemy of at least Level 10.


    You have been awarded the Swordsman ss, Melee-Type.


    Yes! Finally!


    I had done it! I had gotten¨C


    Feat of strength performed. You have killed Legendary Monster: Temporus, Overlord of Tomorrows.


    You have been awarded the Minute Mage ss, Magic-Type.


    Override. You have two sses. Deleting lowest priority ss.


    Congrattions. You are now a Minute Mage.


    ¡­the Minute Mage ss?

 Chapter 2: Taking Inventory

    Chapter 2: Taking Inventory


    Congrattions. You are now a Minute Mage.


    Several things happened at once. The sword in my hands immediately dropped out, as if it were too heavy to hold. I remembered something about how Magic-Type sses couldn¡¯t use melee weapons, but I was too shocked to really process the information. I could also feel¡­ something¡­ changing within me. In my mind, it was like a door was opened ¨C a door I had never even known was there until just now. Right at the culmination of this opening¡­


    Due to achieving Level 0 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have unlocked the Conjuration Stat.


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -You have gained the Time Loop Talent. -You may choose a Spell to learn.


    I blinked, trying to understand the information I¡¯d just learned. I¡¯d unlocked the Conjuration Stat. Right. You needed it to properly cast Spells. All Magic-Type sses got it. I¡¯d get to learn a Spell. That made sense. But¡­ Time Loop? I¡¯d never heard of that. In fact, I¡¯d never even heard of this ¡®Minute Mage¡¯ ss to begin with. Was there anyone else out there with it?


    But just then, I felt another rising in my head. Another door being opened. It felt different, not like getting a ss. It was like¨C


    Feat of excellence performed. You are the only person in the world with your ss. You have gained the Trailzer Title.


    Only person in the world with my ss? What? How does that even happen?


    I took a deep breath and looked at my surroundings. I was in the middle of a frontier forest. An exceptionally dangerous ce that nobody should ever travel through unguarded. And my two escorts had just died.


    I was alone.


    I was also lost. I had no idea how far away society was, much less what direction it was in. Dorrn and Feiya had taken so many turns and detours when hunting that I not only wasn''t sure where I was, but I also wasn''t sure where my vige was. I could easily look up to the sun and find my directions from there, but what direction was the vige in? We''d left out the south entrance, sure, but I was also pretty sure we''d turned and gone east for a while, too, but then we turned again, and... Shit. Why couldn''t they have just taken me in a straight line?! Why couldn''t Dorrn and Feiya have¨C


    Oh, gods. Dorrn and Feiya. I looked over at their corpses and swallowed, trying to keep myself from vomiting. The disgust at the sight, the shame of not being strong enough to save them, the stress of having my life resting entirely on my own shoulders now. Too much. It was too much.


    Shaking my head and taking a breath, I tried to calm myself down. I was in a survival situation. As an aspiring adventurer, I knew how to survive in the wilderness. It happened every so often that a group of adventurers would be decimated during a job, and the lone survivor would have to make their way back home without a team or supplies, so basic information on what to do in circumstances like mine wasmon. Of course, that was assuming the lone adventurer was generally strong enough to survive the monster attacks in their location.


    I forced that thought out of my head. Needed to focus on what I could do, not what I couldn¡¯t.


    Step one: take inventory.


    What did I have at my disposal? Well, in my possession was nothing but the clothes on my back and a half-empty waterskin. In other peoples¡¯ possessions, though¡­


    Kneeling on the ground by the bodies of Dorrn and Feiya, I muttered to myself, "I need it more than they do. I need it more than they do. I need it more than they do," in a mantra as I rummaged through their bodies, fingering through torn and bloody pockets, removing backpacks from yed skin, and many other disgusting things.


    In the end, I didn¡¯t have much to show for it. The Demon''s ws were apparently razor-sharp, and had destroyed much of what the two of them had in the first ce. Their backpacks were shredded and unusable, Feiya''s waterskin had burst, and even the pouch of coins I''d paid Dorrn had been destroyed, most of the silver pieces either shed up or lost in the mess of a battlefield. No getting those back, it seemed. There were maybe a single meal¡¯s worth of rations between them ¨C the trip wasn¡¯t supposed tost more than a morning ¨C and enough water in Dorrn''s waterskin to fill mine up. Other than that, there wasn¡¯t much of use.


    Well, there were certainly lots of things that <em>would</em> have been of use to me had I not been stuck with a Magic-Type ss, such as the gigantic battleaxe I was no longer allowed to wield, but¡­


    Wait.<em></em>My ss. That was definitely another tool at my disposal. It said I got some Stat Points and a Spell choice, right? And there was that weird Talent and Title¡­


    I hurriedly opened up my Status.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    10


    ss:


    <strong>Minute Mage</strong>


    Level:


    <strong>0</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>11</strong>


    ss Type:


    <strong>Magic</strong>


    XP:


    <strong>0</strong>/<strong>50</strong>


    Dexterity:


    10


    Health:


    100/<strong>110</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.045</strong>


    <strong>Conjuration:</strong>


    <strong>2</strong>


    Stamina:


    54/<strong>63</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.384</strong>


    <strong>Mana:</strong>


    <strong>0</strong>/<strong>20</strong>


    <strong>Mana/Minute:</strong>


    <strong>0.36</strong>


    <strong>Stat Points:</strong>


    <strong>3</strong>


    <strong>Spells:</strong>


    <strong>Talents:</strong>


    <strong>Titles:</strong>


    <strong>[Spell Choice Avable]</strong>


    <strong>Time Loop 0</strong>


    <strong>Trailzer</strong>


    Well, that was certainly a big change from what I was used to seeing every time I pulled up my Status. Everything in bold was something that had changed since thest time I looked at it, and look at all of that bold text! I finally had a ss ¨C even if it was one I didn¡¯t really want ¨C my Endurance went up, which increased my Health, Stamina, Health regeneration, <em>and</em> Stamina regeneration, I had a whole new Stat in the form of Conjuration, I had Stat Points to assign, a Spell to choose, a Talent, <em>and</em> a Title! Most people didn¡¯t do anything worthy of a Title in their whole lives, and I got it at Level 0!


    I took a breath, trying not to get overwhelmed. <em>First, let¡¯s look at that weird Talent</em>.


    Time Loop - Rank 0


    Type: Activated


    Go 1 minute back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other cooldowns ¨C as well as the rest of the world ¨C but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.


    This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.


    This Talent may only be activated once per day.


    I read through the Talent¡¯s effect over and over, verifying that what I saw was true. Going back in time? That was such an unheard-of effect that I almost didn¡¯t believe it. Messing with time was just¡­ not something the System did. I immediately started thinking of the various applications this Talent could be used for. The most obvious thing I could do would be redoing a fight, conversation, or anything else that went poorly. A single minute wasn¡¯t a long time, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything crazy, but this Talent could definitely be used to devastating effect in the right hands.


    And it was called ¡°Rank 0,¡± too. Did that mean it would get stronger over time? I¡¯d heard of some sses that had a Talent that would get stronger alongside them.


    My immediate thought with time travel would be going back and helping fix what''d just happened. Dorrn, Feiya ¨C if I could save them, I''d be out of this mess. But the limits of the Talent were too restrictive. With the ability to only go a single minute back, the opportunity to go back far enough was out of my hands. Hopefully increasing the Talent''s Rank would somehow make that effect less restrictive. Though I still had no idea how I would Rank it up.


    Still, one of the interesting things it said was that it reset my Health and all that, but preserved the rest of my Status. That meant XP. So, if I killed a monster, went back in time, and killed it again, would that earn me double XP? And I could use this every single day? My mouth almost began watering at the possibilities.


    I shook my head. I didn¡¯t want to get too distracted before seeing everything. Next, I¡¯d check out the Title, ¡®Trailzer.¡¯


    Trailzer


    <em>You are the only person in the world with your ss, and as such, cannot rely on the findings of others to make your decisions. Instead, you must forge your own path.</em>


    If you do not already have it, you gain ess to the Intelligence Stat. It will improve the information given to you by the System regarding your ss and what might be of it in the future.


    Whenever you Level up, gain 1 Intelligence.


    Well. That was interesting. I still wasn¡¯t sure why I was the only person with Minute Mage, or what that Demon was doing out here in the woods, but this Title was certainly interesting. It made sense; when I was still nning on getting the Swordsman ss, I got a lot of advice from my teacher at the sparring grounds about what Stats to prioritize, what Martial Arts and Talents to choose when given options, and things like that. But if I was the only person out there with my ss, I wouldn¡¯t be able to get any sort of help or information.


    It looked like the Title didn¡¯t do anything for now, but once I started Leveling, I¡¯d get more and more Intelligence. And it seemed like the more Intelligence I had, the more information it would give me? I wasn¡¯t sure, but it was something to look forward to, at least.


    The Intelligence Stat itself was a bit of a catch-all for Crafting-Type sses. cksmiths had ess to it, for example, and it would help them identify metals, imperfections in their items, and things like that. For Enchanter sses, it would give them ess to higher-quality Enchantments. Since I wasn¡¯t any of those, Intelligence likely wouldn¡¯t help me with anything on its own ¨C other than give me a bit of extra Mana ¨C and I wouldn¡¯t inherently get any from my own ss''s progression in my Level-ups ¨C just from the Title. Trailzer would just give me one extra Intelligence every Level, and then give me information based on how much I had. Who knew how that would work.


    I moved on. Now that I knew the effects of everything I already had, it was time to get something new. That ¡°Spell Choice Avable¡± had caught my attention, and I was excited about what my options would be. I hadn¡¯t nned on bing a Magic-sser, but that didn¡¯t mean magic wasn¡¯t cool. I just liked sword-fighting more.


    I gazed at my own longsword on the ground. I¡¯d never be able to use it again. Minute Mage was at least better than being Unssed.


    To choose a Spell, though, I¡¯d need to meditate. It was easy enough to view a Status, but changing one was a different matter entirely. Whenever making choices ¨C assigning Stat Points, choosing Spells and Talents, or anything else ¨C ssers had to sit down and focus for a few minutes to get into a mental state that would allow them to change things about their Status. But my surroundings. Well, they were less than ideal for that.


    Really, I needed to get out of here as soon as possible. There were three corpses near me, and the couple minutes I''d been around them, trying to scavenge as much as I could, was already too long. The smell of the bodies would probably attract something soon. I didn''t want to just leave the corpses of my twopanions out here to be eaten ¨C they deserved a proper burial ¨C but I just needed to leave, for now. Maybe if I survived, I could give a eulogy to their families.


    I couldn''t help but have the thought of ''why not me?'' I didn''t have anyone to miss me. No parents, no siblings. These people, they had lives that they''d built up. I was only just beginning mine. I''d barely leave anything behind. But I set my jaw and closed my eyes. No helping it, I pushed the thoughts from my mind. I was here now, and I was going to survive.


    I fled from the scene, trying to remember anyndmarks I''d seen before but finding none. The forest that was once gorgeous and full now felt disorienting and ustrophobic. All of the thick trees somehow looked the same, and so different I couldn''t tell where I was at any time. I''d asionallye across the long-dead corpse of a Rabbit or some other animal, reminding me of how everything out here wanted nothing more than to kill me. The once beautiful sound of leaves crunching under my feet now felt painfully loud, and the once nice, warm heat felt blistering now that I knew I''d have no sce from it.


    Eventually, I found a small, unnaturally round alcove in a hill. Probably the remnant of someone casting a Spell thatunched a boulder or something else that flew fast and hard. At least, it seemed like someone shot a circr object into the hill. That would be the only thing that could''ve left a perfectly circr indention in it.


    However it got there, I was just d to find something that resembled shelter. I sat down, closed my eyes, and focused inward. I''d be totally defenseless until I got my one Spell. Until then, I was just a swordsman who was physically incapable of holding a sword. I scowled again at my shit luck. Swordy was beautiful. The interlocking of des, the infinitelyplex mind games of feints and counters, the test of raw strength and willpower than went along with it. I''d studied it, fallen in love with it. And now it was gone forever.


    Shaking my head, I tried to clear my mind. I couldn''t meditate while angry ¨C that went against the entire point. After about ten minutes, I was there. I could tangibly feel the Spell choice ¨C and Stat Points, for that matter ¨C waiting for me. I tentatively focused on the Spell.


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Holy Strength


    School: Alteration, Divine


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 15 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose yourself or another being you are physically touching. For the next 10 seconds, the chosen target gains 5 additional Strength.


    Firebolt


    School: Fire


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 30 Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a small ball of fire that travels up to 30 paces, exploding when it collides with something. Deals up to 75 damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being.


    Noxious Grasp


    School: Poison


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 3 Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    While active, any being you are physically touching loses 10 Health and 5 Stamina per second.


    ¡­Hm. Upon looking at the three Spells, I suddenly realized how difficult it was to make a choice that could be the difference between life and death. I had to think short-term for this; if I chose something that didn¡¯t do as much as I needed it to right now, I¡¯d die. I could only have a maximum of 20 Mana, which made me immediately think that Firebolt wasn''t an option. But then I remembered that I still had 3 Stat Points that I could distribute freely among any of my Stats. Each point of Conjuration increased maximum Mana by 10 ¨C I knew that much frommon knowledge ¨C so I had potentially 50 Mana at my disposal.


    Since I couldn¡¯t immediately eliminate Firebolt, I instead looked toward Holy Strength. Without the ability to hold any sort of melee weapon, adding to my Strength was of dubious use, to say the least. I could still punch, but I felt like that wouldn¡¯t be utilizing a Magic ss to its fullest. I wasn¡¯t a Melee ss anymore, and I never would be. I had to keep that in mind. Even if I used 45 Mana to stack three casts of Holy Strength on myself, I would still only have 25 Strength, which still wasn¡¯t enough to beat a high-Level monster, especially when I was without a weapon, and even more especially when that boost in Strength onlysted 10 seconds.


    So, the choice was down to Firebolt versus Noxious Grasp. Thetter was risky; Noxious Grasp only dealt damage to things I was <em>touching</em>. Not being able to deal damage at a range would make it difficult for me as a Magic sser. But then again, most magic users had someone on the front lines to keep the monsters away from them. I didn¡¯t have that luxury, so I would probably need some way to deal with a monster that got up-close.


    I liked Firebolt. It was a Spell that Wizards and Sorcerers also got ess to, and it was very popr among them for a reason. Solid damage at a decently-far range was a useful tool in any mage¡¯s belt. That said, when looking at how it would immediately help me¡­


    At most, I could have 50 Mana saved up at any given time. With that, I could cast Firebolt once, which would deal up to 75 damage to an enemy, depending on my uracy. With Noxious Grasp, however, I could use 50 Mana to keep it active for 16 seconds, which ¨C if all 16 of those seconds were spent with me in physical contact with an enemy ¨C would deal 160 damage, <em>plus</em> drain away 80 Stamina. Now, holding onto a rampaging monster for 16 straight seconds without dying would be challenging, but I really didn¡¯t like the concept of having absolutely no way of dealing with anything that had more Health than a Level 3 Deer. At least with Noxious Grasp, I¡¯d have a chance of killing the monsters that roamed the forest. A single Firebolt wouldn¡¯t do anything more than annoy them.


    With that in mind, I selected my Spell.


    You have learned the Spell Noxious Grasp.


    After that, I needed to choose how to allocate my Stat Points. Judging by the whole line of thinking I¡¯d had with myself about the Spells, I felt like that was pretty much already done for me. I needed to be able to deal damage above all else. The best way to deal damage was with more Mana, and the best way to get more Mana was more Conjuration.


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 5.


    I opened my eyes, blinking and breathing deeply as I felt the changes course through my mind. Increasing a Stat didn¡¯t only change the numbers on your Status; Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity ¨C what were called the ¡®physical Stats¡¯ ¨C changed your body, with Strength making you more physically powerful, Endurance hardening your body and increasing your constitution, and Dexterity limbering your joints and helping your reaction time. The other Stats were different. So far, I only raised Conjuration, but different sses had different Stats, like the Crafting sses¡¯ Intelligence.


    Conjuration helped one¡¯s Mana control and their ability to quickly cast Spells, and I was feeling that effect now as my Conjuration more than doubled in an instant. I had never cast a Spell before, but I was suddenly pretty confident in my ability to.


    I got to my feet and checked my Mana total. It was currently sitting at 6/50, so I didn¡¯t have the Mana to spare to just cast things for the fun of it. Instead, I decided to go find something to test my newfound powers out on, and hopefully get some XP in the process. Though, really, I just needed information. If I got into a fight barely knowing how my abilities worked in practice, and suddenly had to rely on them to survive, I was sure to die. So I needed to at least get a baseline understanding of them.


    It didn''t take incredibly long to find a small animal in the surrounding woods ¨C a furry, fox-like creature called a Wood Spirit. They were rtively harmless at the lower Levels, which this one seemed to be. By this point, my newly-improved Mana regeneration had helped my Mana creep up to 11/50, which I felt would probably be enough to kill the Wood Spirit. So, I snuck up behind it, careful not to alert it to my attention, and then leapt forward. I crashed into the beast in a wild tackle, quickly grabbing and restraining it while it snapped its jaws at me. But I kept away from its face, leaving it with no way to damage me.


    I focused inward, finding the energy to cast Noxious Grasp. I took a moment to calm myself, trying my best to ignore the struggling animal in my arms, and slowly, methodically, drew out the magic from my mind. It was apletely instinctual process, letting myself be guided by the System, but after a few seconds, I found my body crackling with energy, awaiting mymand to activate the Spell. I readied myself, and then did so.


    I immediately felt my body tense as an energy ¨C Mana, I realized ¨C was drawn from my very being. It took a constant, concerted effort to keep pushing this Mana out while also focusing on maintaining the Spell effect. I looked down at the still-thrashing Wood Spirit and realized that I could literally watch the life drain from its body as the Spell damaged it. Its muscles atrophied, its skin sunk down and I could soon see a rib cage through its fur. A bit of smoke poured from my skin while the Spell was active, I realized. It was a small enough amount that it dissipated once it got a foot or two away from my body, but it was still strange to see it happen. The fumes seemed harmless enough, though.


    After a couple seconds of mental effort, the Wood Spirit stopped moving.


    You have struck Level 1 Wood Spirit for 31 damage and drained 16 Stamina over the course of 3.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    9.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 2.


    You have in Level 1 Wood Spirit.


    You have earned 3 XP. Your XP is 3.


    I shut off Noxious Grasp, which was thankfully much easier than turning it on, and mentally stared at my System notification. I had gotten XP! For the first time in my life, that number wasn¡¯t 0. I steadied my breathing and looked up into the sky. It was darkening quickly ¨C probably approaching midnight. If it was getting close to tomorrow, then I could use something else I had ess to. I still had more things to test. I looked inward yet again, this time letting the System guide me toward a different power that it had given me. I took ahold of it, activated it, and¨C


    And then I was back, creeping behind the Wood Spirit, having traveled exactly 1 minute back in time. I stared at the monster in front of me, walking around like it had never died. It worked! I did it!<em></em>I could feel that my Mana was back at 11 instead of 2, but I certainly remembered casting Noxious Grasp. I¡¯d really traveled through time. Before I got distracted, I leapt forward, grabbing the Wood Spirit and killing it once again.


    You have struck Level 1 Wood Spirit for 31 damage and drained 16 Stamina over the course of 3.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    9.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 2.


    You have in Level 1 Wood Spirit.


    You have earned 3 XP. Your XP is 6.


    I checked my XP total. Yep, 6/50! I¡¯d gotten double XP by killing the same monster twice. It really worked.


    I stood up, brushing the dirt off my pants and relishing in the possibilities. Being able to go back in time like that was¡­ powerful. At the very least, it would help me Level up way faster than any normal ss would, and if used to its fullest, it could turn an unwinnable battle into something trivial.


    I¡¯d have to be smart about it, though. The Talent said it could be activated once per day, and I could feel that cooldown ticking downward internally. It didn¡¯t mean that once I activated it, it would be shut off for twenty-four hours. Rather, it meant that once I¡¯d use it, I¡¯d just have to wait until the next day to use it again. So that meant I only had ¨C I checked the ability ¨C 1 hour, 37 minutes, and 21 seconds until midnight, when I could use it again. I¡¯d just hide out and work on making a shelter to sleep in while I waited for it to refresh.


    Surviving out here would certainly be a challenge, but the ss was beginning to grow on me. I was starting to think that it might actually be possible to survive.

 Chapter 3: Welcome to Hell. What’s Your Name?

    Chapter 3: Wee to Hell. What¡¯s Your Name?


    A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. The room was carved into rough stone, no consideration given tofort, the walls uneven and the room itself just slightly too small. The Devil, however, didn¡¯t mind this. The amodations were enough for him to do his job, and that was all that mattered. The job he did was simple paperwork; he needed no more than a pen and a surface to write on, and the room provided him with that and more, so he truly felt that it was a bit extravagant.


    The Devil himself was Humanoid ¨C although he would never wish to be explicitlypared to a Human ¨C with the normal red skin and blue, glowing veins that highlighted it. The clothes he wore were simple and formal: ck, tightly-fitted pieces of cloth that covered his upper and lower body. It was standard attire for those in his division.


    And so he sat, quietly reading a budget proposal. The proposal came from an underling, and requested an additional 2.8% manpower be diverted from the front lines of the war effort, and added to the security division of the prison the Devil was running. It was utterly preposterous. A 2.8% increase in manpower waspletely outside the bounds of what was reasonable. The ims that the prison was ¡°severely understaffed¡± and ¡°at risk of an outbreak¡± were excuses. If they needed a 2.8% increase in manpower, a few of them could just work twice as many hours and that should cover it. Besides, the request was a couple weeks old by now, so they should have figured out a solution to their problem already, anyway.


    With a will of Mana, the Devil caused the paper to burst into mes. After he was done with that, the Devil picked up the next paper from the stack on his desk. This one was a request for 0.7% manpower to be diverted from the ounting division into the training division.


    He mentally hummed.


    A 0.7% shift was definitely much less than 2.8%, but it was still very significant, and would most likely need to go through at least thirteen levels of approval before it would be instated. That said, the Devil was considered to be a bit reckless by the standards of his species, so he signed the proposal anyway. He would send it to his bosster that evening to get the next level of approval. The Devil had just given it its first level, so it would need twelve more until it was put into ce. Within a few years, he might actually see the request finish going through.


    The Devil sat the paper down, and then went to grab another, this time from a different stack sitting on the other side of his desk. There were many stacks sitting around the office, all neatly squared up reams of paper, some sitting on the desk itself, others on the floor, some in the drawers of the desk, and one was even underneath the Devil¡¯s chair. In total, there were easily multiple thousands of sheets of paper sitting in the Devil¡¯s office, awaiting his approval.


    The paper he picked up seemed to be asking for a 3.9% lowered daily quota for the next week in Sector 142B9 of the manufacturing division; apparently two thirds of the people in the factory had died in a gas explosion. The Devil shook his head and burned the paper, not bothering to read any more. 3.9% lower?! Someone was filling these young Demons¡¯ heads with irrational ideas. They¡¯d get a half a percent if they were lucky <em>and </em>promised to make it up during the week after. What they were asking for was just impossible.


    A knock rang out on the Devil¡¯s door.


    He grabbed another paper as he called out, ¡°You may enter.¡±


    He read the proposal as the guest walked in. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw it was one of the Ember Mites that worked under him. Ember Mites were small ¨C only standing slightly taller than the length of the Devil¡¯s hand ¨C and were made of arge body with tiny arms and legs that came out of it. It had no head, its eyes and mouth simply protruding out of the top of itsrge, roundish body. It was the color of charcoal, with flecks of orange and red scattered across it.


    The Demon squeaked and stuttered, obviously trying and failing to get words out, before it finally found the ability to speak. ¡°A-An expression of most formal greeting, Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obabaiidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep."


    The Devil whose name had just been spoken continued reading his paper. It wasn¡¯t like the document was anything important ¨C it was just a report of a confirmation of a confirmation of a request for a confirmation of a request for an order of a resupply of food stocks for Barracks #E4B0972GG ¨C but the Devil just didn¡¯t want to deal with whatever the Ember Mite had to say. However, he also wanted to get the Mite out of his office, and the best way to do that was to hear it out. So, he grabbed his pen, started signing off on the paper, and spoke without looking up.


    ¡°An expression of greeting. What is your name, Ember Mite?¡±


    ¡°M-my name is Bronnmiino¡¯tadiimo.¡±


    ¡°Hm. I will call you Bron.¡±


    ¡°Y-yes. A formal expression of gratitude, Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obabaiidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep.¡±


    The Devil was put into a good mood that the Ember Mite ¨C Bron ¨C not only knew his name and pronounced it correctly, but also bothered to say it more than once. Names held great importance in Demon culture, and some of the younger Demons seemed to have forgotten how to be polite, only saying the names of their higher-ups once during the greeting, and avoiding itter because it was ¡®too much trouble¡¯ or ¡®ridiculous that they would be expected to not only memorize that, but also to say it more than once per interaction.¡¯ Of course, the Devil himself had no need to remember or speak the Ember Mite¡¯s name ¨C the Mite was below him, and should be thankful that the Devil even spoke the first syble.


    ¡°What is it youe to me for, Bron?¡±


    ¡°U-um, it¡¯s Temporus, Overlord of Tomorrows, sir. It has breached containment.¡±


    The Devil frowned. Temporus was a very unique being with the power to control the flow of time. It had been immediately enved once its power was discovered, and now was forced to use its powers to aid the 7th Circle of the Underworld ¨C the same circle that the Devil worked in. However, its powers were also very limited in scope, so it never quite became an integral part of their army. That said, it was still an asset, one that the Devil would be remiss to let loose on his watch.


    ¡°Have you sent out a recapture team?¡±


    ¡°N-no, sir. Not yet. I was waiting to get your approval to do so.¡±


    The Devil frowned. ¡°You do not need my approval to recapture an escaped asset, Bron. Put one together and have them search for it. Start with the area near the prison, but if need be, you can search the entire seventh circle. Now, get out of my office.¡±


    But the Mite did not leave. Instead, it bowed down, looking to the floor. ¡°W-well, sir, about that¡­¡±


    The Devil stopped writing and looked up at the Ember Mite, sensing bad news. ¡°What is it, Mite?¡±


    ¡°T¡­ Temporus, i-isn¡¯t, in¡­ the Underworld.¡± Its entire body was shaking. ¡°I-it escaped to¡­ t-the Overworld.¡±


    <em>Snap.</em>


    The Devil¡¯s peny broken in half on his desk, the Devil¡¯s writing hand clenched tightly into a fist. A low growl escaped his throat. ¡°What.¡±


    The Ember Mite started trembling even more. ¡°W-w-w-we, we, we don¡¯t know h-how it g-g-got through¡­ p-please, i-it wasn¡¯t my fault¡­ Xh- Xh- Xha- Xhag¡¯du- du-¡±


    The Devil took a deep breath as the Ember Mite struggled to pronounce his name through all of its shaking and stuttering. He calmed himself, and interrupted the Mite¡¯s schpiel. ¡°What is the emergency code?¡±


    ¡°W-what?¡±


    The Devil sighed, shaking his head. These young Demons had no knowledge of proper protocol. ¡°The emergency code. What is it?¡±


    The Ember Mite paused. ¡°U-um, sir, if you w-wouldn¡¯t mind reminding me of the different codes?¡±


    The Devil sighed once again, rubbing his eyes. ¡°Yes, I do mind, Mite. It is ridiculous that you do not know these.¡±


    ¡°Y-y-ye-yes, sir. I-I will m-memorize them as soon as possible. I-I am s-so s-sorry for my i-ignorance. A-a most formal expression of apology.¡±


    The Devil just breathed. ¡°It¡¯s fine, Bron. I¡¯ll exin them to you. A code yellow means the convict has been missing for less than a minute. An orange means one minute to five minutes. A red is five minutes to thirty minutes, and ck is thirty minutes to an hour.¡± The times seemed low, but time ran faster in the Underworld than it did in the Overworld, so it really waspletely reasonable to, within what was only a single ''minute'', detect that a convict has breached, put together a recapture team, send them out, and catch it. For the Underworld denizens, it would''ve felt like closer to ten minutes. The Devil just hoped Temporus hadn¡¯t been missing for over five minutes. Red alerts ¨C and especially ck ones ¨C were so much paperwork to deal with.


    ¡°W-well, sir, I already knew those¡­ I was just, j-just wondering i-if there were any other codes?¡±


    The Devil frowned. ¡°What do you mean, Mite?¡±


    ¡°U-um, like, like, a-are there any codes th-that go further than ck?¡±


    The Devil stood from his desk, looking down at the pest. ¡°<em>Mite. What are you trying to say.</em>¡±


    The Ember Mite trembled, staring down at the floor. ¡°U-um, h-how would I tell you that, th-that, th, that, um, T-Temporus has been unounted for, for, um, th-th-th-three days?¡±


    The Devil face paled as he froze in ce, standing with his eyes wide. Once the moment of shock ended, he immediately snapped back down into his chair, fumbling for a Communication Crystal. He haphazardly pushed Mana into it, activating its effect and waiting impatiently for the person on the other end to answer.


    ¡°U-um¡­¡± The Ember Mite shuffled in ce, reminding the Devil it was there.


    ¡°Get out!¡± He shouted, havingpletely lost hisposure. ¡°Put together a recapture team or something. Fucking kill yourself, for all I care. Just¡­ get out of my sight!¡±


    Themunication crystal chimed as the Ember Mite scurried out of the room. ¡°Expression of greeting,¡± a hard female voice came from it. ¡°You did not schedule this call. May I ask why¨C¡±


    ¡°Emergency alert!¡± Normally the Devil would never dream of speaking to a direct superior without first greeting her formally and with her full name ¨C let alone interrupting her ¨C but the current situation was certainly out of the ordinary. ¡°Temporus has escaped to the Overworld! It has been missing for <em>three days</em>!¡±


    ¡°<em>What?!</em> Why did you not inform me of this earlier?¡± He could hear the rage in her voice.


    ¡°Formal expression of apology. I was only just now informed.¡±


    ¡°Xhag¡¯duul you ipetent fucking¨C okay. You need toe directly to my office. <em>Now</em>.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    Themunication ended, and for a moment, the Devil could do nothing but stare at the crystal. But eventually, he got up from his seat and started pacing around his tiny office. ¡°Fuck. Fuck. <em>Fuck</em>!¡± He mmed his fist into the wall, cracking the stone and sending a shiver through the wholeplex. A stack of papers fell over. He rubbed his fingers across his head and took a deep breath. ¡°Okay, okay. Let¡¯s go.¡± With that, he exited the office, heading into the mainplex he was located in. The room wasrge and filled with Ember Mites, Lesser Gargoyles, and other office workers quietly doing their jobs. Only, none of them actually were doing their jobs now; all of them were staring at the Devil . They¡¯d all heard the yelling and punching of the wall, so they knew <em>something </em>bad had just happened.


    ¡°S-sir,¡± one of the Gargoyles spoke up, its deep, crunchy voice splitting the silence, ¡°would you like¨C¡±


    ¡°Shut the fuck up,¡± he interrupted it without looking over, ¡°and get the teleporter ready.¡±


    The Devil knocked on his superior¡¯s door. About a minute passed with no response, but he waited patiently. Eventually, a voice came out.


    ¡°Enter.¡±


    He opened the door, stepping in while looking pointedly downward, as was etiquette. ¡°An expression of most formal greeting, Superior Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki.¡± Business was urgent, but now that the Devil¡¯s superior was at least informed about the emergency, the Devil could show a bit more refinement. At the very least, being polite could temper her anger.


    ¡°Expression of greeting. I will call you Xhag¡¯duul.¡±


    ¡°Formal expression of gratitude, Superior Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki.¡±


    ¡°This is an urgent meeting. I appreciate your formality, but for the time being, you may call me Superior, without the name.¡± She took a breath. ¡°Now, you said Temporus has been in the Overworld for three days? Oh, you may raise your head, too.¡±


    The Devil raised his head and gazed at his superior. She was a Devil, like him, and wearing the same in ck clothes. Her office looked near-identical to his, with the rough stone walls and slightly-too-small floor space ¨C or, at least, it would look near-identical to an outsider. Any Demon worth its fire would be able to recognize that this office belonged to someone of much higher stature than the Devil. It wasrger. It was 2.8 percentrger, to be exact ¨C 0.1 percent for each stacking position of power she had above him, as was the standard way of delineating office size.


    ¡°Yes, Superior,¡± the Devil said. ¡°Temporus has been missing for three days.¡±


    ¡°Okay. A simple recapture team will not work in this instance. In three days, it could have gone almost anywhere in the territory it escaped to. I¡¯ll contact the upper brass and ask for a Diviner squad so we can first locate its general area, and then afterward, once we find it, you can send in a recapture team. Ideally, we can just send in a small squad of soldiers, have them grab Temporus, and thene back with the Overworld denizens none the wiser. We do <em>not</em> want to harm our rtions with them by letting them find out we¡¯re sending military into their realm. They¡¯re already incredibly cautious, and war could break out if we aren¡¯t careful.¡±


    ¡°Of course, Superior.¡±


    She hummed. ¡°...That said, circumstances may be that we¡¯d need to send in more than a small squad. Temporus could be captured or it could have somehow ended up in a densely popted area, around powerful Humans. In that case¡­ I¡¯ll speak with some of the other departments and try to set up preparations. We¡¯ll hope it doesn¡¯te to that.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Superior. Formal expression of gratitude, Superior.¡±


    ¡°And, of course, there is also the possibility that Temporus has¡­ perished.¡± Her face darkened. ¡°In that case, you are to report directly to me. It shouldn¡¯t be likely ¨C Temporus¡¯s powers make it uniquely¡­ survivable ¨C but there is always the possibility. Do try to encourage the Diviners that will be assigned to you to work as urately and quickly as possible. I will authorize a 5% decrease in the daily quota of your sector so that you may focus more on that.¡±


    The Devil was shocked at the huge leniency given to him with the decrease in daily quota; It was obvious that his superior wanted Temporus captured quickly. ¡°A most formal expression of gratitude, Superior. Your kindness will not be wasted. I will have Temporus located as quickly as possible.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I hope you will.¡±

 Chapter 4: Field Test

    Chapter 4: Field Test


    I wandered through the forest, trying to find a decent ce to rest. It was dark out, and I was worried a nighttime predator would see me as easy pickings. Unfortunately, I saw nothing that immediately jumped out to me as safe. There were hills and rocks and trees and sticks and grass, but none of that was really a shelter. And as the night sky got darker and darker, my vision only worsened ¨C and with it my chances of finding somewhere suitable to sleep.


    The ideal situation would be for me to just stumble across a city or vige, but that wasn¡¯t exactly likely. This was a frontier forest; society had only recently been established here, so roads were scarce and people scarcer.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    10


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    0


    Endurance:


    11


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>6</strong>/50


    Dexterity:


    10


    Health:


    <strong>110</strong>/110


    Health/Minute:


    0.045


    Conjuration:


    <strong>5</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>43</strong>/63


    Stamina/Minute:


    0.384


    Mana:


    <strong>50</strong>/<strong>50</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>0.9</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>Noxious Grasp</strong><strong>- XP 9/10</strong>


    Time Loop 0


    Trailzer


    I was d my Mana had finally topped out at 50, feelingforted at the sight. I nced down at my Spells list, and¡­ hm? Noxious Grasp had its own XP gauge, different from my own. I vaguely remembered reading something about Spell XP, but I¡¯d never really paid attention to all of that. The equivalent of Spells that Melee-Type sses got were Martial Arts, and their progression was different than Spells; you¡¯d get to choose to make one of your Martial Arts a Signature Art once every few Levels, which would make it stronger.


    Evidently, that wasn¡¯t how Spells worked. I thought back. I¡¯d spent¡­ 9 Mana? If I recalled correctly? I thought I remembered going from 11 Mana to 2 when I cast Noxious Grasp to kill the Wood Spirit, so I guessed that meant that I¡¯d get one Spell XP per Mana spent. Oh, but I killed the Wood Spirit twice, which meant I¡¯d spent 9 Mana twice. So I must have gotten 1 Spell XP per 2 Mana spent?


    This called for further testing. I was still very clumsy with my Mana control and the way I activated and deactivated Spells, but I was pretty confident I could turn on Noxious Grasp and then turn it back off a third of a secondter ¨C it consumed 3 Mana per second, so having it active for one third of a second would consume exactly one Mana. I could just do that as many times as necessary to get Noxious Grasp¡¯s XP to 10, and then I¡¯d know how much Mana was needed for one XP.


    I did so. It still took quite a bit of time and mental effort to activate Noxious Grasp ¨C and it was even more of a struggle to keep it active ¨C but I worked my way through it. I knew many aspiring Magic-ssers would train for years before ever getting their sses, studying Magic theory and practicing their control of Mana flows using specialized items made by Enchanters. Casting a Spell was just as taxing as swinging a sword, except the effort was all mental. Hopefully I¡¯d get better with practice.


    You have used<em></em>Noxious Grasp for 0.3 seconds.


    1 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 49.


    I checked my Status. Noxious Grasp¡¯s XP was still at 9, so¡­


    You have used<em></em>Noxious Grasp for 0.3 seconds.


    1 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 48.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 10.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 1.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 1, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 3 to 3.08


    Health Drain: From 10 to 10.5


    Stamina Drain: From 5 to 5.25


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank increasing to Rank 1, Noxious Grasp has reached a Soft Cap.


    Spell XP gain for Noxious Grasp is 50 times slower until your Level increases past the Soft Cap.


    Increase your Level to 2 to increase your Soft Cap.


    Hm. Well, I figured out that it was 2 Mana per 1 Spell XP. And I also figured out what happened when it increased in Rank. The Health Drain and Stamina Drain increased, but so did the Mana Cost. However¡­ I did the math in my head. The Mana Cost increased by two and a half percent, whereas the Health and Stamina Drain increased by five. So it was definitely worth it to increase the Rank of the Spell.


    However, it seemed like Ranking Noxious Grasp up would be a lot harder from now on. That ¡®Soft Cap¡¯ didn¡¯t seem very soft. If it was 50 times slower, then instead of 2 Mana per Spell XP, it¡¯d be 100 Mana. That was double my entire capacity, all for a single point of XP! How much XP would I need for the next Rank?


    I opened my Status and looked at my Spells.


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Noxious Grasp <strong>1 </strong>- XP <strong>0</strong>/<strong>11</strong>


    Time Loop Rank 0


    Trailzer


    Noxious Grasp <strong>1</strong>


    School: Poison


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: <strong>3.08</strong> Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    While active, any being you are physically touching loses <strong>10.5</strong> Health and <strong>5.25</strong> Stamina per second.


    Well, at least the second Rank only needed 11 Spell XP, so it wasn¡¯t much more expensive than the first. But it would still need 1100 Mana to Rank up. That was¡­ a lot of casting. It was very tempting to just wait until I Leveled up a bit more so that I could train the Spell without the Soft Cap blocking me, but¡­


    I sighed.


    This was a survival situation, and I needed every advantage I could get. If I could push Noxious Grasp even one Rank further than I¡¯d normally be able to, then it¡¯d be worth it. It¡¯d take getting myself to Level 2 before I could Rank Noxious Grasp up again without worrying about the Soft Cap, and I was still Level 0. And to get it to Rank 3, I¡¯d presumably need to get two <em>more</em> Levels ¨C up to Level 4 ¨C which I didn¡¯t anticipate happening any time soon; Leveling up took quite a bit of time and effort, and right now I was just trying to not die. I¡¯d need as much power as I could muster to survive out here, so I¡¯d just have to push through the Soft Cap.


    No easy way out for me.


    Besides, I needed to get morefortable with casting Spells, anyway. The amount of time and effort it took to activate Noxious Grasp would bepletely uneptable in realbat. I wanted to get to the point where I could turn it on in a split second with a simple thought.


    So, as I walked, I started asionally casting Noxious Grasp. I¡¯d only keep it active for about a second, and then I¡¯d wait for my Mana to fully regenerate before casting it for a second more. It took about three and a half minutes to regenerate 3 Mana, so I was doing this pretty frequently. It took a lot more effort to keep turning it on and then back off again, as opposed to just letting it run for all fifty Mana and then waiting an hour for it to alle back, but I wanted to always have as much Mana pooled up as possible, just in case I was ever attacked.


    So I walked, continuing my search for shelter.


    After about an hour and a half, I started feeling a headacheing from the mental effort I was putting into the Spell. I¡¯d run out of water, too, so the early-onset dehydration didn¡¯t help. But the pain I felt was just a sign I was training well ¨C if you didn¡¯t get tired while exercising, you weren¡¯t exercising right. I also saw a bunch of other small animals like the Wood Spirit that I tried to kill for XP. I only actually got a few of them, but some was better than none at all.


    You have in Level 1 Boarlet.


    You have earned 4 XP. Your XP is 10.


    You have in Level 0 Dire Rabbit.


    You have earned 2 XP. Your XP is 12.


    You have in Level 0 Fawn.


    You have earned 3 XP. Your XP is 15.


    You have in Level 1 Seeker Owl.


    You have earned 5 XP. Your XP is 20.


    You have in Level 1 Rabbit.


    You have earned 3 XP. Your XP is 23.


    I was really feeling the pain of having a Spell with quite literally zero range as I tried hunting these animals. Of course, if I¡¯d taken Firebolt, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to attack so many of them so frequently, but it definitely would¡¯ve been easier to just point and fire than to worry about sneaking up on them, tackling them, keeping them restrained while I maintained contact, and not letting them slip away at any point during the process.


    It was dark, though, and I had basically no visibility. And not just from theck of light; my headache was getting bad enough that I could feel my vision getting spottier and spottier as time went on. It was at the point where I pretty much went blind whenever I activated Noxious Grasp, not to mention the headache got bad enough that I couldn¡¯t focus on what I was seeing anyway. I was really looking forward to taking a rest. I couldn¡¯t cast while sleeping, so it¡¯d give me an actual break from the constant mental struggle of maintaining the Spell.


    That said, I still couldn¡¯t find a good ce for shelter, so I decided to settle for the next best thing. Once I found a decent-sized tree, I gathered a few of therger sticks littering the forest floor, leaned them up against the tree¡¯s trunk, then covered the whole structure with dead leaves to create a bit of instion and hopefully hide me from anything looking for a snack. Once it was done, I sighed and took a step back, admiring my handiwork.


    Yep. It looked like shit.


    It was barely big enough to contain me even if I balled myself up as tightly as I could, it was already in the process of falling apart, and I was sure I¡¯d be covered in dirt and leaves by the time half the night had passed. However, it was all I could do. I was tired, my head hurt, and it was too dark to see anymore. So I maneuvered my way in as best I could, curled up into the fetal position so I could actually fit, and closed my eyes, my mental and physical exhaustion pulling to sleep surprisingly quickly.


    I awoke with a start to the sound of snarling and gnashing, and quickly realized that one of my legs was poking out of the shelter.


    <em>Shit</em>.


    I yanked it back in, but I could see something moving around outside through the gaps in the leaves, sniffing at the pile of sticks I was hiding beneath and curiously pawing at the branches making up my walls. I knew for a fact that once it realized I was in here, it¡¯d attack. I took a breath. There was no way I was getting out of here without a fight. I shifted slightly to get a better look at what I was going to be dealing with.


    Baring its teeth outside of my shelter was arge, green, semi-translucent wolf-like creature. I could see the drool leaking from its mouth as it pawed at my shelter once again, cautiously attempting to knock the sticks aside. It nced over the shelter, and for a split-second, its eyes met mine. In that moment, I felt myself fighting to keep the contents of my stomach inside my body, gagging as an intense feeling of nausea washed over me. It passed just as quickly as it came, though, leaving me shaking and sweating.


    You have been inflicted with sickness. 12 damage. 6 Stamina drain.


    Your Health is 98. Your Stamina is 57.


    I had my suspicions, but after that, I knew exactly what this monster was. It was a Wood Wraith, one of the evolved forms of the Wood Spirit. They wererger, meaner, more carnivorous, and ¨C most importantly ¨C had a magical gaze attack that would overturn any victim¡¯s stomach ¨C I¡¯d just gotten a taste of it. All of that said, though, it was still not an incredibly high-Level monster. Wood Spirits evolved into Wood Wraiths at Level 5, but Wood Wraiths evolved into a new form once they reached Level 10, so I knew this monster could only be in the high-single-digits.


    Now that I knew my enemy, I tensed, readying myself for a fight. This would be tough, but I could still beat it. Monsters Leveled differently from Humans, so it wasn¡¯t like a Level 5 Wood Wraith would be simr in power to a Level 5 sser. Even in my state, I could probably take this on. Hopefully.


    The second it looked away, I sprung out, crashing through my brittle walls. I mmed into the beast and gripped my hands into its fur.


    You have struck Level 6 Wood Wraith for 4 damage using your Body.


    I hurriedly shut my eyes ¨C both to keep myself from identally ncing into the Wood Wraith¡¯s own eyes, and to help me focus on activating my magic. I could feel it thrashing around, trying to free itself from my grasp, but my arms were strong from years of training and physicalbor. I kept trying to activate Noxious Grasp, but the thrashing of the monster and battle fever raging in my head distracted me from my Mana control.


    Still, it¡¯d take more than <em>that </em>to get my hands off of¨C <em>OW, SHIT!</em>


    You have been bitten by fangs. 24 damage.


    Your Health is 74.


    My arms instinctively withdrew from the monster, pain shooting up my bicep and shoulder. My eyes still closed, I could feel blood leaking from a bite mark on my arm. It seemed the beast had wriggled its way into being able to bite me. I heard it scurry away, stopping not too far from me, as I got to my feet. I couldn¡¯t see, but I was afraid to open my eyes. I heard a growl from nearby and a pawing at the dirt. It didn¡¯t seem like it wanted to leave the area ¨C it¡¯d probably realized I was easy prey, and was considering a counterattack.


    Shit, I thought. If I couldn¡¯t see iting, I was as good as dead.


    Ugh, fuck it.


    I opened my eyes to look around for it, and immediately doubled over in nausea.


    You have been inflicted with sickness. 12 damage. 6 Stamina drain.


    Your Health is 62. Your Stamina is 50.


    Found it.


    The Wood Wraith was standing a few paces away, having retreated from my ambush, but was now looking at me with a hunger in its venomous re. I stood and readied myself, arms up in a position that would let me defend myself while also keeping my hands between my eyes and its, that way I could avoid its gaze. It wasn¡¯t a very clean solution, but at least now I was only partially blind instead of fully.


    I also kept working to try and activate Noxious Grasp while we stood facing off against each other. It seemed the monster was cautious to attack, which was fine by me ¨C it was incredibly difficult to cast a Spell while fully rested and in serene silence, much less sleep deprived and actively fighting something. I was running through my mind, trying my hardest to push the Mana where it needed to go¨C


    <em>Shit!</em>


    The Wood Wraith rushed at me, and ¨C finally! I got my Noxious Grasp activated just in time. Out from my pores began leaking the familiar purple-gray mist. I leapt out of the way as the beast approached, but my self-imposed sight-blockers worked against me, and I dodged toote. Its teeth sunk into my arm once again, and a pained grunt escaped my throat.


    You have been bitten by fangs. 29 damage.


    Your Health is 33.


    It grabbed me tightly with its strong jaws, to the point where I didn¡¯t think I could yank my arm free. However, I had a self-defense mechanism. The poisonous fumes leaking from my skin started sinking into the Wood Wraith¡¯s body the moment it touched me, and I could immediately sense the Spell doing its work. Not only could I mentally feel its Health ticking downward, but I could also literally see the effects of the Spell, the flesh under its skin sinking inward as it was eaten away in real time.


    The Wood Wraith yelped ¨C I was sure it felt the effects of the Spell too ¨C and immediately let go of my arm, leaping away from me once again.


    You have struck Level 6 Wood Wraith for 8 damage and drained 4 Stamina over the course of 0.8 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    2.4 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 48.


    But I was ready for that, and I lunged forward, grabbing onto the beast yet again and averting my gaze as I wrapped my arm around its head. It growled and thrashed its body around, trying to get away from me as the energy drained out from its skin.


    It snapped its jaws and flung its paws, but I had gotten a solid hold on it this time, and its already-weakened body had no chance of getting away. The monster¡¯s Stamina and Health quickly leaked from its body, and its efforts to free itself got weaker and weaker. Eventually, it stopped moving entirely.


    You have struck Level 6 Wood Wraith for 139 damage and drained 69 Stamina over the course of 13.2 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    40.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 7.


    You have in Level 6 Wood Wraith.


    You have earned 37 XP. Your XP is 60.


    Threshold reached. 50 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 1.


    Due to achieving Level 1 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 1.

 Chapter 5: Deprived

    Chapter 5: Deprived


    I breathed a sigh of relief and stopped pushing Mana into Noxious Grasp, letting it fade off. The Wood Wraith¡¯s corpse fell out of my arms as I leaned back, exhausted. That was <em>not</em> a good way to start the morning. I looked at my arm, which was still bleeding. Luckily, the Wood Wraith hadn¡¯t gotten through enough of my Health to start doing any real damage to me.


    Contrary to what a lot of Unssed civilians assumed, Health operated slightly differently from Stamina and Mana. Instead of being a numerical representation of how much damage your body had taken ¨C like how the others were representations of how much more you could exert yourself, or how many more Spells you could cast ¨C Health was like a shield that protected your body from damage. The more Health you had, the more it would take to start seriously harming your body.


    That didn¡¯t mean that as long as you had some amount of Health, you were impervious to damage ¨C the blooding out of my arm was proof enough of that ¨C it just meant that someone with a higher amount of Health in their pool was going to be harder to cut open. You could still die when you had some Health left, and survive despite having it all drained away; if your Health dropped to 0 from getting tiny cuts on your arms and legs, it wouldn¡¯t kill you, it would just make it a lot easier for you to die from something else.


    So, with that said, I was a bit worried by the current state of my Health. At 33/120, it wasn¡¯t like I was three fourths of the way to being dead, but another bite to the arm could very well break the bone instead of just cutting the skin open. However, despite that, my mind wasrgely upied by something else.


    I¡¯d Leveled up! It hadn¡¯t gotten me nearly as much as when I first got my ss, but still, every Stat counted, and getting more Mana regeneration from Conjuration would mean I could Rank up Noxious Grasp even faster. I¡¯d also gotten my first point of Intelligence, but it didn¡¯t seem to be doing much. I assumed I must need more of it to actually start feeling the effects. I also knew that Intelligence increased Mana and Mana/Minute, so at least it was helping me Rank up my Spells. And speaking of Ranking up, the System notification also said something about Time Loop ranking up. I went ahead and checked it out.


    Time Loop ¨C Rank <strong>1</strong>


    Type: Activated


    Go <strong>up to</strong><strong>2</strong> minutes back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other Talent cooldowns ¨C as well as the rest of the world ¨C but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.


    This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.


    This Talent may only be activated once per day.


    Ah, so not a huge change in its functionality. I mean, proportionally speaking, I had just doubled the extent of my time traveling powers (it still felt absolutely wild to say that ¨C time travel) but realistically, an extra minute wasn¡¯t going to make a huge difference. It would be a different story if, say, the Rank up allowed me to use it twice a day instead of once, but maybe that woulde sometimeter ¨C at least, hopefully it would.


    And speaking of Time Loop, I had just been reminded that I could go back in time to kill the Wood Wraith again for double XP. The prospect tempted me. I checked my Status to see that the XP requirement for my second Level was 100. Killing the Wood Wraith had gotten me 32 XP, so it wouldn''t get me all the way there, but still. In my situation, an extra 32 XP could make a huge difference.


    That said, though, it was still early morning ¨C the sun had only juste up over the horizon, in fact. That meant that it¡¯d be a long time until Time Loop would refresh again. When I checked the Talent, I found that I had over 16 hours until it would refresh again. That was a long time to live in the forest without a safety. If I was randomly attacked by a monster¡­ Yeah. I wanted to have a second chance for at least the majority of the day. If it were the evening and Time Loop was about to be reset anyway, I¡¯d probably go ahead and use it. But right now, not so much.


    And before I forgot, I sat down and closed my eyes, focusing inward to assign my Stat Points. I¡¯d thought it over, and I figured I should stick with putting them all into Conjuration. I was on the verge of not being able to kill the Wood Wraith back there ¨C I was left with only 8 Mana to spare ¨C and that was one of the weaker monsters in the forest. So I felt like increasing my maximum was as important as possible. And on top of that, there was what I mentioned earlier ¨C increased Mana/Minute tranted to an increased speed at which I could Rank up Noxious Grasp, which in turn tranted to even more damage I could deal over the course of a fight. So, with that in mind¡­


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 10.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    10


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>1</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>12</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>10</strong>/<strong>100</strong>


    Dexterity:


    10


    Health:


    <strong>33</strong>/<strong>120</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.048</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>10</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>50</strong>/<strong>66</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.408</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence:</strong>


    <strong>1</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>8</strong>/<strong>105</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>1.41</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Noxious Grasp <strong>1</strong> - XP <strong>1</strong>/<strong>11</strong>


    Time Loop <strong>1</strong>


    Trailzer


    Oh! At some point during that fight, Noxious Grasp had gotten an XP! That was encouraging, I guess? It felt a bit silly to get excited over a single point of Spell XP, but I guess that was the point I was at.


    I got to my feet. I needed to start walking. I didn¡¯t really have a specific destination, but I wouldn¡¯t get anywhere by sitting around. Thankfully, I wouldn¡¯t be doing any Noxious Grasp exercises until my Mana capped out, which would take about an hour, so I got a bit more of a break from that mental torture. I¡¯d run out of water before I went to sleep, and the dehydration headache was really starting to set in, too. I was very much not looking forward to having a second, separate headache to add on top of it.


    I really did need to find some water. The waterskin on my belt was totally dry. And while I wasn¡¯t at a point where my life was in danger right <em>now</em>, things could only really get worse. I knew that rivers and streams could generally be found if you consistently went downhill, but that didn¡¯t mean it would be quick or easy to find one. It was basically a game of trial and error, except if I took too long, I¡¯d die.


    Well. No pressure. Let¡¯s get searching.


    After about four hours had passed, I started getting very tired of walking. It was fucking boring, first off. Screw what I said about this being a ¡®game of death¡¯ or whatever. Games were fun. <em>This</em> was just walking in a straight line and hoping to get lucky. I was tired, and hot, and sweaty ¨C which definitely wasn¡¯t good for the whole dehydration thing ¨C and on top of all that, I¡¯d fully regenerated my Mana about an hour into my walk. That meant that for the past three hours, I¡¯d been practicing my casting. And I¡¯d just Leveled up and more than doubled my Mana regeneration, which essentially meant I was practicing at double the rate and intensity. It sucked.


    Ok. I wasining too much. I¡¯d actually been getting a lot more proficient with my Mana control, thanks mostly to the intensive regimen I had been forcing myself under, so the whole practicing thing wasn¡¯t <em>quite</em> as bad as it had been before. Really, I was just very, <em>very</em> thirsty, and it was really starting to affect my thoughts. Who knew being on the verge of death would make me so moody? Speaking of being on the verge of death, by the way¡­


    You are suffering from Dehydration.


    All Stamina regeneration has been disabled.


    Yeah. My Stamina was currently resting at 30/66, so a bit below half. And I¡¯d have to make due with that until I got some <em>fucking water down my gods-damned throat</em>. ¡­Sorry. There was that moodiness again. But hey! It wasn¡¯t all bad. Because of my practice with Noxious Grasp, it was now at 5/11 XP, which was nice! Plus, I¡¯d been killing any small animal I could catch while I walked, so I¡¯d gotten a decent bit of XP of my own. I¡¯d gone from 10/100 to 23/100, so 13 in total. Part of me felt like I shouldn¡¯t be going through so much effort to kill things when I was on a tight Stamina budget, but the concept of just giving up on that free XP felt criminal.


    Speaking of my victims, I was still in the process of considering whether or not it was a good idea to drink their blood. I remembered having read something about drinking raw blood not being enough to sustain a Human. It¡¯d been in a book about this group of power-hungry serial killers that¡¯d cropped up a few years back in one of the bigger cities. They acted like Vampires, and actually convinced the authorities that there was a group of the blood-suckers hiding out in the city because their behavior matched up so well, but they turned out to just be Humans who <em>wanted</em> to be Vampires. Anyway, the authorities never ended up catching them. Instead, since they drank the blood of their victims, they started having so many health problems that they all just died off naturally.


    I¡¯d started reading the book because I was trying to research monster types and the library was sorelycking on anything having to do with Vampires, but the book didn¡¯t actually have much on that, instead focusing on the Human killers. That said, it was still so interesting and weird to me that I finished the whole thing. I¡¯d always wanted to go to one of those big cities in the Kingdom, so it was a nice glimpse into the inner-workings of those densely-popted areas. Anyway, the book ended uping in handy anyway! I learned that the Human body absolutely could not survive when blood was used as a recement for water.


    But¡­ maybe it would be fine for just a day? Meh, whatever. I¡¯d try drinking blood if it was ast-resort situation. It seemed pretty gross, so I really didn¡¯t want it toe to that in the first ce.


    Oh, I was full on Mana again, time to cast Noxious Grasp for another second or two. ¡­Agh. It still really hurt my head to do that so often. In fact, I was pretty sure I was beginning to have problems with my vision again. For a second there, I thought I spotted a gigantic bug-like figure through the treeline, scuttling across a nearby clearing.


    Wait.


    <em>Shit!</em>


    I dashed over behind a rock, peeking out from around it. What was that thing? It was, like, a giant scorpion or something. And when I said giant, I meant <em>giant</em>. With its ws held out and stinger hovering above its head, it was easily twice as tall as me, maybe evenrger. It didn¡¯t even need venom; the sword-length stinger would be enough to decapitate me, not to mention those ws that could snap my entire torso in half!


    I¡¯d never heard of a monster like that living near my vige. I guess it just went to show how far out I really was. The forest was massive, and had little ecosystems and territories within it. So, if I was seeing stuff I¡¯d never heard of before, I must¡¯ve stumbled into one of those smaller areas. I knew that was a possibility, but still, it was unsettling to see something that I just had zero knowledge of. I didn¡¯t even know what Level it was! It could¡¯ve been 5, it could¡¯ve been 20. Who knew? The only way for me to find out would be to damage it, and that was not happening if I could help it.


    In fact¡­ yeah. I slowly started creeping away from the giant scorpion monster. Thankfully, I¡¯d noticed it soon enough that there was a good bit of distance between us, so there wasn¡¯t too much of a chance that it would notice me. Still, it was a good reminder that dehydration wasn¡¯t the only thing trying to kill me out here.


    Once I was sure I was out of its sight, I rxed and kept walking, this time a bit more warily.


    Another few hours of walking passed by, these much more ufortable than thest. It wasn¡¯t that anything had changed, just that all of the things from before had been getting progressively worse. My legs were killing me, the constant casting practice was making me feel like someone had cast a miniature Star of Extinction inside of my head, the sun was beating down on my skin, and the dehydration had progressed to the point where I wasn¡¯t even sweating anymore, my body apparently deciding that it needed that fluid elsewhere and relegating me to suffer under the unmitigated heat.


    You are suffering from Severe Dehydration.


    -1 Stamina.


    Those had started popping up about once every thirty minutes, constantly draining my already-low Stamina reserves. Right now, I was working with a measly 12/66, and it was dropping faster than ever. By this point, it was a constant struggle to even stay standing. A groan escaped from my cracked, dry lips as I trudged up another hill, hoping the vantage point might let me see something.


    Nope.


    I remembered that morning when I¡¯d fought the Wood Wraith. Specifically, I remembered the two re attacks it had made on me, and the 12 total Stamina they¡¯d drained. It hadn¡¯t seemed too bad then, but now¡­ I would have done anything just to get a single point of that 12 Stamina back.


    I wouldn¡¯t die if I ran out, not immediately. Instead, once your Stamina hit 0, your body would shut down, and you¡¯d copse. You wouldn¡¯t be able to physically exert yourself in any way until enough time had passed that your Stamina had regenerated itself a bit. And due to the Dehydration effects, I couldn¡¯t regenerate Stamina at all, no matter how much time passed. So if I ran out, unless somebody set down a bucket of water next to my face to let me lick it up like apdog, that¡¯d be it for me. I sighed and began stumbling my way down the hill.


    Just a few more paces, I thought to myself. That¡¯s it. Just a few more.


    On the brighter side of things, I was really starting to see the fruits of my effort with my Noxious Grasp training. I mean, I seriously felt like a Level 30 sser had taken a warhammer and mmed it into the side of my head, but I was also getting faster and faster with activating it. Hopefully, next time I was in a livebat situation, it wouldn¡¯t take so long to turn on, like it had before. Oh, also, my Spell XP had crawled upward to 9/11, so I was really getting close to seeing some numerical fruits of mybor, too!


    <em>Fuck.</em>


    My foot caught a root, tripping me halfway through my journey down the hill. I fell straight to the dirt and tumbled and rolled all the way down, hitting a hard rock at the bottom that stopped my momentum in its tracks.


    You have been mmed into something. 4 damage.


    Your Health is 49.


    I coughed weakly, drawing a raspy breath as Iy down on my back, looking up at the canopy of leaves above me. Hiking through these gods-damned hills and trees for hours upon hours on end while malnourished and dehydrated made the idea of just lying down and fucking dying very appealing. At least then I wouldn¡¯t feel like shit anymore.


    But I nted my hands down onto the ground, and pushed myself up. Shaking and struggling, I slowly got to my feet, holding onto the rock for stability. I drew another anemic breath, and started walking.


    I would push on. I would find water. I would live.


    I <em>would</em> do it.

 Chapter 6: Ray of Hope

    Chapter 6: Ray of Hope


    It only took about an hour before my conviction to find water began wavering. My Stamina had reached the single-digits and I wanted nothing else than to rest. But I pushed on, aware of the time limit threatening me. I could barely walk, stumbling through the forest and trying my best to head downhill whenever possible.


    I¡¯d actually gotten quite good at casting ¨C well, as good as could be expected of someone who¡¯d only just started training. I imagined that training so hard while in these circumstances was probably helping me a lot, as opposed to training in a calm,fortable environment. It wasn¡¯t like your typical battle was very serene, and I knew from experience that I had trouble finding the inner peace to cast in those chaotic situations.


    Besides, it¡¯d be a bit of a calming ritual for me ¨C something to help take my mind off of my difort and focus on something else. It was a bit masochistic ¨C taking my mind off of my difort by doing something that caused more difort ¨C but it worked for me, so whatever. Besides, it made me stronger.


    On top of that, I also kept my head on a swivel. It wasn¡¯t like I could neglect my surroundings. I needed to keep my eyes and ears out for any sign of water, so I was being constantly vignt.


    I saw something move to my side.


    Oh, I also needed to watch out for monsters, too.


    I immediately froze, trying to move as slowly as possible as I backed away from the source of movement. It was another one of those giant scorpions! This one was quite a bit closer to me than the one from before ¨C only ten paces or so ¨C and I was a lot more tired than before, too. I didn¡¯t trust my ability to move stealthily.


    <em>Shit, shit, shit¡­ what do I do?</em>


    I shifted, trying to hide behind a tree without alerting the scorpion monster. It seemed to be busy with eating something it killed, so I wasn¡¯t too worried, but I <em>really</em> didn¡¯t want one of them chasing after me. As I watched, however, something else came out of the forest.


    A Nymph!


    Nymphs were unique monsters. They didn¡¯t look incredibly intimidating ¨C they were Humanoid, but normally a bit shorter than your average person, and looked as if they were made from nts. They had green skin covered with leaves, vines, and roots. These nts were a part of the Nymph¡¯s body, but also seemed to have lives of their own, blooming in spring and turning brown in fall. As Humanoids, the monsters had dirt-colored hair, but it never seemed to get very long, and they also had a rtively normal, Human-like face. Or, they would, if not for their eyes. A Nymph¡¯s eyes were slightlyrger than a person¡¯s, and, most notably, were solid-white ¨C no irises or pupils in the pearl-like ocrs, just sclera. They could see just fine, but it was unnerving to look at. I¡¯d always thought so, even when all I¡¯d seen were illustrations in monster manuals. Now that I¡¯d seen one in the flesh, I could attest that they were, in fact, creepy.


    Nymphs also had strange behavior. They weren¡¯t like normal monsters, simply roaming their territories killing whatever prey they came across. Instead, they seemed to focus on the conservation of their environment. That obviously meant attacking any Humans trying to deforest the area, but it also meant fighting wildfires, and exterminating invasive species ¨C both nts and animals.


    And it seemed that, whatever this giant scorpion monster was, it was considered invasive, because the Nymph sprinted right up and attacked it with no warning. It had long, needle-like ws tipping its fingers that it used to swipe at the scorpion¡¯s thick chitin. It wasn¡¯t as if all Nymphs had ws like this one, however. One of the most curious aspects of these strange beings was that they could receive Tribute from other monsters. I hadn¡¯t read up on the specifics on it, but essentially, as a thank-you for its service in protecting the environment, sometimes another monster would give Tribute to a Nymph, sacrificing one of its own Levels to give some of its power to the Nymph. This led to almost every Nymph having a unique, tailor-made appearance and set of abilities that orded to its environment and the types of monsters it protected.


    It seemed that this one had received Tribute from some sort of monster with ws like that. Based on the ws¡¯ appearance, I guessed it was a¡­ Stripek? Whatever, it wasn''t important. Whatever it got them from, the Nymph¡¯s ws plunged into the scorpion''s body in its wild attack from behind. However, the scorpion counterattacked, whipping its tail at the Nymph in a wild attack too fast for me to follow. The Nymph was fast too, though, and it blocked the strike with its ws, deflecting it off to the side. The scorpion monster struck out with its pincers, but the Nymph leapt back out of the range of its strike. It dashed to the side, making use of its clearly-superior Dexterity to nk the scorpion, where the beast couldn¡¯t defend itself, and struck forward, stabbing the scorpion and following up with a sh thatpletely bisected the monster¡¯s body.


    In what seemed like no time at all, the monster that I¡¯d feared so much had been killed. I realized I was standing out in the open, staring at the victorious Nymph, so I quickly got back into hiding. Nymphs were famously inconsistent when it came to their feelings toward Humans. Some of them didn¡¯t seem to mind people at all as long as we didn¡¯t get in their way, while others seemed to operate on a strict kill-on-sight policy, hunting people down whenever they saw them. Most seemed to exist somewhere between those two extremes, but there was no telling how this one felt. It was better to just stay away. An encouraging note, though, was that Nymphs typically made their homes near rivers and streams, so if it was hanging around over here, its home was most likely nearby. If I just kept wandering for a little more¡­


    ¡­Wait.


    Nymphs made their homes near rivers. Sure, that meant that a river was probably nearby, but what if I walked in the wrong direction? It wasn¡¯t much of a guarantee of anything. I was getting weaker by the minute, so this was gonna be myst chance. There was one river near here, and I needed to find it fast. How would I do that? I sure as hells wasn¡¯t going to just wander in a random direction like I¡¯d been doing ¨C that obviously wasn¡¯t a very good strategy.


    So, I needed a guide. And who better to guide me to the river than the monster that lives there?


    I stared in the direction of the Nymph. Specifically, I stared at the gigantic scorpion monster that it had just executed. Part of me wanted to just take my chances with walking in a random direction. But I couldn¡¯t do that; I needed to take control of my own fate, not let chance decide whether I live or die.


    So, taking care to move stealthily, I started tailing the Nymph, which had already begun wandering off. I stayed far enough away that it was just barely within my sight so that the chances of it detecting me were as low as possible. However, I wasn¡¯t actually too worried about the Nymph seeing or hearing me nearby. Despite their battle prowess, a Nymph¡¯s actual senses were rtively poor; their eyesight was short, and their hearing soft.


    The problem was their sixth sense. Nymphs were protectors of nature, and because of that, they had the ability to sense and feel the emotions of all nearby creatures. So, my real worry was identally spooking some animal that I failed to see, alerting the Nymph to my location. This ability worked both ways, too ¨C not only could the Nymph feel the emotions of nearby creatures, the creatures would feel the emotions of the Nymph. So, if I drew its ire, I¡¯d be facing down the wrath of the entire forest.


    The Nymph wandered excruciatingly slowly for a while, asionally stopping randomly to examine a bush or to pat an animal on the head. Speaking of, the monsters it was interacting with were totally calm, unlike I¡¯d ever seen before. I even saw another Wood Wraith and prepared for a fight, but it just wandered through the forest, ncing at me but not attacking or even using its re attack. I guessed that the Nymph¡¯s calm attitude was spreading to all of the nearby monsters. That was good; it would hopefully mean that I wouldn¡¯t need to worry as much about scaring the smaller animals.


    After a bit longer, the Nymph started moving in a more direct way, not wandering as much. I felt like I could predict its movements a bit more reliably, so I backed up even more, until it was just barely in my sight. I didn¡¯t want to take any chances with it spotting me. I kept following from further behind, making sure I kept track of the Nymph, asionally getting closer to make sure I was going in the right direction.


    To help with the stress of the operation, I was still casting my Noxious Grasp once every couple minutes, letting off some of those poisonous mists to dissolve in the air. Besides, I was at 10/11 XP! There was no way I was gonna take a break when I was so close.


    After a bit longer tailing the Nymph, I finally heard it ¨C the sound of salvation! Rushing water! A river was nearby! My breathing quickened, but I couldn¡¯t run forward; I didn¡¯t want to alert the Nymph to my presence. I held back, using every ounce of my self control as my body was fighting to rush ahead, regardless of the consequences.


    I let off a second of Noxious Grasp, trying to calm myself down and focus.


    You have struck Level 0 Rabbit for 6 damage and drained 3 Stamina over the course of 0.6 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    1.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 102.


    I heard a squeal as an animal I didn¡¯t even know was there brushed up against my leg at exactly the wrong time. It scurried off toward the Nymph, no doubt seeking its protection and calming aura.


    <em>Shit!</em>


    If it got near the Nymph, it would know I was here. I tried chasing after it, but my deficient Stamina barely let me walk, much less run after a frightened animal. Breathing heavily, I panicked, not knowing what to do. I nced around and found a decent-sized rock, so I scampered over to hide behind it. Maybe if the Nymph didn¡¯t see me immediately, it wouldn¡¯t go searching? Besides, I didn¡¯t technically even know if it was hostile toward Humans ¨C only some Nymphs were. Sure, it seemed pretty violent toward the scorpion monster, but maybe it was just like that toward specific things, and not anything it viewed as foreign to the forest? I breathed. Yeah. It¡¯d probably be fine if¨C


    You have been stabbed with ws. 42 damage.


    Your Health is 11.


    I gasped in pain and looked down to see four long, knife-like ws sticking into my chest. I looked up and saw the Nymph staring down at me with its angel-white eyes. Without saying anything ¨C not even a twitch on its face ¨C it tore its ws out of my body, and shed.


    You have been sliced by ws. 87 damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have been decapitated.


    You have died.


    My consciousness awoke in what felt like a dark, smoky space. I gasped and looked around, except, well, I didn¡¯t do either of those things. I didn¡¯t have a body to breathe with or eyes to look with. I was just¡­ a presence. An existence.


    ¡°What in the hells is happening?¡± I tried to say aloud, but I still didn¡¯t have a mouth to speak.


    In front of me, I could sense two options, waiting for me to make a choice. In one of the options, I was standing there, looking panicked, right after I identally damaged that Rabbit with Noxious Grasp. It was¡­ one minute before I died, I could somehow tell.


    The other option was two minutes before I died. It just had me distantly trailing the Nymph, before I had even noticed the Rabbit.


    ¡­Oh, right!


    I¡¯d Ranked up Time Loop, I remembered. And when I did, it went from taking me back one minute in time, to taking me back ¡®up to¡¯ two minutes back. This was me choosing how far back I wanted to go ¨C one minute, or two minutes.


    I could feel my consciousness fading from this ce already; it seemed the space didn¡¯t like me lingering here for long. Well, obviously, I didn¡¯t want to go back one minute, after I¡¯d already made my mistake, so I chose two minutes and¨C


    And then I was back, immediately finding myself in my body, distantly following the Nymph. I looked around, and saw that damned Rabbit unassumingly approaching behind me. I stepped aside, let it pass, and took a deep breath. Yeah, so, it seemed that the Nymph was definitely hostile toward Humans. Or, at least, it was hostile to any Human that harmed animals.


    Well, now that I knew where the river was, I didn¡¯t need to follow the Nymph, anyway. Slowly, I backed away ¨C careful not to identally step on some other dumbass animal¡¯s tail or something ¨C until I was sure I was totally out of range of the Nymph. Then, I circled around, walking in arge arc angled toward the river, until¡­ yes! I began to hear the running water again. And, after a few more minutes, there it was! The river I had dreamed of, surrounded by greenery and vegetation, running along a divot lined with natural stones.


    This time, I couldn¡¯t contain myself. Running forward in a burst of energy more intense than anything I¡¯d felt all day, I fell at the side of the pool and knelt down. I lowered my face to the surface of the water, drinking it directly from the source and relishing in the ecstasy of finally wetting my parched throat.


    You are no longer suffering from Dehydration.


    All Stamina regeneration has been re-enabled.


    I finally had my most basic survival need sated. Or, second most basic, depending on where you ranked being able to fight off monsters.


    Yeah. With this taken care of, I felt like it was finally time to get a bit stronger.

 Chapter 7: Ambition

    Chapter 7: Ambition


    After I had my fill of water, I sat and rested for a while. Just because I wasn¡¯t so thirsty anymore didn¡¯t mean I wasn¡¯t exhausted. But, after my Stamina regenerated back up to double digits, I forced myself back up to my feet. I wasn¡¯t in immediate danger <em>now</em>, but I was definitely too close to that Nymph to actually befortable resting. So, I moved a bit further downstream, following along until I felt like I was far enough away from Nymph territory.


    And while I was moving along, I got an exciting message!


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 11.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 2.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 2, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 3.08 to 3.16


    Health Drain: From 10.5 to 11


    Stamina Drain: From 5.25 to 5.51


    <em>Nice!</em>


    I checked and found that the next Rank of Noxious Grasp would require 14 Spell XP, which wasn¡¯t too much more. At this point, though, I wanted to focus on Leveling up. Increasing my Spell Ranks was good and all, but the main way I was going to get stronger was through getting more Levels; it would give me Stats, obviously, but Level-ups could also provide Spells, Talents, and other goodies. Unfortunately, due to the whole never-having-heard-of-my-own-ss-before thing, I didn¡¯t have any idea when exactly I¡¯d actually get, say, my next Spell.


    Every ss had different things that they got at different Levels. For example, Wizards got a Spell every single Level, whereas Sorcerers only got one every ten Levels. This was bnced out by Sorcerers getting Spell Ranks much more quickly than Wizards, of course, but the point was that they got Spells at wildly different rates. So, I had no idea when I would next get a Spell. Obviously it wasn¡¯t every single Level ¨C I would have gotten onest time I Leveled up if that were the case ¨C but was it once every two Levels? Every ten, like the Sorcerers? Somewhere in the middle? Maybe even longer? I had no way of knowing.


    Some sses even got them at irregr intervals. Warlocks, for example, got lots of Spells during their initial Levels, but those Spell rewards started tapering out and urring less and less often as the Warlock grew more powerful.


    Talents were another issue. Most sses got to choose a Talent once every five Levels, but some sses didn¡¯t. Swordsmen were an example of this, actually; they got a Talent every three Levels, and in exchange, the Talents themselves were slightly less powerful than the Talents other sses got. But would I ever even get any Talents? I had this whole Time Loop thing that seemed to get more powerful as I Leveled, so maybe that reced them altogether.


    I sighed. These were all questions for another time. For now, I just needed to focus on getting XP ¨C preferably without risking my life. Now that I had a steady supply of water, I finally wasn¡¯t racing against the clock, which was nice, so part of me just wanted to take a break. I opened up my Status, looking at my Health. It was at 56, so a bit below half. I really didn¡¯t want to get into a fight like this, so for now, I was probably going to just rest.


    Common knowledge was that it would generally take about two days to fully regenerate your Health, so since I already had Half of it filled up, it would probably take about twenty-four hours. So until then, I was just gonna sit back and rx!


    My stomach grumbled.


    Ah, right.


    I guess I couldn¡¯t rx just yet. First, I¡¯d need to find some food. I hadn¡¯t eaten all day, and the sun was already beginning to set. That couldn¡¯t be healthy. I was so thirsty that I hadn¡¯t even felt the hunger, but now it was quickly bing apparent how much I needed to eat.


    I looked around at my surroundings. There were plenty of nts, some of which had berries growing out of them, and I also saw some mushrooms growing out of the ground, but I had no idea what was poisonous and what wasn¡¯t. And I certainly wasn¡¯t about to just eat something random to check. There were plenty of things that would kill you even if eaten in small doses, and I didn¡¯t want to risk it.


    So, if not nts, that just left animals. Animals that I had no way to cook. Unfortunate, but overall, it was okay. Most animals were fine to eat raw as long as you didn¡¯t do it often. The chance for disease was rtively low, so if it was just for now, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem. Plus, I had a boosted Endurance ¨C even if it was only slightly higher than an Unssed person, that still greatly reduced my general chances of disease. In fact, most ssers of even a moderate Level pretty much never suffered from non-magical sickness.


    So, if sickness wasn¡¯t the problem, then what was? It was gross. I mean, really, I didn¡¯t even have a knife or anything! What was I supposed to do, tear into a corpse with my teeth? Ugh, but I was so hungry¡­ whatever. I¡¯d solve that problem when it became relevant. For now, I didn¡¯t even <em>have</em> any animals to eat. So, issue number one: kill something. That, I could do.


    I winced as I got to my feet.


    <em>Ughhh.</em>


    Why couldn¡¯t my body just wait until I had a bit more Stamina? I was only at 14. Although, if I waited too much longer, I¡¯d just start suffering from the Starvation debuff, which, just like Dehydration, would prevent my Stamina from refilling at all.


    Alright. I didn¡¯t think it would take too long, just¡­ I <em>really</em> wanted some rest.


    About a half hourter, I finally caught something. It was another Rabbit, and a sadistic part of me hoped it was the same one that got me killed before, simply so I could get revenge. Regardless, though, I was mentally preparing myself to eat it. I decided not to use Noxious Grasp to kill it ¨C I noticed that the Spell seemed to atrophy away the affected creature¡¯s flesh, and I didn¡¯t want to dissolve any usable meat. Besides, I had no idea what those fumes would do to the edibility of meat. So, instead, I just decided to wring its neck.


    You have struck Level 2 Rabbit for 13 damage using your Hands.


    You have severed the spine of Level 2 Rabbit.


    You have in Level 2 Rabbit.


    You have earned 5 XP. Your XP is 28.


    Next was the¡­ not so good part.


    <em>Alright. Time to cut this thing open and¡­</em>


    <em>Wait.</em>


    <em>I don¡¯t have a fucking knife!</em>


    How was I going to get this thing ripped open? I sighed and looked down at my prey. This¡­ was going to get messy.


    Another half hourter, I had the damn thing open. I was covered in blood and guts and other mysterious substances, and my fingers were shaking from exertion. But it was done. I had a pile of dubiously consumable flesh lying atop the desecrated corpse¡¯s hide. ¡­And it had been sitting there for about ten minutes, during which I had been trying and failing to build up the courage to eat it. You¡¯d really think I couldn¡¯t get any more grossed out after ripping apart a cadaver and sifting through its insides, but there was a veryrge difference between something touching your hands and it going inside of your body.


    It wasn¡¯t like eating raw meat was even so disgusting ¨C I knew lots of dishes were prepared using it ¨C it was more the blood and the tendons and bone fragments and hair, and also the fact that not even an hour ago I was holding the living being it all came from in my hands.


    You are suffering from Undernourishment.


    All Stamina regeneration has been halved.


    Well, that was as good a signal to eat as any. If I didn¡¯t eat soon, that¡¯d turn to Starvation.


    I groaned.


    <em>Alright, let¡¯s get this over with.</em>


    Honestly, the taste wasn¡¯t that bad. It was more the mental part that grossed me out. And the texture. It was just the wrongbination of stringy, tough, and weirdly soft in certain parts to make me squirm. But I finished my meal, feeling simultaneously better and worse by the end. My Undernourishment status effect had gone away, at least.


    Well, at least now I could rest. I wanted to wait until my Health was back to full ¨C or at least close to it ¨C before I went out and started hunting for XP. So, I decided to use my time to make myself a little shelter by the river. A better one than the shitty little pile of sticks I madest time, hopefully.


    Practicing my casting while I worked, I found a nice, sturdy branch, and wedged it in between two trees, so that it held up on its own, around as high up as my head. Then, I took some other branches and sticks and leaned them up against that branch, creating a nice triangr little hut that I could enter from either side. As I worked, it began to rain.


    I red up at the sky.


    Really? I thought. After that whole struggle to find water, you decide now is the best time to pour water all over me? Unbelievable.


    I hurriedly tried to pile leaves and thickyers of sticks onto the walls of my little shelter to protect me from the rain. It worked well enough, I thought as I sat inside. A puff from Noxious Grasp arose off of me, and I took a deep breath. It felt like there¡¯d been a weight on my chest, getting heavier and heavier as the seconds ticked on ever since I¡¯d gotten stuck in this forest. And just taking the moment to rest here¡­ it lifted it, if just a bit.


    When had my life gotten so stressful? Well, I knew exactly what incident had caused this little bout of stress, but just¡­ in general. It felt like for years I¡¯d been running around, worrying about one thing or the other. Trying to save up as much money as I could, never allowing myself a penny extra for myself. Trying to spend every moment of my time efficiently, never allowing myself a second to rx. Trying to work my brain and body to the bone, never allowing either a minute to recover. It felt like, for the first time in a very long time, I was just¡­ still.


    Another puff from Noxious Grasp.


    Well, not totally still, Iughed at myself.


    It was a bit silly, but I was very proud of myself for getting so proficient with my casting. Well, I probably wasn¡¯t any better than any of the students who studied all their lives to be Magic-Type ssers ¨C I was probably still very behind them, to be honest ¨C but I couldn¡¯t deny that Noxious Grasp had be almost second nature. My Spell XP for it had only just recently ticked up to 1/14, but I wasn¡¯t bothered by the rtively slow pace. I mean, I didn¡¯t even think about casting it anymore; it was as if every time I was full on Mana, the Spell cast itself. So the Spell XP basically came for free.


    Iid down on the ground in my tiny home, staring up at the sticks and leaves above me. I took a breath and, for the first time since I¡¯d gotten myself stuck out here, I smiled. Sure, it sucked, but getting stuck out here was, in a way, fun. It was a challenge. Besides, once I got out, it¡¯d make a hell of a story.


    Without even noticing it, exhaustion took me, and I drifted off to sleep.


    I awoke feeling incredibly sore, both physically and mentally. It made sense, considering the ungodly amount of walking and casting I¡¯d been doing the day before, but that didn¡¯t make it any less unpleasant. I groaned as I sat up, feeling as though my muscles were wound too tightly around my body. I also went ahead and cast Noxious Grasp again ¨C my Mana was full, after all. It hurt my head to do so, but soreness was just a sign that I was making progress.


    I crawled out of my shelter, standing and brushing the dirt off of myself. Then I looked up at the river, and almost jumped out of my own skin.


    Shit! Monster!


    Scampering behind one of the trees my little hut was built on, I hid from the beast by the river. It was another Wood Wraith, but this one seemed a good bitrger. And with monsters,rger normally meant higher Level. Unlike the one before, though, this one seemed to just be here to get a drink of water, paying me and my base no mind. So I could easily just ignore it and it¡¯d probably wander off eventually.


    However¡­


    Its back was turned to me, leaving it perfectly open for an ambush. Sure, I could just leave it alone and stay safe, but how would I ever get anywhere if I never took a risk? I mean, this bundle of XP was standing right here, practically gift-wrapped just for me. Was I seriously going to just let it get away? Now, there was absolutely a chance of it seriously hurting ¨C or even killing ¨C me. Last time I fought a Wood Wraith, I¡¯d taken a serious amount of damage ¨C and this one was even higher-Leveled than that one. Plus, my Health still wasn¡¯t full, resting at a somewhat precarious 79/120. But I really wanted another Level.


    I was perfectly aware that this exact mindset was the subject of endless mockery in the adventuringmunity. In fact, people who got into fights with deadly monsters just for the XP had even earned the derogatory nickname ¡®power-Levelers¡¯ after their intense, borderline suicidal lust for System-given power. And it really was suicidal. Even if a power-Leveler only ever got into fights where they had a 5% chance of dying, and they only got into one of these fights a week, there was over a 93% chance that they¡¯d be dead by the end of the year. Or, at least, that was the statistic always quoted to me by my trainer.


    ¡°A smart adventurer is one who only fights when there¡¯s a 0% chance of death¡± was the phrase that seemed like a motto to most.


    But I didn¡¯t exactly have that luxury, did I? If I never got any stronger, one of these days I¡¯d end up in the jaws of a Drake, or on the end of a giant scorpion¡¯s tail. At least for now, I¡¯d need to take those 5% chances, and hope that I could make up for the rest with pure determination.


    I charged.

 Chapter 8: Payoff & Plan

    Chapter 8: Payoff & n


    I charged at the Wood Wraith that was drinking from the river. As I got closer and closer, I realized just howrge it really was. Standing on all fours, it was already a bit taller than half my height, and length-wise, it was definitely longer than I was tall, not even counting the tail. It was colored a deeper, dirtier green than the one I had fought before, and its fur was more ragged.


    Once I got close, it heard me approaching and quickly tried to turn to intercept me, but I was on it too quickly, pouncing and activating Noxious Grasp as I gripped onto the monster''s back and tackled it to the ground. It flinched and fell, tumbling onto its side as it iled at me and the poisonous fumes seeped into the beast¡¯s skin.


    The Wood Wraith quickly twisted its body, though, using its size and strength to kick me off of it and get to its feet.


    You have struck Level 9 Wood Wraith for 37 damage and drained 19 Stamina over the course of 3.4 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    10.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 94.


    I scrambled up, standing ready for a counterattack. I had my eyes closed ¨C there was no doubt the beast¡¯s gaze was directed straight at me right now, and I had no desire to be hit with its magical sickness. I waited for the sound of hoof falls, and¡­ <em>now!</em>


    I leapt out of the way of the charging Wood Wraith just in time to barely dodge its bite. I quickly opened my eyes and charged back to it, hitting it to the ground before it could turn to face me. I tried to wrestle it to the ground in a choke-hold like I did with the Wood Wrath I¡¯d fought before, but this one was a much higher Level and much stronger than the other, and it managed to maneuver itself so that its sharp ws could reach me.


    You have been sliced by ws. 26 damage.


    Your Health is 53.


    Its razor-tipped paws shed through my leg. My Health pool protected me from the bulk of the damage, but a small gash still formed on my thigh. I held strong, though, and the beast roared as its Health continued to drain. I could tell the Stamina loss was getting to it, too, but it didn¡¯t give up, fighting more fiercely as its situation got worse.


    In a burst of strength, it ripped itself from my grip, taking care to get out of my grabbing distance and shooting me with a look that I failed to dodge.


    You have struck Level 9 Wood Wraith for 54 damage and drained 27 Stamina over the course of 4.9 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    15.4 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 79.


    You have been inflicted with sickness. 18 damage. 9 Stamina drain.


    Your Health is 35. Your Stamina is 56.


    I fought the urge to double over in nausea. I needed to stay alert to any counterattack; my Health was already low, and I needed to ensure I didn¡¯t take any more clumsy hits. I squared off with the monster, readying my hands in a way that blocked direct eye contact, and then lunged in. It bit out, surprising me and grazing my arm, but I twisted out of the way to avoid any major damage.


    You have been bitten by teeth. 12 damage.


    Your Health is 23.


    But my lunge seeded, and I got a solid grasp on the already-tired Wood Wraith. My arms wrapped around its throat and my legs wrapped around its back, it had no solid way to get me off but to try and throw me. And it did try, bucking its body in an attempt to loosen my grip. But I held strong, using my trained arms and legs to keep myself fastly attached to the beast.


    But soon, it began to tire, slowing down and eventually copsing to the ground, resigning itself to its fate.


    You have struck Level 9 Wood Wraith for 174 damage and drained 87 Stamina over the course of 15.8 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    49.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 29.


    You have in Level 9 Wood Wraith.


    You have earned 47 XP. Your XP is 75.


    Iy down, breathing heavily. I was <em>never</em> going to get used to that nausea re. I was bleeding from a few spots, but it wasn¡¯t too bad ¨C certainly nothing that a little time wouldn¡¯t fix. After killing that monster, I was resting at 76/100 XP, so I was almost to the next Level! I looked at my Health, though, and was a bit more discouraged. 23/120¡­ I wasn¡¯t going to be able to fight anything for a while. I wasn¡¯t personally <em>too</em> hurt, but that measly amount of Health wasn¡¯t going to protect me from anything; even a single w strike from a monster would be enough to rip off an arm.


    I didn¡¯t regret my attack on the monster, but I wished it had gone a bit more favorably. Now that I was so low on Health, I¡¯d have to operate very carefully for at least the rest of the day ¨C probably longer.


    I thought about going back to kill the Wood Wraith again. The extra XP would be enough to get me another Level, and not only that, I would probably be able to guide the fight with my knowledge to avoid taking as much damage.


    It would take the whole rest of the day to recharge my use, but with the amount of Health I¡¯d hopefully be able to get back, <em>and</em> the additional Level helping me out, I¡¯d probably be able to make things work. Besides, I had an idea brewing in the back of my mind that would hopefully protect me from danger ¨C at least, protect me from the dangers posed by monsters.


    Yeah, it was decided. I¡¯d go back and do the fight again. I went ahead and used my Time Loop Talent, careful not to waste more time.


    In the smoky, ck ¡®in-between¡¯ space, I nced at my two options. The one-minute return was in the middle of the fight, whereas the two-minute return would put me back in my shelter. I selected the two-minute option, and¨C


    And I was back, sitting up in the middle of my little hut. I jolted as my consciousness was shoved into a different time, blinking as I got used to it. Slowly, I got up and out of my shelter, looking down at the Wood Wraith drinking down at the river. Mimicking my movements from before, I rushed down and tackled it, keeping near its back where it couldn¡¯t reach me. But in itspletely un-weakened state, it was still able to throw me.


    You have struck Level 9 Wood Wraith for 41 damage and drained 20 Stamina over the course of 3.7 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    11.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 93.


    It charged at me as I shielded my eyes, and leapt out of the way, tackling it and dodging the w strike that had hit mest time. I maintained my grasp a bit better this time, the Stamina drain of my Spell quickly doing its work and weakening the monster. However, this time my grip must have been different, because it somehow maneuvered its head around to aim its re at me, catching me off-guard with a flood of sickness.


    You have been inflicted with sickness. 18 damage. 9 Stamina drain.


    Your Health is 61. Your Stamina is 56.


    In my moment of nausea-induced weakness, the Wood Wraith twisted from my grip, tearing itself away and attempting to bite me. But I dodged, leaving us separated.


    You have struck Level 9 Wood Wraith for 59 damage and drained 30 Stamina over the course of 5.4 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    17.1 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 76.


    I immediately went in for another tackle, not wanting to give the monster a chance to recover. I caught it in my grasp, and, likest time, managed to restrain it for long enough that Noxious Grasp drained away its Stamina. And, after siphoning away its Health for a bit longer, it died.


    You have struck Level 9 Wood Wraith for 165 damage and drained 83 Stamina over the course of 15.0 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    47.4 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 29.


    You have in Level 9 Wood Wraith.


    You have earned 48 XP. Your XP is 122.


    Threshold reached. 100 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 2.


    Due to achieving Level 2 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Soft Cap has increased to Rank 2.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 2.


    Yes! I grinned as I scanned over my Leveling benefits. Well, still no Spells or Talents, but hopefully they¡¯d being soon. I went ahead and sat to meditate and assign my Stat Points. I was still in favor of increasing my Conjuration; I knew my Health was pretty low, but I was still getting a decent boost to it in the 1 Endurance I got per Level. Plus, I just felt like increasing my Mana and Mana/Minute was a better deal. The more I increased my Mana/Minute, the more quickly I could increase my Noxious Grasp Ranks, which would increase the amount of damage I could deal and how quickly I could deal it. And if I could kill my enemies more quickly, then they wouldn¡¯t have as much time to deal damage to me.


    Besides, my thoughts about the total amount of damage I could deal still applied. The amount of Mana I had directly tranted to the maximum amount of damage I could ever deal in battle. And if that number was lower than an enemy¡¯s Health, I simply would never be able to win a battle against it. That was a bit of an oversimplification ¨C I could still deal damage by, say, punching an enemy ¨C but I wouldn¡¯t be able to do a significant amount of damage that way. My low Health was at least slightly made up for by Time Loop letting me retry a battle that didn¡¯t go my way, but it would only work with fights where I had enough Mana ¨C and thus, possible damage ¨C that I was capable of winning.


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 15.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    10


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>2</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>13</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>22</strong>/<strong>150</strong>


    Dexterity:


    10


    Health:


    <strong>61</strong>/<strong>130</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.051</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>15</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>56</strong>/<strong>69</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.432</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>2</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>29</strong>/<strong>160</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>3</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Noxious Grasp <strong>2</strong> - XP <strong>2</strong>/<strong>14</strong>


    Time Loop <strong>2</strong>


    Trailzer


    I gazed at my Status proudly. Level 2 in such a short time! I was sure that other people had gotten to my point more quickly ¨C it wasmon for children of nobles to spend copious amounts of money hiring adventurers to escort them through fights, earning lots of XP without much actual risk to themselves ¨C but they had money and people to help them along. All I had going into this were the clothes on my back and half a canteen of water, so I felt like my pride was deserved.


    I was curious as to when I¡¯d be getting my next Spell, though. Honestly, the anticipation of seeing what my options would be was killing me. Noxious Grasp was such a helpful piece of magic that I couldn¡¯t help but get excited about what I¡¯d get ess to next.


    I was also curious to see how Time Loop would evolve. I''d checked the new Rank of the Talent immediately after seeing it''d Ranked up again, but I didn''t see anything unexpected ¨C it could just take me back 3 minutes, instead of 2. Seemed like that''d be how it increased in power every Rank, then. But that didn''t mean it would always be stuck like this. Spells, for example, every 10 Ranks, would let you choose one of three unique Upgrades to add to the Spell. Things like greatly increasing range or damage weremon, but other Upgrades offered the option to add onpletely separate effects ¨C such as having a damaging Spell also restore the caster¡¯s Health. So it was possible Time Loop could eventually receive an Upgrade like that.


    Obviously, I was anticipating Noxious Grasp¡¯s Rank 10 Upgrade and seeing the opportunities it would offer me, but I was also curious as to whether Time Loop would work the same way. I hadn¡¯t heard of a Talent with Ranks like Spells before, but I imagined that if it paralleled a Spell¡¯s progression path so far, it was at least possible it would continue to in the future.


    Anyway, now that I had used up Time Loop for the day, I would need to be much more careful. Even though I hadn¡¯t had the ss for long, knowing that if I died I¡¯d get a do-over had given me a lot of peace of mind, and quite honestly, I¡¯d gotten a bit too used to it. Now that I¡¯d been stripped of this protection, I felt a very strong aversion to getting into any sort of fight. However, out here in the wilderness, there was always the possibility of some predator sneaking up and ambushing me.


    But that¡¯s where that idea I mentioned before came in. I would have to abandon my little shelter, but hopefully it¡¯d be worth it. So, I got up and began heading out to my destination.


    Since I¡¯d spent most of my Mana in the fight with the Wood Wraith, it was going to take about an hour to totally recharge. And since I was waiting for it to recharge, that meant no more casting practice. It should have been a relief that I wouldn¡¯t have to do it anymore, but, well, I missed it. The previously ufortable activity had definitely be a soothing habit that I took sce in performing, and it felt downright <em>wrong</em> to not be doing it. Not actively distressing, or anything, just¡­ like I was forgetting something. I was antsy, fiddling with my hands and tugging at loose threads on my tattered shirt in lieu of the fiddling with my Mana that I was used to doing.


    In fact¡­


    A puff of poison fumes steamed off of my body as I activated Noxious Grasp for a half second.


    Yeah, that felt <em>so</em> much better.


    I was still going to let my Mana regenerate, but¡­ maybe once every few minutes I¡¯d go ahead and give myself a cast, as a treat. I was earning 3 Mana per minute after my most recent Level-up, so casting a second of Noxious Grasp would only actually consume sixty seconds worth of regeneration. In that sense, casting it once every three or four minutes just to calm my mind wouldn¡¯t slow my regeneration down too much.


    Oh, also, I was at my destination! It was a rtively short trip, so it only took about half an hour to walk here. And where was ¡®here,¡¯ exactly? Well¡­ it was just another part of the forest, so it didn¡¯t visually look all that different, just another stretch of river I¡¯d parked myself next to, but the location was still significant! Specifically, I was now within the Nymph¡¯s territory!


    Yep, that scary monster that had killed me! I was now trespassing right in its own house!


    Okay, it wasn¡¯t as stupid as it sounds, I swear!


    So, Nymphs had that whole ¡®empathy¡¯ thing, right? They felt the emotions of all nearby monsters, and monsters could feel the emotions of the Nymph. Well, the range on that was pretty far. Far enough that I could be within it without being at significant risk that the Nymph itself would actually find my little hideout. But all the monsters in the area would still be able to feel the Nymph¡¯s emotions. And, as long as the Nymph wasn¡¯t pissed off at me or something, it would probably be pretty calm, which would in turn calm down all the nearby monsters!


    So, basically, none of the monsters around here would actually be in the mood to fight me. Wasn¡¯t that sweet?


    Yeah, yeah, the n wasn¡¯t all upside. First off, there <em>was</em> still some risk that the Nymph would find me. Now, I was in a lot better shape than I wasst time the Nymph found me and killed me ¨C I actually had some food and water in my body now, at least ¨C so I¡¯d hopefully be able to flee in that situation, but really, my n was to just hope that didn¡¯t happen.


    At the end of the day, it was just a numbers game. Sure, if the Nymph found me, it¡¯d most likely kill me. However, the Nymph was just one monster. If I went without its protection, then I¡¯d have to hide from <em>every </em>monster in the whole forest. So, sure, I was exposing myself to danger by being here, but everywhere else out here was even <em>more</em> dangerous. I was just choosing the lesser of two evils.


    The second downside was less obvious, but no less painful. While I was here in the Nymph¡¯s sphere of influence, I¡¯d be safe from monsters, sure. However, I also wouldn¡¯t be able to kill anything, either. The minute I attacked something, the Nymph would certainly be alerted that something was up, and it¡¯d be over for me. So, basically, it was a mutual truce between me and the monsters. They couldn¡¯t kill me, and I couldn¡¯t farm them for XP.


    So I was mainly just nning on sitting out here and rxing, regenerating my Health and practicing my casting.


    And, of course, by ¡®rxing¡¯ I meant desperately hiding from a being that could kill me in an instant! What fun!


    But hey, at least while I was waiting I could get my Spell Ranks up!


    Alright! Time for the highest-stakes game of hide-and-seek I¡¯ve ever yed!

 Chapter 9: Welcome to Hell. Have a Revelation.

    Chapter 9: Wee to Hell. Have a Revtion.


    A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. He was yet again doing paperwork in his office, signing off on proposals and reading reports, but this time he was working quite a bit more slowly. The reason for his wavering work-ethic was what happened with that escaped convict, Temporus. The incident had been slowly adding more and more work onto his already-overstuffed te.


    Of course, he had to worry about the now-frequent meetings with his superior. But on top of that, he also had to manage multiple Diviner teams, all of which were searching for Temporus in different locations. They were using magic to search for the convict¡¯s heartbeat, but they couldn¡¯t find it anywhere. Sure, Divining a being¡¯s location was a long and arduous process ¨C and even more so if the target was actively moving ¨C but they had prepared for the possibility of an escape and had put Curses on Temporus to make it easier to track this way. It was as if the beating heart of Temporus had just disappeared into nowhere.


    Obviously, they wouldn¡¯t be able to find Temporus¡¯s beating heart if the convict had died, but that was such an unlikely possibility that¡­ no. In truth, it wasn¡¯t really all that unlikely. The Devil just wanted it to be untrue so badly that he refused to prepare for it. He had one team of Diviners searching for Temporus¡¯s corpse, but they hadn¡¯t found anything, either, so there was no evidence either way of the convict¡¯s state.


    Well, the fact that it was just a single team of Diviners searching for a corpse meant that it was much more understandable that they hadn¡¯t found anything yet, as opposed to multiple teams not finding a living Temporus, but¡­ no. He didn¡¯t even want to think about it. If Temporus was dead, it would be bad, to say the least.


    The Devil went ahead and signed the proposal in front of him. He hadn¡¯t actually finished reading it, but he just didn¡¯t have the energy to do his job right now. From the bit that he had skimmed, it seemed fine enough.


    A knock sounded from his door.


    The Devil sighed. He <em>really</em> didn¡¯t want to deal with another person bothering him. ¡°You may enter,¡± he said after a moment.


    The stone door creaked open, and a Diviner shuffled in. It was short, with the patchy, blue-and-red skin that all Diviners had and the square, geometric facial features and seemingly-glowing eyes that they were known for. It wore the purple robe that was uniform for them, but this one¡¯s robe was gold-trimmed ¨C it was a leader of one of the squads. The Devil didn¡¯t remember <em>which </em>of the squads this Diviner led ¨C he didn¡¯t have nearly enough time to go around learning who was part of what team ¨C but that hardly mattered.


    ¡°Expression of formal greeting, Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep.¡±


    ¡°Expression of greeting, Diviner. What is your name?¡±


    ¡°This one has been granted the name of Ooindaar¡¯wodinpaarvivaxya¡¯oocandii.¡±


    ¡°I will call you Ooindar. What have youe here for?¡±


    The Diviner leader gave a regal bow. ¡°This one brings knowledge of the pursuance of Temporus, Overlord of Tomorrows. You had requested for this one to inform you in the instance of a development in our seeking of the rogue convict, and that has indeed urred.¡±


    The Devil fought back a sigh. The Diviners were an old race, and as such, they had an old way of speaking. It wasn¡¯t an issue, of course. It was just strange. The Devil himself was old, too, by the standards of aging set in the Overworld, but,pared to Demonkind, he was closer to being middle-aged. Besides, his job was a social one ¨C he interacted with coworkers, subordinates, and superiors, he read documents written by others, and the like. So he had lots of time and practice in keeping up with changingnguage and social norms.


    The Diviners¡­ Well, they were a bit more secluded. Divining was a job that necessitatedplete silence, so the Diviners were cordoned off from others while they worked. And a single Divining job could take days, weeks, or even months of straight casting. And not only that, but Diviners were so in-demand that after one job, they¡¯d normally be taken straight to another. This meant that they generally got little to no social interaction.


    So, when they did talk, they were normally a bit strange.


    But at least this Diviner was respectful of basic traditions, like proper greetings and treatment of names and titles. In the past, the Devil had met a Diviner that began speaking without even greeting him or speaking his name. It was preposterous. <em>Someone</em> needed to teach these beings manners. In fact, perhaps he would write up a request for permission to write a proposal to introduce a training program for Diviners to be taught in basic social interaction.


    Ah, but he¡¯d gotten distracted from the conversation at hand.


    ¡°What is the news, Ooindar?¡±


    ¡°Superior Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep, this one, along with the rest of what has been designated as Diviner Squad 057A2Y6, has located the target.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Really? That¡¯s great! Where is it? I¡¯ll send out a retrieval squad right away.¡±


    ¡°Of course, Superior Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep. The corpse of Temporus is currently located at the coordinates of 370.2467918¨C¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± the Devil interrupted. ¡°Corpse? You were the squad looking for Temporus¡¯s corpse?¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±


    ¡°And you found it?¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±


    ¡°A corpse? You found a corpse? Not a living body?¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±


    The Devil groaned, his head falling into his hands. Why? Why did it have to turn out like this? The Diviner stared at him with its dumb, emotionless face.


    ¡°I¡­ I need to make a call. Stay here, Ooindar.¡±


    The Devil contacted his superior using his Communication Crystal.


    ¡°Expression of greeting, Xhag¡¯duul. You didn¡¯t schedule this call, so I take it you have information rting to Temporus?¡±


    ¡°Expression of formal greeting, Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki. And yes, the Diviners have just found the¡­ corpse. Of Temporus.¡±


    There was a silence ¨C one so long, the Devil was worried that his superior didn¡¯t hear him. But eventually, her voice rang out.


    ¡°Do you know what killed it?¡±


    The Devil looked over to Ooindar, the Diviner. ¡°Tell us.¡±


    ¡°This one does not have that knowledge,¡± it said to the Devil. ¡°We only have knowledge of its location.¡±


    The Devil ryed this information to his superior.


    There was another silence. ¡°Xhag¡¯duul, do you know what it means now that Temporus has been killed?¡±


    Confused at the random question, the Devil responded, ¡°Yes, Superior Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki. It means that we no longer have it as an asset to use for our cause. While Temporus¡¯s time maniption wasn¡¯t essential to the functioning of our operations, it was an asset, and losing it will be unfortunate. Do not worry, I will immediately write the necessary reports detailing all materials, assets, opportunities, forces, and services that we lost due to the death of¨C¡±


    ¡°That is incorrect, Xhag¡¯duul.¡± The female voice had a hard certainty to it. ¡°I was asking what the consequences of Temporus being <em>killed</em> were, not the consequences of its death.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ do not understand the question.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s okay. I didn¡¯t expect you to. Temporus was an unusual Demon in many regards. It had its time powers, sure, but it was also considered to be a ''Legendary Monster''. The good news here is that luck is on our side. If Temporus was killed by a monster, environmental injuries, or a ssed individual, then the consequences will be just as you say.¡±


    ¡°Formal expression of apology, superior, but what do you mean by ¡®ssed?¡¯¡±


    ¡°Ah, right, your job doesn¡¯t require you to interact with the Overworld much, does it? Well, instead of the way Demons acquire System-rted power ¨C through their Racial abilities ¨C many of the sentient Overworld species, such as Humans, are born without any sort of Racial identity or power. Instead, they are granted their abilities through abination of merit and their own choices. It is¡­ disturbing, to say the least.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s superior was correct that he didn¡¯t know much about the Overworld. Why would he? He lived in the Underworld and had no ns on going to the other side, and business was pretty much exclusively based in the Underworld, too ¨C managing resources, fighting wars against the other circles of Hell, that sort of thing. And after hearing that bit of information¡­ How strange. Was there no order up there? Peasants rising to be kings? It wasmon sense that a prince raised from birth to be royalty would perform infinitely better than somemoner with no knowledge of ruling; how did they survive in a world that even entertained the idea?


    ¡°One way that these ¡®sses¡¯ are doled out is through aplishments such as killing beings outside of their own species. Now, an individual may only have one ss, so we do not have to worry about someone with a ss killing Temporus ¨C that wouldn¡¯t do anything. However, if an individual <em>without</em> a ss killed it, since it was a Legendary Monster, there would be consequences.¡±


    ¡°Would the individual be incredibly powerful?¡±


    ¡°No, not immediately. What would happen would essentially be that the individual would steal a portion of Temporus¡¯s powers for themself.¡±


    ¡°<em>What?!</em>¡± The Devil leapt out of his seat. ¡°That is¡­ reviling! What right do they have to steal the power of something that was rightfully born with it?¡± Only then did he recover from his burst of anger. ¡°F-Formal expression of apology, Superior Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki. I seemed to have lost my manners for a moment.¡±


    ¡°It is okay, Xhag¡¯duul. I understand your anger. It is one thing for those Overworlders to live in sphemous chaos, but to force it upon us¡­ To put it lightly, justice would be necessitated in the case that Temporus¡¯s power has been stolen. In order to maintain the hierarchy of our society, to uphold the Demon race¡¯s morale, and ¨C of course ¨C to put those filthy Overworlders in their ce, I believe that the culprit of this theft would need to be punished.¡±


    The Devil frowned. ¡°But¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes. But in order to do so, we would need resources, and to receive resources, we would need to submit a request for approval. And approvals do not happen based on appeals to emotion ¨C no matter how strong or objectively correct those emotions are. However, there will be benefits for the Demon race if the culprit is killed. On their soul¡¯s way through the Underworld, we could simply intercept it and reim its powers to put into a sessor of Temporus.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. So the request would be framed as a simple remation of resources?¡±


    ¡°Indeed, Xhag¡¯duul. Now, of course, understand that the possibilities of this happening are still astronomically low. Temporus¡¯s physical body was weak, but not so weak that an individual without any sort of System-rted power could easily kill it. So, for now, simply keep this information in the back of your mind as an idea of the worst-case scenario.¡±


    ¡°Yes, superior. How should I find the source of Temporus¡¯s death?¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Just use the Diviner squads already assigned to you. Finding source of death is much more difficult than finding a body, but you should be able to get it done within a reasonable amount of time.¡±


    ¡°Yes, superior. I will have them do so immediately.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s superior ended the connection.


    The Devil breathed, thinking about the conversation he¡¯d just had. He had always felt like the Overworld wasn¡¯t an important ce. It was far away, and there wasn¡¯t much there that his race couldn¡¯t get from the Underworld. Besides, there was so much more to worry about here ¨C the constant fighting with the other circles, managing growth and expansion, and of course just doing his own job all felt like they should have taken precedence over some random other ce.


    However, that was before he learned of their disgusting way of life. And if those Overworld denizens were going to corrupt the Demons that ended up there, then he would dly take revenge.


    ¡°Ooindar,¡± he spoke to the Diviner. ¡°You heard our conversation. I want you to get the teams together and focus on finding the cause of Temporus¡¯s death. If you even begin to suspect that it was an¡­ what did she call it? Ah, right, an ¡®Unssed individual.¡¯ If you think that one of those Unssed things killed it, then notify me immediately.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Superior Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep.¡±


    ¡°You are dismissed, Ooindar. Work hard for me. We have a thief to find.¡±

 Chapter 10: Departure

    Chapter 10: Departure


    On the third day of hiding in the Nymph¡¯s territory, my Health was finally done regenerating. Well, really, it was done about halfway through day two, but I wanted to wait a bit longer just to get some rest and wait until the morning, when I¡¯d have a full day¡¯s worth of sunlight to spend traveling. I decided that I was going to make a serious attempt to find civilization now, so I wanted to make sure I was totally ready for it.


    I didn¡¯t do much over the few days I spent hiding out, getting water from the river and making small expeditions outside of the Nymph¡¯s influence to hunt small game to eat, which earned me a little bit of XP. I¡¯d gotten a bit used to eating raw meat ¨C at the very least, I could get it all the way down without gagging now. Some of therger monsters like Wood Wraiths and Dire Bears came and drank near my little shelter, but ¨C like I¡¯d guessed ¨C they didn¡¯t attack, paying me no mind other than a bit of caution. But other than that, I spent most of my time rxing. Well, I did one other thing.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 14.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 3.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 3, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 3.16 to 3.24


    Health Drain: From 11 to 11.6


    Stamina Drain: From 5.51 to 5.79


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 20.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 4.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 4, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 3.24 to 3.32


    Health Drain: From 11.6 to 12.2


    Stamina Drain: From 5.79 to 6.08


    I¡¯d ranked up Noxious Grasp two whole times! It¡¯d gotten pretty difficult to Rank by now ¨C I was currently at 16/30 Spell XP to the next ¨C so I imagined it would take a bit longer to Rank up from now on, at least until I started Leveling up again and got some more Mana/Minute. Of course, ideally, I wouldn¡¯t <em>need</em> to focus so hard on gathering more power ¨C I hoped I¡¯d be out of this forest soon ¨C but what was the point of getting a ss if not to try and be as powerful as possible?


    I¡¯d also finally taken the time to figure out the math behind the way the Noxious Grasp Rank-ups were working. It¡¯d been in the back of my mind for a while, wanting to try and figure that out, but I had been so busy with trying not to die and all that I hadn¡¯t been able to until now.


    I didn¡¯t remember much from the negligible amount of reading I had done on Magic-Type sses and the ways their progression systems worked, but after studying the little information I had avable, it started toe back to me.


    With regards to Spell Ranks, the Spell XP costs were the same between all Spells. However, the Rank-up benefits were not. I remembered my eyes zing over when reading some dumb form about a summation function within a summation function when I was looking into Spell XP costs, but it actually made a bit more sense when looking at it from a real-world situation. Essentially, to find the Spell XP cost for a Spell Rank, you just needed to find the sum of your current Rank number plus all previous Rank numbers you¡¯ve already gotten for that Spell, and then add it to the previous Spell XP cost.


    So, as an example, Noxious Grasp was currently at Rank 4. To get to Rank 5, I¡¯d just add 4 + 3 + 2 + 1, which is 10, and then add that to the previous XP cost ¨C which was 20 ¨C to get my current Spell XP cost of 30. And at Rank 0, the Spell XP cost would just start out at 10. I also remembered something about this form changing every tenth Rank ¨C something about the added numbers being multiplied by five ¨C but I didn¡¯t quite recall exactly how that worked, so I¡¯d just deal with it when I got there.


    When it came to the benefits of Ranking up a Spell, though, that was different for each one. I¡¯d figured out the way Noxious Grasp Ranked up, though. The math behind this one was actually quite simple. Essentially, it just multiplied the previous Rank¡¯s Mana Cost by 1.025, and then multiplied the previous Rank¡¯s Health Drain and Stamina Drain by 1.05. It also seemed to round the numbers so that they were only three digits long, since, for example, when going from Rank 3 to 4, my Stamina Drain went from a Stamina Drain of 5.79 to 6.08, even though 5.79 times 1.05 was actually 6.0795. So it seemed like it just rounded that up, cutting off the 95 on the end.


    Well, anyway, it was nice to know that the Health and Stamina Drains were increasing at double the rate of the Mana Cost ¨C if they weren¡¯t, then the Spell wouldn¡¯t be getting much better every Rank up.


    I looked back on the space that I had called my home for the past 72 hours. Strangely, I felt I would miss it. Not only this little base by the river, but also the forest as a whole. It was¡­ interesting, finding ways to survive out here.


    Before I left for good, I decided to get onest meal. Well, as much as raw muscle and tendons could be considered a ''meal''. I''d gotten to know some of the territories around here in my few days I''d spent in the area, so finding something to eat would be easy. Much easier than trying to find something while out traveling throughpletely unknownnds, at least.


    So I headed off to one of the animal territories I knew of. What was I in the mood for ¨C Rabbit, Elk, maybe even Bear cub? Even if the meat was raw and unseasoned, each animal still had its own texture and vor. I''d be something of a connoisseur over the days. Maybe when I got back to civilization, I''d drop my dreams of adventuring and open a raw meat restaurant.


    Yeah, no.


    Eventually, I just settled on the closest ce ¨C I was restless to get out of here, and didn''t want to waste time going on some grand journey for exotic Hydra meat. So, Boar it was. There was a little mud pit where rainwater collected only a half-hour away, and the Boars and Boarlets would oftene by to bathe or y or whatever they did in the mud. Normally, it''d take an hour or two of waiting for some of them toe around, but I could wait another hour before leaving.


    But when I got there, I was pleasantly surprised. There were already a pack of Boars there, tramping around in the mud. What luck! It seemed like today would be fortunate for me ¨C I got to leave the forest, and I didn''t even have to wait for food toe to me. Perhaps the wilderness was giving me its blessing for my departure. Today would go well for sure!


    Yeah, let''s not jinx it. Saying shit like that was just begging for the gods to strike you with lighting or something.


    I crouched and hid a few paces back from the treeline, taking care to stay out of sight of the animals. It wasn''t like angering the pack would result in my death ¨C I was a sser now, so mundane animals couldn''t really threaten me, anymore. I mean, even if one of them bit into me, I could just turn on Noxious Grasp and it''d have to let go or risk dying before I did. But still, the adults could be pretty aggressive, and it would still suck to get gored by a Boar. Or they could also just run away.


    So I sat and waited for a while at the edge of the pit, watching and listening for my moment to strike. There were about a dozen Boars there, so it only took a few minutes for an opportunity toe my way.


    One of the Boars ¨C a younger one ¨C wandered away from the safety of the pack and over to a nearby tree. It rubbed against the tree, evidently trying to scratch an itch on its back. I crept over to the tree, taking care to move silently, and approached my prey. It turned to scratch a different part of its body against the tree, now fully facing away from me, and I took my moment to strike.


    I lunged forward and snatched the back legs of the Boar, activating Noxious Grasp the moment I touched it, and pulled it back, away from the others. It squealed for help, but I moved quickly, and I was sure its voice was quickly fading from the ears of the other Boars. Of course, they would still be able to hear it, but in my experience, they wouldn''t investigate.


    In a forest full of Dire Bears and Drakelings, smaller animals like the Boars only had two survival skills: hiding and fleeing. They might be able to fight back against the other smaller animals with their small tusks, but, if they caught the attention of something like a pack of roaming Stripeks, they''d be diced before they could even turn around. And these Boars at the mud pit had no idea what was attacking theirpanion ¨C they could only hear its squeals. So, instead of running to its aid and most likely getting themselves killed alongside it, they just stayed where they were and hoped they weren''t next.


    So I quickly backed away with the kicking and fighting Boar, slowly feeling its vigor vanish as Noxious Grasp drained away its Stamina. After a bit of time, it stopped moving, and I got my notification.


    You have struck Level 2 Boar for 71 damage and drained 35 Stamina over the course of 5.8 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    19.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 141.


    You have in Level 2 Boar.


    You have earned 6 XP. Your XP is 39.


    Once it was dead, I let go and readjusted my grip, picking the Boar''s body fully up and hoisting it over my shoulder to make it easier to carry. Then, I headed back to my home by the river. I needed to wash off the meat in the running water of the river, and wanted to get onest refill of my waterskin before heading out for good, too. Besides, getting onest look at the ce that''d kept me safe for so long would be cathartic.


    I''d done some tests with Noxious Grasp over the days, and found that it didn''t actually do much to the meat of the monsters I used it on. It mainly seemed to strain and sink the non-edible parts of the body, as well as a small amount of the fat stores. As for everything else, it more or less left the monsters untouched. No negative effects for eating something that''d been killed by it, or anything.


    And so I enjoyed my pleasant walk back to my makeshift shelter, fresh kill on my back. The forest was bright, this morning, the sun ncing from the dew on the leaves. Over my days here, I''d gotten much more used to the previously unknown wilderness. I''d never been outside my vige walls before, despite aspiring to work a job that''d have me out here constantly. But by now, the incredible greenery felt natural, and I''d even picked up on some of the localndmarks. There was a tree whose trunk looked like the face of one of the librarians back in my vige, there was a massive hill that I could see from off in the distance, a pile of rocks that looked manmade. I''d gotten quite a bit familiar with the ce.


    Ah, passed tree-face. That meant I''d just take a turn here, and I''d get to my home!


    Once I got to my hut, though, I froze.


    I had an intruder.


    The Nymph. The same one that''d killed me in a split-second. It was there, bent over and examining my lean-to with narrowed eyes. I took a soft step back, the rushing river masking the sound of my steps, as I watched. It sniffed at one of the sticks making the hut and scrunched its nose in disgust. Then it stood back up, bared its long, needle-sharp ws, and swiped at the pile of sticks. In a single motion, it cut right through my hut, splitting it in half and causing it to crumble to the ground.


    The Nymph turned around and examined the rest of my campsite. I''d taken the emptied-out corpses of the animals I''d killed away from the camp and over to a hole I''d dug, but apparently the Nymph could still detect them. Gingerly, she bent over, dug them out of the hole, picked up the corpses, and looked at each of them with its pure-white eyes. I wasn''t the best at reading the facial expressions of monsters, but I was pretty certain this Nymph was a mixture of sad and pissed off. I didn''t have to wonder what was causing its anger ¨C and who it might be directed toward, if the Nymph found me.


    Yeah. I needed to fucking run. I couldn''t do that with the heavy corpse over my shoulders, so I carefully ced the Boar on the ground, and backed away from my shelter ¨C well, not that the shelter was still standing, anymore. I may have missed my little campsite and wanted to get onest look at it, but I definitely missed civilization much more. And I wasn''t very interested in getting impaled by the Nymph again.


    I quietly took my leave, constantly ncing around for any sign of me being followed. After some time, when it seemed obvious that I was clear of the danger posed by the Nymph, I finally let my guard down a bit. And my fear was reced by excitement. I was going to find civilization. I would do it today. I would walk, and walk, and walk, until I got out of this gods-forsaken forest, and found a real, actual Human that I could talk to.


    I just hoped I wouldn''t have any more run-ins with dangerous monsters on my way.

 Chapter 11: Arrival

    Chapter 11: Arrival


    After that encounter with the Nymph, I felt pretty on-edge as I fled from the scene. But I eventually got far enough away that I was confident I¡¯d left its territory. From there, it was just a matter of finding civilization.


    It was frustrating to do, but I had to leave the river behind. Even if civilization was much moremon near bodies of water, I knew monsters were even moremon. I could only spend so much time near one before because I had the Nymph''s aura of empathy to keep me safe, but now I wouldn''t have that. If I saw a monster, it''d kill me. Plus, other Nymphs would also make their homes near the rivers, and those Nymphs I wouldn''t know the locations of, so I could easily walk right into one of them and get myself killed easily. In the worst case, I could just backtrack to find this river if I ever got low on water again.


    So, I had to abandon the river and find civilization another way. It would only be a matter of time before I stumbled across <em>something</em>, so if I went for long enough, I was bound to find salvation.


    As I walked, I continued practicing Noxious Grasp, as usual. The Spell had be so much second nature to me at that point that I was confused as to how I even found it ufortable ¨C and even painful ¨C before. Sure, there was a mental exertion happening, but it was¡­ pleasant. Like a nice, spicy te of food. Sure, it would technically hurt your tongue to eat, but that pain was part of the experience.


    Why had I never heard of this benefit of Magic-Type sses before? It seemed that most of the texts I¡¯d read on them would talk about how it could take a lot out of a person if they cast too many Spells in a short period, or went without breaks for too long, but none of them mentioned how Spellcasting became so easy after a good bit of practice. Maybe Noxious Grasp was weird, somehow?


    Oh well. I¡¯d figure it outter.


    Many hours of just walking passed by. I was d I¡¯d filled up my waterskin, since the heat was dehydrating me quickly. At the very least, I was keeping track of where I¡¯d need to go if I ever wanted to backtrack to the river. I hoped it wouldn¡¯te to that, though. Ideally, I¡¯d get to some semnce of a city or vige before I ran out of my day-or-two¡¯s worth of water.


    Over the hours of traveling, I killed a few smaller animals like I¡¯d usually do, earning myself a bit of extra XP. Combined with what I earned during my sporadic hunts over thest few days, it brought my XP total up to 51/150. It was past noon by now for sure, and I was hot and tired, but I kept moving.


    Many more hours passed. I was beginning to be reminded of my time searching for water back when I first got lost, but it was obviously not as bad as then. Sure, my legs were killing me again, and my ankles were sore from all the footfalls, but at least I still had water, and the Spellcasting practice was a source offort instead of suffering. During my journey, I got a notification as I cast a routine puff of Noxious Grasp.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 30.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 5.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 5, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 3.32 to 3.40


    Health Drain: From 12.2 to 12.8


    Stamina Drain: From 6.08 to 6.38


    That had happened a while ago, though, and by now, my Spell XP was up to 8/45. The sun was setting in the distance, and I was beginning to consider finding a ce to camp out and wait for the next day toe.


    But, just then, I found it.


    A road!


    Not a big one, or one that even seemed very well-traveled, but it was an actual road! Something built by Human beings! I could taste it, the feeling of civilization ¨C of other people! I grinned wide as I rushed up to the messy dirt path and began to follow it; if I followed the road for long enough, it¡¯d eventually take me somewhere popted! Probably nowhere incredibly busy, judging by the size and quality of the trail, but something was better than nothing.


    I decided to try and stay up walking through the night. If I could avoid sleeping in another hut made of sticks and leaves, I would.


    Another few more uninteresting hours passed, and my enthusiasm faded rtively quickly; ultimately, I was still doing what I had been doing all day ¨C walking. And walk I did, continuing on as the moon rose over the canopy and my eyes adjusted to the darkness. My thighs and calves begged me to stop, my toes warned that they were about to fall off, and my eyelids threatened to fall. However, I marched on.


    As the night grewter andter, I began to have doubts about the whole ¡®keep walking without rest until you find somece civilized¡¯ thing.


    Maybe I needed to just suck it up and find a ce nearby to sleep? I was so tired, I felt like I could see shadows moving through the trees.


    Just as I started to look around for a clearing I could camp in, though, something burst out of the treeline, heading straight for me!


    <em>Shit!</em>


    I tried to dash off, but I was so tired and caught off-guard, that I stumbled, catching myself as I fell to the ground. I tried to scramble to my feet, but just as I did¡­


    You have been pierced by a stinger. 103 damage.


    Your Health is 17.


    Something the size of a spear burst through my chest, breaking ribs and piercing lungs as it skewered me straight through and lifted me into the air, twitching and bleeding.


    You have been poisoned. 78 damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. You will lose 15 Health every hour for a number of days equal to 31 minus your Endurance <em>(18 days)</em>.


    You have died.


    I spasmed to consciousness in the in-between ce, trying to grab at my chest before realizing I didn¡¯t currently have a body. Presented with three options ¨C 1 minute back, 2 minutes back, and 3 minutes back ¨C I only just then realized that I had died, the act so quick that I barely noticed it.


    Gods fucking damn it!<em></em>I¡¯d been killed without even realizing it!


    I could already feel myself fading, so I hurriedly picked 3 minutes, hoping that I could avoid the predator this time.


    And then I was back, walking tiredly down the road. The second I found myself back in my body, I sprinted off down the path, hoping that it wouldn¡¯t find me if I got past quickly enough. But the second I began running, the thing popped out of the treeline again! It¡¯d been following me!


    <em>Fuck, fuck, fuck¡­</em>


    I had a head-start this time, and dly didn¡¯t trip over my own feet like a dumbass, so hopefully it¡¯d go better. I tore down the path, fleeing from my pursuer without even getting a good look at whatever it was. I heard a scuttling and hissing as it chased, close on my tail.


    I stole a nce back. It was too dark to see clearly, but it was big, had six legs, and¡­


    <em>Oh, fuck¡­</em>


    It was a scorpion! One of those giant, creepy fucking scorpions!


    I breathed heavily as I ran, my legs not happy at all with my decision to exert them further.


    It¡¯s for our own good! I mentally shouted at my own extremities. Stopining and just move!<em></em>


    What could I do? I didn¡¯t think I held a candle to those things in actual battle, and while it seemed I could move a bit faster than it could with its bulky body, I didn¡¯t have the energy to keep this up for very long.


    My only hope was that it would get bored and give up.


    Or, maybe<em>¡­</em>


    I stared at the length of road I was fleeing down.


    Yes, that was it! If I could find somece, or someone, that could help me defeat this monstrosity, then I¡¯d be safe.


    Okay, I thought. It¡¯se down to this. Civilization or bust!


    The giant scorpion was still chasing after me, apparently realizing along with me that I obviously didn¡¯t have the energy to outrun it for long, what with mybored movements and tired breathing.


    I tore down the path, hoping desperately to see a wall or a building crop up in the distance, but none did. However, I did see something.


    A figure, bent over. It seemed like they were¡­ cutting at a nt with a knife?


    ¡°Help!¡± I shouted out to them, my voice hoarse after not using it for so long. ¡°Help me! Monster!¡±


    The figure¡¯s head snapped over to look in my direction.


    ¡°Oh, shit!¡± A female voice came from the figure as she quickly got to her feet and ran off in the same direction I was going.


    ¡°Can you kill it?!¡± I shouted out to the woman as I caught up beside her. Her red hair was iling in front of her face as she ran.


    ¡°Fuck no,¡± she breathed. ¡°Do you know what that is? Those things are twenty Levels higher than I am, minimum! What in the hells were you doing in their territory?!¡±


    ¡°Not right now!¡± I shouted, panting from the exertion of running and speaking at the same time. ¡°You¡¯re out in the forest alone, you have to have <em>something</em> that can defend us!¡±


    The woman grunted and turned, pointing a hand directly at the monster, and a missile of fire shot from her palm and into the face of the scorpion monster with dead uracy. I immediately recognized the Spell as Firebolt, a Spell famous for being offered to every single Magic-Type ss. It didn¡¯t do any more than slow the thing down, but it was better than nothing. ¡°That¡¯s all I have!¡±


    ¡°How far are we from civilization?!¡± I panted.


    ¡°You didn¡¯te from the vige? What the fuck¨C shit!¡± She turned and shot at the monster again as it got close enough to snap at us with its giant pincers.


    I¡¯d clearly underestimated its speed. As I got more and more tired, I slowed more and more, and the scorpion was beginning to gain on me. I probably would¡¯ve died by now if not for the woman running alongside me.


    ¡°We¡¯re not far off,¡± she said. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t take us more than ten minutes at this pace!¡±


    ¡°Ten minutes?!¡± I despaired.


    She shot another Firebolt at the monster. ¡°I wasn¡¯t high on Mana to begin with, and this is only draining my reserves! Do you have anything you can do?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely not! My only Spell is touch-based!¡±


    ¡°Your only¨C wait, what? What ss gets offered a touch-based damage Spell as its first option?¡±


    ¡°That isn¡¯t relevant! How are you getting distracted from the monster trying to kill us!¡± I screamed at her as the monster approached again. ¡°Firebolt! Use one!¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡± She shot another Spell at the monster. ¡°Sorry!¡±


    My lungs burned as I kept running, every breath ripping at my throat.


    The woman threw another Firebolt. ¡°That was myst one!¡±


    I groaned and poured more power that I didn¡¯t have into my legs, trying to at least match the monster¡¯s speed.


    But as my steps pounded away, it became obvious I didn¡¯t have the strength to keep going like this. I nced around frantically, trying to find a way out of the situation.


    ¡°You¡¯re sure you don¡¯t have another in you?!¡± I asked the woman.


    ¡°No! Mana¡¯s empty!¡±


    <em>Shit, shit, shit¡­</em>


    I looked over at her, and my eye was caught on something on her belt glimmering in the moonlight. Her knife! It stuck out of a sheath in her waist, ring at me with an expensive-looking sheen. Without a second thought, I reached down and grasped it out of its sheath, taking aim and throwing it at the beast.


    The knife flew true, and stabbed right into the monster¡¯s eye! It didn¡¯t pierce all the way through, bouncing off andnding in the dirt, but it obviously hurt the giant scorpion, as it stumbled and hissed, giving us the few more moments needed to get a good lead.


    You have struck Level 31 Banestinger for 27 damage using Knife.


    <em>Level 31?! </em>


    ¡°That¡¯s my knife!¡± The woman shouted at me. ¡°It was Royal Steel!¡±


    ¡°I just saved our lives!¡± I responded without looking, trying to focus on running straight ahead as I could feel my legs threaten to give out on me. ¡°I¡¯ll help you get itter or something, just run!¡±


    Soon, we turned a corner and I saw it. Walls! Sweet, glorious, man-made walls! With people on top, guarding the ramparts!


    ¡°Help!¡± I hoarsely screamed up at them, ¡°Giant scorpion!¡±


    I dashed forward with renewed vigor as I watched guards gather to see what was the matter. After a few seconds, the monster rounded the same corner,ing into view, chasing after us in what seemed now to be anger, rather than hunger.


    Now, though, it didn¡¯t have the advantage. Spells and projectiles rained down on the angry monster from the ramparts, explosions sting out onto its carapace, hunks of stone knocking it down, and magically-enhanced arrows piercing into its flesh. But it kept running at us ¨C specifically, at me. It seemed to hold a grudge about the whole knife-in-the-eye thing.


    Unable to run another step, I dove backwards to the ground, surprising the monster as it continued to charge forward and sliding right underneath its massive body, where it couldn¡¯t reach. I activated Noxious Grasp and grabbed on tight to its exoskeletal underbelly.The beast roared, dragging me around and trying to fling me out from under it, but I held strong, draining its Health and Stamina as the rest of the Spells continued to rain down on the monster.


    Eventually, it took a hard turn, and I lost my grip, sliding across the ground and skidding to a halt a few paces away from it.


    You have struck Level 31 Banestinger for 104 damage and drained 52 Stamina over the course of 8.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    26.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 132.


    But despite my wide-open defenses, the monster seemed to decide to cut its losses there, no doubt feeling the pain of the attacks raining down upon it. It turned and began scuttling away, but just then, a gigantic spear of light stormed down from the heavens, thundering through the sky and crunching straight through the monster¡¯s thick shell as though it were nothing.


    You have offered minor contribution toward the ying of Level 31 Banestinger.


    You have earned 117 XP. Your XP is 168.


    Threshold reached. 150 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 3.


    Due to achieving Level 3 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 3.


    -You may choose a Spell to learn.


    Iy on the ground, gasping so heavily I felt like I was going to die. My legs were in so much pain, I could feel the rest of my body numb inparison. I could feel every drop of blood rush through my body, tingling through my veins as they brought nutrients to all of the strained areas.


    As Iy, gasping for breath, a harsh voice shouted out, ¡°What in the thirteenthyer of <em>Hell</em> were you thinking?!¡±

 Chapter 12: Decisions

    Chapter 12: Decisions


    ¡°What in the thirteenthyer of <em>Hell</em> were you thinking?!¡± The gruff voice shouted as arge man walked out of the main gates, my tired eyes only barely catching his armored outline in the dark night. Sensing that he was talking to me, I struggled to my feet, stumbling and shaking as my legs literally did not have the strength to hold me up.


    The man walked up to where the woman and I were. She was much less tired, having only caught the end of the chase ¨C and not having been lost in the woods for almost a week beforehand, presumably.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she breathed, hunched over and holding her knees for support. She pointed at me with her thumb. ¡°I was just doing a nt-gathering job when that guy came running down the road with the Banestinger chasing him. No idea what he was doing in their territory. Wasn¡¯t much time for Q&A.¡±


    The man just scowled down at her, and then nked over to me. He was tall and muscr, with a square face and a well-trimmed beard. He looked down at my gasping face as I continued to struggle to stand, andmanded in a too-loud voice, ¡°Exin yourself!¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡± I gasped, ¡°I¡­ need to rest.¡±


    And I copsed to the ground, unconscious.


    I awoke on a lumpy bed in a jail cell, and immediately panicked. <em>No</em><em>fucking way</em> was I going to get back to society and immediately be imprisoned. I sat up, struggling with the effort as my sore muscles screamed at me. The cell had strong stone walls that made me suspect I was underground, and iron bars on one side, through which I could see a narrow hallway that presumably connected my cell with a few others.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you ain¡¯t stuck here.¡± A new voice drawled as I looked over through the jail cell¡¯s bars to see a slovenly older man sitting in a chair by my cell. He reached over and swung the door right open. ¡°Door¡¯s unlocked, see? We jus¡¯ needed to get you a ce to sleep in, and this was all we had.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I rxed. ¡°So, I can go whenever I want?¡±


    ¡°...Well, ya can¡¯t leave before you talk to the captain ¨C he¡¯s got some questions for ya ¨C but it¡¯s not like we¡¯re keepin¡¯ you here forever.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I guess.¡± I lied back down. I definitely still couldn¡¯t stand ¨C or, at least, I really didn¡¯t want to ¨C so I¡¯d take a few more minutes before I went. Until then¡­


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    10


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>3</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>14</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>18</strong>/<strong>200</strong>


    Dexterity:


    10


    Health:


    <strong>130</strong>/<strong>140</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.054</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>17</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>15</strong>/<strong>72</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.456</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>3</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>172</strong>/<strong>185</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>3.51</strong>


    <strong>Stat Points</strong>:


    <strong>3</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>[Spell Choice Avable]</strong>


    Time Loop <strong>3</strong>


    Trailzer


    Noxious Grasp <strong>5</strong> - XP <strong>9</strong>/<strong>45</strong>


    I smiled as I looked at my Status. I had a Spell Choice! If I got one at Level 0, and then another at Level 3. So, assuming it was a linear progression, I¡¯d get another at 6, another at 9, etc. It was finally nice to have some knowledge of what I¡¯d be getting and when!


    I mentally sighed, thinking about the wealth of information that all of the other sses had on them. Not only could you find <em>when</em> any other ss would get their Spells, you could also find <em>what</em> Spells they would get. Pretty much every ss¡¯s first few Spell choices were very well-documented.


    Now, theter Levels were much harder to document, so as you got stronger, most people would find they¡¯d have to forge their own path. That wasn¡¯t only because there were fewer people at higher Levels to document the choices, though. The way Spell Choices worked was that every Spell Choice was dependent on the Spells you¡¯d chosen previously. So, since I chose Noxious Grasp during my first choice, I¡¯d get a certain set of three Spells to choose from now. However, if I¡¯d chosen, say, Firebolt, I would be offered apletely different set of three Spells at this Level.


    And everyyer of Spell Choices was like this, depending on every Spell Choice in the past. So, for example, Wizards got a Spell Choice every Level. To document every single Spell offered to Wizards up to Level 5, it would take three to the power of five people choosing all of the different ¡®branches¡¯ they could walk down on the ¡®Spell tree¡¯ of different choices, which was 243 people. However, to document all of the Spells offered to Wizards up to Level 10, which was twice as far along, it wouldn¡¯t be twice that number of people. Instead, since it was an exponential growth equation, it would be three to the power of ten people, or 59,049.


    So, of course, Wizards had not yet been reliably documented up to that point. Now, there were certain paths up the Spell tree that were documented even past Level 20, but those were single branches written about by individual people, not the entire tree of choices. Also, Wizards were the most extreme example; since they got Spells more often than any other ss, their Spell tree was much more dense with choices, and grew much faster. Sorcerers only got Spells every ten Levels, so their Spell Choices were incredibly well-documented.


    Anyway, I just <em>really</em> wished I could have some more info on my ss and what I¡¯d be offered in the future so I could actually, y¡¯know, n ahead. I looked at my Trailzer Title¡¯s description.


    Trailzer


    <em>You are the only person in the world with your ss, and as such, cannot rely on the findings of others to make your decisions. Instead, you must forge your own path.</em>


    If you do not already have it, you gain ess to the Intelligence Stat. It will improve the information given to you by the System regarding your ss and what might be of it in the future.


    Whenever you Level up, gain 1 Intelligence.


    Well, I was gaining that 1 Intelligence per Level, which was giving me some Mana and Mana/Minute at the very least, but I still hadn¡¯t been given any of that information. I guessed I was still rtively low on Intelligence, so it made sense I wasn¡¯t seeing too much benefit.


    Well, whatever. I was doing just fine without it. Besides, it was time to take a look at the Spells being offered to me!


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Corpse Explosion


    School: Curse, Necromancy


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 50 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a living being within 30 paces of you. For the next 1 minute, it cannot regenerate Health naturally or magically. If it dies during this time, its body detonates, dealing up to 200 damage, depending on how close they are to the source of the explosion, to all beings within 15 paces of the body.


    Crippling Chill


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 45 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a being within 40 paces of you. It bes coated in frost for the next 15 seconds. For as long as it is coated in frost, it loses 5 Health and 4 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 10.


    Revitalize


    School: Divine


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 85 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose yourself or another being you are physically touching. Restore 10 of the chosen being¡¯s Health and 20 of its Stamina.


    Hm. Corpse Explosion seemed absolutely phenomenal to use when fighting arge group of weaker enemies, essentially making it so that killing one of them would kill the rest in arge area, but it had a huge drawback, especially for me.


    I needed to be touching an enemy to kill it with Noxious Grasp, and there was nothing written on that Spell that said <em>I</em> wouldn¡¯t be taking that damage, too. So I essentially wouldn¡¯t be able to use the Spell when fighting alone. I may have considered taking it if I knew what my <em>next</em> choice of Spells would be after I took Corpse Explosion ¨C if I was going to be offered a good ranged option soon, then it might be worth it just taking it now so I could benefit from itter ¨C but I had no idea what I¡¯d be offeredter. So I probably wasn¡¯t going to be taking that one.


    I liked Crippling Chill a lot, though. Forty paces was a long distance, and the fact that it also drained Stamina meant it would work well with Noxious Grasp ¨C the less Stamina an enemy had, the more devastating it was for them to lose even more of it. I also liked the Dexterity debuff, for two different reasons. One was that it would have helped a ton in the situation I was just in ¨C being chased by a monster much more powerful than me. If I could use Crippling Chill at a range to cut its Stats and drain its Stamina, then it wouldn¡¯t be able to chase after me as well, and I could either get away or it would give up.


    The second reason I liked the Dexterity debuff was that it would work alongside Noxious Grasp to immobilize the enemy. If a monster had less Dexterity, then it would also obviously move more sluggishly and be less able to reach me as I tried to kill it with Noxious Grasp. It would overall make all of my fights a lot safer and keep me alive while killing the enemy quickly.


    The main downside was the cost and damage. 5 damage per second over 15 seconds was only 75 damage, and for 45 Mana, that was a horrible rate. At its current Rank, 45 Mana worth of Noxious Grasp would deal close to 200 damage, and it would deal that damage in only 13 seconds. Even if I were topare Crippling Chill to a Rank 0 Noxious Grasp, that amount of Mana would be worth 150 damage over 15 seconds, which was still way more than Crippling Chill.


    That said, though, my Mana reserves were getting pretty high. Even if Crippling Chill cost a lot for its effect, I could still manage that, as long as I wasn¡¯t trying to cast Crippling Chill on a bunch of different targets. I normally didn¡¯t totally empty my Mana over the course of a fight anymore, so I could just think of it as using that spare Mana on the safety offered by Crippling Chill.


    And speaking of safety, Revitalize offered quite a bit. Instant healing effects normally weren¡¯t seen very often; the mostmon healing Spell ¨C Healing Hands ¨C took ten full seconds to activate its effects. So I could definitely see the value of taking Revitalize here. If I took it, I¡¯d be one of few people who had a healing Spell useful in livebat situations, and my services would be pretty in-demand.


    Healers were always wanted, and people would pay a hefty sum to get my aid if I had a Spell like this. It would also help me in battle, of course, keeping me alive if I was close to dying, and also restoring my Stamina if I ever got too tired.


    But the main benefit would be that if I took this Spell, it could set me up for life, financially. People would actively pay me to just tag along during jobs, contribute nothing to battle, and then heal them up after they were done fighting.


    Objectively speaking, Revitalize was the correct choice here.


    But¡­


    I just didn¡¯t like it. Revitalize would offer me money, but cripple my actual power. If I¡¯d learned anything from my experience in the forest, it was that I needed to be stronger. Sure, I didn¡¯t expect to get lost in there again any time soon, but I never knew what could happen. Any job I took could leave me stranded in the same way I was before ¨C the fate of my parents was proof enough of that.


    It could help me heal faster, sure, but time could also heal me. Most adventuring parties operated on the motto of ''only one significant fight per outing,'' and for a good reason. Going intobat drained, whether it was on Health, Stamina, or Mana, would only lead to death. So generally, if you got into a fight that left you hurt, you''d just go back to town and hole up until the next time you could fight at peak capacity. Job be damned. And I fully intended to abide by that logic.


    So, really, the only time I''d need to fully heal in one day instead of two would be if I were lost in the woods again. And I knew damn well I''d fight through the hells to keep that from happening again. At the end of the day, if I wanted to keep myself safe from the woods, the answer wouldn''t be to help keep myselffortable while I was in them. The answer would be to keep myself from getting lost there in the first ce. And to keep myself from getting stranded, I''d need to fight off monsters that could leave me alone.


    In livebat, Revitalize was too expensive to actually be useful. The only time it could be useful would be <em>after</em> a battle, to heal someone up. And, at the end of the day, if I just prevented that damage from being dealt to me in the first ce, I''d be in a much better spot.


    I wanted to be able to fight, killing monsters in the thrill of battle. Not sit around watching <em>other</em> people protect me. Revitalize was too costly for too little effect, especially whenpared to Crippling Chill. Its primary role was to help <em>others</em>. And, not to sound selfish, but that wasn¡¯t my thing. I absolutely wanted to help people ¨C being a hero was one of the biggest draws of adventuring ¨C but not in that way. I couldn¡¯t rely on someone else to take care of me. Ever.


    Okay. That settled it.


    You have learned the Spell Crippling Chill.


    I smiled. My second Spell! I finally had <em>options</em>! And speaking of options, I had one more choice to manage ¨C Stat Points.


    I considered doing Endurance this time ¨C or at least a mix of Endurance and Conjuration. Now that I was finally out of the deadly wilderness, I didn¡¯t have to worry as much about fighting monsters way above my own Level. However, for that exact reason, Endurance also wasn¡¯t as important. Suddenly, I wasn¡¯t fighting for my life anymore. Of course, I still needed to be as strong as I could be, but I could afford to y the long game now.


    And the long game said ¡®more Conjuration.¡¯ The more Conjuration I had, the more Mana/Minute I¡¯d have, and thus the more Spell XP I¡¯d get. Conjuration was <em>always</em> good to have more of, whereas Endurance was only good if I got into a fight I could die in. Which, ideally, would never happen again.


    So I stuck with the usual.


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 20.


    I grinned. 20 Conjuration was a lot ¨C it was double what any Unssed person would have in their physical stats. In fact, speaking of the fact that Unssed people had 10 in everything, Crippling Chill took away 10 Dexterity. Did that mean that if I used it on an Unssed person, they¡¯d go totally immobile for fifteen seconds? Obviously, I never wanted to use it on a Human being, but¡­ wow. It just put everything in perspective. I could just paralyze people at will now.


    I mean, it would take about eight seconds to kill someone with the Unssed standard of 100 Health using Noxious Grasp, so, barring interference, I had a one-hundred-percent guaranteed method of killing someone who didn¡¯t have a ss. That was¡­ a bit scary, honestly. I mean, my own method would even work on <em>me</em>. I also only had 10 Dexterity, and my now-140 Health still wouldn¡¯t be enough to survive fifteen sustained seconds of Noxious Grasp¡¯s damaging effect.


    Well, hopefully I¡¯d never have to fight another Human, anyway. And I knew I was the only person around with Minute Mage, so I wouldn¡¯t go up against anyone with this specific set of Spells, anyway.


    I went ahead and checked my Status, post-changes.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    10


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    3


    Endurance:


    14


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    18/200


    Dexterity:


    10


    Health:


    130/140


    Health/Minute:


    0.054


    Conjuration:


    <strong>20</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>18</strong>/72


    Stamina/Minute:


    0.456


    Intelligence:


    3


    Mana:


    <strong>186</strong>/<strong>215</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>4.05</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>Crippling Chill - XP 0/10</strong>


    Time Loop 3


    Trailzer


    Noxious Grasp 5 - XP 9/45


    At 4.05 Mana/Minute, I was officially making more Mana per minute than Noxious Grasp cost to cast per second, which felt nice. That meant I could cast a second of it every sixty seconds when practicing! I was also excited to start Ranking up Crippling Chill ¨C I¡¯d almost forgotten that I was doing something weird by pushing Noxious Grasp so far past the Soft Cap. At Level 3, my cap was at Rank 2, so I''d be able to get two full Ranks in Crippling Chill without having to worry about it! In fact¡­


    I pushed Mana into Crippling Chill, deliberately choosing to target it at nothing in particr. It felt incredibly strange to cast a different Spell after focusing on Noxious Grasp for so long, and I could tell I¡¯d need quite a bit of practice with this one, too, before I got to the level of proficiency with it that I had with Noxious Grasp. After a few seconds of mentally feeling around and getting a sense for it, I finished casting the Spell.


    Threshold reached. Crippling Chill XP has reached 10.


    Crippling Chill Rank has increased to 1.


    Due to Crippling Chill Rank reaching 1, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 45 to 46.1


    Health Drain: From 5 to 5.25


    Stamina Drain: From 4 to 4.20


    Dexterity Debuff: From 10 to 10.5


    Threshold reached. Crippling Chill XP has reached 11.


    Crippling Chill Rank has increased to 2.


    Due to Crippling Chill Rank reaching 2, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 46.1 to 47.3


    Health Drain: From 5.25 to 5.51


    Stamina Drain: From 4.20 to 4.41


    Dexterity Debuff: From 10.5 to 11


    Due to Crippling Chill Rank increasing to Rank 2, Crippling Chill has reached a Soft Cap.


    Spell XP gain for Crippling Chill is 50 times slower until your Level increases past the Soft Cap.


    Increase your Level to 4 to increase your Soft Cap.


    ¡°Haha!¡± Iughed aloud. In a single cast, the Spell already Ranked up twice! It cost 45 Mana to cast, and before hitting the Soft Cap, I¡¯d get 1 XP per 2 Mana spent. Since the first two Ranks needed abined 21 XP to reach, that meant I¡¯d need to spend 42 Mana, which was less than the 45 Mana required for a single cast of the Spell.


    <em>Completely ridiculous¡­</em> I shook my head and smiled.


    ¡°What¡¯re youughing about?¡± The older man frowned and looked at me.


    ¡°Nothing, nothing,¡± I sighed. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ I remembered how easy it¡¯s supposed to be.¡±


    He gave me a weird look for a moment, but eventually just shrugged and looked away.


    I looked up at the ceiling. I¡¯d rest a bit more before going to try and clear things up with this ¡®captain¡¯ guy. Hopefully it¡¯d all turn out well.

 Chapter 13: Companionship

    Chapter 13: Companionship


    After some more time resting, I got up and asked the man in front of my cell where the captain was. He said he¡¯d take me there, so I got up and followed him through the smallplex. My prediction that we were underground turned out to be true, as we climbed a narrow staircase up into a much more standard looking brick-and-wood building.


    The old man spoke into a crystal ne hanging around his neck as we walked, ¡°Boss, th¡¯ guy you wanted to see¡¯s awake. I¡¯m takin¡¯ him to the interrogation room now.¡±


    We walked into the room ¨C the interrogation room, apparently ¨C and he asked me to sit in a chair, then promptly walked out, leaving me alone. The ce itself was in, a small square room with simple wooden walls, and a stone table in the middle. I sat there, wondering what kind of trouble I was in ¨C if I was even in trouble. They clearly weren¡¯t worried about me escaping, what with how I was currentlypletely unguarded, unrestrained, and in a room with the door wide open, so I had to assume that nothing serious had happened.


    After about a minute, I finally heard some footsteps, and the gruff guy from earlier came in. He wasn¡¯t wearing his te armor anymore, but it didn¡¯t make hisrge frame any less imposing. His dark skin glistened with sweat, making me wonder just how hot he got, standing in that thick armor all day. He sat in the wooden chair across from me, the feeble furniture creaking suspiciously but holding strong under his weight.


    ¡°Alright, son, you¡¯re not in legal trouble ¨C yet ¨C but I still got a few questions for you about that whole Banestinger incident.¡± he spoke in a much softer voice than the yelling he was doing before, but his voice was still deep and hard. ¡°First off, just to make sure <em>I </em>don¡¯t get in any trouble here, you do know what a Truth Stone is, right?¡±


    ¡°Uh, no, I don¡¯t. Is it some sort of Enchanted item?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it is. It¡¯s somethin¡¯ we here in the guarding business use to make sure people¡¯s tellin¡¯ the truth. Only works for the simpler sort of statements, so if I ever wanna make sure you ain¡¯t lyin¡¯. I¡¯m just gonna bring it out, and ask you a yes or no question. It¡¯ll light up if you lie. But I¡¯d hope it don¡¯te to that. You understand now?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I leaned back in my chair. I was from a small enough vige that crimes weren¡¯tmitted with enough frequency to justify something so serious ¨C and probably expensive ¨C ever being used. ¡°So, why exactly do you have me here? What¡¯d I do?¡±


    ¡°Son, you brought a Level 30 monster to our town and you¡¯re gonna sit there and ask me what you did? I understand you didn¡¯t break aw, but your actions were reckless and selfish and I think you need a stern talkin¡¯ to.¡±


    I squinted incredulously. ¡°Oh? All due respect, but I¡¯m not sure that I had a choice there. Would you have preferred that I just let it kill me?¡± I understood that this definitely wasn¡¯t the best way to handle the situation, but I¡¯d just fought my ass off to stay alive, and I¡¯d walk through every hell in the Underworld before letting some asshole scold me for it.


    ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t prefer you let it kill you. I would <em>prefer</em> if youngsters like you would stop wanderin¡¯ your ways off into the wilderness and expectin¡¯ us <em>adults</em> to save you when you realize what a mistake you¡¯ve made. <em>Especially</em> when you¡¯re goin¡¯ into Banestinger territory and bringin¡¯ one of them back for us to fend off.¡±


    I set my jaw, waiting for him to finish. When he did, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t think you understand my situation, and I¡¯d prefer it if you¡¯d let me exin myself before lecturing me over something I didn¡¯t do.¡±


    The man sat there for a moment, eyes ring at me, before nodding. ¡°Fine. Go on.¡±


    ¡°First off, I¡¯m not from here. I hired a pair of adventurers to help me get my ss about five days ago. They took me into the woods, and got killed by a monster during a fight. I finished it off, but ended up lost with no guide. During these past five days, I¡¯ve been stranded and wandering to find civilization, surviving constant monster attacks and trying my best to keep from being mauled from a stray Wood Wraith. Found a road, started walking down it, got ambushed by the scorpion thing on my way. Now I¡¯m here.¡±


    The gruff man looked at me for a moment, took a breath, and then reached over to ce an unassuming stone on the table ¨C I imagined that was the Truth Stone he¡¯d mentioned earlier. ¡°ce your hand on here.¡±


    I did.


    ¡°Can you verify that everything you have said to me during this conversation has been nothing but truthful, and you have not deceived me in any way?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    He looked at the stone for a moment, which did nothing. He seemed to be satisfied with its response, taking the rock and putting it back into his pocket. ¡°Alright, I believe you. ¡®Least it exins why you stink to high hell. I¡¯ll let you use the prisoner baths just this once as an apology for keepin¡¯ you, but I don¡¯t like your attitude. That said, it¡¯s not like givin¡¯ me lip is against thew, so you''re free to go. Just don¡¯t let me catch you doin¡¯ anything you¡¯re not supposed to.¡± He got up from the table, and so did I. On his way out of the room, he turned to me. ¡°Oh, and one more thing, son. Wee to Ordensville.¡±


    The bath wasn¡¯t exactlyfortable ¨C just a scrub-down with cold water ¨C but it felt a lot nicer to get thatyer of grime, sweat, and blood off of me. Of course, I had to get right back into my disgusting clothes afterward, so it didn¡¯t do <em>much</em>, but it was better than nothing.


    After that, I was on my own, pretty much. I stepped out of the jailhouse I had been in, and into the town, Ordensville. It wasrge ¨C muchrger than my little unnamed vige ¨C and a bit intimidating. There were buildings all around, and what seemed to be a main set of stone roads with smaller, dirt roads branching off of them. At this point, it was getting to be early morning, and I could see some people walking along the roads as the sun rose over the horizon.


    I realized just then that I had pretty much no n. I¡¯d been so focused on returning to civilization that I didn¡¯t think about what I¡¯d actually do when I got there. All my possessions were back at my vige, and I didn¡¯t even know anyone here, either. It wasn¡¯t like I had a whole lot of stuff or had made a bunch of connections back home, but finding myself without a single copper piece to my name, everyone around me a stranger, I felt myself panicking a bit.


    I breathed, trying to calm myself down. The hard part was over. And it wasn¡¯t like I was starting from scratch, either. I had a ss now, one that I could hopefully use to make some money. From there, I could figure out what I wanted to do.


    I walked up to one of the people walking down the main road, a middle-aged man wheeling a cart through the street.


    ¡°Excuse me,¡± I asked, ¡°do you know where an adventurer could go to make money?¡±


    ¡°Eh, yeah,¡± he eyed my clothes suspiciously, but still answered. ¡°There¡¯s a job board in the town square just down that way.¡± He pointed backwards, up the main street opposite the direction he was going.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I smiled to him and walked in the direction he indicated. I was d the streets were so unpopted at this time of night ¨C I¡¯d spent so long away from people that I felt a bit ufortable socializing now. Whenever I passed someone I let out an instinctual puff of Noxious Grasp to try and help calm my nerves, which I was sure didn¡¯t help; I doubted I¡¯d feel safe walking past a stranger in tattered clothes who avoided eye contact and then started physically smoking when I walked close.


    But, despite that, I got to the town square without incident. I could see a few vendors setting up shop for the morning, but the main attraction was the simple wooden board nailed up in the center of the za. It had papers hanging from it in random spots, all of them looking to be handwritten. Ordensville was bigger than my vige, but it still wouldn¡¯t be considered to be a ¡®big city¡¯ by any stretch of the definition. In fact, mostrger cities had entire organizations dedicated to managing adventurers. This simple job board was <em>not</em> that.


    But it would work more than well for me.


    I walked up and began examining the papers that had been nailed up. My main goal for now was pretty much just to get enough money to pay for some food, a room, and maybe a change of clothes. In total, all of that would add up to be about¡­ 80 copper coins, maybe? 40, not counting the clothes. If things were more expensive than expected, maybe 100 copper ¨C which was equal to 1 silver. Whatever. I¡¯d figure it out. For now, at least, I just wanted some money for food. I was dying for a proper meal; it felt like I hadn¡¯t had bread in ages.


    The many different types of requests on the board mashed together in an unorganized mess. Some of them wouldn¡¯t be helpful to me, jobs taking weeks toplete or that paid out too little. Others were too difficult, asking to kill a monster that was terrorizing a farm but was way too high-Level for me, or asking for someone to divert the flow of a river ¨C that particr request seemed to have been untouched up on the board for a long time. It was hard to parse the useful requests out from the jumble of other papers.


    As I was trying to make sense of it all, though, I felt someone tap on my shoulder.


    ¡°There you are!¡± a familiar female voice came from behind me. ¡°I knew you¡¯d be around here somewhere.¡±


    I turned around, finding myself face-to-face with the red-haired woman I¡¯d run from the Banestinger alongside. Now that I wasn¡¯t fleeing for my life and got an actual good look at her, I saw that she was actually pretty attractive. She was a bit shorter than me, and had sharp features that included blue eyes which contrasted heavily with her red hair, but in a good way. Also, those blue eyes were ring angrily at me.


    ¡°Uh, hey,¡± I said, still a bit caught off-guard from being confronted unexpectedly, ¡°were you looking for me?¡±


    ¡°Yes, of course I was. I expect you weren¡¯t nning on ignoring that promise you made me?¡±


    ¡°...What promise?¡± I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d said a word to each other after the thing died, much less promised each other anything. I¡¯d pretty much passed out immediately, if I remembered correctly.


    She rolled her eyes. ¡°You promised you¡¯d help me get my knife back! The one you threw?¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± I did sort of remember taking her knife and throwing it at the scorpion¡¯s eye, when I thought about it. ¡°Yeah, I guess I did do that. Sorry about leading that thing to you, by the way. I really didn¡¯t mean to put your life in danger like that. My name¡¯s An, by the way,¡± I put out a hand. ¡°Nice to meet you.¡±


    She took it and we shook. I was d I¡¯d taken a bath; my hand was so caked in dirt and grime before that I was sure it would¡¯ve left a visible handprint on her when she shook it. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I mean, the situation sucked,¡± sheughed, ¡°but you¡¯re fine. It¡¯s not like you knew I was there, and you didn''t really have any choice in it, anyway. My name¡¯s Erani. It¡¯s nice to make your acquaintance,¡± she nodded and smiled, then seemed to get focused again. ¡°But seriously. You <em>are</em> going to help me get that knife back, right?¡±


    ¡°I- yeah, sure, if it¡¯s that important to you. Just, can you do me a favor in return?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not how promising to help someone works,¡± sheughed. ¡°You can¡¯t start retroactively demanding payment <em>after </em>you made the promise.¡±


    ¡°No, no, I don¡¯t want payment or anything,¡± I reassured her, though I was pretty sure she was just joking. ¡°I was just trying to find a job on here, something rtively quick that could make me a decent bit of money? I¡¯ve tried looking around, but it¡¯s hard to even find anything in the mess of requests.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just do Alfo Arcian¡¯s Collection Quest?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    The woman ¨C Erani ¨Cughed. ¡°Okay, I guess the name¡¯s a bit silly, but here,¡± she fished around in the many papers nailed to the board until she found the one she was looking for, and pointed it out to me. It had a big ¡®Do Not Take Down; Repeating Request¡¯ stamped on the top. ¡°It''s a request by this guy, Alfo Arcian. He runs an alchemist¡¯s shop downtown and sources materials from the surrounding forest. So, if you just go out and grab a bunch of the nts and monster parts he has written down on here, he¡¯ll buy them from you for a set price. They¡¯re all listed here,¡± she tapped the paper. ¡°Rimelotus petals, Trimp tails, that sort of thing. Local adventurers love the guy. I was actually doing this very request when you ran up to me with your monster pal.¡±


    I let out an involuntary chuckle at ¡®monster pal.¡¯ ¡°Well, yeah, that¡¯s pretty much exactly what I¡¯m looking for. Thanks. You wanna do this with me when we go out to grab that knife? We can both gather the ingredients and just split the profit, if you want. Hopefully sticking together we can fend off any more forest friends that might attack us.¡±


    She chuckled back at ¡®forest friends,¡¯ which made me feel nice. Being isted in the wilderness for so long made me forget how much fun it could be to just talk to people. ¡°Yeah, that sounds good. As long as we get my knife back. You busy now? I¡¯m good to go if you are.¡±


    It was a bit soon to go right back into the woods that I had been so desperate to get out of, but it was voluntary, now. I had apanion. I smiled, ¡°Absolutely.¡±

 Chapter 14: Safety?

    Chapter 14: Safety?


    Heading back into the wilderness stressed me out a bit more than I¡¯d have liked to admit. I was constantly throwing nervous nces around me and making sure I had an exact knowledge of how to get back to town if things went badly. I knew that we were close enough to the walls that adventurers should have been taking out anything dangerous nearby ¨C when I got my ss, we had to go way far out to start finding high-Level monsters that hadn¡¯t been killed yet ¨C but logic didn¡¯t quell fear.


    Breathing heavily, I released puff after puff of Noxious Grasp to try and calm myself down. Erani, who was walking alongside me, nced over and noticed the few small wisps of smoke rising from my body.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just a Spell I¡¯m practicing,¡± I reassured her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It only affects things I¡¯m physically touching.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, I knew it was a Spell, I was wondering what its name was.¡±


    ¡°Noxious Grasp. Why, do you recognize it or something?¡±


    ¡°No, I was actually asking because I didn¡¯t recognize it.¡± She looked down thoughtfully as we walked, muttering ¡°Noxious Grasp¡­ Noxious Grasp¡­¡± before looking back up and saying ¡°Yeah, I can¡¯t think of a single ss that gets that Spell in the early Levels.¡±


    ¡°Uh-¡±


    ¡°S-Sorry!¡± She waved her hands in front of herself, ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to imply you were low-Level, I just assumed, since you were running from the Banestinger and seem poor and¡­ Shit, sorry again! That¡¯s a rude thing to say¡­¡±


    Iughed, interrupting her spiel. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯m not high-Level. Only Level 3.¡±


    She put a hand to her chest. ¡°Oh, thank the gods. You know how those high-Leveled ssers can act about disrespect. I always get super nervous around them and¨C wait. Level 3? What were you doing out there in the forest all alone? And seriously, what ss do you have? I¡¯d like to think I know the basic Spells that most sses get, so yours has got to be rare.


    ¡°Uh¡­ I can answer the first question, but honestly I¡¯d rather not answer the second. I don¡¯t <em>think</em> I¡¯d get into any trouble, but my ss is¡­ pretty weird, and I just don¡¯t want any extra attention.¡± I exined how I got lost in the forest and eventually found my way to Odensville.


    ¡°Shit,¡± she said after I finished, ¡°I¡¯m sorry that happened to you.¡±


    There was a pause in the conversation while we walked, the only sound to apany us our boots crunching over the dirt road.


    ¡°So,¡± Erani eventually said, ¡°this ss of yours. I know you don¡¯t want to say much about it, but you said it¡¯s rare? Have you checked the library for anything on it?¡±


    ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t exactly gotten the chance to. I was already lost in the woods when I got it, and now that I finally got back, I¡¯m just trying to earn some money to survive. If I get a good bit from this job, I¡¯ll probably take some time afterward to look around.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, if you don¡¯t find anything,e talk to me. I have a sister out in Carth that does research for a college, and I¡¯d be willing to bet she ¨C and the college ¨C would be willing to pay to be able to note down any information you have on it.¡± She turned and looked down at the ground. ¡°Oh! Here¡¯s one of the nts we¡¯re looking for. ¡®Snapjaw Ficus: 8 copper.¡¯¡± She bent over and picked a small leafy nt sprouting from the ground, putting it into a bag slung across her shoulder.


    ¡°Nice,¡± I nodded. ¡°Oh, and thanks for the offer. I¡¯ll keep it in mind. Speaking of sses, by the way, what Level are <em>you</em>? You¡¯ve gotta be pretty powerful for your Firebolts to be Ranked highly enough to have hurt the Banestinger.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not that high Level, just Level 8. Well, I¡¯m actually Level 9, after the Banestinger fight. It¡¯s just that my ss is Sorcerer, so I get a free Spell Rank every 2 Levels. It doesn¡¯t cost any Spell XP, and it doesn¡¯t raise the cost of my next Rank at all. So, right now, Firebolt is Rank 9, but I¡¯ve gotten 4 free Ranks on it from Leveling up. So to get it to Rank 10 only actually costs as much as getting a Spell to Rank 6. The free Ranks also don¡¯t count towards the Soft Cap, which is nice.¡±


    ¡°Oh? So, if your XP requirement and Soft Cap are being treated as though the Spell¡¯s Rank 5, then that means you haven¡¯t pushed past the Soft Cap at all, right?¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Yeah¡­ it¡¯s not like I refuse to train, or anything. I was actually a bit ahead of the Soft Cap for a while, but it¡¯s caught up to me by now. It¡¯s just that¡­ Well, I don¡¯t know which of the three benefits I want to choose at Rank 10! I¡¯ve been researching different paths and builds rmended by the pros, but there are so many options. Everyone makes the build that <em>they¡¯re</em> teaching sound like the best one! I mean, I¡¯ve already chosen Firebolt for my first Spell, so I¡¯m at least restricted to builds that use it, but it¡¯s the mostmon first Spell choice, anyway, so it¡¯s not like I¡¯m narrowing my options down much. The generally epted path is Ranking it into Explosive Firebolt at Rank 10 and then choosing Ray of Frost for your second Spell ¨C that¡¯s what Damia Nortwe¡¯s <em>DPS Sorcery</em> rmends ¨C but then I¡¯ve also seen a newer build cropping up, taking Extended Firebolt for the extra range, and then choosing Mana Geyser for your second Spell and going down more of a long-range sniping route; apparently there have been reports of dozens of Gold-Degree adventurers cropping up using that exact method! But then, Pors Larn in <em>Stunning Sorcerers</em> said that <em>both</em> of those builds are wrong, and that mixing the two by going Explosive Firebolt into Mana Geyser was the <em>actual </em>correct choice! And those are just the more popr opinions! Wilin Gelly said that¨C wait, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m rambling right now. You have no idea who these people are,¡± she chuckled nervously.


    Iughed. ¡°You¡¯re right that I don¡¯t know who they are, but don¡¯t worry about talking too much. I think it¡¯s cute.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I mean, what can I say? Intelligence is attractive.¡±


    ¡°Are you¡­ flirting with me?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely,¡± I nodded.


    She blinked, obviously not expecting such a bold admission. ¡°Well, thank you for thepliment.¡± She turned away and kept walking a bit faster, but I could see her blushing.


    Yeah, I definitely missed just being able to have fun and talk to people. Honestly, five days of near-death experiences put quite a lot of things in perspective, including things like getting embarrassed by admissions of attraction. At the end of the day, there weren¡¯t actually any consequences if she didn¡¯t reciprocate. If she didn¡¯t like me, she didn¡¯t like me; keeping her from knowing I was attracted to her wouldn¡¯t change that.


    ¡°So,¡± I started up another conversation, ¡°what¡¯s so special about this knife, anyway? You seem to be really set on getting it back. Is it super expensive, or something?¡±


    ¡°Well, yes, it is expensive ¨C it¡¯s made of Royal Steel, after all ¨C but that¡¯s not the main reason. I really don¡¯t mean to brag or anything, but I¡¯m well-off enough that losing it wouldn¡¯t be too big of a deal. It just holds sentimental value. My sister ¨C the one in Carth ¨C is an Enchanter along with being a researcher for the college, and that knife was the first item she Enchanted. She made it as a gift for me, so it would be quite a shame if I lost it.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, sorry again for throwing it,¡± I chuckled awkwardly. ¡°What¡¯s it Enchanted with?¡±


    ¡°¡®What¡¯s it Enchanted with?¡¯ Shouldn¡¯t you know? You¡¯re the one who threw it,¡± sheughed.


    ¡°Huh? I didn¡¯t notice any¡­ Oh!¡± Iughed, surprised I didn¡¯t realize earlier. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s Enchanted to be able to be used by Magic-Type sses.¡± Normal weapons couldn¡¯t be used by anyone with a Magic-Type ss, but there was a rtively simple Enchantment that would allow this rule to be bypassed. I¡¯dpletely forgotten about it when I grabbed the knife. ¡°I¡¯m pretty unfamiliar with Enchantments. Didn¡¯t even think of that.¡±


    She giggled at my exnation. ¡°Yeah, yeah, I get it. It¡¯s more that I¡¯m <em>overly </em>familiar with Enchantments than you being underfamiliar. Oh, here¡¯s another ingredient for the basket! ¡®Fiddleworm Mushroom: 4 copper.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Nice. How much do we have so far?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± she fingered through her bag of ingredients. ¡°It looks like 32 copper¡¯s worth? So 16 for each of us.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good. 16 copper in just a few hours, seems like we¡¯ve got a nice, profitable morning going on here.¡± My Mana hit full again, so I let off another second of Noxious Grasp, wisps of mist rising off my fingers.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been practicing that Spell for a while now,¡± Erani said, looking at my smoking hands. ¡°Don¡¯t you have a headache?¡±


    ¡°No, not really. Honestly, I trained so heavily when I was lost that I¡¯ve gotten to the point where I can just ignore it and train subconsciously. At this point, it actually feels a bit weird to <em>not </em>cast something every minute or so.¡±


    ¡°Good gods,¡± sheughed. ¡°Every minute? I could never.¡±


    ¡°I mean, I could never do the amount of research and nning on every single choice I make. Even <em>if</em> I had the resources, I doubt I¡¯d read an entire book dedicated to a single Spell choice, let alone multiple.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I think we just each have our own strengths.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess. Well, still, it¡¯s got to be a pretty high Rank if you¡¯ve been practicing that diligently. What¡¯s it at?¡±


    ¡°Oh, just Rank 5, though it¡¯s about halfway to 6.¡±


    ¡°Huh? That¡¯s it? If you literally aren¡¯t taking breaks, shouldn¡¯t it be higher? Or are you practicing another Spell, too?¡±


    ¡°I mean, I just now got my second Spell, but I haven¡¯t been practicing that one much at all, since I want to try and focus on getting my main Spell up to Rank 10 first. I think the discrepancy here is just from you forgetting that I¡¯ve had my ss for five days,¡± Iughed.


    ¡°Oh, yeah,¡± she chuckled. ¡°Well, in that case, Rank 5 is kind of insane, especially when it¡¯s so far past your Soft Cap.¡±


    ¡°Well, you know me, always doing insanely awesome stuff,¡± I joked.


    ¡°I literally don¡¯t know you,¡± sheughed. ¡°But anyway, are you ready for your Spell to hit Rank 10?¡±


    ¡°What, like, mentally? I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to faint out of surprise when it happens, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking.¡±


    ¡°No, as in, do you have a Spell Crystal? You said you were broke before, are you sure you can afford one?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ Spell Crystal?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you know, those gems you need to get to every tenth Rank in a Spell?¡±


    ¡°What? I haven¡¯t heard of them.¡±


    ¡°Oh, well I guess it makes sense if you never actually anticipated getting a Magic-Type ss. Pretty much, in addition to the regr Spell XP cost for the tenth Rank in a Spell, you also have to use a Spell Crystal that shares the Spell¡¯s School. So you¡¯d need a Fire Spell Crystal to Rank a Fire-School Spell, or a Divine Spell Crystal for a Divine-School Spell. Totally consumes the crystal in the process, though, so they¡¯re pretty expensive. Only talented crafters can make them, and to make them you need some ingredients that can be really scarce, too. I think there are some shops in town that sell them, but due to each type of Spell Crystal requiring different materials, they all cost different amounts and vary from location to location, so you¡¯d need to check their prices to see what you¡¯d need to pay for your Spell.¡±


    ¡°Well, shit.¡± It seemed like I¡¯d have to get a decent bit of money soon, or my progress with Noxious Grasp would start to stagnate. Of course, I could always just Rank up Crippling Chill if I hit Rank 10 with Noxious Grasp, but that was only a temporary solution ¨C eventually, I¡¯d hit 10 with Crippling Chill, too. I needed to find a decent way to make some money. ¡°Well, to answer your question, no, I¡¯m apparently absolutely not ready for my Spell to hit Rank 10,¡± Iughed.


    She snorted at my answer. ¡°Well hopefully you can figure it out. Remember that my offer about my sister in Carth still stands. That¡¯d probably get you a bit of money, although I¡¯d need some time to get the logistics nned out and let her know you¡¯reing.¡±


    I took a moment to think about it as we continued to walk, looking for her knife and some more of those alchemy ingredients. I really knew nothing about this whole Minute Mage thing, and I seriously doubted I¡¯d find anything about it in the library. However, maybe I could find something on it if I spoke to a dedicated researcher. After all, my Trailzer Title only said that there was nobody else <em>currently </em>alive who had the ss, nothing about people in the past. Obviously, the mary reward was also tempting.


    Now, there was also the problem of going public with the fact that I could ¨C on some level ¨C control the flow of time. Sure, most people might not care that much, but maybe there was some lord or king in a distantnd that would think my abilities could be useful and try to kidnap me. The way I was now, I could at least be certain that nobody was hunting me down and I¡¯d be left alone.


    ¡°Do you think your sister could keep my identity private when I give the information?¡± I asked. ¡°I really don¡¯t want any unnecessary attention.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, definitely. That¡¯s standard practice to begin with, so I don¡¯t see why we wouldn¡¯t do it with you.¡±


    Yeah, that pretty much sealed the deal there. Who didn¡¯t like free money? ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do it. How long do you think it¡¯ll take to set everything up?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not sure, it really depends. Maybe a week? I¡¯ll keep in touch, though.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good.¡± I held out a hand to shake.


    She took it. ¡°I¡¯d say it¡¯s a pleasure doing business with you, but you know the saying about mixing business and pleasure.¡±


    Iughed. ¡°I¡¯m willing to ignore that saying if you are.¡±


    She rolled her eyes, but also smiled pretty hard at my line, eventually even offering me a scious wink after what seemed to be a second¡¯s deliberation.


    I chuckled and kept walking, but stopped when I stepped on something hard. I looked down at what I¡¯d stepped on. ¡°Oh, your knife.¡±


    ¡°Huh, yeah, there it is.¡± Erani bent over and picked up the silver tool lying in the dirt. She looked over it for a second, cleaned it off, and then slipped it into its sheath on her belt. ¡°That was anticlimactic.¡±


    Iughed. ¡°It sure was. But hey, after the week I¡¯ve had, I¡¯m d to see something get resolved without a fight where I almost die. Ready to head back?¡±


    ¡°Sure. I¡¯ve got some work to do regarding our deal.¡±


    Yep. It felt good to finally have some time with nothing actively trying to hunt me down. I could rx and take things slowly. No more time pressure.

 Chapter 15: Welcome to Hell. Let’s Go to War!

    Chapter 15: Wee to Hell. Let¡¯s Go to War!


    A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. He wasn¡¯t doing any paperwork at all this time. Instead, he was pacing around his messy office, trying to focus on breathing. Every step he took, he scattered piles of paper across the floor, but he didn¡¯t pay them any mind. He¡¯d just gotten word that the individual that had killed Temporus had been found, and was waiting to be informed of whether or not the man had a ss. The man¡¯s name was something like n ¨C Humans had such a strange system for naming people that it was impossible to remember their illogicalbels anyway.


    Demons were born nameless. If someone wanted to refer to a nameless Demon, they would simply call it by its species; all nameless Demons were basically the same, so it didn¡¯t matter if you didn¡¯t know exactly which one you were speaking to.


    In order to gain a name, a Demon had to be put into a position of power. The higher the position, the longer the name. When the Devil had first started working, he was a simple office grunt, and his name was Xhag. Then, he got a promotion, and his name was Xhag¡¯duul. After that, it was Xhag¡¯duulin. Every promotion he received, he was given another syble. So, his name hadn¡¯t actually been Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep forever, and it wouldn¡¯t be that name forever, either. Next time he got another promotion, he would get another syble.


    It was a simple, righteous system. When he spoke to someone and they introduced themselves, he would automatically know how much respect he had to offer that person, and they would know the same. But Humans¡­ when they were born, they were just <em>given</em> a name? They didn¡¯t have to earn it in any way? It didn¡¯t mean anything regarding their status?


    Ridiculous.


    The Human who killed Temporus ¨C An Nota was his name, the Devil remembered ¨C had a simple four-syble name, so it was incredibly difficult to even entertain the idea that he might be a threat. However, the Devil had to remember that names held no real importance in Human culture; there could even be a <em>king</em> with a four-syble name. Even the idea was disgusting.


    Hopefully this ¡®An Nota¡¯ person was ssed at the moment he killed Temporus. In that case, the Devil could simply move on with his life without ever having to worry about these Humans or their names ever again.


    His Communication Crystal hummed with activity ¨C he was getting an iing call. He willed Mana into the crystal, and it chimed to let him know he was connected with the caller.


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Formal expression of greeting, Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep. This is Ton¡¯daoduvaotuv¡¯taitotuu¡¯iin.¡±


    ¡°Expression of greeting. I will call you Ton¡¯dao. Give your report.¡±


    ¡°Of course. I have received confirmation by the Diviner squads that An Nota, the Human that killed Temporus, was indeed Unssed during the killing.¡±


    ¡°...¡± The Devil stared at the crystal. ¡°Send in the Diviner that found him.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    The crystal shut off.


    ¡°...Fuck!¡±


    The Devil¡¯s office door opened, and in walked a Diviner.


    ¡°Formal expression of greeting, Xhag¡¯duulini¨C¡±


    ¡°Follow me. You¡¯reing along to a meeting.¡±


    ¡°Indeed, Xhag¡¯duu¨C¡±


    ¡°And stop with the fucking names!¡±


    The Devil knocked on his superior¡¯s office door, the short, splotchy-faced Diviner standing behind him.


    After a short wait, he heard her voice call out, ¡°Come in.¡± He entered, head bowed, hoping that the Diviner did the same. ¡°Ah, expression of greeting, Xhag¡¯duul. I did not expect you. Do you have news?¡±


    ¡°Formal expression of greeting, Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki. Yes, we have found Temporus¡¯s killer. He was Unssed when he killed it.¡±


    The superior¡¯s face hardened. ¡°I see. Is this Diviner you brought with you the one that found him?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± He turned to the Diviner behind him. ¡°Krokin, tell us the basic information we have on the Human.¡±


    The Diviner stepped forward. ¡°Formal expression of greeting, Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki. This one has been given the name of Krokin¡¯oorohkakinomo. The Human that ended the life of Temporus, Overlord of Tomorrows was born with the name An Nota, and, at the time of the ending of the life of Temporus, Overlord Tomorrows, this ¡®An Nota¡¯ Human did, indeed,ck a ss.¡±


    ¡°And where is he at right now?¡± The superior asked.


    ¡°He is currently located at 370.264571¨C¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± the superior shook her head. ¡°Not his co-ordinates. I mean, what type of location is it? Is he somewhere popted? What kind of people is he around? What¡¯s the terrain like? What Human territory?¡±


    ¡°The type of location is Overworld. Yes, the Human is somewhere popted. The Human is around other Humans. The terrain is forest. The Human territory is the Koinkar Kingdom.¡±


    ¡°...Do you mind being more specific?¡±


    ¡°No, I do not.¡±


    ¡°...Well?¡±


    The Diviner tilted its head in confusion, its robe ruffling beneath it.


    The superior impatiently turned to the Devil and sighed. ¡°Xhag¡¯duul, you have more experience talking to Diviners. Please get all relevant information out of it so that we can proceed. And do it quickly. The more time we waste here, the more time the Human has to meddle about and make this harder on me.¡±


    The Devil turned to the Diviner. ¡°Krokin, tell us the information you have gathered on An Nota, his surroundings, and his situation, but omit all information that might be redundant or irrelevant to us.¡±


    ¡°How might this one determine what information is ¡®irrelevant?¡¯¡±


    The Devil looked back to his superior. ¡°What are our ns?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re hunting and killing this ¡®An Nota.¡¯ Ideally, we can do so without alerting the rest of the Humans in the Overworld, but if that is not possible, we might need to be more direct with our measures.¡±


    The Devil tranted this back to the Diviner, ¡°Information is irrelevant if it does not rte to something that might help or hamper our ability to find, pursue, fight, or kill the Human, or to do the same to any forces within or around the territory that the Human is residing in. Give me¡­ the five most relevant items.¡±


    ¡°This one understands the request. The five most influential items of information that fall within the parameters set is so: the individual of name An Nota is currently within the Kingdom of Koinkar, residing in a town that has been given the name of Ordensville. The number of persons in the town is exactly 513. An estimated 39 of those residents are ssed, and their estimated average Level is 11. There are six Human settlements within a two-day¡¯s travel of the town with the name of Ordensville. Only two of the previously mentioned six settlements have an estimated military power that is greater than the town with the name of Ordensville.¡±


    ¡°Why is so much of this information estimated?¡± The superior asked.


    ¡°This one only has the ability to garner certain pieces of information while doing Divinations. This one searched for Humans, and, as such, now knows the locations of Humans. However, this one did not Divine the System information of these Humans, and, as such, must rely on guesswork to report on that.¡±


    The superior sat for a second, deep in thought. Then she looked back up and said, ¡°You may leave now. I want you and the rest of the teams in your squad to find as much information rting to what Xhag¡¯duul requested of you as you can, especially System-rted information.¡±


    ¡°Indeed. This one will do so right away.¡± The Diviner stepped out of the room, leaving the Devil with his superior.


    ¡°Xhag¡¯duul, what are you currently managing?¡± The superior asked.


    ¡°Uh, I am currently managing my main position of Prison #7B16OQ44, the Temporus case, and the Diviner squad assigned to me.¡± It was a lot to take on for the Devil , and the stress had been piling up quite a bit from trying to do his main job alongside these other projects. He¡¯d managed to scrape by so far, though.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re going to have to take on another project.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s heart sank.


    ¡°In order to recapture what is ours,¡± the superior continued, ¡°we will need to invade the Overworld and send in a military force to kill An Nota. You will be in charge of creating this force and managing troop movements.¡±


    ¡°Superior, with all due respect, I do not believe that decision is wise. I won¡¯t be able to perform at peak capacity with the military force if I am also doing other time-consuming work at the same¡ª¡°


    ¡°Xhag¡¯duul, I need you to understand that, while I am outwardly calm right now, I am fucking furious with you. <em>You</em> created this problem, and <em>you</em> will solve it. It is ridiculous that we even need to resort to such drastic measures. Consider the extra work to be your punishment.¡±


    ¡°¡­Yes, superior.¡±


    ¡°Now get out of my office, and go make requests for your military forces. I don¡¯t care what you use, as long as you get it done quickly.¡±


    ¡°Superior, if I am to be sending military forces to the Overworld, does that mean I have your permission to damage rtions with the Overworld denizens?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t make me repeat myself. I don¡¯t care <em>what</em> you do, as long as you reim what is ours.¡±


    ¡°Yes, superior.¡± The Devil left the office.


    Back in his own office, the Devil sat at his messy desk, papers still scattered on the floor, pen in hand, hurriedly writing a report. His hand cramped from the multiple pages of handwritten words, but he kept going. There were ways to write things with magic, of course ¨C Spells to transcribe your thoughts to paper, Enchanted pens that would write whatever you said, and more ¨C but the Demon people prided themselves on having all documents, reports, and anything official be handwritten by the Demon proposing it.


    Normally, the Devil was in support of this policy ¨C it taught the younger Demons discipline and kept everyone from sumbing toziness. But now, he was really reconsidering that support. This wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d ever handwritten a document, of course, but it was definitely the first time he¡¯d truly felt overwhelmed by tasks to do, and he didn¡¯t have the time to sit down and hand-write a fifteen page proposal.


    The proposal he was writing was a request for military power. He¡¯d put quite a bit of thought into the best strategy of how, exactly, he would go about killing An Nota. His best bet was that of a surprise attack; not only would that give the Human the least amount of time to react and defend himself, but it would also keep the rest of the Humans¡¯ meddling to a minimum.


    The Demons¡¯ military was mighty, but the Devil would never be able to convince the higher-ups to expend the whole force on a simple remation of an asset that, in truth, wasn¡¯t strictly necessary to the functioning of the Seventh Circle of the Underworld. So, if he was forced to fight every single Human in the Overworld in order to kill An Nota, he simply wouldn¡¯t be allowed the forces to do so, and the mission would be a failure.


    So, in order to kill An, he wanted to execute a quick and dirty sneak attack. Demons typically fought honorably, but these were Humans ¨C they weren¡¯t worth wasting honor on.


    Normally, in order to execute such an attack, all the Devil would need would be a small strike team, but this An Nota person was in the middle of a popted kingdom. Even if he was ambushed on the road, physically isted from everyone, magic made movement over long distances trivial, so anyone could teleport in to fend off the attack.


    Demons invading the Overworld would be a massive deal to the Humans, and they would fight their all to push the forces back, even if the actual goals of the Demons had nothing to do with them. So it was entirely possible that a powerful Magic-Type sser could be monitoring the Underworld, ready to teleport in and attack any Demons that came to the Overworld. An Nota could very well have bodyguards against the Demons watching him right now without even knowing it.


    However, those people would only help if An Nota¡¯s location was the only ce the Demons were attacking. If the Demon forces appeared all over the kingdom, these unintentional bodyguards would simply fight wherever was nearest to them.


    So, while his target was really just a single man, the Devil was nning an attack on the entirety of the kingdom of Koinkar. Considering the kingdom''s tiny size inparison to the entire 7th Circle, it wouldn''t really take many resources to execute, but it was still a lot for the individual Devil to keep track of.


    That was why his report was taking so long. And, of course, once it was done, he would need to submit it for all thirteen levels of verification. The Devil was in for a very, very long few days. And the days would only get longer once the invasion started.


    Not that the Devil would want to trade ces with that Human, of course.


    No, his days were numbered.


    And he would run out of time very soon.

 Chapter 16: Customer Service

    Chapter 16: Customer Service


    The walk back into town was simrly uneventful. We talked some, joking around and telling about our lives. Once we got back, we went to sell our ingredients to that Alfo Arcian guy. He was white-haired but not wrinkled, and wore a heavy cloak that covered his shoulders. We dropped them on the counter and he fingered through them, making sure we delivered what we said we did, and handed us a pouch of money. Erani gave me my share and left, but I stuck around to look at his wares. He was one of the shops in town that had Spell Crystals avable, so I wanted to see what he¡¯d charge for them.


    ¡°Adventurer sir, what is it that you seek?¡± He asked when he saw me looking around.


    ¡°Uh, I just heard that you had Spell Crystals here.¡±


    ¡°Ah, you travel to Alfo Arcian¡¯s Alchemy Acquisitionary in search of Spell Crystals?¡±


    ¡°...Yeah. Do you have them?¡± He spoke strangely, but as long as he had what I needed, it didn¡¯t matter.


    ¡°Indubitably.¡± He walked over to a door that led to a back room, and stepped through. After a minute, he came out with a paper that seemed to list all of the different types of Spell Crystals he had in stock, as well as the prices he charged for each.


    If I wanted to get Noxious Grasp to Rank 10, I¡¯d need a Poison Spell Crystal, and if I wanted to get Crippling Chill to Rank 10, I¡¯d need either a Cold Spell Crystal or a Curse Spell Crystal. Looking at the prices, the cheaper of the two prices for Crippling Chill was Curse. However, the cheapest of all three was Poison, for Noxious Grasp. For that one, specifically, it looked like it¡¯d be 3 silver and 97 copper ¨C which was equivalent to almost 400 copper. I only had around 20 copper to my name, and I was about to spend most of it on necessities, so it would probably take some effort to get one.


    Still, I <em>did</em> want to try and get that Spell Crystal before I left this ce to go to Carth with Erani. I didn¡¯t know what the future would entail, so I wanted to ensure I could get this while I could. If I went without one for too long, it would be a huge roadblock for my power.


    For then, though, while I considered my options, I went down to a nearby inn and got a proper meal. Part of me wanted to splurge and get a nice, three-course feast to celebrate my rejoining of society, but considering my money troubles, I just couldn¡¯t justify that.


    In the end, I just got a beef soup. It certainly wasn¡¯t the <em>most</em> economic option, but I did want to offer myself a little celebration, at least.


    After eating so much raw meat and blood, having a nice cooked soup with actual nts in it felt <em>immacte</em>. The bread roll that came with it was also a very nice change of pace. I finished my food quickly, feeling full for the first time in a while, and got a room that I could stay in.


    After all of the expenses, I only had 3 copper left. And I still needed to get some actual clothes; people were giving me some very strange looks and I had a feeling I would be mistaken for a criminal or beggar and start getting kicked out of ces if this went on for too long.


    So, with immediate necessities taken care of, I went back to the job board, now able to take requests that took a bit more time. I still didn¡¯t want anything too dangerous, though; I still didn¡¯t have Time Loop, having spent it in the Banestinger attack that urred early in the morning.


    Eventually, I felt like I found something that could work. Some shop¡¯s basement was infested with Trimps ¨C little rat-like creatures that were quick and nimble and incredibly pesky for store owners to deal with ¨C and they needed them taken care of. The pay was good, too, at one whole silver coin.


    Trimps weren¡¯t dangerous, just extremely annoying to kill. They were faster than most people, could scurry into small ces, and had good senses for detecting danger. Because of that, while exterminating them wouldn¡¯t be deadly for just about anyone, some random Unssed person with a knife still wouldn¡¯t have the ability to clear an infestation. Hopefully I would.


    The pests themselves were very specific in their appetites ¨C what they ate was what made them so irritating for a specific set of shop-owners. They ate the Enchantments off of items. Any mundane object they¡¯d leave alone, but Trimps had a taste for treats, and for them, those treats were magically-infused swords, armor, and even household objects, like self-cleaning brooms.


    They¡¯d go up to whatever they thought was tasty ¨C Rings of Strength, Swords of Nimbleness, that sort of thing ¨C and use their special Mana-consuming abilities to lick the effects right off, leaving the object as mundane as it had been before it was ever been touched by an Enchanter. Needless to say, an infestation of these could leave gear shops copperless, turning a masterpiece of a de worth fifteen gold pieces into a trainee¡¯s poker, barely worth half a silver.


    Considering the cost of leaving an infestation unchecked, the pay of a single silver was pretty low, but I was desperate. So, I took the poster and followed the directions to the job.


    The ce was a good fifteen-minute walk away. And in the mid-year¡¯s heat, it wasn¡¯t exactlyfortable. But after all the walking and sweating I was used to, it really didn¡¯t feel bad at all. The extra Endurance probably helped a bit, too.


    The sun was just beginning to rise, and I could begin to see people walking out into the streets and going about their business. I didn¡¯t have to worry about crowds, though, since most of the people parted around me, apparently disgusted by my appearance. Or maybe they thought I¡¯d pickpocket them. Who knows.


    When I got to the ce, I saw a slightly run-down wooden shopbeled <em>Zue¡¯s Brand-New</em>. It had a little hand-carved sign with a picture of a set of sparks on it hanging about the door.


    The moment I walked in ¨C door creaking at the hinges ¨C I heard an old woman squawk at me.


    ¡°Hey now, I don¡¯t want any ruffians like you stinkin¡¯ up the ce! You¡¯ll scare off the good-payin¡¯ customers!¡±


    Only after she spoke did I see the woman standing behind a counter against a wall, her brown clothes and tan skin blending in with the dark wood paneling covering the wall behind her. ¡°Uh, ma¡¯am, I¡¯m here for the extermination job. For the Trimps.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure why she was worried about me ¡®stinking up the ce¡¯ ¨C it wasn¡¯t like the building smelled all that good, anyway. With the rotting floorboards exuding a moldy stench, it didn¡¯t exactly seem high-ss. That said, when I looked at the wares sold, they immediately caught my eye.


    A Sword of +6 Strength, boosting the Stat for as long as it was wielded. A Bow of Doubleshot,unching an ephemeral copy of any arrows shot from its drawstring. A Helm of Night-Vision. A fucking Ring of Invisibility! The wares sold were high-quality, especially for a ce as run-down as this. Most people from my vige had never even touched a bucket Enchanted with Lightweight, much less wielded a sword that added an entire Level¡¯s worth of Stats to their swings.


    The woman squinted, her already-wrinkled face scrunching up even more. ¡°Ah, an adventurer-sort, are ya? You look a bit poor for that.¡± There was a pause where the woman obviously wanted me to exin the sorry state of my clothes, but I didn¡¯t feel like herment deserved to be dignified with a response. Eventually, she just shook her head and spoke again. ¡°Follow me, boy. If you''re here to do work, ya better do it.¡±


    She waddled out from behind the counter and led me through a door and down some stairs into a basement. The rickety steps creaked under our weight as she walked me down, candle in hand to give us light.


    ¡°My name¡¯s An, by the way.¡± I said to her as we descended.


    ¡°Hmph. Ain¡¯t gonna remember that, so there¡¯s no point in tellin¡¯ me. My name¡¯s Zue Akinsoft.¡±


    ¡°Alright, nice to meet you, Zue¨C¡±


    ¡°Miss Akinsoft,¡± she corrected. ¡°Have some respect, boy.¡±


    I suppressed a sigh. I needed to be polite if I didn¡¯t want to get kicked out and have to find a different job, so I simply responded, ¡°Nice to meet you, Miss Akinsoft.¡±


    She just nodded.


    The stone cer was surprisingly big, the cool room storing barrel upon barrel of misceneous objects that the woman obviously couldn¡¯t fit in her shop. Where was she getting all this stuff? With the money she used to buy it, she could have easily gotten a shop five times asrge, plus an entire staff to help her run it. In the cer, I could also see the telltale signs of Trimp infestation. There were holes dug into the walls that most likely led to their little undergroundirs, objects that had been stripped of their Enchantments littering the ground, and splinters of wood where they¡¯d broken into the barrels and crates that stored the items.


    ¡°Alright, there ya go. Kill the damn things and let me know when it¡¯s done. And I¡¯ll be checkin¡¯ to make sure you actually got ¡®em all. If there¡¯s even one left, you ain¡¯t gettin¡¯ yer silver.¡±


    A distant creak and m rang from upstairs, and someone called out, ¡°Hello?¡±


    ¡°Tch, customer.¡± The woman ¨C Miss Akinsoft ¨C red at me. ¡°Keep quiet while you¡¯re workin¡¯. I don¡¯t want you scarin¡¯ anyone away.¡±


    ¡°Uh, one second before you leave,¡± I said. ¡°Do you know how they got in here in the first ce? Trimps normally only get into aboveground areas like sheds or houses, not sealed underground cers.¡±


    ¡°None of your business, boy,¡± she spat as she turned to climb the stairs. ¡°Just do what I¡¯m payin¡¯ you for.¡±


    I suppressed a sigh. ¡°Ma¡¯am, it <em>is</em> my business. If you want me to exterminate all the Trimps that live here, knowing how they¡¯re getting in will help me know how they might be able to get <em>out</em> and escape before I can kill them, only toe backter and cause more trouble for you.¡±


    ¡°If yer halfway decent at yer job, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± she scowled. ¡°A bit of experience actually figuring somethin¡¯ out for a change might help you in life.¡±


    This time I actually did sigh. I couldn¡¯t wait to get to a Level where I could just go out and kill dangerous monsters instead of dealing with people like this for a living. ¡°Okay, fine. Just don¡¯t get upset if theye back after a month or two.¡±


    ¡°Hello? Anyone here?¡± The voice called out a second time.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll be there in just a second!¡± She called up in a much sweeter tone than she¡¯d ever used with me. Then she turned back to me and hissed, ¡°Fine, whatever. Just don¡¯t make any noise. If you scare off any customers, it¡¯sin¡¯ out of your pay.¡±


    I scowled and held up the paper from the job board. ¡°That wasn¡¯t on the request.¡±


    ¡°Well, it also wasn¡¯t on the request that I wanted some delinquent doin¡¯ it, either!¡± Then she turned and stomped up the stairs before I could respond.


    Once she was gone, I turned around, rubbing my eyes and considering just walking out and refusing. But, unfortunately, I needed the money. Part of me wanted to ask her if I could keep the Trimp corpses when I was done; parts of their bodies were alchemical ingredients, and, while they probably wouldn¡¯t go for much, I could sell them to Alfo Arcian for a bit of extra money. But she seemed pissed enough that I didn¡¯t want to push it any more.


    Fortunately, my Spells didn¡¯t make much noise, so I didn¡¯t have to worry about getting my pay docked for that. At least, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry as long as she was honest¡­ which I doubted she would be. Whatever. I¡¯d just get it done and figure that outter.


    She was acting weird, but I needed the money. Hopefully whatever was up with her wasn¡¯t a big deal.

 Chapter 17: A Job Well Done

    Chapter 17: A Job Well Done


    I stood in the middle of Zue Akinsoft¡¯s basement, trying to figure out how I¡¯d get rid of the Trimps that were eating the Enchantments off her stock. The stock itself was massive ¨C filling the cer were crate upon crate upon barrel upon barrel of weapons, armor, rings, jewelry, and tools that each had their own unique Enchantment. It was all remarkably unsorted, simply piled haphazardly into random boxes. And, of course, this was all in addition to the entire main room above me, where customers could peruse through her stocks of yet more Enchanted goods.


    I had no idea why her store would be so run-down if she had so much money¡¯s worth of goods just lying around, but that wasn¡¯t my job to figure out. Right now, I just needed to kill some Trimps.


    I had an idea for how I¡¯d take care of the little rodents, but first I¡¯d need to find one to test it out on. I fished around in a crate of assorted equipment ¨C taking care not to stab myself with the Enchanted des that were no doubt full of effects to poison me or set me on fire if they so much as pricked my finger ¨C until I found a helmet that didn¡¯t seem expensive, and put it in the middle of the room. Trimps had a nose for Enchantments, so hopefully the smell would lure a couple of them out of hiding. Then, I extinguished the candle I was holding and sat in a corner of the cer, waiting in darkness for one of them to take the bait.


    After a few minutes, I spotted movement as one of the things crawled out of its hole and crept toward the helmet. It was small and covered in fur, with four legs ¨C the front two of which doubled as arms. Huge, pointy ears sprouted from its head, andrge eyes darted around at its surroundings. I watched the rodent. Once it was out in the open¡­


    You have cursed Level 2 Trimp with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.51 Health and 4.41 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.


    47.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 167.


    Immediately, the Trimp fell to the ground, the drastic Dexterity debuff shocking its muscles and causing it to trip. A coat of frost covered the monster and I could see the freeze slowly killing it. It tried to escape away ¨C its Dexterity was apparently above 11, so it could still move ¨C but the damage would continue no matter what for the next fifteen seconds, and I was confident that a monster as small and low-Leveled as it was wouldn¡¯t have the Health to endure the full curse.


    Soon enough, it stopped moving, apparently having run out of Stamina. And then, after a bit more time¡­


    Due to its target dying, Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 2 Trimp.


    You have struck Level 2 Trimp for 65 damage and drained 52 Stamina over the course of 11.8 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    You have in Level 2 Trimp.


    You have earned 3 XP. Your XP is 21.


    Yep, looked like it¡¯d work. I was d I¡¯d taken Crippling Chill; having some sort of ranged option really did work wonders.


    <em>Well, time to get to work</em>.


    After a few more hours, it seemed like the bait trick began to slow in effectiveness. Once I¡¯d killed about a dozen more of the rodents, they seemed to understand that anything that came out would die. Of course, they had no idea why ¨C there was no projectile I was shooting from my hands, and I wasn¡¯t moving at all to cast Crippling Chill ¨C so they probably didn¡¯t even know someone was in the room, just thating out was dangerous right now. The pile of Trimp corpses surrounding the untouched piece of armor was testament enough to the fact it was deadly.


    I sat and thought for a bit. While I could simply sit here and starve them out, I wanted to get it done in a reasonable amount of time, so I needed a change of n. The Trimps hid in holes and tunnels small enough that I couldn¡¯t fit through them, so I needed another way to get to them.


    I let off a puff of Noxious Grasp while I thought, the resultant gas floating from my fingertips and stopping to hover up at the top of the ceiling, the sealed room preventing it from dissipating into the sky like it normally did.


    <em>¡­Wait</em>.


    I looked up at the ceiling of the cer. Most of my Mana had been spent on Crippling Chill, but over the course of the few hours I¡¯d been down here, I¡¯d still let off a few seconds worth of Noxious Grasp, and in the semi-airtight underground room, it was still hovering there at the top.


    I looked over at the holes in the walls where the Trimps were hiding, then back at my fingers. I had an idea. Slowly, I crept toward one of the holes. I pressed my hand up against one of them to make it as airtight as possible, and then activated Noxious Grasp, pouring fumes into the tunnels.


    The fumes themselves weren¡¯t damaging; the Spell stated that I needed to touch something to deal damage to it, so that was how it¡¯d work ¨C no edge cases where the gas was technically what dealt the damage, or anything. However, that didn¡¯t mean that the byproduct of the Spell would be perfectly breathable. Even if it wasn¡¯t <em>poisonous</em>, it was still smoke, and you can¡¯t breathe smoke for too long.


    With 215 Mana at my disposal, I could keep Noxious Grasp active for about one continuous minute before I¡¯d need to stop to recharge.


    I¡¯d never actually kept the Spell active for such a long continuous time before, and I felt a bit drained by the time my Mana bottomed out. The headache somehow felt nostalgic, the dull pain reminding me of the times I¡¯d had in the forest, back before I had to deal with rude shop owners.


    Not that that was directed at anybody.


    But really, the headache wasn¡¯t that bad. Besides, my Mana had just bottomed out, and it didn¡¯t seem like I¡¯d pushed enough fumes in to gas out the Trimps yet, so I¡¯d just have to sit around and wait for my Mana to regenerate until I could push more in. At least my hand seemed to form a good enough seal that there wasn¡¯t much leakage.


    After about an hour of pouring Mana into Noxious Grasp, I finally began to hear scurrying as the smoke began to reach the Trimps inside their tunnels. I¡¯d let a decent bit of my Mana regenerate and held it in my pool, so right as I heard them nearing the tunnel¡¯s exit, I dashed away, allowing them out and into the open. Once I caught sight of them, I hit them with Crippling Chill.


    You have in Level 1 Trimp.


    You have earned 2 XP. Your XP is 68.


    You have in Level 4 Trimp.


    You have earned 5 XP. Your XP is 73.


    It only turned out to be two in that tunnel, but there were still a few more holes that I could see in the walls of the cer, so I¡¯d probably be there for a few more hours.


    After a long afternoon and about a half dozen more Trimps, I finally had the job done. I stood in the dark cer once thest pest was killed and wiped my brow. I¡¯d worked up enough of a mental sweat that my head was actually pounding; the repeated casting of an unfamiliar Spell in Crippling Chill along with the lengthy casts of Noxious Grasp ¨C rather than the short bursts I was used to ¨C had really worn me down. That said, I¡¯d really seen the fruits of my effort in the XP gains.


    After all the Trimp killing, my own XP leapt from 18 all the way up to 95/200 ¨C although after a whole day¡¯s work, it felt more like a slow climb than a leap ¨C and my Spell XP was also looking good. Crippling Chill was up from 0 to 9/14, and Noxious Grasp finally Ranked up!


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 45.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 6.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 6, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 3.40 to 3.49


    Health Drain: From 12.8 to 13.4


    Stamina Drain: From 6.38 to 6.70


    I smiled at the increase. I was that much closer to reaching Rank 10! Plus, the extra damage certainly didn¡¯t hurt. Although the increase in Spell XP requirements were really starting to be felt at this point, with the next Rank costing 66.


    On some level, I actually felt more aplished in getting more powerful now than I did back when I was in the forest. Back then, it waspletely necessary. I basically had no choice in training hard and fighting harder. The only alternative was death. But now, not so much. I had free choice in what I could do ¨C if I wanted, I could keep doing exactly this type of job for the rest of my life. I could survive on it just fine ¨C the silver I¡¯d get paid here would probably be enough to sustain me for a week, and it barely even took a day toplete.


    But I wouldn¡¯t be satisfied doing this forever, and I knew it. There were tons of people who only got a few Levels and then stopped, resting on theirurels there. It was especiallymon for nobles to do that. They¡¯d get their parents to let them go out and get a ss and pick up a couple Levels so they could feel like they were better than the Unssed masses, but never actually do anything substantial with it.


    It wasn¡¯t like there was anything wrong with that ¨C grabbing the Wizard ss so that you could pick up a few nonbat utility Spells was something Ipletely understood the value in. And for many manualborers, having a ss to give you a bit of extra Strength and Endurance could let them get a lot more done in a single day.


    But for me, I wanted much more than that. Even before I¡¯d been shoved into the wild with the Minute Mage ss, back when I was still aiming for Swordsman, I wanted to be strong. I didn¡¯t want to end up like my parents. They¡¯d taught me that, no matter how powerful you were, there was always a bigger monster. So all I had to do was get so strong that there <em>wasn¡¯t</em> a bigger monster.


    Lofty goal, I know.


    But I was slowly approaching it, and I refused to slow down. With every Spell Rank, with every point of XP, I got closer to true power. And I¡¯d be lying if I said that prospect didn¡¯t excite me.


    But for now, I had to forego my moment of sce and achievement, and go poke the sleeping Dragon ¨C that is, I had to go ask for payment from thedy that hired me.


    I walked over to the stairs of the cer and began climbing. From the muffled noisesing from the main shop, it seemed like there were a good few customers in there. I was d I hadn¡¯t made any noise. It was hard to see through the bit of smoke that still filled the room from my usage of Noxious Grasp, but it seemed like, through the cer door I was approaching, a decent crack of light peeked through. It was probably the afternoon already, considering how long I¡¯d been working on this.


    I grabbed the handle and opened the door and began to walk through. But then¨C


    <em>Shit¡­</em>


    I hadn¡¯t realized just how much smoke buildup there was after my hours of gassing out the Trimps from their hideouts. And just as I opened the door, the smoke that had collected in the cer billowed out into the main store.


    Akinsoft¡¯s head snapped in my direction with a furious re. This was going to be a long day.

 Chapter 18: Confrontations

    Chapter 18: Confrontations


    I walked up the stairs of the cer, toward the door that led to the main shop that was owned by Miss Akinsoft. Once I got to it, I opened the door and¨C


    <em>Shit¡­</em>


    The smoke that had collected in the cer from Noxious Grasp billowed out into the main store. Not a harmful amount, of course, but the sight still scared a couple customers perusing the wares.


    ¡°M-monster!¡± One man gasped, stumbling back from me as I walked out of the smoke.


    ¡°Uh, hey, not a monster. Don¡¯t worry,¡± I called out to them, trying to calm everyone down. ¡°Just an adventurer doing a job down in the cer. There¡¯s nothing dangerous¨C¡±


    ¡°You! Boy!¡± The shopkeeper, Miss Akinsoft, yelled at me. ¡°What did I tell you about scarin¡¯ off my customers?!¡±


    ¡°Sorry, ma¡¯am, I didn¡¯t realize the smoke was so thick or that it would scare anyone.¡± The man who got spooked looked fine now, anyway, looking warily at me before continuing in his shopping. I turned to him. ¡°Are you okay, sir?¡±


    ¡°Y-yes, just a bit jumpy, that¡¯s all. You¡¯re okay, don¡¯t worry about¨C¡°


    ¡°No!¡± Akinsoft interrupted. ¡°I told you to be careful and you weren¡¯t! You directly disobeyed me!¡±


    ¡°¡­No. You told me to be quiet, and I was. I didn¡¯t make any noise at all. If you also didn¡¯t want me to make any smoke, you should have said so.¡± I was getting pretty fed up with this woman¡¯s attitude; I helped her with something she couldn¡¯t have done on her own, and here she was berating me.


    ¡°You do <em>not</em> speak to me that way! For as long as you¡¯re working for me, I¡¯m your boss! What I say goes!¡± She was yelling at this point, her voice echoing through the otherwise silent store. At this point, the man who I had originally spooked turned around and stepped out of the building, ncing sideways at the screaming woman. She gestured to the closing door, ¡°See?! You scared him off!¡±


    ¡°I think he was scared off by the noise you¡¯re making.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Listen, I don¡¯t want to argue. If you just pay me what I¡¯m due, I¡¯ll leave now and be out of your hair.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll pay you what you¡¯re due!¡± She walked up to me with her hand balled up in a fist, rearing back to throw a wild haymaker at my face.


    ¡°Ma¡¯am, there¡¯s no need to resort to violence¡ª¡° she swung, but I simply leaned out of the way. Even <em>if </em>I didn¡¯t have a ss, the years of melee training I¡¯d been through meant I could pretty easily sidestep an untrained blow like that.


    She grunted and swung again. This time I caught it in my hand, squeezing tightly. Thew was incredibly strict about ssed individuals attacking Unssed ones, even in cases of self-defense, so I wasn¡¯t about to kill her with a Spell or anything. But that didn¡¯t mean I had to be gentle.


    ¡°Akinsoft, you asked me to do something, and I did it. I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re upset, I did what you requested perfectly within the guidelines you set on paper, <em>and</em> the ones you set verbally during discussion. Give me my money.¡±


    ¡°Th-this is exploitation! The guard¡¯ll have your head!¡± She squealed.


    ¡°No, this is how a contract works. Thew is on my side here. If you don¡¯t believe me, feel free to report it.¡±


    She tore her hand from my grip and huffed, turning and grabbing a piece of silver from her register, and throwing it at me deliberately too hard. ¡°Just leave.¡±


    I caught it and left, sighing as I walked out the door. I almost considered stealing something from her in anger ¨C and, admittedly, greed at seeing so many valuable items ¨C but I couldn¡¯t risk something so tantly illegal. Especially when she¡¯d just shown that she was very eager to have me arrested. So I just sighed and walked away. I couldn¡¯t wait until I didn¡¯t have to deal with people like that anymore.


    It waste evening and I was hungry, but before I ate I wanted to get myself some new clothes. The ones I had were ripped and itchy, and I was ready to get recements. I walked around in the town square for a bit, trying to find some that were cheap but decent-quality. It took a while ¨C it was beginning to gette, so a lot of shops had already packed up for the day ¨C but eventually I found some that I liked and got a couple pairs, costing me about half of the money I had just gotten.


    After that, I went and got some dinner, eating alone, and retired to my room. I wasn¡¯t tired just yet, so I decided to use my remaining time to practice Noxious Grasp some more. This time, I didn¡¯t use it in quick bursts like I was used to. I noticed during the Trimp job for Akinsoft that, while I could easily manage casting it for short periods, using the Spell for an extended amount of time was still pretty draining. So I decided to practice by fully emptying my Mana pool before allowing it to recharge and doing it again.


    While I was out in the forest, I didn¡¯t have the luxury to practice like this; I could have been attacked at any moment out there, and needed to have as much Mana at my disposal as possible at all times in case of a fight. But now, surrounded by walls and soldiers, I could feel rtively safe in the confines of my room, and didn¡¯t have to be so on-guard all the time anymore. Things were safe now, and I didn¡¯t anticipate putting myself in a situation like the forest ever again.


    By the end of the couple-hour-long training session, I already felt myself straining less during the extended casts of Noxious Grasp, and casting it in shorter bursts was easier than ever. Combined with my passive casting while shopping and eating, the Spell¡¯s XP was already at 11/66. Not exactly close to the next Rank, but considering I¡¯d just gotten it to Rank 6 that day, the idea that I¡¯d already made so much progress to the next was exciting.


    But it was gettingte, so, with thoughts of Spells and casting on my mind, Iy down and drifted off to sleep.


    When I woke up, I groggily opened my eyes, straining against the morning light, and I noticed a strange sight. Above my head, rising up to the ceiling, was a wisp of smoke. As I watched, the smoke slowly dissipated into the air, seeping through cracks in the door and walls until it was gone.


    I looked around. There wasn¡¯t any sign of a fire, or anything else that could have made the smoke. The only things in the room were me and the bed.


    After a moment¡¯s confusion, I realized it must have been the smoke that came from my casting of Noxious Grasp. But that didn¡¯t make sense. I had been asleep for hours, so there was no way the remedial smoke from my trainingst night had remained around in the room for that long. Besides, the smoke dissipated almost immediately after I woke up. It was almost as if I had been casting in my¡­ sleep.


    <em>Wait.</em>


    I hurriedly opened my Status, checking Noxious Grasp¡¯s XP. It should have still been at 11¡­


    Noxious Grasp <strong>6</strong> - XP <strong>30</strong>/<strong>66</strong>


    My eyes bulged as I saw the Spell¡¯s new XP total. How did that even happen?! Had I seriously been casting in my sleep, all night?


    My face morphed into a shocked smile as Iughed at the absurdity of what I¡¯d just learned. I mean, I¡¯d gotten a full fourth of a Spell Rank basically for free! I was also a bit overwhelmed by the danger I¡¯d been unknowingly skirting this whole time. I mean, what if the Spell I¡¯d been practicing was one that started a fire? Or even just one that made a loud noise? That¡¯d be a problem to be using while totally unconscious.


    But, hey, I wasn¡¯t one to turn down a gift like that. At least for now, I¡¯d be d to take the free Spell XP.


    Though, this was definitely going to be difficult to deal with the next time I shared a bed with someone.


    After that development, the rest of my day went by rtively uneventfully. I took another boring, safe job from the job board to try and make some money ¨C this time my job was to clear out a few hives of Dusk Wasps from a farmer¡¯s orchard.


    My strategy for that was just to let all of the waspsnd on me and sting me, then activate Noxious Grasp while they were touching me to kill the little things instantly. Definitely painful, but not deadly. Besides, the boosted Endurance helped out a lot with the difort.


    The old farmer definitely looked worried for me after I just grabbed the first nest and shook it around, but he seemed to get the idea when all the wasps suddenly dropped to the ground while I stood there inside of the swarm. He even tipped me a bit extra after seeing my method for solving his problem. It was nice working for someone who was actually thankful to have my help.


    Still, the job took up the majority of my day toplete; the walk out to the farm was long in the first ce, and it also took a while to find all of the nests once I was there. But with the little bit of daylight left, I decided to spend some time finding materials for Alfo Arcian, the Alchemist.


    It was more difficult without the experienced Erani to help me identify all the nts, but I managed to find a few, and by the end of the day, once I¡¯d sold my ingredients to Alfo Arcian and collected my job reward, the day had gotten me a whole one and a half silver, bringing me up to two in total ¨C halfway there to buying a Spell Crystal.


    I¡¯d been passively practicing Noxious Grasp all day, and that night, I continued with the more intensive, long-duration casting practice I¡¯d done the night before. During the training¡­


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 66.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 7.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 7, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 3.49 to 3.58


    Health Drain: From 13.4 to 14.1


    Stamina Drain: From 6.70 to 7.04


    Noxious Grasp Ranked up again! The whole ¡®casting Spells in my sleep¡¯ thing definitely sped up the process, that was for sure. To get to Rank 8, I¡¯d need 94 Spell XP ¨C I was getting dangerously close to triple digits ¨C so hopefully the speed would help that go by a bit faster. I was well on my way to Rank 10!


    For now, though, I was tired. All of the Dusk Wasp stings definitely took a good bit out of me, plus all of the casting practice I¡¯d been subjecting myself to ¨C not that I was about to take a break, of course. Still, I needed sleep. So Iid down on the lumpy bed, closed my eyes, and drifted off.


    I awoke well-rested, but with a bit of a headache. A grin spread across my face ¨C I knew what a headache meant. I excitedly checked my Spell XP again, and broke out into a full smile at the sight of my Spell XP already at 23/94. I was still casting! It wasn¡¯t just a one-time thing. I sighed, d to have such a boost in progress at my disposal. I hadn¡¯t ever heard of sleep-casting being a thing, but I sure wasn¡¯t going toin. Maybe I¡¯d ask about it when I went on that trip to get my ss documented with Erani.


    I got out of bed, stretched, and walked out into the main room of the inn to grab some breakfast. I got the cheapest item on the menu that was still rtively filling ¨C a te of vegetables with a bread roll on the side ¨C and chowed down, still enjoying the taste of civilized food. In the early morning, the inn was active with people like me eating breakfast and getting ready for their days. There was a mild hum of chatter permeating the room.


    Through the chatter, though, I could hear a voice.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, that¡¯s him,¡± a male voice said as the nk of metal boots sounded on the wooden floor. I almost turned around and looked to see what was going on, but I didn¡¯t feel like distracting myself with what was most likely pointless drama.


    <em>It¡¯s not my problem</em>, I shrugged, <em>probably got nothing to do with me¨C</em>


    ¡°Excuse me, sir. A moment of your time.¡± A voice asserted behind me in a way that was obviously directed my way.


    I turned around. There was a pair of two armored men standing in the main hall, facing me, with another viger with them who looked familiar. I quickly realized that the viger was the guy I spooked by ident back at that Trimp job.


    ¡°Uh, yes?¡± I asked cautiously, eyeing the men¡¯s weapons strapped to their hips. They were obviously adventurers, and they were probably both above my Level. I definitely couldn¡¯t take them in a fight.


    One of them stepped forward. ¡°We¡¯d like to speak to you about a woman named Zue Akinsoft.¡±

 Chapter 19: Hunted

    Chapter 19: Hunted


    ¡°We¡¯d like to speak to you about a woman named Zue Akinsoft.¡±


    I immediately went on guard. Did that woman seriously convince the guard that I¡¯d attacked her or something? All over a single silver piece?


    ¡°What about?¡± I asked cautiously, eyeing the man that was speaking to me. He was wearing a te chestpiece, one that seemed incredibly expensive, by the look of it. He had a warhammer strapped to his back that I definitely didn¡¯t want being swung my way.


    ¡°She is wanted for the robbing of iing trade caravans and the marketing of uwfully gained goods.¡±


    ¡°...Oh. That¡¯s a relief.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a relief that someone wasmiting a crime?¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± I shook my head, ¡°just, I thought you were here to arrest me.¡±


    ¡°Why would you be worried about that? You¡¯re acting suspicious.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s just¡­¡± I sighed. ¡°Look, can you just tell me what you want to talk about?¡±


    The other man ¨C this one looked like he was an Archer or some other Ranged-Type ss, considering his light armor and the bow on his back ¨C stepped forward andid a hand on his partner¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Lay off him, man.¡±


    The other adventurer just shook his head and scoffed.


    The archer looked back at me. ¡°Look, we heard you¡¯d done a job for Zue Akinsoft a couple days ago and wanted to see if you have any information on her. No pressure if you¡¯re busy, we can always talk another time.¡±


    ¡°Uh, no, I¡¯m not busy. What¡¯d you want to know?¡±


    The hammer-user spoke again. ¡°You were in her storage cer, right? Did you see any crests orbels on any of the crates in the cer? Or any method of transportation? Any indicator of where she might flee to? What was the nature of the job you did for her? What did she request you do? Did she say anything suspicious to you about¨C¡±


    ¡°Woah, woah. Let¡¯s keep to asking the witness one question at a time, man,¡± the archer said. ¡°My name¡¯s Jamis Palomo, and this is Sir Worthard. You can just call me Jamis, but I¡¯m afraid the sir is more particr about his title,¡± heughed.


    ¡°I¡¯m not being particr, you¡¯re beingx,¡± the hammer-user ¨C Worthard, apparently ¨C said. ¡°He <em>should</em> call you Sir Polomo.¡±


    ¡°But he won¡¯t,¡± Jamis argued, then looked to me. ¡°<em>Please</em> don¡¯t call me ¡®sir.¡¯ It makes me feel old.¡±


    ¡°Uh, sure,¡± I responded, still a bit on-edge from the whole situation. ¡°...So, if you want to know all of this, why don¡¯t you just go investigate the cer on your own? I don¡¯t exactly have a photographic memory, so even if I did see any of that stuff you asked about, I wouldn¡¯t be able to recall it.¡±


    ¡°We would take a look at it,¡± Jamis said, ¡°but she totally pulled out once the guard got onto her and issued the bounty. Nothing left in her shop but footprints.¡±


    ¡°The guards are also looking for her, but we¨C¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I interrupted, ¡°back up. Bounty? Like, mary reward?¡±


    ¡°...Yes. Five silver.¡±


    I whistled at the number. That would be enough to buy me a Spell Crystal and then some. I got up from my chair and turned to head out the door. ¡°Alright, well, if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯ll go for that bounty myself.¡±


    ¡°Wait, sir,¡± Worthard called to me, ¡°we still need any information you have.¡±


    ¡°Am I legally obligated to provide it?¡±


    ¡°...Not technically, but you would be doing the town a service¨C¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m heading out, then. You guys are mypetition! I¡¯m not giving you an advantage!¡± Iughed as the door closed behind me.


    It was time to catch a thief.


    Those adventurers weren¡¯t lying ¨C there really wasn¡¯t much left in the shop. Some furniture and empty crates, sure, but nothing that would tell me anything. The cer was totally cleaned out, too. It was a shame ¨C part of me had really been considering just grabbing a crate of magic items and running.


    But hey, at least there weren¡¯t any Trimps left. A job well done, if I do say so myself. Well, there were a couple corpses left lying around, but that didn¡¯t count. There were none left <em>alive</em>.


    Still, it didn¡¯t leave me with much information as to where that Akinsoft woman ran off to.


    I frowned. How did the woman even get so much stolen cargo into her ce, anyway? Robbing caravans? She¡¯d need a whole lot of power to pull that kind of operation off, and I knew from experience that the woman couldn¡¯t fight for shit. So how¡¯d she do it?


    I looked down at the Trimp corpses. She didn¡¯t ever tell me how the little rodents got into her cer in the first ce. Why would she hide such a thing? At first I thought it was just her being rude, but¡­


    Most of the time, sellers and shippers of Enchanted goods took great care to ensure Trimps didn¡¯t get into their supplies. They¡¯d use specialized ssers or specially-designed carriages to ensure everything stayed safe. So, the only way the Trimps could have gotten in would be if Akinsoft was storing the stuff in less-than-professional ways. They couldn¡¯t have gotten into the cer in any other way I could think of, at least ¨C not in suchrge numbers.


    That could exin how she was getting it all into her shop, too. If she was storing it somewhere else long-term, then she could just bring in smaller, less suspicious shipments at a slower pace to avoid raising suspicion. And if she had some sort of secret storage area that the guards hadn¡¯t found, then she¡¯d probably be hiding there now, too.


    The question now was where that would be.


    Chances were that it wouldn¡¯t be in the town proper ¨C getting cargo into any building within the walls would face the exact same issues as getting it into this shop ¨C so it¡¯d have to be in the wilderness, or another vige or town. Trimps were indigenous to the forest, so if they were getting into the cargo, then it wouldn¡¯t be in some warehouse in a city, it¡¯d be in the wilderness.


    And if the Trimps were getting into the storage area, then all I had to do was find nearby Trimp nests and search the area around them ¨C Trimps didn¡¯t normally stray far from their nests, after all. The adventurers from before didn¡¯t seem to know I was hired to clear out Trimps; they were asking about my job and what I was hired to do. So, in that sense, I had quite the advantage in our little race.


    So, where could I find information on the locations of nearby Trimp nests?


    ¡­That one stumped me. I sure as hells didn¡¯t know; I¡¯d only been in this town for a few days, after all. Who around here would just know that kind of information off the top of their head? While I thought, I went ahead and gathered up the corpses ¨C I could sell their parts to Alfo Arcian as alchemy ingredients, after all.


    I paused.


    If Alfo Arcian bought them, wouldn¡¯t he know where to find them? It was worth a shot, at the very least.


    I finished gathering the Trimp bodies and headed out, resolute to im this bounty.


    As I approached Alfo Arcian¡¯s Alchemy Acquisitionary, I heard some familiar voicesing from inside.


    ¡°So, Akinsoft came by and bought some potions, but didn¡¯t say where she was going? Or what she needed them for?¡± the voice of Jamis asked.


    ¡°Indubitably. I¡¯m quite afraid I have nothing but redundancy to offer you fine gentlemen on this quiet morning,¡± Alfo responded.


    <em>Whoops.</em>


    I backed away from the building. It wasn¡¯t like I was in trouble or anything, but I didn¡¯t want to give that pair of adventurers any extra information by speaking to Alfo in front of them, or even by showing up at his store.


    Plus, if I could eavesdrop on them, I might get some extra information on what they knew. I¡¯d just wait for them to finish, and go in afterward.


    I waited around the corner, leaning against the stone wall of a nearby building so that I could keep track of the conversation the adventurers were having with Alfo.


    ¡°What kind of potion did she buy?¡±


    ¡°I do so believe the potion she ordered consisted of an oil base, Lilith¡¯s tear, a hint of Dreadmaw¡¯s tooth, and various other nt leaves that I¡¯m afraid I must keep secret ¨C ¡®tis a secret recipe.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Y¡¯hear that, Worthard? Lilith¡¯s tear. We know what kind of effect <em>that</em> makes.¡±


    ¡°Yes. It seems that catching the culprit will be more difficult than we anticipated.¡±


    Huh<em>.</em> It seemed like she was buying some potions before she fled. I¡¯d never studied alchemy, though, so I had no idea what a Lilith¡¯s tear would do.


    As I listened, though, I heard footsteps, and hurriedly looked around for somewhere to hide, afraid that the soldiers had seen me.


    ¡°Hey, stranger,¡± a familiar voice called out. ¡°What¡¯s got you so jittery?¡±


    I looked over to the source and saw Erani walking over, smiling at me. She was wearing a backpack with a waterskin attached, and some emptied-out pouches, ready to be filled.


    ¡°I¨C uh¡­¡± I nced around, worried about speaking and letting the adventurers hear my voice. I resorted to just whispering, ¡°Could we talk somewhere else? I¡¯m kind of hiding from someone right now.¡±


    With a confused look on her face, Erani nodded hesitantly. I appreciated her not saying any more and risking giving away my position. I grabbed her hand, ignoring the flustered look on her face as I did so, and hurriedly led her a bit further away, until I wasfortable with the distance between me and the Alchemy quisionary.


    ¡°Okay, thanks. Just trying to keep from being seen by some adventurers¨C¡±


    ¡°Woah, woah,¡± she stopped me. ¡°You seriously telling me you resorted to crime after being here just a few days?¡±


    ¡°No, not that. Kind of the opposite, actually. I¡¯m hunting for a bounty on this thief, and a group of adventurers are also hunting for her, so I¡¯m kind of theirpetition. They were talking to Alfo about our target, so I was trying to listen in and get some information out of them. Just didn¡¯t want you to blow my cover.¡±


    ¡°...Uh-huh. Bounty hunting. Suit yourself, I guess. I¡¯d get too stressed if I was trying to hunt down another ssed person ¨C the ways different builds can counter yours is a lot to deal with, and I always find myself obsessively studying anything I think I might fight, monsters <em>and</em> Humans. Every time a bounty has caught my eye, I always end up taking so long finding out as much as possible about the target that someone else catches them before I do.¡±


    Iughed. ¡°Well, hopefully that won¡¯t be the case here. I don¡¯t think she¡¯s ssed at all, in fact.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Erani blinked. ¡°Well, in that case, I wouldn¡¯t mind helping you out.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re just trying to get a cut of the reward,¡± I rolled my eyes, ¡°you¡¯re gonna have to offer <em>something</em> of value before I let you in on my five silver.¡±


    ¡°Oh, my battle prowess isn¡¯t enough? I seem to recall helping you quite a bit during that little Banestinger incident. Besides, I just recently got my Firebolt up to Rank 10, and I¡¯ve been <em>dying</em> to test it out on something.¡±


    I smiled and shook my head. ¡°Like I said, hopefully it won¡¯t evene down to a battle. Although I¡¯d be willing to give you some of the reward money if you had any information on Trimps¡­¡±


    ¡°Trimps? Like, the little rodents?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I just need to know if they have any nests in the nearby forest.¡±


    ¡°Oh, sure, I know a few ¨C I check them every now and then to sell their tails to Alfo Arcian. ¡°


    ¡°Perfect! Could you show me around to some of them?¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­ As long as you give me a cut.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± Iughed, ¡°if this n actually works, you can get in on the reward, too.¡±


    ¡°Alright then,¡± she said, ¡°follow me.¡±


    The first two nests we searched were duds. After finding them, we looked around the surrounding area for any clearing or camp that might have been used for storage, but didn¡¯t find anything. I told her the basic information I had figured out while we searched, of course, so she knew what to look for. We agreed on me giving her one silver of the five silver reward for the help. Honestly, I didn¡¯t care too much about the money past four silver ¨C I just wanted enough for a Spell Crystal. I knew I¡¯d be getting some more moneyter on for the information on my ss, so I wasn''t too worried about saving every copper I could scrounge for now.


    In the meantime, while we walked to the third, we simply made conversation.


    ¡°So she really tried to throw a punch at you?¡± Erani asked me after I told her the story of the Trimp job.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Iughed. ¡°I knew <em>something</em> was off about that woman, just didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be this big. But hey, at least I ended up getting paid.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s one upside, I guess,¡± she said. ¡°Ah, speaking of money, I spoke with my sister, and we should be good to go by tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Oh, perfect. I¡¯m just staying in that inn by the town square, so you know where to find me when you¡¯re ready to go.¡±


    ¡°The Burning gon?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the one.¡±


    ¡°Ah, alright. That was the inn I stayed in for a while when my parents moved away to Carth.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Your parents live in Carth? With your sister?¡±


    ¡°Yep. When she moved, they moved with her.¡±


    ¡°They just left you here?¡±


    ¡°More like I chose to stay. Don¡¯t have a great rtionship with them, and them moving to the city with my sister only really added to the issue. When they left, they sold the house to someone with fat pockets, so I had to fend for myself a bit.¡±


    ¡°What happened between you and them? If you don¡¯t mind me asking.¡±


    "Oh, a few things, but mainly¨C wait. Do you hear that?¡±


    I blinked and looked around. I hadn¡¯t been really paying attention, having been a bit too invested in our conversation. ¡°No, what was it?¡±


    ¡°It came from that way,¡± she pointed. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    We rushed over in the direction of the sound, and I began to be able to pick up on it too. A rustling sound, like someone was rummaging around in a bag¡­


    I burst through a treeline and arrived into a clearing, one with exactly what we were looking for. Zue Akinsoft stood in a camp full of boxes and carts, obviously full of her ill-gotten gains. It must have been her hideout, where she stored the goods she stole from the caravans and where the Trimps had gotten into her storage. She faced me, alongside a few other bandits. They¡¯d obviously heard using. The bandits stood on-guard against us while Akinsoft pulled something out of a purse on her side.


    I immediately rushed forward, but Akinsoft drew something out of the bag and put it to her lips ¨C a potion! In an instant, she disappeared, fading from my sight.


    ¡°Invisibility!¡± I shouted back to Erani as I heard the unseen footsteps of the woman no-doubt fleeing from the area. ¡°Don¡¯t let her get away!¡±


    Erani shot a Firebolt at where the woman used to be, but it simply flew through empty space and dissipated before hitting anything. I tried to run forward, but the three bandits that had been beside her moved in to block my advance.


    <em>Shit.</em>


    I nced around, unsure of what to do. If she got away, that would be it. I didn¡¯t have any other leads as to where she might go next. Hells, she could just skip town and head to somepletely random ce to start life anew.


    Time was running out, and I wasn¡¯t confident in my abilities to track down an invisible woman. But I did have something else I could do.


    I awoke in the dark, in-between space, four options in front of me. I couldn¡¯t stay long ¨C I could already feel my will fading as I lingered moment after moment ¨C so I chose the option to go four minutes back in time. Now that I knew where she was, I could use that information to approach quickly and stealthily and spring a proper ambush on Akinsoft before she ever had a chance to drink that potion.


    I just had to figure out how to tell Erani where this knowledge came from.

 Chapter 20: Explosive Conclusion

    Chapter 20: Explosive Conclusion


    And then I was back, wandering the forest alongside Erani. I was apparently in the middle of saying something, as I found myself with a word in my throat and my mouth hanging open as I shuddered my way into consciousness.


    Erani took a step back, clearly on guard at my strange disy. ¡°Uh¡­ are you alright?¡±


    I blinked, still getting used to the sudden transfer. ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯m fine. Listen, I know where Akinsoft is. Northeast, this way,¡± I pointed. ¡°She has an invisibility potion and three armed guards, two sword-wielders and a¡­ mace-wielder, I think. We need to hurry and stay quiet.¡±


    Erani squinted at me, clearly confused. ¡°What? How do you¡­ Why didn¡¯t you¡­ <em>What?</em>¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t exin now. It has to do with my ss.¡± That would have to do. ¡°Now c¡¯mon, we need to hurry.¡±


    I took off in the direction of the bandits. Thankfully, Erani was quick on the uptake, and ran along with me as stealthily as possible to where I knew Akinsoft¡¯s camp was.


    We quickly arrived in the familiar area, this time with our prey unsuspecting. We crouched by the treeline, staying unobserved by the criminal group. Akinsoft was sitting on a stump, speaking with one of the three bandits she had with her. The other two were standing nearby.


    ¡°Holy shit, you were right¡­¡± Erani muttered when she saw that the camp was where I said it was.


    ¡°Okay, now see that pouch on her side?¡± I pointed it out as I spoke. ¡°That¡¯s where the invisibility potion is. I¡¯m going to rush forward and attack, and she¡¯s going to try and drink it and escape. I¡¯ll need you to snipe it out of her hands with a Firebolt when she does.¡±


    She breathed. ¡°Okay, sure. But I¡¯m going to need you to exin all of this afterward.¡±


    I pursed my lips, saying nothing. I wasn¡¯t sure how I¡¯d exin it. If I told her the truth, would she even believe me?


    Erani closed her eyes, readying her hands to fire off the Spell. ¡°Let me prepare my Mana. I haven¡¯t gotten much practice with the Upgrade I chose for Firebolt when it got to Rank 10 ¨C it isn¡¯t one I can really use in the middle of town ¨C so it¡¯s been taking some time to get used to casting.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m happy to give you the opportunity to practice it,¡± I nodded. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡±


    I rushed forward through the clearing, casting Crippling Chill as I ran.


    You have cursed Level 4 Human Swordsman with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.51 Health and 4.41 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.


    47.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 168.


    You have cursed Level 5 Human Swordsman with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.51 Health and 4.41 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.


    47.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 120.


    You have cursed Level 3 Human Pdin with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.51 Health and 4.41 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.


    47.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 73.


    I cursed the three bandits, but left Akinsoft unhindered. She was Unssed, so her Health would only be 100. I didn¡¯t want to kill her.


    My targets stumbled as frost covered their bodies, sapping their energy and abilities away. One of them ¨C the Pdin ¨C even fell to the ground. His Dexterity was probably low to begin with. If it was 11 or below, his Dexterity would be dropped to 0, and he¡¯d bepletely paralyzed for the duration of the Spell. But even if it was a bit higher, getting one of your Stats dropped down to 1 or 2 would be enough to make anyone copse.


    Stats only added onto one''s abilities, sure, but everyone had those additions since they were children, and had gotten quite used to them. Going from 10 Strength to 1 would feel like having a fundamental part of your body taken away, and the surprisebined with the loss of something they''d relied on for so long would often be debilitating. And, of course, once a physical Stat reached 0, the System would artificially paralyze them, so it would be a sure thing there.


    The other two unfallen Swordsmen stood guard ¨C obviously weakened, but still ready to fight. They were both a higher Level than me, and I¡¯d have to engage them in hand-to-handbat due to my limited choice in Spells. However, taking them down wasn¡¯t my objective. Akinsoft was.


    Having been alerted to my presence, Akinsoft quickly reached into her bag for the invisibility potion. I knew I was too far to stop her, still about twenty paces away. But that was what Erani was for, and just in time, I saw arge Firebolt soar over my head, aimed directly at the woman.


    I watched as it collided with her hand, but where I just expected a mild force to hit the bottle out of her grip and singe her skin, instead the Firebolt sted against her in a fiery explosion,unching her entire body back into a crate and knocking her unconscious. A second Firebolt followed the first,unching forward and hitting the higher-Level Swordsman. He blocked it with his sword, but that didn¡¯t do anything against the resulting explosion that sted him back, sending him tumbling over himself.


    I stumbled to a stop at the surprising show of force, eyes wide. <em>That</em> was the power of a Rank 10 Spell? I knew it was a big deal when they got to that level, but still. Seeing it with my own two eyes was something else.


    The Bandits seemed to agree, suddenly seeming hesitant in their convictions to defend the unconscious Akinsoft.


    ¡°I am Level 9,¡± Erani shouted in a powerful voice as she walked from the treeline. ¡°You have no chance of beating me and my partner. Surrender now, and we will spare your lives. We aren¡¯t here for you, anyway. All we want is the woman.¡±


    The only bandit left standing nced at his two other partners ¨C the Pdin that copsed from Crippling Chill and the Swordsman who was sted away by Erani ¨C and quickly stood down.


    ¡°D-don¡¯t hurt us,¡± the standing Swordsman stuttered through the shivering cold of Crippling Chill. ¡°She just hired us as bodyguards, we aren¡¯t with her!¡±


    Honestly, he was probably lying. They didn¡¯t seem like simple bodyguards, and they were obviously standing around in a camp full of stolen cargo; they had to at least know what was going on, if not be the ones that were helping her steal the stuff in the first ce. But, frankly, I didn¡¯t really care. They weren¡¯t hostile, there wasn¡¯t a bounty for them, and it wasn¡¯t like I could prove anything in the first ce. Besides, they seemed intimidated enough by Erani¡¯s Firebolts that they wouldn¡¯t try anything.


    I was intimidated, too. Something about being so close to such a violent explosion really instilled a sense of mortality back into me, especially since I¡¯d already survived being killed a couple times. It really did highlight just how much of a difference there was between our Levels. I¡¯d been fully prepared for a tough fight, but, well, Erani was right; there was no way someone couldpete with a sser that was twice their Level, especially not when they had me cursing them on top of it all. It made sense that the bandits would act with basic self-preservation.


    I walked forward and lifted Akinsoft to her feet as she sputtered back into consciousness. Part of me wanted to fish through some of these Enchanted goods and see if there was anything that interested me ¨C or that I could sell ¨C but it''d obviously not go well for me. At least, as long as the fact that I was currently in the middle of apprehending the previous owner of said stolen goods as something to be noted. The guard obviously took this type of thing seriously, and I couldn''t risk getting thrown in jail or mmed with fines this soon after getting back to civilization. Besides, I''d ideally be able to legally buy this type of thing after getting the reward from the researchers in Carth.


    We were also pretty deep into the forest, at this point, and the less time I spent out here, the better. I was already beginning to feel anxious, ncing around and feeling like I was hearing monsters crawling behind every tree. I was fine on the roads, where I could clearly see the path back to civilization, but out here... I felt like I was totally lost again.


    ¡°I, what¡¯s¡­ you can''t¡­¡± Akinsoft muttered, breaking me out of my thoughts. I dragged her away from the camp, ignoring her protests. Her potion had been knocked out of her hand by the st, so I wasn¡¯t too worried about her escaping anymore.


    Erani came up and helped me drag her away as she finally seemed to realize she was caught.


    ¡°Thanks for the help,¡± I said to Erani while she tugged on Akinsoft¡¯s arm.


    ¡°Anything for a friend,¡± she winked.


    I chuckled. ¡°Yeah, and a silver piece.¡±


    ¡°That was definitely a part of it.¡±


    ¡°I-Is that what you¡¯re doing this for?¡± Akinsoft struggled. ¡°If it¡¯s money, I can offer you some! I have silver! Dozens of pieces for you! In a, uh, safehouse deeper in the forest! Take me there and I¡¯ll get it for you!¡±


    Iughed and shook my head. ¡°Lady, you tried to stiff me on a payment not two days ago. There is no way I¡¯m trusting you on that.¡±


    ¡°Yep, sounds like a trap,¡± Erani agreed. ¡°She¡¯s trying to lead us to the rest of her gang so they can ambush us.¡±


    ¡°I-I¡¯m not! I promise! I¡¯ll¨C¡±


    I grabbed a strip of cloth from my pack and stuffed it in her mouth, wrapping it around the back of her head tightly, so she couldn¡¯t speak.


    ¡°There we go.¡±


    After walking back to town, we headed straight for the nearest guard outpost so we could turn in Akinsoft and get our money. On our way there, though, I saw a couple familiar faces.


    ¡°Hey boys,¡± I smiled and called over to Jamis and Sir Worthard, who were walking down a nearby street.


    Once they saw the cargo I was carrying with me, the two of them immediately slumped in disappointment.


    ¡°I <em>told</em> you we should have tailed him!¡± I heard Jamis say to Worthard.


    ¡°If we tailed every single one of ourpetitors, we would never get anything done.¡±


    Erani lightly smacked my arm. ¡°Don¡¯t antagonize them,¡± she was trying to be serious, but I could tell she was stifling augh.


    ¡°Fine, fine,¡± I responded to her, then turned to the pair and called out, ¡°Hey, no hard feelings, right?¡±


    ¡°Nah, nah, ¡®course not,¡± Jamis called back, and then in a lower voice ¨C one that I could still hear, though ¨C muttered, ¡°fuckin¡¯ dick.¡±


    That got augh out of me.


    We entered the outpost and turned in the prisoner after the guards verified her identity and went through the proper paperwork, and we got our five silver reward. Not before reporting the stolen goods we''d found in the forest, of course. If they found that and realized that we hadn''t reported it, it probably wouldn''t look good for us. After that, we left the building and walked along the city streets, the high noon sun beating down on us.


    ¡°Here¡¯s your payment,¡± I handed a couple pieces and fifty coppers to Erani as we walked. ¡°Since you helped with the fight, too, you should get half, at least.¡±


    ¡°No, no, you can keep it,¡± she responded. ¡°It was fun, so I don¡¯t mind.¡±


    ¡°Really? You sure you¡¯re good with just the one silver?¡±


    ¡°No, like, you can keep it all.¡±


    That surprised me.


    She seemed to pick up on my surprise, continuing, ¡°Seriously, it was fun to hang out, and you gave me an excuse to test out my new Spell. Really, all I did was walk around and spend a bit of Mana. You¡¯re the one who found where she was. ...Speaking of, maybe you could also tell me how you suddenly seemed to know exactly where she was? And how you knew she had an invisibility potion?¡±


    ¡°Ahh,¡± Iughed. ¡°I see, so it isn¡¯t generosity, you¡¯re just buttering me up for info.¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± she smiled. ¡°I really did enjoy spending time with you. ¡­But yeah, I¡¯m definitely trying to butter you up. So spit it out! How¡¯d you do it?¡±


    ¡°Well, the thing is, I don¡¯t think you¡¯d believe me if I told you.¡±


    She rolled her eyes. ¡°Oh,e on, you¡¯re just trying to get out of saying anything.¡±


    ¡°Fine, fine, I¡¯ll tell you. Just¡­¡± I looked around at the crowded streets surrounding us, ¡°could we talk somewhere more private?¡±


    We arrived at my room in the inn and sat down.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Erani said, ¡°you¡¯ve convinced me, a defenseless maiden, toe to your room in the middle of the night. What nefarious ns do you have?¡±


    ¡°It''s literally midday,¡± I snorted, ¡°and you could probably kill me with half a thought. I¡¯m not sure if that counts as ¡®defenseless.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Whatever, whatever,¡± sheughed, ¡°just tell me! How¡¯d you do it?¡±


    I sighed and let out a puff of Noxious Grasp. Erani didn¡¯t even seem to notice; it seemed she¡¯d gotten used to it after we spent some time together. ¡°Alright, I really just don¡¯t think you¡¯ll believe me.¡±


    ¡°I will, don¡¯t worry,¡± she rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I opened up the window for Time Loop and read it off to her.


    Time Loop ¨C Rank <strong>3</strong>


    Type: Activated


    Go up to <strong>4</strong> minutes back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other Talent cooldowns ¨C as well as the rest of the world ¨C but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.


    This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.


    This Talent may only be activated once per day.


    ¡°...¡± Erani stared at me after I finished reading it. ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t believe you.¡±


    ¡°I told you!¡±


    ¡°Okay, but I just thought you were talking about a particrly strong Divination Spell. Not¡­ this.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s what it says. I don¡¯t know what else to tell you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d prefer the truth.¡±


    ¡°It is! Just don¡¯t tell anyone, okay?¡±


    ¡°What, don¡¯t tell anyone that there¡¯s some crazy guy running around iming he¡¯s some god of time? Damn, that was the next item on my itinerary.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not iming I¡¯m a god of time,¡± Iughed. ¡°If you don¡¯t wanna believe me, fine. But that¡¯s what the Talent reads.¡±


    ¡°Fine. I guess whatever impossible powers you im to have, you <em>did</em> get the information somehow. So at least I have confirmation you¡¯ve got some sort of interesting ss abilities for my sister to document.¡±


    I just shrugged. ¡°Why are you so focused on doing your sister this favor, anyway? Didn¡¯t you say you don¡¯t have a good rtionship with your family?¡±


    ¡°What, are you trying to convince me <em>not</em> to get you free money?¡±


    ¡°No, no. Just curious.¡±


    ¡®Well, it¡¯s not like I have a bad rtionship with my sister. I have a bad rtionship with my parents <em>because</em> of my sister. I don¡¯t want to get too much into it, but she¡¯s a researcher for the college in Carth, right? Well, my parents obviously think that sort of intellectual profession is much more valuable than one that¡¯s more hands-on.¡±


    ¡°You sure they aren¡¯t just worried about you? Adventuring is a job that¡¯d make any parent a bit worried.¡±


    ¡°Oh, no. In fact, my dad even said he <em>hopes</em> I have some sort of near-death experience. Said it¡¯d put the fear of the gods in me and pull me back to reason, into doing something that isn¡¯t so ¡®brutish.¡¯ Almost dying is what I deserve for choosing to try and help people, apparently,¡± she rolled her eyes. ¡°He took it back when I confronted him about it, said he just wanted to make a point, but¡­ well. Still hurt.¡±


    I nodded sympathetically. ¡°Well, if there¡¯s anyone that can prove adventurers don¡¯t have to take the ¡®brutish¡¯ way to solve their problems, it¡¯s you. I thought <em>I</em> was taking research seriously by asking about my mentor¡¯s build and looking into some general Leveling principles about Stat allocation, but you¡­¡±


    ¡°...I probably spend more time in the library than my own home, yeah,¡± sheughed.


    A bell suddenly began ringing throughout the building, causing us both to jump.


    ¡°Ah, shit, that¡¯s the lunch bell, right?¡± Erani asked. ¡°The Burning gon Inn rings it whenever they have lunch ready, pretty sure. I remember it from when I used to stay here.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. You need to go?¡±


    She nodded, standing and straightening her clothes. ¡°Yeah. I was supposed to be doing a job for Alfo Arcian. I should probably go back to doing that.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re only, what, a couple hourste?¡±


    ¡°Luckily it isn¡¯t time-sensitive,¡± she sighed. ¡°But thank you for the pleasant morning.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we should hunt some criminals again sometime,¡± I chuckled. ¡°Y¡¯know, technically, since you didn¡¯t end up epting any payment for your help, you <em>could </em>call today our first date,¡± I winked.


    ¡°Um,¡± Erani flushed. ¡°Yes, I suppose we could. Thank you again for the nice¡­ date,¡±


    With that, she left, red-faced.


    Iughed once she was out of the room. Things seemed to be calming down. No monsters hunting me as prey, money troubles were going away soon. It was looking up.


    I sighed andy back on my bed, fingering the coins weighing down my purse. In total, I had about five and a half silver, more than enough to buy a Spell Crystal. Honestly, I was a bit ahead of schedule in that regard. Noxious Grasp¡¯s Rank was still only at 7, and its Spell XP was hovering around 30/94 after the practicing I¡¯d done through the day. I was d I wasn¡¯t going to end up sitting around at a roadblock forever, though.


    So with that, I headed to Alfo Arcian¡¯s to buy the crystal. It was a rtively simple process, telling him what I wanted and then waiting for him to retrieve it from the back. Once it was in my hands, I looked down at the small orb. The Poison Spell Crystal was small, fitting easily in the palm of my hand, but surprisingly heavy. It was mainly ck, with a green, smokey sheen to the inside as though the Mana stored within it was tangible.


    I ced the dense ball into my pack, smiling as I stepped out of the door.


    <em>Missionplete!</em>

 Chapter 21: Back to the Familiar

    Chapter 21: Back to the Familiar


    I mainly rxed for the rest of the day, spending the remainder of my money on some supplies I felt like I¡¯d need for the trip to Carth tomorrow. It was strange, traveling so much after an entire life of living in a single vige. But that was being an adventurer.


    I also spent my time practicing Noxious Grasp. For the whole rest of the afternoon and night, I was diligently casting the Spell like I¡¯d always been doing, slowly ticking my Spell XP upward. By the end of the day, Noxious Grasp was at 59/94 Spell XP. After the rtively rxing afternoon, Iy down and slept soundly through the night.


    When I awoke, the first thing I did was check Noxious Grasp¡¯s Spell XP. 79/94! It seemed that the whole ¡®practicing while I slept¡¯ thing had be a true habit ¨C one that I liked.


    Erani and I agreed to meet in the lobby of the inn this morning, so I went ahead and went there, grabbing a seat and eating some breakfast while I waited for her to arrive. I still felt a bit ufortable in popted areas like these. I was used to total solitude in the forest, a single sound meaning trouble¡¯s nearby. Even in my vige, there were few ces that ever got as busy as most of the areas here in Ordensville. I much preferred socialization when it was of the one-on-one variety. So I kept my head down, avoided eye contact, and ate my stew.


    Eventually, Erani walked in, pack on her back and looking ready for travel. She saw me and walked over.


    ¡°You ready?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Yep,¡± I stood and shouldered my own, much smaller, traveler¡¯s pack. I¡¯d prepared pretty lightly ¨C just bringing a change of clothes and some basic rations ¨C but I¡¯d also bought and filled a second and third waterskin, just in case I got lost again. I¡¯d gone through enough dehydration for one lifetime, that was for sure.


    Erani had agreed to bring the majority of the equipment, so she had a couple sleeping bags ¨C the trip was ted to be an overnight one ¨C and most of the food rations. Of course, I went ahead and took my share to add to my pack, so that we were at least carrying equal weights, but I was thankful she shouldered the equipment costs. As a Level 9 adventurer, Erani definitely made enough to support herself, and then some.


    In my experience, the vast majority of ssers never passed Level 5; most people who got a ss didn¡¯t do so to be adventurers, but rather for a feeling of safety or status, or even just to add a few points to their Strength so they could be a better lumberjack. After a certain point, getting stronger got a lot harder, and most people didn¡¯t have the resolve to fight the stronger and stronger monsters required to get to those higher Levels. So, even though Level 9 was rtively lowpared to the Levels of the more famous ssers, that amount of power was still incredibly highly demanded, and I was sure Erani had no struggles finding ways to make money


    So, with her funding our trip, we had sleeping bags, tents, and a couple days¡¯ worth of rations. Not exactly living the high life, but much better than what I was used to. Once we had everything, we headed out, exiting the town¡¯s walls and traveling down the road to Carth.


    The trip started calmly enough. I felt a bit of anxiety traveling again; I had been outside the walls many times in the past couple days, of course, but I was always within at most an hour¡¯s walk back to the town, and I also knew exactly where it was and how to get back. During this trip, I¡¯d be traveling for two days, with the only surroundingndmark a single path.


    Despite that, though, I carried on. I knew I was strong enough to hold my own in a fight now, and we were sticking to roads this time, so I wouldn¡¯t be getting lost. Sticking to the roads had another benefit, too ¨C most monsters avoided manmade structures. That was why we¡¯d gone out, deep into the wilderness back when I was first trying to get the Swordsman ss. The especially strong monsters wouldn¡¯t stick around the areas where they knew Humans were around. After all, even if a monster could get a few easy kills on the Unssed around there, soon enough a high-Level adventurer woulde by to kill it.


    I also had Erani for safety, of course ¨C she was much more powerful than me in a fight ¨C but I¡¯d be lying if I said she was what put me at ease. No, I had experience, and I was self-reliant. <em>I</em> could survive, if need be. I promised myself I wouldn¡¯t end up lost and astray again due to putting my fate in the hands of others, no matter how well-meaning they were.


    Erani and I nced across the treeline as we walked. I was searching for suspicious movements from monsters, and I was sure Erani was, too. Sure, they generally avoided the roads, but that didn¡¯t make it impossible for one to stumble by. The trees¡¯ trunks were thicker in this area, with thin needles instead of leaves. The dirt road below us was covered in the droppings, so our boots crunched against them as we walked up and down the various hills in the bath.


    While we traveled, I practiced Noxious Grasp, as always.


    Erani looked over at me as a puff of fumes escaped my fingers. ¡°How does that not get ufortable for you?¡± She asked. ¡°I can barely handle practicing for the few hours per day that I do.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I do it without thinking. Pretty much automatic at this point. I¡¯ve even started casting in my sleep,¡± I chuckled.


    She blinked in surprise at my offhand mention, thenughed in disbelief. ¡°Really? To be honest, that sounds like a nightmare. I¡¯d wake up feeling like shit if I was casting all night long.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, my intensive regimen was definitely pretty awful for the first few days, but I guess I just got used to it. It¡¯s like working out ¨C if you exercise to a point that¡¯s past your limits for long enough, it¡¯ll be your new limit.¡±


    ¡°Well, still. I haven¡¯t really heard of people taking training as seriously as you do, and there¡¯s probably a reason for it. I mean, I¡¯ve read dozens of books on different Spell training methods, and they normally suggest at most four hours per day, and that¡¯s if you¡¯re looking for something really intensive. If people aren¡¯t rmending it, it¡¯s probably for a reason.¡±


    ¡°Rx. Maybe people just haven¡¯t figured out that it¡¯s possible, or maybe it only works for some people. Hells, maybe it just genuinely is that nobody¡¯s willing to. I know I wouldn¡¯t have ever put myself through that if it wasn¡¯t absolutely necessary. It took days of pure casting just to get to the point where it stopped being agonizing, much less to the point it stopped hurting.¡±


    ¡°Right, but, I mean, is it worth it? It¡¯s not like you¡¯re on a time limit or anything, you don¡¯t <em>need</em> to get stronger as quickly as possible.¡±


    ¡°Well, at the time, I <em>did </em>need to get stronger as quickly as possible. I get that it isn¡¯t necessary anymore, but it¡¯s sort of¡­ fun. I like the challenge, trying to optimize my strength and the time it takes to get there. It¡¯s sort of like how you like reading manuals on builds and deliberating on all of the decisions you¡¯ll make in the future. It¡¯s not like one wrong Spell Choice will ruin your life, so objectively, you shouldn¡¯t worry about it. But I¡¯m sure you really do it because you just enjoy thinking about that stuff.¡±


    She listened to me, then nodded. ¡°Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Maybe one day you¡¯ll have to show me how to find the fun in training like that.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Just you and me?¡± I joked. ¡°Are you asking me out on a date, Erani?¡±


    ¡°N-no, I just¨C wait. Hey, don¡¯t mess with me like that!¡± She said when she realized I was just joking around. ¡°It¡¯s mean.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t help it, your reactions are too cute.¡± Iughed and lightly elbowed her arm, but the moment my skin touched hers, she yelped and recoiled in pain. I quickly realized I¡¯d been unknowingly casting Noxious Grasp when I touched her. ¡°Shit, I¡¯m sorry! Is it bad?¡±


    ¡°No, no, I¡¯m alright. It didn¡¯t hurt that much, anyway; it just surprised me.¡±


    ¡°Okay, good, good. Again, I¡¯m really sorry, I didn¡¯t even realize it was active. How much Health did you lose? Are you low?¡±


    ¡°Like I said, you¡¯re okay,¡± she giggled at my worried response. ¡°It was only a few points of Health. The Sorcerer ss doesn¡¯t get any extra Endurance ¨C and I haven¡¯t put any Stat Points in it, either ¨C so my maximum Health is still 100, but even with that, it¡¯s still small enough that I¡¯ll regenerate it in a couple hours.¡±


    I breathed a sigh of relief at that. I hadn¡¯t even realized I¡¯d been casting the Spell when I touched her. That was a stupid mistake; I was lucky this time, but if I identally did that with a stranger, things could turn out very badly.


    ¡°So¡­¡± Erani said, ¡°I¡¯ve been ¡®infected with noxious gas¡¯ huh?¡±


    ¡°Oh, gods. Is that what the damage notification says?¡±


    ¡°Yep. ¡®You have been infected with noxious gas. 6 damage. 3 Stamina drain.¡¯¡±


    I cringed inwardly. ¡°Uh, don¡¯t worry about it. You aren¡¯t gonna suffer any long-term effects from it, or anything. I don¡¯t know why it uses the term ¡®infected.¡¯ I guess it¡¯s just to exin the Stamina drain.¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m just messing with you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s mean.¡±


    ¡°Now you know how I feel!¡±


    A few hourster, we stopped to rest and eat lunch. We sat on some fallen logs in a clearing next to the road, eating some sandwiches Erani made that honestly tasted phenomenal.


    ¡°So,¡± I said after I swallowed a bite, ¡°what made you want to be an adventurer?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I wouldn¡¯t say it was my destiny to fight monsters or anything like that. Honestly, it¡¯s more like I enjoy building up my ss as a Sorcerer, and I just have to fight monsters to do that.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I understand that. Pretty satisfying watching the numbers go up, that¡¯s for sure,¡± Iughed.


    ¡°Yeah. I also like the safety thates with it. I remember when I was younger, I could sometimes feel totally helpless, like the walls were the only thing keeping me from dying. So part of it was that I just needed to find some way to get rid of that fear. Monsters can be a bit scary to think about. What about you?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just something I¡¯ve always wanted,¡± I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t think I could ever settle for mediocrity. It¡¯s just not my thing. It¡¯s not that I want fame, more that I just want the personal satisfaction of knowing I did something difficult. Also the money.¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°Ah, the bane of all adventurers. Greed.¡±


    ¡°No, no, not like greed. It¡¯s more¡­ Well, did I ever tell you about my parents?¡±


    ¡°No, what happened with them? You have a bad rtionship with them, too?¡±


    ¡°Kind of the opposite. I had a great rtionship with them. They were both adventurers, teamed up to do jobs together ¨C the duo: Magda and Muxus! They were kind of celebrities in my vige; not particrly strong by the standards of the entire Koinkar Kingdom, but strong enough in our smallmunity that they were reliable workers. But, well¡­ you know the fate of most adventurers. One day, I was about thirteen, they left for a job, went out the walls, and never came back. I wanted to believe for a long time that they just got sidetracked and it¡¯d just be a bit longer before they returned. But then a couple days passed. And so I thought that maybe they got lost, and were just having trouble getting back to town. And then a couple weeks passed. So I thought that maybe they¡¯d just skipped town. That they¡¯d left for some reason, and would be back eventually with a crazy story about going to some nearby city on a whim and taking out some job to clear out a Gray Drakeling nest.¡° Iughed. ¡°Those goofballs pulled that kind of stunt pretty often, actually.¡±


    ¡°But¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah. But then a few years passed. Bodies were never found, but you know how many monsters can just eat people whole. So, well, I was left as a kid with nobody to take care of him. House got taken by the lord ¨C he said that there was ¡®no way a child could run an estate¡¯ ¨C which left me copperless and homeless. So I picked up a job thanks to the charity of a cksmith who was willing to hire a kid to help around, and that was pretty much my life until I turned twenty. If they weren¡¯t powerful enough to survive, I knew that I wouldn¡¯t make the same mistake they did. They were in the mid-Levels ¨C I don¡¯t remember exactly, but I do remember my mom, Magda, was excited because she was getting close to twenty ¨C so I knew I¡¯d have to pass that. Have to do things better than they did, and pass those Levels, so I wouldn¡¯t have to worry anymore. And, well, things were pretty financially hard for me after that. A kid¡¯s ie ¨C even when the smith was paying me more than he should have for my work ¨C wasn¡¯t much. Adventuring is pretty much the best way to make money, so that part was pretty big, too.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yeah, I get it. I know a lot of people have to resort to adventuring to be able to pay for the necessities.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that was the main motivation at first. Just get strong enough to pay for everything and not have to worry about dying. But after my recent experiences ¨C getting lost in the forest, getting this new ss ¨C I¡¯ve realized that, really, money doesn¡¯t matter as much. Not to me, at least. It¡¯s power. Even when I saved up enough money to hire two strong adventurers to escort me into the forest, they still failed. Money didn¡¯t save me. But if I was more powerful then, I wouldn¡¯t have had to worry at all. It¡¯s that concept of bettering myself. That every day, I have a slightly lower chance of dyingpared to thest. And one day, I won¡¯t have to worry at all. It¡¯s that, well, I just don¡¯t want to settle for mediocrity.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Not quite the way I think of things, but I understand it. Don¡¯t expect to be some bigshot immediately, though. I kind of made that mistake myself, when I first got my ss. Especially if you¡¯re going to Carth. It¡¯s kind of an adventurer hub. At a Level as low as yours ¨C no offense, of course ¨C you¡¯re gonna look pretty mediocre.¡±


    ¡°I guess I¡¯m just gonna have to try harder, then.¡±


    ¡°I have a feeling that if you try any harder, you¡¯ll kill yourself,¡± Erani joked.


    ¡°Well, truthfully, I¡¯ve already died a couple times now.¡±


    ¡°What? Oh¡­ oh! Gods, I forgot that your Talent activated on death. That must be an interesting experience.¡±


    ¡°Oh? I didn¡¯t realize you changed your mind about believing me.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you. But if you¡¯re going to pretend it¡¯s real, I figured I may as well y along.¡±


    Iughed. ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°No, seriously! Still ridiculous that you¡¯re keeping up this lie about time travel.¡±


    ¡°Put me under a Truth Stone. I¡¯ll pass it, and then you¡¯ll believe me, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re getting put under a Truth Stone when you get researched, that¡¯s for sure. But you know those things only test for what you <em>believe</em>, not what¡¯s actually <em>true</em>. So, you can¡¯t just put some random person under a Truth Stone and ask them what¡¯s contained in the thirteenth circle of hell, and then have them guess until the stone deems it to be correct. It¡¯s just some minor Divination magic that reads your mind to see if you genuinely believe what you¡¯re saying.¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Okay professor. What¡¯s this have to do with what I just said?¡±


    ¡°You might just be hallucinating the time travel, and if you are, the Truth Stone¡¯ll say you¡¯re telling the truth, because you genuinely believe you¡¯re going back in time.¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯m hallucinating it, then how did I get the information on where Akinsoft was?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, you tell me. Maybe you have a special Talent that Divines you information on something, then makes you <em>think</em> you just went back in time to get it, and tricks you into believing it¡¯s a time travel Talent.¡±


    I shook my head,ughing. ¡°You <em>really</em> don¡¯t want to believe me, huh?¡±


    I went to take another bite of my sandwich. Just as I bit down, however, I saw a sh of movement behind Erani. I leapt up from my seat, but before I could warn her, a white thread shot out of the forest and knocked her down, wrapping her in cobwebs. She struggled against her silky bonds, but they were thick and strong, and she couldn¡¯t escape.


    I leapt forward to try and help her, but another strand shot out at me. I ducked below just in time, and looked over to the source of the projectiles. Charging at us were two blue and ck spider-like monsters, running on hind legs with their six other wed appendages red out, ready to strike. Standing tall with their gangly legs, their arachnoid bodies were close to reaching twice my height.


    I recognized these monsters, and I didn¡¯t like what I knew them to be. They were Anacaps, dangerous stalking predators that were native to the forest. They were an evolution that existed between Levels 10 and 15, so I knew they¡¯d be a tough enemy.


    Not only that, but this was <em>not</em> a good time to fight. I had food in my hand and unpacked bags at my feet; I waspletely unprepared. In fact, the Anacaps had probably nned it that way. The monsters were highly intelligent ambush predators, so they¡¯d likely been tailing us for a while, and had chosen now ¨C when we were distracted ¨C to strike.


    I readied myself to fight for my life.

 Chapter 22: Arachnid Adversaries

    Chapter 22: Arachnid Adversaries


    I hurriedly readied myself against the charging Anacaps, standing up and turning to face them just as one of the monsters collided with me. Tumbling back to the ground with it on top of me, I tried my best to keep its long, pointed ws away from my body as I activated Noxious Grasp and cast Crippling Chill on the monster.


    You have cursed Level 12 Anacap with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.51 Health and 4.41 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.


    47.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 168.


    I could feel its movements slow as the curse drained away its strength at the same time that Noxious Grasp drained its life. Still, it was powerful, and it pinned me onto the ground underneath itsrge, spindly body.


    I raised up my arms to try and fend off its attacks ¨C Noxious Grasp was draining away its Health second by second, so all I needed to do was survive while it was touching me. That was easier said than done, though, as the monster used all six limbs to keep me from getting up while also attempting to stab at my torso, only being deflected by the frantic blocks and parries I performed with my hands.


    A huge <em>boom</em> sound exploded out from somewhere next to me, and I nced over to see the other Anacap fly off of Erani¡¯s body from a high-powered detonation, seemingly one that she shot off inside the webby bonds restricting her. Her body was burnt and her clothes charred from the massive explosion, but the webs had burnt off of her as well, and the Anacap¡¯srge but light body wasunched at least a dozen paces away by the Spell.


    I snapped my attention back to the Anacap as it struck at me again. I put up my hands to try and block it, but I was too slow, and it raked its des across my chest.


    You have been sliced by ws. 44 damage.


    Your Health is 96.


    I bit back a scream of pain as the ws split my skin apart. My Health protected me from the bulk of the damage, but the length of my body that was cut open hurt like the worst of the hells.


    I twisted away from the Anacap, shoving it away while it was off-bnce from its attack. The monster stumbled back and fell to the ground while I scrambled to my feet, wincing at the throbbing pain in my chest.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 102 damage and drained 51 Stamina over the course of 7.3 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    26.1 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 142.


    I nced around frantically and spotted Erani getting tackled back to the ground by the other Anacap. Trying my best to help, I cursed it with another Crippling Chill, but I couldn¡¯t do much else.


    You have cursed Level 14 Anacap with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.51 Health and 4.41 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.


    47.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 95.


    Besides, I had other things to worry about. The Anacap that I¡¯d just knocked away got to its feet, towering over me once again with its six ded arms held out, ready to strike. I quickly dove forward, trying to get close enough to it that it couldn¡¯t utilize its range advantage. Colliding with its skinny legs, I felt a <em>snap</em> from underneath me as one of the beast¡¯s knees bent in the wrong direction.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 32 damage using your Body.


    You have crippled Level 12 Anacap.


    It let out a monstrous hiss of pain as it fell over on top of me. I was surprised at how easily the Anacap¡¯s exoskeleton broke. I¡¯d charged right into its knee, sure, but higher-Leveled monsters usually weren¡¯t injured by so little force.


    Then again, I¡¯d already drained quite a bit of Health from the monster, so it didn¡¯t actually have much System-rted protection anymore. Plus, Noxious Grasp was at such a high Rank that its effects of withering away flesh and muscle would have been incredibly powerful, even against a monster as high-Leveled as this one. I had to remember that a Rank 7 Spell would only be allowed by the Soft Caps of ssers Leveled 12 and above. In that sense, I was incredibly ahead of my Level.


    Noxious Grasp was already active ¨C I¡¯d activated it the moment my skin touched the Anacap¡¯s exoskeleton ¨C so I quickly grabbed onto the Anacap, unwilling to allow the opportunity of its leg breaking to pass. Gritting my teeth at the burning pain in my bleeding chest, I held the dazed monster down ¨C now <em>I</em> was the one pinning <em>it</em> ¨C and mmed my fist into its arachnid head, crushing its chitinous mandibles into its face.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 12 damage using your Fist.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 12 Anacap.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 83 damage and drained 66 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    Just as I struck it, though, Crippling Chill¡¯s fifteen second duration let up. The Anacap immediately surged forward, its Dexterity now unburdened, and threw me away. I managed tond on my feet, preparing to cast another instance of my Spell on the monster, but in the split-second it took me to prepare Crippling Chill, the Anacap struck at me, its wsncing into my stomach.


    You have been stabbed by ws. 62 damage.


    Your Health is 34.


    The fistfull of des sunk much deeper into my torso than they had into my chest before, my lower pool of Health protecting me less from damage. I coughed out in pain from the blow, agony sending me into shock, but I managed to get my cast off, covering the spider monster¡¯s chitinous body in frost yet again.


    You have cursed Level 12 Anacap with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.51 Health and 4.41 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.


    47.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 48.


    Hissing as it felt the effects of the curse, the Anacap yanked its ws from my gut, a new bout of pain springing out by the sudden movement, and backed away from me, limping on its broken leg. I somehow managed to stay standing, my hands shivering and my forehead breaking out into a sweat from the intense burning in my gut.


    But I knew I had to fight on. If the beast was backing away, it must have been low on Health. I could take it down if I could just get one more grapple in on it and get in a few seconds of Noxious Grasp.


    The monster eyed me warily, as though it understood my exact thought process. In fact, it was probably thinking the exact same thing I was; I was one solid hit away from death, too.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 14 Anacap.


    You have struck Level 14 Anacap for 83 damage and drained 66 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    It seemed that my Crippling Chill had worn off of the Anacap Erani was fighting, but I couldn¡¯t afford to distract myself from the battle in front of me, and my Mana was too low to safely cast another instance of it.


    I ran forward, agony rippling through my gut. Clenching my teeth and groaning in pain, I kept sprinting until I mmed into the exhausted Anacap, pushing it into the ground and grabbing onto it with Noxious Grasp. I frantically tried to hold its arms down as it iled underneath me, haphazardly trying to stab me with its ws.


    But after a few seconds, the movement from underneath me stopped as the monster finally ran out of Stamina. Then, I got the fateful notification.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 69 damage and drained 34 Stamina over the course of 4.9 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    17.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 31.


    Due to its target dying, Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 12 Anacap.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 48 damage and drained 38 Stamina over the course of 8.7 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    You have in Level 12 Anacap.


    You have earned 131 XP. Your XP is 226.


    Threshold reached. 200 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 4.


    Due to achieving Level 4 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Soft Cap has increased to Rank 3.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 4.


    I was momentarily distracted by the words that rushed through my mind. Level 4! Holy shit! I also got another notification, something about my Intelligence Stat reaching a certain threshold to reward me with something, but before I could take any time to look at it, I heard a scream from behind me. I whipped my head around to see the other Anacap, poised on top of Erani, withdraw its ws from a deep wound in her shoulder. Blood spouted from the wound.


    I rushed over, yelling both from the pain in my gut and chest and in order to try and distract the predator. The diversion worked, and the monster swiveled its head toward me, stumbling to its feet.


    I could see that the Anacap was clearly badly damaged, burns and cracks covering its chitin. Erani had done quite the number on the monster, it seemed. However, that didn¡¯t mean it would be easy to kill. I still only had 34 Health left, after all.


    But Erani looked even closer to death ¨C burnt, stabbed, and bleeding out ¨C and I needed to get rid of this monster before I could help her. I didn¡¯t have enough Mana to cast Crippling Chill, so I¡¯d have to rely on Noxious Grasp to do all the damage. She began struggling to her feet, trembling from the no-doubt unimaginable pain she had to be going through.


    ¡°Erani,¡± I said, trying to ignore my own pain, ¡°Stay back. You aren¡¯t in any condition to be fighting.¡±


    ¡°N, neither a-are you,¡± she shuddered and groaned as she got to another knee.


    ¡°Stay out of this! You won¡¯t¨C¡±


    The Anacap interrupted my speech, leaping at me, and I ducked under its flurry of ws as it soared over my body.


    You have been sliced by ws. 11 damage.


    Your Health is 23.


    My back got nicked by a few of the des¡¯ tips, and I grunted in pain as blood seeped from those wounds, as well. Just as the Anacap was at the peak of its arc, flying over my crouching body, I leapt up, uncoiling myself and grabbing tightly onto its torso as I dragged it to the ground. It iled its pointed limbs, trying to stab them into my body, but I was hugging it so tightly that its long arms couldn¡¯t reach me.


    Squeezing with all of my might, I tried my hardest to fight off its attempts to push me off. But eventually it wriggled from my grasp, the monster¡¯s smooth, chitinous exoskeleton too slippery for my bloodied hands to keep a grasp on.


    You have struck Level 14 Anacap for 73 damage and drained 37 Stamina over the course of 5.2 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    18.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 13.


    It scurried to its feet much more quickly than I expected ¨C this Anacap had an unimpaired Dexterity Stat, unlike the one I¡¯d fought and killed with Crippling Chill ¨C and it immediately lunged forward, eager to strike at my defenseless body. I was still on the ground, unable to dodge the mess of des aimed at my body, so I raised my arms, preparing for the strike that would kill me¨C


    ¡°No!¡±


    I heard a shout from beside me as Erani threw herself in front of the charging monster, the Anacap slicing her with all six of its wed arms and throwing her aside. I grunted in anger and charged at the distracted monster, wound up, and threw a strong punch at the thing¡¯s face.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 11 damage using your Fist.


    It fell to the ground. It attempted to scramble back to its feet, but I was on it first, raising my foot above it and stomping down on its thin chest. I felt a <em>crunch</em> as the hard exoskeleton broke under my weight, sending goop and guts across my legs.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 17 damage using Boot.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 14 Anacap.


    You have earned 73 XP. Your XP is 99.


    I sighed at the notification telling me my enemy was dead. I wanted to copse to the ground in pain and exhaustion ¨C my body felt ten times heavier than it did moments ago, the thrill of battle leaving my mind ¨C but I couldn¡¯t rest yet. I ran over to Erani, who was lying motionless on the ground, a pool of blood forming from the numerous cuts and wounds covering her body.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± I knelt by her side, ignoring the screaming pain in my gut and chest.


    ¡°...Hey,¡± her crackled lips parted as she weakly whispered to me. ¡°You b¨C better not have been lying about that time power of yours. I don¡¯t wanna die for good.¡±


    She let out a final breath.


    I stared down at her corpse.


    Fuck<em>.</em>


    I absolutely had to go back. I couldn¡¯t just let her die.


    Besides, killing these monsters again would give me a <em>lot</em> of extra XP. ¡­Although it would fucking hurt to redo that fight.


    But it was okay. I had a n.

 Chapter 23: Run it Back

    Chapter 23: Run it Back


    I activated Time Loop, and appeared in the in-between ce. I was initially surprised at the five different options shown to me ¨C I was used to only having four ¨C but then I remembered that I¡¯d finally Leveled up earlier, so Time Loop had increased in Rank as well. Despite not currently having a body, I mentally took a breath. I¡¯d need that fight to go much better than it had before if I wanted to not only save Erani, but hopefully get out without being stabbed.


    Sensing my consciousness starting to fade, I hurriedly selected the furthest option back ¨C 5 minutes.


    And then I was back, sitting on a felled log with a half-eaten sandwich in my hand.


    ¡°¨Cand so the next time I saw him, his entire face was blue!¡± Erani was saying. I remembered the conversation; she was telling me the story of how she had tricked a friend into thinking a bottle of blue dye was an Enchanted sunburn protector. ¡°Uh, you good? You look like¨C¡±


    ¡°Erani, you need to listen to me, but look as though you¡¯re having normal conversation and I¡¯m just telling you a story of my own, okay? Don¡¯t let what I say affect your bodynguage or tone of voice.¡±


    She blinked, obviously confused. But after a moment she smiled as though all was normal. ¡°Okay!¡± she said cheerfully.


    I was relieved at how natural she was at this. After taking a breath, I tried to talk as though I were just speaking about the weather. ¡°I just used Time Loop, so I¡¯m from five minutes in the future. We¡¯re currently being watched by two Anacaps ¨C Levels 12 and 14.¡±


    ¡°Where are they?¡± she asked conversationally, chewing a bite of sandwich.


    ¡°Not sure, but when they attacked ¨C it was about four minutes from now ¨C they were from, uh,¡± I pretended to yawn, stretching one arm out in the direction that the Anacaps came from, ¡°that way.¡±


    Sheughed. I wasn¡¯t sure if she was just pretending to find something I said funny, or if she genuinely thought the way I chose to point out the Anacaps¡¯ hiding spot to be humorous. ¡°So, I guess the fight didn¡¯t go well if you¡¯re back here to do it again?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, uh¡­¡± I reminded myself to take another bite. Erani had died at the end of thest fight, and, well, I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted to tell her that. She died to save my life, and now she didn¡¯t even know she had done it. It almost felt like an invasion of privacy, like I knew something about her that I shouldn¡¯t have ¨C it was like reading someone¡¯s diary. In any case, if I told her that she died now, it would probably only frazzle her and mess her head up right before a fight where we both needed to be operating at peak capacity. ¡°It didn¡¯t go well,¡± I settled for just saying that. ¡°We killed both of the Anacaps, but we weren¡¯t looking so good, ourselves.¡±


    ¡°Hm, alright. So what¡¯s the n, then?¡±


    ¡°We got surprised by themst time, but we also got overwhelmed by their raw power. They¡¯re fast and tough, and we got separated and couldn¡¯t help each other. So, I came up with a n that''ll hopefully work. Listen carefully, and it should all go smoothly.¡±


    After a few minutes, we were ready. I unfortunately couldn¡¯t assign my Stat Points for my Level up ¨C it took closer to ten minutes to do that ¨C but the base Stats I got would still help. The Conjuration would help me cast faster and more easily ¨C plus, in the time we waited, the extra maximum Mana had filled up a bit ¨C and the Endurance would help me with my pain tolerance. Unfortunately, it hadn¡¯t been enough time that the extra maximum Health had been filled at all, though.


    I looked over behind Erani, and saw the familiar hint of movement; the Anacaps were about to attack.


    ¡°Now!¡± I shouted.


    We both dropped to the ground just as two balls of web shot out over our heads. We turned and looked at the two charging monsters, but didn¡¯t fire off any Spells yet. Instead, I stood my ground and readied Crippling Chill, preparing to cast it at any moment. Erani did the same with her Explosive Firebolt. I waited until the Anacaps were almost upon us, when they tensed up to leap at us. Just as their long legs began to extend¡­


    You have cursed Level 12 Anacap with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.51 Health and 4.41 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.


    47.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 185.


    You have cursed Level 14 Anacap with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.51 Health and 4.41 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.


    47.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 138.


    Surprised by the sudden loss of Dexterity, the two monsters stumbled through their leaps, crashing to the ground in front of us. I charged forward at mine, while Erani took care of hers,unching a Firebolt at the stunned beast¡¯s body and sting it into a rock.


    I lunged onto the downed Anacap, wrestling its limbs to the ground while I activated Noxious Grasp and began draining its power. The surprised monster obviously hadn¡¯t been expecting such a coordinated counterattack, as it took quite a while for it to start trying to fight back.


    In the meantime, Erani absolutely dominated the fight with her Anacap. She would stand there looking at it, wait for the beast to start trying to get to its feet, and the second it got its bearings she would st it with another high-powered explosion,unching it away once again. She slowly walked toward the prone monster, hand out and eyes burning as she waited for it to try and get up again so she could repeat the process.


    It seemed like she performed <em>much </em>better when she wasn¡¯t caught off-guard. Plus, she hadn¡¯t been forced to blow herself up this time, which probably helped quite a bit.


    Back on my end, the Anacap was getting hard to contain, its surprise wearing off and its six arms too difficult for me to fight off all at once. It grasped my torso and threw me off of it, and I tumbled across the dirt before quickly bringing myself to my feet.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 157 damage and drained 78 Stamina over the course of 11.2 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    40.1 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 98.


    I looked up and saw the monster charging at me, des red. I quickly leapt to the side as it sliced right through where I was, and then turned to me in anger.


    I wanted to avoid fighting it in a fair scenario as much as possible;st time I¡¯d done that, I¡¯d been stabbed.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 12 Anacap.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 83 damage and drained 66 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 14 Anacap.


    You have struck Level 14 Anacap for 83 damage and drained 66 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    The monster immediately lunged forward the moment it got its Dexterity back. I tried to re-cast Crippling Chill, but I was too slow as it sliced at me and I was forced to devote all of my mind to dodging the half-dozen des.


    Noxious Grasp was near-immediate to cast due to all of my practice, but Crippling Chill clearly needed work; even a split-second of time spent casting a Spell was too much, I was learning during this fight.


    A w swiped at my stomach and I was a hair toote in dodging. It sliced across my torso.


    You have been sliced by ws. 12 damage.


    Your Health is 128.


    My near-full Health protected me from most of the damage, but I could feel a dribble of blood begin to seep out the small wound. I ducked under another of the Anacap¡¯s speedy swings.


    ¡°An!¡± Erani shouted from across the battlefield.


    I stole a nce over to her to see her in a simr position as me, frantically dodging the attacks of a now-fully-dextrous Anacap while not having the time to prepare any sort of Spells. She needed help, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to hold my own for much longer, either.


    I sidestepped another swing, and then lunged forward forward, arm reared back for a punch.


    You have been stabbed by ws. 57 damage.


    Your Health is 71.


    Just as I imagined would happen, the Anacap took advantage of my wide-open defenses and shoved a w into my gut, pushing a few finger-widths in before my still-decent pool of Health stopped it. However, anticipating the pain, I didn¡¯t flinch, and followed through with my swing, hitting the Anacap hard across its smooth head.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 13 damage using your Fist.


    It stumbled back, and I doubled over in pain. Just because I anticipated it didn¡¯t mean it didn¡¯t burn. Blood flowed out, but I forced myself to focus. I¡¯d done that to buy myself some time, and I was going to use it. Ignoring the burning in my gut, I shoved my Mana through the familiar patterns and cast another two copies of Crippling Chill.


    You have cursed Level 12 Anacap with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.51 Health and 4.41 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.


    47.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 51.


    You have cursed Level 14 Anacap with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.51 Health and 4.41 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.


    47.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 4.


    I got a notification about Crippling Chill Ranking up, but ignored it for now. The two Anacaps stumbled as they suddenly lost control of their bodies once again. I leapt forward to capitalize on my monster¡¯s confusion while I saw Erani through the corner of my eye, leaping back to cast another Explosive Firebolt.


    Unfortunately, I was pretty muchpletely out of Mana after those two casts, so I¡¯d have to rely on more old-fashioned methods of damage to kill my foe. I wasn¡¯t too worried, though. I¡¯d been keeping track of the damage I¡¯d dealt to the Anacap andparing those numbers to how much damage it took to kill it in the previous timeline, and I was pretty sure I was close to getting there, especially after factoring in the damage it would take from Crippling Chill.


    I stepped up and kicked the still-recovering monster in its hard abdomen, knocking it stumbling backwards.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 11 damage using Boot.


    Then I mmed my closed fist downward on its doubled-over body, hitting it to the ground.


    You have struck Level 12 Anacap for 10 damage using your Fist.


    Before it could get up, I straddled its body like I had done before when I wanted to drain it with Noxious Grasp. Only, this time, I didn¡¯t have the Mana to activate the Spell. So instead, I just wailed on its face, repeatedly striking its chitinous head with my fists.


    A few more notifications flew past my mind before I got the one that mattered.


    You have in Level 12 Anacap.


    You have earned 131 XP. Your XP is 230.


    I sat back on the corpse¡¯s unmoving exoskeleton, panting from exertion as the pain grew stronger in my stomach. I looked over at Erani, who seemed to be finishing up her own battle.


    <em>BOOM, Crack!</em>


    Shockwaves rang out and the dirt around us shook as explosion after explosion sted the burned and battered Anacap across the forest, mming its body into tree trunks and hard rocks that cropped up around the area and fracturing its chitin against them in a sickening crunch.


    I almost felt bad for the poor thing. It was being thrown around like the toy of a child who had too much energy. Then again, it <em>did</em> try to kill us. Soeuppance was deserved, I decided.


    Erani calmly and methodically carried out the process of dispatching the beast. In fact, she almost looked bored at this point, absentmindedly ncing around at the falling leaves while she waited for the Anacap to try and rise once again.


    After a couple more casts, it stopped even trying. And three more after that, I got a notification.


    You have offered minor contribution toward the ying of Level 14 Anacap.


    You have earned 41 XP. Your XP is 271.


    Actually, I got more than just one notification, I realized after a moment.


    Threshold reached. 250 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 5.


    Due to achieving Level 5 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 5.


    -You may choose a Talent to obtain.

 Chapter 24: Anticipation

    Chapter 24: Anticipation


    Threshold reached. 250 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 5.


    Due to achieving Level 5 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 5.


    -You may choose a Talent to obtain.


    My eyes grew wide with excitement as I looked over my Leveling benefits. Not only had I Leveled up <em>twice</em> in a single day, one of those Levels had gotten me a new Talent! I resisted the urge to sit down and begin meditating immediately. I at least needed to check on Erani first.


    ¡°You good?¡± I called out as I walked over to her, wincing in pain as I stepped over the corpse of the Anacap I had killed.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she called back. ¡°How about you?¡±


    ¡°A bit cut up,¡± I said as I lifted my shirt to reveal the puncture wound in my gut. It was still seeping blood. Luckily, the Anacap¡¯s ws were small enough that it was a narrow hole, and my Health had kept it from going in far enough to damage my internal organs, but the bleeding would be a problem. ¡°Do you have any bandages?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I do,¡± she walked back over to our campsite where we had originally been eating lunch. I had honestlypletely forgotten that we were supposed to be taking a break right now, our backpacks off and lying next to the logs we had been resting on. She reached in and brought out a kit with basic medical supplies. ¡°Take off your shirt.¡±


    ¡°Ooh, how forward,¡± I winked as I stripped the blood- and sweat-soaked cloth off of my chest.


    Erani blinked at myment, cheeks turning red, and froze in her advance toward me, obviously unsure of how to respond.


    Iughed. ¡°How is it you¡¯re a badass Spell-slinging Sorcerer one moment, but then secondster you flounder against a single flirtatiousment?¡±


    She stammered before finding her voice. ¡°I told you to stop messing with me like that!¡±


    ¡°Fine, fine, sorry,¡± I held up my hands in surrender. ¡°You just bring it out of me.¡±


    ¡°Here,¡± Erani rolled her eyes and began wrapping gauze around my wound.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± I winced as the cloth made contact with the hole in my body. ¡°But seriously, that was awesome. Well, and a little scary.¡±


    She blinked. ¡°What was?¡±


    ¡°That Explosive Firebolt thing! The Anacap stood no chance the second it got debuffed! I mean, look at me, I¡¯m all wounded and shit, and you¡¯re totally fine. I can definitely see why you said Firebolt is the most popr first Spell to choose.¡±


    ¡°Oh, well, it <em>is</em> a pretty powerful strategy. It¡¯s very Mana-intensive ¨C I can only do it because I¡¯ve been putting every Stat Point I get into Conjuration ¨C but yes, it can absolutely allow you to dominate fights against single opponents. However, at higher Levels, its power falls off quite a bit; once your enemies have a high enough Strength or Endurance to withstand the st, or enough Dexterity to get back up before you can hit them again ¨C or, gods forbid, dodge the Firebolt itself ¨C it stops being so effective. In fact, most of the different guides for Sorcerer Leveling focus on finding a new way of dealing damage once the Explosive Firebolt method stops being so good.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but at these lower Levels, it seems like it¡¯d be insanely useful to have. Honestly, it kind of feels unfair.¡±


    ¡°Oh, it absolutely is. There¡¯s even a term for it coined by the guy that invented the strategy ¨C his name was Walloth Cornwell ¨C it¡¯s called ¡®stunlocking.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Ah, because you¡¯re essentially locking your opponent into that stunned state?¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Honestly, among a prettyrge group of ssers, the method is actually seen as so unfair that they refuse to work with anyone that uses it.¡±


    ¡°Really? What, do they think it¡¯ll hurt the monster¡¯s feelings? Why wouldn¡¯t they want to work with someone that has ess to such a powerful Spell? ¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve only ever met a couple people who act like that, but some of the Sorcerers I¡¯ve spoken to in Carth have had simr experiences. Seems like most of the people <em>say</em> it¡¯s because we¡¯re ¡®going against the integrity of monster hunting,¡¯ whatever that means. But really, I just think it¡¯s because the method is so effective it makes people feel insecure in their own fighting style.¡±


    I thought back to how scary it felt to watch herpletely dominate the fight with the Anacaps. ¡°There¡¯s probably some merit to that theory.¡±


    ¡°Plus, since it¡¯s kind of a one-person operation, people probably don¡¯t like that it takes away their chance to get contribution for the XP. It¡¯s really not that effective at all, though! I really need other people to back me up, because the moment I have to face two or more monsters, the entire method falls apart. Besides, killing something like that can be pretty boring. I¡¯m just doing the exact same thing over and over again.¡±


    Iughed. ¡°Well, I sure wish <em>my</em> fights were boring. I feel like it¡¯s the hardest struggle of my life every time.¡±


    ¡°Well, you <em>are</em> fighting monsters more than quadruple your Level. I get that monster Levels don¡¯t perfectly line up with Human Levels most of the time, but generally a gap of ten indicates you¡¯re in over your head if you¡¯re alone,¡± she chuckled as she tightened my bandage. ¡°Of course you¡¯re struggling.¡±


    ¡°Well, actually, they aren¡¯t quadruple my Level anymore,¡± I smiled. ¡°I Leveled up!¡±


    ¡°Oh? So you¡¯re Level four now?¡±


    ¡°Five, actually,¡± I grinned. ¡°You don¡¯t remember it, but we killed those monsters twice. Once in this timeline, and once in another. And if you recall, Time Loop lets me keep all of my XP and Levels, so I got two for the price of one!¡±


    She blinked. ¡°I still don¡¯t believe you about that time travel thing. You were probably just close enough to four that the two monsters were enough to push you over the edge and bring you up to five in one go.¡±


    I justughed and shook my head. I didn¡¯t know if she actually believed me or not. In the timeline before, she seemingly bet with her life that it was true, so I couldn¡¯t imagine she really thought I was lying about everything. Maybe she just didn¡¯t want to admit it to herself; time travel was theorized about, but never actually seen in practice. It¡¯d be difficult for anyone to ept without actually witnessing it firsthand.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Erani said once she was done with my bandage. ¡°We should head out and eat somewhere else. The noise might attract some other monsters, and I¡¯m not too keen on having another fight like that. Especially if you can¡¯t ¡®go back in time¡¯ anymore.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I nodded. We grabbed our stuff and got back to the trail. We¡¯d head down for a bit until we figured we were safe, then we could stop and take an actual break. After the loud, explosive battle ¨C or, battles, at least from my perspective ¨C it seemed downright serene out here. Though, the stab wound in my gut ruined the atmosphere. My Health would regenerate over time, and once it was high enough, it¡¯d elerate my healing. But for now, I¡¯d just have to deal with it. I was d I at least had enough Endurance to mitigate the pain a bit.


    ¡°So, Level 5, huh?¡± Erani said while we walked. ¡°You getting a Talent?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I smiled. It was exciting ¨C Talents were quite a big deal to get, most of the time.


    ¡°Which do you think you¡¯re going to take?¡±


    ¡°Uh, no idea yet,¡± I chuckled. ¡°I know nothing about my ss, remember? That includes Talent choices.¡±


    Erani blinked. ¡°Shit, you¡¯re right. I kinda forgot about that, honestly. It¡¯s been such a huge part of my own experience with my ss, it seems insane to think you can¡¯t n ahead. What was the ss you were aiming for before, again?¡±


    ¡°Swordsman. My instructor was one, so I wanted to follow in his footsteps.¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ve got a pretty melee-focused fighting style now, so at least all that instruction wasn¡¯t wasted.¡±


    ¡°To an extent,¡± Iughed. ¡°So, what, you¡¯ve pre-nned every single choice you¡¯ll make already? Seems a bit boring, doesn¡¯t it? What if something happens and you have to change your mind?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not boring precisely <em>because </em>I don¡¯t have anything pre-nned. I know everything that¡¯sing up for me, but that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ve set anything into stone yet. Hells, I already told you about how I don¡¯t even know what my next Spell Choice is going to be. And I get that at my next Level.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Well, at least you¡¯ve got some excitement.¡±


    We continued walking, looking for a nearby spot that would be good to rest. I really was looking forward to finishing my sandwich. And making my Level-up choices, of course. A whole new Talent ¨C I could only imagine what they would entail.


    Currently, my only Talent was Time Loop, which was a pretty weird one. Normal Talents were static and didn¡¯t get any better as you Leveled, and also, of course, didn¡¯t mess with the flow of time. They also weren¡¯t always an activated effect. Some were passive, like permanently increasing your Health/Minute by a certain amount. Some had more generic effects, while others were incredibly specific. Warlocks, for example, famously got offered Talents in theter Levels that would increase the effectiveness of one specific Spell they¡¯d taken, and nothing else.


    ¡°So, you said your sister¡¯s an Enchanter, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Though she¡¯s mainly working as a researcher. Doesn¡¯t do much selling of Enchanted items unless it¡¯s for some special reason.¡±


    ¡°Why¡¯d she go with the ss, then? Couldn¡¯t she have just stayed Unssed, if she wasn¡¯t going to use it?¡±


    ¡°Well, the way she talks about it with me, it feels like she considers Enchanting to be more of an art than a means of profit. She¡¯ll pretty oftene up with somebination of enchantments that, functionally, are pretty useless. But it¡¯s still neat. One time, she figured out how to use an Increased Weight Enchantment, a Vulnerable to the Elements Enchantment, and a Wind Enchantment to create a selfunching cannonball. Of course, it was insanely expensive, and pretty redundant with simple Force Enchantments, but still pretty cool to see in action. Honestly, I feel like she just wants to have a ¡®hobby¡¯ that still feels productive, research-wise.¡±


    ¡°Seems like an expensive hobby,¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°I guess being a researcher pays well,¡± Erani shrugged. Then she looked over at a t rock sitting by a road, and gestured to it. ¡°Wanna stop here?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said.


    We sat. The rough stone wasn¡¯t incrediblyfortable, but felt a bit more civilized than sitting on the ground. Not that I could really talk about being ¡®civilized¡¯ ¨C I could still taste the raw, stringy monster meat I¡¯d had a few days ago.


    ¡°Well,¡± Erani said, ¡°I¡¯m gonna finish my lunch. I¡¯m sure you want to be left alone to manage your Levels, anyway.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let me know if there¡¯s any trouble.¡±


    ¡°Sure. And let me know what you end up getting. I¡¯m a bit excited to see the choices you¡¯re offered.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I smiled with anticipation. ¡°So am I.¡±


    It was time to pick a Talent.

 Chapter 25: Talented

    Chapter 25: Talented


    I opened my Status.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    10


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>5</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>16</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>21</strong>/<strong>300</strong>


    Dexterity:


    10


    Health:


    <strong>71</strong>/<strong>160</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.06</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>24</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>39</strong>/<strong>78</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.504</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>5</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>11</strong>/<strong>265</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>5.07</strong>


    <strong>Stat Points</strong>:


    <strong>6</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Crippling Chill <strong>3</strong> - XP <strong>0</strong>/<strong>20</strong>


    <strong>[Talent Choice Avable]</strong>


    Trailzer


    Noxious Grasp <strong>7</strong> - XP <strong>87</strong>/<strong>94</strong>


    Time Loop <strong>5</strong>


    I smiled at all of the changes I saw. From thatst fight with the Anacaps, I could tell that I absolutely needed more Mana; I¡¯d only survived the second time through because I memorized my Anacap¡¯s Health total by looking through my System notifications and counting up all the damage it¡¯d taken to kill it. And then I did the math and portioned out my Mana perfectly to be able to fit in four total casts of Crippling Chill alongside enough Noxious Grasp to get it low enough for me to kill. And even then, I still had to get my hands dirty.


    So, every extra point of maximum Mana I got counted. Both Conjuration and Intelligence increased that, so I was excited to see them both go up so much. And speaking of Intelligence, when I reached Level 4, I¡¯d gotten a notification about reaching an Intelligence threshold and getting some sort of extra information rted to my ss. I ignored it at the time because of the battle, but now I was interested. I went ahead and looked back at it.


    Intelligence threshold reached. 4 Intelligence.


    Your Intelligence information rank has increased.


    Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -When choosing Spells or Talents, you may now see the names of the Spells and Talents that will be offered to you the next time you get to choose one of them if you pick any given option.


    That¡­ was certainly interesting. The way that Spells and Talents worked was that all of your options were influenced by the Spells and Talents you¡¯d chosen in the past. It was often visualized as a ¡®Spell Tree¡¯ where each Spell and Talent Choice was a branch with three other branches growing out of it. And each of those three branches had three branches growing out of them, and so on. This would essentially allow me to see one Choice ahead, so I¡¯d know what options I¡¯d be given in the future if I picked any given Spell or Talent I was being offered right then.


    Really,pared to the wealth of information people with every other ss had, it was barely anything. Not only could they know the <em>names</em> of Spells in the future, they¡¯d also know their effects, and they¡¯d probably know way more than just one choice ahead. <em>And</em> they had experts giving out advice and information about certainbinations and paths down the trees, like how Erani had specifically chosen Firebolt because she knew she would get Explosive Firebolt at Rank 10. Still, it was better than nothing, and it seemed like this would only get better the more Intelligence I got, so maybe one day I would have information on my Spell and Talent Choices to rival everyone else¡¯s.


    And speaking of Spells, Crippling Chill had ranked up during the battle, as well. I looked at the notification I had gotten for that.


    Threshold reached. Crippling Chill XP has reached 14.


    Crippling Chill Rank has increased to 3.


    Due to Crippling Chill Rank reaching 3, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 47.3 to 48.5


    Health Drain: From 5.51 to 5.79


    Stamina Drain: From 4.41 to 4.63


    Dexterity Debuff: From 11 to 11.6


    It was always nice to see those numbers go up. Especially the Dexterity Debuff part; eventually, I would be fighting monsters of a high enough Level that a simple 10 or so Dexterity wouldn¡¯t be a big deal to lose, so I wanted to ensure I kept it high enough to be impactful.


    Well, with all of that dealt with, I¡¯d been meditating for enough time that I could actually start making changes to my Status by now. So I went ahead and looked at my Talent choices.


    Choose one Talent to obtain:


    Time Dtion


    Type: Toggle


    ¡ª


    While this Talent is active, you perceive time as if it were moving at 50% speed. Your bodily control is slowed ordingly, but your mental abilities are not.


    You may not have this Talent active for more than one minute per day.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Meditation</em>


    <em>Live in the Past</em>


    <em>Slow Consideration</em>


    Reflexive Speed


    Type: Activated


    Cost: Stamina equal to your Dexterity Stat<em> (Currently 10 Stamina)</em>


    ¡ª


    You can move your body 65% more quickly and have 65% faster reflexes for the next six seconds.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Fluctuate</em>


    <em>Increment</em>


    <em>Overwhelming Strength</em>


    Recursive Growth


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Whenever your Level increases, you gain 2 additional Stat increases, chosen at random.


    This Talent improves every tenth Level you reach, incrementing the number of random Stat increases you gain each Level by 2.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Temporal Fold</em>


    <em>Expedited Remation</em>


    <em>Regenerate</em>


    I looked over the three options presented to me. Time Dtion seemed like it would be really useful in a fight, especially for a Magic-Type sser like myself. Since my mind was essentially moving at twice the speed as everyone else¡¯s, I¡¯d be able to fire off Spells twice as quickly too. Plus, in hand-to-handbat, I¡¯d be able to have twice as much time to think and examine my opponents.


    It could help in nonbat situations, too. I could imagine having twice as much time to think when trying to talk my way out of a bad situation, for example. Of course, it was limited to a single minute of usage per day, but a minute was a lot of time, especially when that one minute felt like two.


    The main point against Time Dtion that I could see was that its main benefit ¨C being able to cast more quickly ¨C could be aplished just by training more. My speed in casting Crippling Chill was absolutely not currently to standard, but instead of speeding it up by taking this Talent, I could just practice it some more. Sure, it¡¯d take time, but Talent Choices were few and far between, and it would take much more time to get another. Of course, there were other benefits, too, and making it so that I wouldn¡¯t have to worry as much about practicing any Spells I took in the future was something to be considered.


    Reflexive Speed was also tempting. It was much more focused than Time Dtion; it would be incredibly useful during fast-paced hand-to-handbat, but not much else. Its cost was pretty significant ¨C 10 Stamina was a lot when you also needed that Stamina for fighting ¨C and the cost would grow even more if I tried to add to my Dexterity and make myself even faster.


    However, that much additional speed in a fight, even if it was just for a few seconds, could let me get multiple surprise hits on an opponent, retreat to a safe distance, or break out of a tackle. If I wanted to focus on a closer fighting style, I could see Reflexive Speed helping out a great deal.


    Finally, there was the odd one out of the three Talents. Recursive Growth was¡­ strange. I¡¯d heard of Talents that gave you Stats, sure, but normally it was a lump sum that came up front ¨C the Abundant Vigor Talent, for example, was one for the Swordsman ss that gave you 10 points in your Strength Stat when you took it. But Recursive Growth technically did absolutely nothing upon taking it. Instead, as time went on and I Leveled up more, it would get better and better.


    Comparing it to Abundant Vigor, Recursive Growth could possibly get me infinitely more benefit. Once I reached Level 9, I would have gotten two points in random Stats for each Level from 6 to 9 ¨C which would be eight points of Stats ¨C making it slightly worse than Abundant Vigor. But after that, I¡¯d continue getting more. So, for example, once I reached Level 19, that would be the eight I got for getting to Level 9, plus an additional <em>four </em>per Level from 10 to 19 ¨C the number of Stats I got increased every tenth Level ¨C which would be forty-eight total points of Stats. That was <em>incredible</em> value for a single Talent.


    And, of course, it would only continue to get better and better from there. Levels 20 through 29 would get six points per Level, and so on.


    ¡­That said, I wasn¡¯t a huge fan of taking a Talent that would literally do nothing for me right now, and would only barely be worth it when I was double my current Level. I also had to remember that these were <em>random</em> Stats being increased, not ones of my choice. Increasing my Dexterity, for example, was much less valuable than increasing my Conjuration or Endurance. So even once I¡¯d gotten ten Stats from Recursive Growth, it still wouldn¡¯t be equivalent to Abundant Vigor for Swordsman; Swordsmen needed Strength above all else, and so taking a Talent that increased it by ten was <em>much</em> better than a Talent that increased Stats randomly.


    Still, that concept, infinite potential for growth, really spoke to me. Sure, it would be harder for <em>now</em>, but taking the Talent would pay off in time. Extra Stats ¨C even if they were random ¨C meant extra maximum Mana, extra Spell XP, extra Health, Stamina, I could move faster, I¡¯d be stronger, and more. With enough of those effects piled on top of each other, I¡¯d be unstoppable.


    The main contender against Recursive Growth in my mind was Time Dtion. I liked its utility, and the fact that it didn¡¯t have a cost was another great upside. It could help in a ranged fight, meleebat, social situations¡­ but all of that utility meant that it wouldn¡¯t truly <em>excel</em> anywhere. Sure, I probably wouldn¡¯t ever feel like it was useless, but I probably <em>would</em> feel like it was mediocre all the time.


    And I didn¡¯t want to settle for mediocrity.


    I made my choice.


    You have obtained the Talent Recursive Growth.


    <em>Your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Temporal Fold</em>


    <em>Expedited Remation</em>


    <em>Regenerate</em>


    I took a breath. I knew for a fact that there would be times I regretted taking Recursive Growth, and that those times would probably be sooner rather thanter. The Talent did nothing for now, and did next to nothing for a while after. But if I worked hard and increased my Level enough, the Stats I got would more than make up for it.


    Also, speaking of Stats, the information I got from my Intelligence Stat was interesting, but not very useful. Unfortunately, unlike Spells, Talents were always unique to each ss, so if there truly was no information out there on Minute Mage, there would be no information out there on the names of its Talents, either. I¡¯d definitely try looking into what all Spells I could research once I started seeing their names, but for Talents, all I could do was specte.


    Some of the names seemed interesting; Live in the Past sounded like some sort of time traveling Talent, maybe, and Regenerate ¨C which I would apparently be offeredter on, now that I¡¯d taken Recursive Growth ¨C sounded like it might heal me, but I couldn¡¯t really base any decisions on any of that. I hoped that the info I¡¯d get in the future would be more helpful.


    But anyway, it was time to assign my Stat Points now. I had six in total from the two Levels I¡¯d gained, so it would be a big boost in power to wherever I assigned them. Considering the Mana issues I¡¯d faced in that fight beforehand, I felt like Conjuration would be my best bet. It would help me in fights, and the extra regeneration would allow me to continue Ranking my Spells even faster.


    You have used 6 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 30.


    I smiled at the number. Thirty was high, especially when I was just Level 5. Most people split their Stat points between different Stats ¨C even Magic-Type ssers would asionally put some points into Strength to help them with more mundane activities ¨C but I was going all-in onbat. On power.


    I opened my Status, looking at the changes made.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    10


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    5


    Endurance:


    16


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    21/300


    Dexterity:


    10


    Health:


    71/160


    Health/Minute:


    0.06


    Conjuration:


    <strong>30</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>44</strong>/78


    Stamina/Minute:


    0.504


    Intelligence:


    5


    Mana:


    <strong>61</strong>/<strong>325</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>6.15</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Crippling Chill 3 - XP 0/20


    <strong>Recursive Growth</strong>


    Trailzer


    Noxious Grasp 7 - XP 87/94


    Time Loop 5


    I liked the amount of extra Mana avable to me. At 6 Mana/Minute, I was making about 360 Mana per hour, which meant 3.6 Spell XP per hour while practicing. If I slept for eight hours, that would be almost 30 Spell XP every night while I practiced in my sleep.


    And, other than the regeneration, I now also had 325 maximum Mana, which was over 100 more than my previous total at Level 3 of 215. That was a couple extra casts of Crippling Chill, or a whole lot of damage with Noxious Grasp.


    I went ahead and opened my eyes, cutting off my meditation session. Erani was sitting across from me, a half-eaten sandwich in her hand.


    ¡°You done with all of your stuff? Took you a bit of time.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I picked up my own sandwich, tearing off a bite and washing it down with a gulp of water. ¡°The main thing that took so long was my Talent Choice.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yeah, I guess you have to make your decisions in the moment for your ss, right? I¡¯m used to going in already knowing exactly what I¡¯ll be offered and what I¡¯m going to select. What¡¯d you end up choosing?¡±


    ¡°It was a Talent called ¡®Recursive Growth.¡¯¡± I went ahead and read off the Talent¡¯s effects to her, as well as those of my other options.


    ¡°Really? You picked that one? Seems a bit risky. You¡¯re basically denying yourself a Talent in a gamble that you¡¯ll be able to survive and get stronger without it.¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m in any sort of immediate danger or anything.¡± I looked around myself at the hostile forest surrounding me. ¡°Well, okay, technically, at this very moment I¡¯m in danger, but once I get to Carth, I won¡¯t be. From then on, I can take my Leveling a bit slower, and be sure to only fight monsters that I know I can kill. It¡¯s not like someone¡¯s hunting me down and I need to get stronger as quickly as possible or whatever.¡±


    ¡°I guess I understand that. I still just feel like it¡¯s better to pick something that immediately benefits you, rather than something that only <em>might</em> pay off in the future. What happens if something goes wrong and you can¡¯t be an adventurer anymore? Then your ess to monsters will be cut off, and Recursive Growth will be useless. At least if you had the Time Dtion Talent or Reflexive Speed it¡¯d do <em>something</em> outside of this very specific profession.¡±


    ¡°Well, truth be told, I don¡¯t think a life without adventuring is one worth considering. At least, not for a long time. I¡¯m confident I¡¯ll grow stronger because I¡¯m confident I¡¯ll always <em>want</em> to grow stronger. I¡¯ll find a way. And when I do, Recursive Growth will pay off.¡±


    ¡°Huh, well then, you¡¯re much more dedicated to this than I am,¡± Eraniughed. ¡°I¡¯m always worried that I¡¯ll change my mind about adventuring and that all of this work will have been for nothing. Plus, I¡¯d be nervous that the very next day I¡¯d need that additional boost in power, and die without it.¡±


    ¡°Ah, well yeah, I guess I could understand not wanting to take something like Recursive Growth in your case.¡±


    The conversation died off, and we kept eating in silence, still trying to calm our nerves from the recent fight.


    After we finished eating and resting from the interruption we had with the Anacap ambush, we continued on our journey. A bit into our walking, enough time had passed that I had regenerated my Mana to full, so I began practicing Noxious Grasp once again. I actually got a bit of a headache from doing so, which was unusual. It seemed like casting Crippling Chill so much in such a short timeframe put a good bit of strain on my mind, and Noxious Grasp was irritating that magical strain into an ache. It wasn¡¯t anything unbearable though ¨C just another indicator that I probably needed to start working on Crippling Chill once I finished getting Noxious Grasp to Rank 10 ¨C so I continued with my practice. A couple hours of castingter, I got a notification.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 94.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 8.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 8, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 3.58 to 3.67


    Health Drain: From 14.1 to 14.8


    Stamina Drain: From 7.04 to 7.39


    I was even closer to my goal! The next Rank would need 130 Spell XP, which would take a while, but hopefully my boosted Mana/Minute would help that along.


    Many hours of walkingter, noon passed to evening, and evening passed to night. Once it was too dark to continue, we set up a rudimentary camp and slept through the night, each of us taking turns watching for monsters while the other was asleep. Once again, I ended up casting Noxious Grasp through my slumber, and by the time I woke up, Noxious Grasp¡¯s Spell XP was already at 70/130.


    We continued our journey without major incident. We continued along the path, taking asional breaks along the way, and eventually, a few hours after we ate lunch, I saw a massive circr wall appear in the distance as I ascended a hill. The thick, tall barricades didn''t do much to block my sight of the city, though. With my vantage point, I could see the countless buildings and structures within the stone encirclement. Specifically, one particr tower rose far, far above the alreadyrge walls. It was easily fifteen stories high ¨C maybe more. Its rectangr, weathered metal exterior shone in the sunlight, almost blinding me, but I still didn¡¯t look away from the beautiful structure.


    ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± Erani said, smiling at my wide eyes. ¡°Wee to Carth.¡±

 Chapter 26: Date

    Chapter 26: Date


    There was a line to get into Carth, customs guards checking luggage and noting some other personal information of the people trying to enter. It wasn¡¯t long, but it was still a bit frustrating to have to wait in a line after traveling for so long. We stood in line with the carts of goods and the travelers, with guards lined up alongside us in case of a monster attack, until eventually we got to the front.


    We stepped up to the pair of guards by the front gate. They wore basic chainmail ¨C though whether it was Enchanted, I didn¡¯t know ¨C and each had swords on their sides. One held a notebook in his hand, and the other a rock.


    ¡°Names?¡± One of them asked. He was the one with the rock, which I now recognized to be a Truth Stone ¨C it¡¯d alert him if either of us told a lie.


    Erani stepped forward, cing her hand on the stone. She¡¯d told me before about how she made semi-frequent visits to Carth, so she was familiar with the process. In fact, some of the guards even knew her personally.


    ¡°Erani Wos.¡± She stepped back and let me put my hand on the stone.


    ¡°An Nota,¡± I said.


    The other guard nodded, noting our names.


    We continued like this for a minute or two, with the guards gathering basic information on us ¨C where we wereing here from, why we were visiting ¨C Erani just said ¡®business¡¯ and that seemed to work ¨C whether we had been convicted of any crimes, that sort of thing. Then, the guard asked another question.


    ¡°Are you ssed?¡±


    My stomach sank. If they asked me what my ss was, what would I say? I couldn¡¯t lie. Would I just have to¡­ walk back? I nced over at Erani, but she didn¡¯t seem worried.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your degree?¡±


    I blinked. ¡°My¡­ what?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Erani stepped forward, ¡°you aren¡¯t familiar with entry into big cities, are you? Uh, so, you start at wood, and every ten Levels, you go up a degree. So 0 to 9 is wood, 10 to 19 is copper, 20 to 29 is silver, and so on. They just want to make sure they know your general Level, since higher Leveled ssers can, y¡¯know, kill thousands, destroy cities, all that stuff.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Well I¡¯m wood, then.¡±


    The guard jotted this down, and then closed his notebook with a snap. He went over to a side room, and came out with a leather ne that had a wooden badge dangling from it.


    ¡°This is your degree badge. You¡¯re gonna need to wear it whenever you go out, or at least just have it on you somewhere. Visually, it just looks like some engraved wooden jewelry, but we¡¯ve Enchanted it so that if a city official scans it, it¡¯ll tell them your basic information ¨C we¡¯ve got you in the system now. You can also use it as a proof of Level.¡±


    We finalized everything, Erani got a degree badge like mine, and the gates opened before us.


    As we stepped into Carth, I was overwhelmed by a sense of wonder. I¡¯d never been in a big city like this, so the size of it was what struck me first; I couldn¡¯t even see the far wall from where I was. The gate opened into arge road that led far into the center of the city, with a bustling poption walking it, walking in and out of side-roads that splintered from the main street.


    ¡°The college won¡¯t be open thiste,¡± Erani said to me as we walked into the city ¨C it was close to dinner time, so the sun was just beginning to set behind the walls. ¡°Do you just want to get a room, rest for today, and go tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Sure, that sounds good,¡± I replied. ¡°We¡¯ve still got some daylight left, though. Do you want to get dinner and maybe wander the city a bit if we have time afterward?¡±


    ¡°What, like a date?¡± Eraniughed.


    I shrugged. ¡°Yeah, if you want.¡±


    She blinked, obviously caught off guard. ¡°...Uh, I was joking.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± I grinned, amused at her surprise.


    ¡°...Um, you know what? Yeah, sure. Let¡¯s go on a date.¡±


    ¡°Sweet,¡± I smiled. ¡°Know any good ces?¡±


    We ended up going to a restaurant that was called Durim¡¯s Best Beasts. Its main selling point seemed to be that it sold all kinds of exotic monster meat that was difficult to acquire. They sold meats from higher-Leveled monsters, like Drakes or Sphinxes ¨C one dish was even topped with an Elemental¡¯s core shavings, which I didn¡¯t know was edible ¨C and they also sold meats from monsters in far-off regions, things like Sandwurm steak or Mountain Giant ribs.


    Of course, due to the rarity of the ingredients, everything on the menu was pretty expensive, the cheapest option being over forty copper.


    ¡°Uh, not to beme,¡± I said, ¡°but would it be possible for us to go somewhere else to eat? I literally don¡¯t have enough money to pay for this.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Erani responded, looking up from her menu. ¡°It¡¯s my treat.¡±


    ¡°You sure?¡± I asked, surprised by her generosity.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯m Level 9, remember? I make enough from adventuring that I can pay for a fancy dinner or two. Besides, my parents aren¡¯t exactly happy with my profession, but it¡¯s not like they left me destitute. Consider it thanks for helping out during that fight with the Anacaps.¡±


    ¡°If you say so,¡± I shrugged.


    After we both decided on what we wanted, a waiter came to take our order. I ended up getting the fried Brass Wyrmling with a side of ck Ooze pudding ¨C the pudding didn¡¯t sound tasty, but Erani insisted it was good. Despite her rmendation, the deciding factor for me ended up being that the dish was cheap ¨C I knew she said she could pay, but I still didn¡¯t want to burden her purse <em>too</em> much.


    Erani, on the other hand, got the Chimera sd, which included parts from each different section of the multi-headed monster. It was apparently her favorite dish from this ce.


    Once the food got to us, we each dug in. The fried Brass Wyrmling had an interesting taste; the texture reminded me of pork, but it was much softer and kier, with a spicy vor that had me constantly sipping my drink. The ck Ooze pudding, on the other hand, had a vor that was entirely unique. It had a significantly acidic feel ¨C I suspected that the only reason the portion size for the pudding was so small was that I would start taking damage if I ate too much ¨C but the taste was incredibly sweet in the best way. It really felt more like a desert than an entree.


    ¡°See?¡± Erani asked when she noticed how quickly I ate the pudding. ¡°I told you it was good.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, you were right,¡± I smiled. ¡°How¡¯s the Chimera?¡±


    ¡°Great! They included the Dragon wings from it, which always catches me off guard when I get some on my fork; it¡¯s so tangypared to everything else.¡± She took another bite. ¡°Where do you want to go after we¡¯re done eating?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, I don¡¯t really know where anything is,¡± Iughed. ¡°What¡¯s up with that giant tower out in the middle of the city? I could see it from outside the walls.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s the Carth Clock Tower. It¡¯s a really popr tourist spot, so we could go there after we¡¯re done. I went during my first time here, and the view was incredible.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, that sounds great. When did you firste here?¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t long after my sister enrolled at the college, so¡­ maybe four or five years ago? I think I had recently turned eighteen.¡±


    ¡°If your sister enrolled four or five years ago, then she must have graduated recently, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it was a few months ago, at this point.¡±


    ¡°Huh. I¡¯ll have to wish her a happy graduation,¡± I chuckled.


    Eraniughed too. ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll appreciate that.¡±


    We continued our conversation throughout the rest of the meal, until we eventually finished and left. It was dark out at that point, but street lights ¨C metal poles Enchanted with Perpetual Illumination ¨C kept the city illuminated despite the night sky. The bright night was something I wasn¡¯t used to seeing, and it took a bit of getting used to. When we turned a corner, the clock tower suddenly came into view, no longer obscured by the buildings next to me. Up close and in person, the gigantic structure towered before me, making me feel absolutely tiny inparison.


    I gazed up in wonder at the marvel of engineering. ¡°How does it stay standing?¡±


    ¡°The entire thing is reinforced with Royal Steel beams.¡±


    ¡°Holy hells¡­ That much Royal Steel alone must have cost half as much as the entire city!¡±


    Erani chuckled. She seemed to enjoy seeing me so amazed, looking at me more than the tower. I pretended I didn¡¯t notice.


    ¡°Shall we enter?¡± She eventually asked. ¡°They¡¯ve got a staircase that leads all the way to the top.¡±


    Iughed. ¡°It¡¯ll be a long climb, but sure.¡±


    It was, indeed, a long climb. Flight after flight of industrial-looking stairs, we stamped our way up. The long, enclosed space made our footsteps echo loudly as we climbed. Almost a full ten minutester, once we finally got to the top, I waspletely winded ¨C and I¡¯d trained to be a Melee-Type sser. I was impressed that Erani stuck it through the whole way without the past physical training to help her.


    There was a simple door at the top of the stairwell ¨C a bit anticlimactic if you asked me, considering the amount of work it took to get there. I pushed it open and walked out onto the metal balcony that surrounded the top of the tower. There were a few other people up there with us, looking down at the city, but it wasn¡¯t so crowded to take away from the view.


    And good gods, the view.


    When I first looked over the balcony, I audibly gasped. Up so high, I felt like I could see the entire world. Tiny people below me, carrying out their nightly activities, wandering through the roads. They looked like insects from up so high. All of the buildings meshed together to make a cityscape that looked like it was out of a painting, with the magical lights illuminating the streets giving the whole picture a mystical ambiance.


    Out in the distance, I could see across the forest roof, covering my vision with a lush green. Cutting through the trees were the well-traveled roads, snaking off into the darkness. I felt like I¡¯d have been able to trace our entire path back to Ordensville if it was a bit brighter out.


    Down in Carth, I could see the ces the crowds were gathered, like a real-time poprity map of all the locations in the town. There were random neighborhoods and back-alleys with barely any stragglers wandering through them, and then there were ces like the markets and the college I¡¯d meet Erani¡¯s sister at, where there were so many people that I couldn¡¯t even see the ground under them.


    ¡°This is beautiful¡­¡± I murmured, hands gripped firmly on the railing of the balcony as I peered over the edge.


    ¡°You¡¯re having a much stronger reaction than I had when I first saw the view.¡± Erani remarked, smiling at my expression. ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you aren¡¯t <em>all</em> jokes.¡±


    Her words broke me out of my stupor, and I managed to tear my eyes away from the view to look at her. ¡°Well, I¡¯m still mostly jokes, so you will have to put up with that. Still¡­ I think I just realized what people mean when they talk about something taking your breath away.¡±


    ¡°The view really is like nothing else,¡± she gazed across the skyline. ¡°It¡¯s things like this that make me want to travel the world.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s things like this that make <em>me</em> want to learn a flight Spell,¡± Iughed, gazing back across the skyline.


    Erani stepped up beside me, close enough that her shoulder almost touched mine. I barely noticed, though, too distracted by the view. However, I <em>did</em> notice when she ced her hand over mine,cing our fingers together.


    I smiled.


    ¡°Ow!¡± The silence was suddenly broken by Erani yelping in pain, yanking her hand back. ¡°You dick!¡± sheughed, giving me a yful punch on the arm.


    ¡°What did I¡­ Oh, shit, I cast Noxious Grasp again, didn¡¯t I?¡±


    Sheughed even harder. ¡°You still aren¡¯t noticing? If the damage doesn¡¯t kill me some day, you¡¯ll just surprise me to death. I swear, my heart nearly leapt out of my throat!¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I smiled sheepishly, ¡°kinda ruined the moment, didn¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she finally stoppedughing, but still had a grin on her face, ¡°you kinda did.¡±


    ¡°Well, I might have to ruin more moments in the future,¡± I chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re really cute when you¡¯re mad.¡±


    ¡°If you keep casting damaging Spells on me, I¡¯m pressing charges.¡±


    ¡°Ah, well, I¡¯ll just have to find a new and interesting way to do it each time, then.¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± She rolled her eyes, smiling, then looked back down at the cityscape below us. ¡°It really is beautiful, though.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, looking at her, rather than the city. ¡°Beautiful.¡±


    We eventually made our way back down the Carth Clock Tower, the night sky full of stars above us. We went to an inn and rented a room, one with two beds ¡ª Erani said she didn¡¯t trust me not to kill her in her sleep if I was touching her.


    Once we got in, we used the baths they had avable, and went to sleep.

 Chapter 27: Welcome to Hell. Get Ready to Die!

    Chapter 27: Wee to Hell. Get Ready to Die!


    A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. The papers and reports he had once diligently read and responded to were now piled in a corner, long forgotten.


    Instead, the entirety of his days were consumed by managing military resources, troop arrangements, and battle ns. He nned on sending forces to every settlement in the Koinkar Kingdom, and he needed to manually select which forces would go where, at what time, in what order, and so on.


    Of course, his main target was where the Human ¨C An Nota ¨C currently was: the city of Carth. He was constantly changing, finalizing, or requesting something that had to do with the Carth attack.


    And now, he had to make onest finalization. One of his requests had gone through twelve total stages of confirmation, and was currently awaiting its thirteenth and final signature. And it had apparently been passed so high up in the chain ofmand that the thirteenth Demon had no idea what it was even talking about. He evidently had more important matters to worry about than simple prison breaks.


    But that didn¡¯t mean the request would be rejected. Instead, it meant something arguably worse ¨C the Devil needed to go and personally exin the situation to this superior. This was one of thest things he needed to do before the attackmenced. In a few hours, An Nota would either be dead, or he''d be alive. And that simple distinction ¨C a single Human''s life ¨C would determine quite a bit in the Devil''s life. At least, in a few Overworld hours. To the Devil, who lived in the Underworld, the wait would feel longer. Yet more time for him to sit and wait in nervous anticipation.


    But for now, he needed to go speak with that superior. He walked out of his personal office and into therger structure outside. The hundreds of underlings sitting in the massive stone room nced over at him, but he waved them back to work. In an instant, the scratching of pens filled the room once more.


    He nced along the walls of the room, looking for the correct door. There were at least a thousand of them, all iid into the rough stone walls next to each other with tiny metal ques above them to say which was which. The Devil¡¯s own office was through door 214.6b ¨C all the 214s were for private offices, but his office was thergest. He was the manager of this prisonplex, after all.


    He scanned the nearby doors. The 771s led to the different paper import chambers, doors 300 through 409 led to all of the different <em>ink</em> import chambers, with each individual number corresponding to a different color of ink, door 999 was for executing insubordinate underlings, etc.


    The door he was looking for was 125.66t. That one would leave the offices and lead through a few hubs, so he could get to his destination: the fifteenth army of the 7th Circle of the Underworld. The Devil would need to borrow some troops from them to use in the Overworld. The 7th Circle was fighting a few of the other Circles of the Underworld ¨C it was always so difficult to keep track of the shifting alliances and wars between all the Circles ¨C so they wouldn¡¯t spare much, but the Devil really only needed one soldier. Well, ¡®soldier¡¯ was a bit incorrect. Maybe ¡®weapon¡¯.


    The rest of the troops, the Devil had gotten from the other armies for his Circle. Mainly just some basic grunts, but they should¡¯ve been more than enough to handle this mission.


    The Devil really hadn¡¯t been given many resources to pull this off. It made sense ¨C getting back the power stolen by An Nota wasn¡¯t a veryrge priority, in the grand scheme of things ¨C but it still frustrated him. Billions of soldiers in the armies of the 7th Circle, and he only got thousands? The acquisition of thisst weapon should''ve made up for it, though. That is, as long as he could actually convince this higher-up to let him have it.


    The Devil pushed through the heavy door and entered into a long stone hallway that sloped slightly downward and extended on for a bit, beforeing to another door. He walked through. There was sense to the hallway¡¯s length, of course; each of these hallways were an exact length of a number of paces equal to the number of stacking positions of power required to be allowed to walk through them. This one was 18 paces long, which was a bit below the Devil¡¯s position, so he was safe to walk through. If he hadn¡¯t been authorized, the Enchantments lining the hallway would¡¯ve caused him to implode.


    He walked through the next door and into a hub, about twice asrge as his own personal office. There were a few dozen doors lining the walls of this room, too, each specifying different destinations with the familiar numeral tes. And, of course, in the middle of the room was a hall monitor.


    Hall monitoring was one of the few upations that had no ties to a Demon¡¯s race. Diviners were the only ones that could divine, Devils weremonly assigned to middle management, all Gargoyles were given copying jobs, and so on. The reason for this was simple: normally, a Demon¡¯s job was a source of pride. They were to work with zeal. It was their purpose in life.


    But to be a hall monitor was a punishment. If a Demon behaved poorly enough, they would be demoted and thrown out here, tasked with ensuring nobody was running through the halls unallowed. There were some ways to subvert the hallway Enchantments, after all, so these hall monitors were thest line of defense. And, of course, they could also provide directions to any Demon who lost its way in the maze of halls. Though, to do something as stupid as forget where you were was humiliating in its own right. <em>Especially</em> since you¡¯d have to resort to asking the likes of a hall monitor for help. Most wouldn¡¯t even want to look one in the eye, much less speak to them.


    At least, that was what the Demons were told. The Devil knew enough to know that the issue of people exploring where they shouldn¡¯t wasn¡¯t nearlyrge enough to station a Demon in every single hallway hub. No, they were there to be shamed. Every Demon to walk the halls ¨C so, basically every single Demon ¨C would see the hall monitors as they walked. The shamed Demons, put out there to do nothing but be a warning to the others. <em>Don¡¯t do what I did</em>, they seemed to be there to say.


    The hall monitor for this hub was an Infernal ¨C one of the main grunts in the armies of the 7th Circle. It was a big hulking thing with copious amounts of muscles upon muscles stacked on every one of its limbs, and sunken, ck eyes. It¡¯d probably deserted from whatever army it worked in or something, and now it was stuck here. Sitting with absolutely nothing to do, for days, weeks, months, years. It just looked at the Devil with a dead expression while he walked through the hub and into the next hallway ¨Cbeled 3.2a.


    He walked through the same-y hallways and hubs, each with a defeated hall monitor inside, as he made his way to the superior¡¯s office. Eventually, he walked through onest door and arrived into an area that wasn¡¯t another hub. He stepped onto a metal catwalk that was suspended over a gigantic cavern, sorge that he couldn¡¯t see any of the walls, other than the one he just came through the door of. He also couldn¡¯t see the ceiling, or the floor for that matter ¨C the catwalk was suspended high enough that basically nothing was visible.


    Well, nothing was visible except for the tangle of other catwalks suspended through the same room. There were hundreds, all snaking through, some above the Devil, some below, and some crossing and creating intersections with the others.


    In the distance, the Devil could hear the echoes of noises in the room, probablying from people on the floor. This was one of the training areas for the fifteenth army, so there were shouts and crashes and explosions constantly ringing out from unseen spars and field tests.


    He was almost to his destination, now. From here, he just had to find the superior¡¯s office. He¡¯d never even seen the Demon in person, so he wasn¡¯t entirely sure where the office would be.


    ¡°Well,¡± he muttered to himself, ¡°time to get searching.¡±


    It took him another hour to find the right office, with the assistance of some other Demons he crossed on the catwalks, but eventually he got there. He opened the door and walked inside.


    The first thing that struck him was the office¡¯s massive size. It must have been 4¡­ no, 5%rger than the Devil¡¯s, at least! Truly an incredible disy of status.


    And, of course, there was the Demon upying the office. He was a Fiend Magus, a Demon that specialized in the summoning and control of other, less powerful Demons. Considering the superior¡¯s incredible status, the Devil doubted he actually did much summoning, though. Specifically, he was the General Lieutenant Coordinator, 32nd ss, of the fifteenth army of the 7th Circle of the Underworld. Needless to say, he was much higher up than the Devil.


    Fiend Maguses were somewhat simr-looking to Devils, but had some key differences. Where Devils werepletely bald, Fiend Maguses had a natural crown of horns growing from their skulls. The actual number varied, but it was usually around a dozen curved horns sprouting from the sides of their heads and pointing upward. This one had thirteen, it seemed,pletely circling his head. The superior was sitting at a desk, reading through a report. He didn¡¯t seem to notice the Devil¡¯s entering.


    The Devil bowed. ¡°Formal expression of greeting, Wortinwukaito¡¯shizazukarwintowrochi¡¯wrochiwrantishokorinkinamlitep¡¯voxhizuwranjulimono¡¯zaxaruluionomran¡¯wxivintoproligunt¡¯kuntoiwar¡¯enuminonoxxiuntepinarntinum¡¯wastiunintiuninpronviaxtrunwia.¡±


    ¡°Greeting,¡± the superior said without looking up. ¡°Name?¡±


    ¡°My name is Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep. I am here to speak to you about my request. For the Supreme one.¡±


    ¡°Mm. Remember reading that. Why should I care?¡±


    "The Human has stolen the power of Temporus. That lost power could interfere with our operations here. As such, I believe we should allocate some number of resources to reim it, superior Wortinwukaito¡¯shizazukarwintowrochi¡¯wrochiwrantishokorinkinamlitep¡¯voxhizuwranjulimono¡¯zaxaruluionomran¡¯wxivintoproligunt¡¯kuntoiwar¡¯enuminonoxxiuntepinarntinum¡¯wastiunintiuninpronviaxtrunwia.¡±


    ¡°Could we not just wait for the Human to die of natural causes? Remember hearing they perish rather quickly.¡±


    ¡°Formal expression of apology, superior, but time flows differently for the Overworld. Even if the Human did not magically extend his lifespan, if he lived to eighty years, it could take half a millenia from our perspective. That would almost certainly cost us more resources in the long run than if we just spent them now to kill him and get it over with.


    ¡°Hm. And you want the Supreme one to do this?¡±


    ¡°Yes, superior Wortinwukaito¡¯shizazukarwintowrochi¡¯wrochiwrantishokorinkinamlitep¡¯voxhizuwranjulimono¡¯zaxaruluionomran¡¯wxivintoproligunt¡¯kuntoiwar¡¯enuminonoxxiuntepinarntinum¡¯wastiunintiuninpronviaxtrunwia.¡±


    ¡°How long did you want it for, again?¡±


    The Devil blinked. The superior really didn¡¯t remember that? It was all over the report he¡¯d written. Well, he supposed the superior must have been pretty busy, since he was higher in rank. ¡­But then again, the Devil always felt like he was put under <em>less</em> stress the higher up he got. Other than right now, when he was trying to n this invasion on top of doing his normal job, he felt like the hardest time in his life was when he was a lowly office grunt. Well, whatever. He shouldn¡¯t¡¯ve been questioning his superior¡¯spetence, anyway. ¡°I had requested the Supreme one for ten Overworld-equivalent minutes, superior.¡±


    ¡°Mm. Too long. You just said the overworld experience time at a longer rate, right? That¡¯d be, like, half an hour for us.¡±


    ¡°...It¡¯d be closer to a full hour, superior.¡±


    ¡°Exactly my point. Much too long.¡±


    ¡°I see, superior. Formal expression of apology for wasting your time. I will take my leave¨C¡±


    ¡°No, no, not yet. See, I¡¯m a generous man, and I¡¯ll still give it to you for a bit. You just need to convince me first.¡±


    The Devil frowned. ¡°What would you need for me to convince you?¡±


    The superior finally looked up from the paper he was reading and stared right into the Devil¡¯s eyes. His lips curled up into a cruel smile. ¡°Beg.¡±


    The Devil grit his teeth. Was this man seriously holding back something that could help the entire Demon race for his own ego? He initially wanted to report him for abuse of power, but then he remembered that the report would have to go through all thirteen levels of confirmation, like all things, and one of those levels would end up being this exact Demon. So, it would obviously be rejected.


    He almost considered walking out right there. But he needed the Supreme one. If this assault didn¡¯t go well, it¡¯d be bad. He suppressed a sigh. ¡°Please, superior Wortinwukaito¡¯shizazukarwintowrochi¡¯wrochiwrantishokorinkinamlitep¡¯voxhizuwranjulimono¡¯zaxaruluionomran¡¯wxivintoproligunt¡¯kuntoiwar¡¯enuminonoxxiuntepinarntinum¡¯wastiunintiuninpronviaxtrunwia, I plead that, in your infinite kindness, you grant me ess to the Supreme one.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Not very enthusiastic. I¡¯ll give it to you for ten Overworld <em>seconds</em>, instead of minutes. How about that?¡±


    The Devil bit down on the inside of his mouth, hard. ¡°Yes, superior Wortinwukaito¡¯shizazukarwintowrochi¡¯wrochiwrantishokorinkinamlitep¡¯voxhizuwranjulimono¡¯zaxaruluionomran¡¯wxivintoproligunt''kuntoiwar¡¯enuminonoxxiuntepinarntinum¡¯wastiunintiuninpronviaxtrunwia. Your generosity is appreciated.¡±


    ¡°Good. Nothing further to discuss. Leave.¡±


    The Devil marched down the many hallways on his way back to his office. He groaned, rubbing his hands against his face as he walked. This wasn¡¯t really because the meeting had gone bad, though. Sure, that superior was rude, and it would¡¯ve been better to have gotten the Supreme one for longer, but that thing existing in the Overworld for ten full seconds would be more than enough to wreak havoc.


    No, he was upset about the fact that the call he¡¯d just finished was thest step needed to prepare for the invasion. The armies had been constructed, each human settlement had been assigned the forces it would be attacked by, and the Demon soldiers were lined up and prepared to change realms. Once the Supreme one was on standby, the attack would start.


    And the Devil couldn¡¯t be more stressed.


    He wasn¡¯t worried for the invading Demon forces. Well, they were certainly in danger, sure. Many of them were headed straight into the territory of Human ssers with dozens upon dozens of Levels under their belt ¨C the Devil had done quite a bit of research on the Human ss system in preparation of the invasion, so he knew how big of a deal it would be to go up against a force like that. However, no matter how powerful the enemy, the Demon soldiers would almost certainly be safe from death.


    The way that Demons entered the Overworld wasn¡¯t by simple travel. The Demons were sophisticated enough in the ways of magic that they could ¨C with the help of numerous powerful Spellcasters ¨C project a part of themselves to the parallel ne. The projected Demons would be able to perceive and exist in the Overworld, but their true selves would be safe in the Underworld.


    Now, sure, it would still be incredibly unpleasant if their projections were killed in the Overworld ¨C it <em>was</em> a piece of them, after all ¨C but it wouldn¡¯t kill them. Put them out ofmission for a few weeks? Definitely. Damage them so severely that they are permanently unfit for battle? Possibly. But not dead. They could still do paperwork, at least.


    There were cases when Demons truly traveled to the Overworld, bringing their entire selves along with them and dealing with the consequences of being mortal in such a chaotic realm ¨C Temporus had done so, after all ¨C but the projection method was much safer and more standardized.


    In truth, what caused the Devil so much stress was simple worry. Worry that the invasion wouldn¡¯t go as nned. Worry that this fugitive, An Nota, would somehow fight it off. Worry that he would get stuck dealing with this nerve-wracking Temporus case for even longer. In short, he was stressed out about the possibility that he¡¯d get stuck with more stress.


    <em>What a predicament</em>, he thought to himself. <em>But really, now, everything¡¯s in ce.</em>


    In just a few hours, the moment of reckoning would be upon that Human. All the Devil had left that he could do now was sit back and watch the spectacle.

 Chapter 28: Earthquake?

    Chapter 28: Earthquake?


    Erani and I had a pleasant start to our morning. To start with, when I woke up, I had an exciting notification.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 130.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 9.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 9, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 3.67 to 3.76


    Health Drain: From 14.8 to 15.5


    Stamina Drain: From 7.39 to 7.76


    The next Rank up would bring me to 10, which would bring along with it a significant upgrade.


    <em>But¡­</em>


    I checked the next Rank¡¯s Spell XP requirement. Yep. Just as I remembered, the XP requirement went up hugely whenever it was about to reach any tenth Rank.


    Noxious Grasp <strong>9</strong> - XP <strong>22</strong>/<strong>355</strong>


    Compared to the 130 needed before, 355 was a massive jump ¨C it almost tripled the requirement. However, at the rate I was gaining Spell XP, hopefully it wouldn¡¯t take too long before I Ranked up again. I already had the Spell Crystal, so all I was waiting for was the practice.


    Once Erani and I each got out of our beds, we had some breakfast provided by the inn we stayed the night at, and discussed the agenda for the day.


    ¡°So,¡± Erani was saying, ¡°the college won¡¯t open for a bit. What do you want to do until then?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s a bit of a walk, isn¡¯t it? Why don¡¯t we just make our way over there and look around as we go? It¡¯s a big city, I¡¯m sure there''s some stuff you haven¡¯t shown me.¡±


    So we headed out after breakfast, passing through one of the main market areas that seemed to be aimed toward the adventuring crowd. It was apparently located near the building for the local Adventurer¡¯s Guild branch, so their targeted wares made sense.


    The Adventurer''s Guild was essentially a more advanced version of the job board back in Ordensville; people would put up jobs they needed done ¨C as would the city itself, asionally ¨C and adventurers would go in and pick up the jobs to make money. It was just organized a bit better so as to keep the adventurers and the requesters safe ¨C both from monsters and each other.


    There were rules in ce so that adventurers couldn¡¯t take jobs that were rated as being too difficult for their Levels, where they would simply use the degree badges that all ssers in the city had to ensure everyone was of an appropriate Level for their job. They also had strict rules and regtions in ce to ensure that everyone was paid andpensated fairly for their work ¨C it was there to help keep situations like what had gone on between me and Akinsoft from happening.


    Overall, it seemed like a pretty good system to have in ce, and I was excited to start adventuring once I was finished with the college.


    But for now, we were just heading to the markets. Once we got there, I was a bit overwhelmed by the activity of it all. The streets were full of people wearing armor and wielding weapons, bustling through and talking loudly. To add to the noise, vendors and shop owners were shouting out at the passing ssers, trying to sell them random potions and gear.


    It was the first time I¡¯d ever seen so many ssers in one ce. I wondered how many were a higher Level than me. Well, considering my newbie status, probably most. Seeing the Swordsmen walking around, long sheaths on their belts or backs, it made me feel a bit nostalgic. I could have been one of them. Maybe I¡¯d talk to someone and ask to spar. It¡¯d be nice to fight a Swordsman and see how I fared,pared tost time I¡¯d gone against my trainer back in my vige. It seemed so long ago.


    ¡°That ce looks cool,¡± Erani pointed to a store built into the side of a building. It imed to be selling Enchanted weapons. ¡°You wanna check it out?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    The store was much quieter, with only one other group of adventurers inside browsing the wares. There were disy cases lining the wooden walls and set up in lines along the floors, with small ques before each item that was inscribed with a description of the item¡¯s Enchantments. Bows that set all arrows shot from them on fire, shields that would explode out in force if they were hit hard enough, that sort of thing.


    I stopped in front of one of the swords they had in stock. This one was simultaneously Enchanted with a weight-increasing Enchantment, and an Enchantment that made the sword lighter for the person holding it. I¡¯d heard of swords like this before. The way the two Enchantments interacted, it was essentially only heavier for the people you¡¯d be fighting against, making it much harder to block or parry. The piece of equipment itself was a polished steel broadsword. I could see my face reflect off the de.


    As I looked at my reflection, I saw someone walk up behind me. It was one of the people from the other group in the store.


    ¡°Gorgeous, isn¡¯t it?¡± The man mused.


    ¡°Sure is,¡± I said as I turned to face him. ¡°Name¡¯s An.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Tordoth,¡± the man said. He had a long beard that obscured his mouth as he spoke. ¡°You thinking of buying it?¡±


    ¡°No, no, I¡¯m a Magic-Type.¡± I sighed. ¡°I guess I can just appreciate a fine piece of craftsmanship when I see one. What about you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think I am. Well, I¡¯m saving up, at least,¡± he said, pointing to the exorbitant price tag attached to the sword.


    ¡°We¡¯ll hopefully be able to afford it soon,¡± another adventurer from the man¡¯s group ¨C a woman with a dented breastte ¨C chimed in from across the room. ¡°We¡¯re nning on going and doing a couple jobs outside town, clearing out a Stripek nest and a Gray Drakeling hive. If we can do them, it¡¯ll get us more than enough to get some new equipment.¡±


    ¡°¡®If?¡¯¡± I asked. ¡°You don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll be able to?¡±


    ¡°More like we don¡¯t know whether they¡¯ll let us,¡± the gruff woman said. ¡°The guild is big on safety, and to them, four wood-degree adventurers isn¡¯t enough for them to let us do the job.¡±


    ¡°What about six?¡± I asked.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°If you had the help of me and another wood-degree, would that be enough to do your jobs?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± the woman said. ¡°Are you offering?¡±


    ¡°It depends on the job, really. Pay, difficulty, that sort of thing. But I¡¯d consider myself interested, at least. I¡¯m pretty new around here, so it¡¯d be nice to make some connections.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you want more information on the jobs, here,¡± she said as she fished around in one of her pockets. She took out a couple crinkled papers ¨C what I recognized to be two job listings. ¡°I¡¯ve already copied down all of the information, so you can have them. If you¡¯re interested, meet us in the adventurer¡¯s guild tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good,¡± I looked down at the papers. On them was information like a description of what was known about the monsters, payment information, and some pretty detailed directions on where the nests were.


    Once the adventurer team wandered off, Erani walked up to me. ¡°I didn¡¯t know we were signing up for random jobs.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do it, if you don¡¯t want to,¡± I shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t sign up for anything, anyway. Just let them know I was interested. Even if nothinges from it, it¡¯s good to meet people.¡±


    A few minutester, we were done looking around, and started to head out the door. Just then, though, the ground began to tremble. ss windows rattled, carts rolled across the pavement outside, and people looked around at each other, confused and rmed.


    I looked at Erani. ¡°Earthquake?¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t think so,¡± she said, ncing around. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯d say It¡¯s more likely that there¡¯s some high-Level Wizard around here who just got in a fight. The Earthquake Spell has a simr effect, so it could just be that.¡±


    I agreed that it probably wasn¡¯t a natural earthquake. They weren¡¯t verymon here; I¡¯d never even experienced one in my lifetime, only read descriptions in books. But why would someone cast an Earthquake Spell out here? Casting a Spell with such a massive area of effect near civilization was a very easy way to get thew on your ass. And even if the perpetrator was a high-Level sser, there were some very high-Levelw enforcement officers out there, too.


    I braced myself on a nearby table as the trembling continued. ¡°Is it just me, or is it getting more intense?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s definitely gotten worse,¡± Erani said, looking more and more concerned. ¡°Earthquake Spells don¡¯tst this long, either.¡± She nced around. ¡°We need to get to shelter. Something¡¯s happening, and I don¡¯t like it.¡±


    ¡°Agreed. Is it safe to stay here?¡±


    Just as I said that, the owner of the shop pushed past us and ran out the front door, leaving us the only people inside. A battleaxe fell from a ss case that was mounted on the wall, shattering it and embedding itself in the floor with a heavy <em>thunk</em>.


    ¡°Apparently not,¡± Erani said.


    We stumbled to the door and stepped out onto the street. ssed and Unssed alike were beginning to panic as they realized that, whatever this was, it wasn¡¯t normal. People fled into buildings at the same time as people fled out of buildings; nobody seemed to actually know what to do.


    The rumbling grew more and more intense. A cart next to us shook itself apart, and a pane of ss shattered in the distance. My breathing quickened.


    ¡°We need to run!¡± Erani shouted to me. The rumbling and sounds of falling objects was so loud I could barely hear her. We started running away ¨C not in any particr direction, just ¡®away¡¯ ¨C as the quaking got so bad it was difficult to stand. I nced around, unsure of where a source of danger could approach from.


    Then, just as we were about to round a corner, something happened. An eruption of deafening noise. A force that flung me into the air. An intense, ripping pain. The sensation of my body being smashed into pieces.


    You have been flung against something. 873 damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have been crushed. 7.42k damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have been dismembered.


    You have died.


    And then it all went ck.

 Chapter 29: Not an Earthquake

    Chapter 29: Not an Earthquake


    I was in the ck, smoky in-between space. It was so sudden, I didn¡¯t even know what happened. One second, I was running down the street with Erani, fleeing from some sort of earthquake, and the next second, I was dead.


    I felt a wave of panic wash over me. How would I prevent my death? How could I prevent something if I didn¡¯t even know how it happened in the first ce? Was there an explosion? A magical bomb nted on me? Did someone shoot me with a Spell?


    Before I could reconcile my panic, make a n, or even really process what was going on, I felt myself fading, the in-between space threatening me to leave soon.


    I hurriedly picked the furthest-back option I had ¨C six minutes.


    That¡¯d have to do.


    And then I was back, browsing the store with Erani. I got my bearings. This was after my conversation with the other group of adventurers, but before the earthquake had started.


    Erani looked over at me suspiciously. ¡°Hey, you look afraid. Is something¨C¡±


    I grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door, sprinting down the road and weaving through foot traffic as we went.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± She gasped.


    ¡°We need to run!¡± I yelled to her as I dragged her by the hand down the busy streets.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°No idea! But for some reason, six minutes from now, we¡¯re all gonna die.¡±


    Wha¨C how?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. There was an earthquake, and it kept getting worse and worse until something happened ¨C an explosion, maybe ¨C and it all went ck.¡±


    ¡°What should we do?¡±


    ¡°No idea. I was pretty much just thinking we should at least get out of the city. It happened herest time.¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s the best we can do. The nearest exit is that way,¡± she pointed, and I changed my course ordingly.


    We dashed through the city streets, weaving and shoving our way through any crowds we encountered. We got some shouts and strange looks, but thankfully nobody tried to chase after us. I¡¯d been keeping rough track of time, and we should have had about four more minutes until the explosion. Not enough. We were still <em>much</em> too close to the ce It¡¯d happened before.


    I quickened my pace, and Erani followed suit, sensing my urgency.


    After a couple more stressful minutes of running ¨C we now had two remaining ¨C we arrived at one of the exit gates embedded into the city¡¯s outer wall. However, snaking out from the wall was a long line of people calmly waiting to leave. There was a post at the gate, checking people out in the same way they checked us in when we entered the city.


    We ran past the line, drawing res from the people waiting, and up to the guards. I tried to shove my way through, but one of the armored men pushed me back.


    ¡°Hey!¡± he said in a gruff voice. ¡°There¡¯s a line. Can¡¯t skip. Get in the back and wait your turn like everyone else.¡±


    ¡°No, you don¡¯t understand. Something¡¯s happening back inside the city. There¡¯s an earthquake, and I think something bad is going to happen. We all need to get out, now.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, no can do. If you wanna get out so bad, feel free to wait in line with the rest of everyone else.¡±


    ¡°There isn¡¯t <em>time</em> to wait in line,¡± I practically shouted in desperation. ¡°Something¡¯s about to happen, and we¡¯re all in danger.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t juste in here with your ramblings about earthquakes and danger. I have a job to do, and I answer to the captain, not you. I can¡¯t let you through. That¡¯s final.¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± I looked back at Erani. ¡°Are there any other exits we can get through?¡±


    ¡°Not without going through customs, no,¡± she said. ¡°Do you think we¡¯re far enough away now?¡±


    ¡°Hopefully. We don¡¯t really have much more time to get any further¨C¡± I was interrupted by the ground beginning to rumble. ¡°Shit, it¡¯s starting. Brace yourself, and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Spells, projectiles, anything.¡±


    The guard I¡¯d been speaking to looked down at the ground once he noticed the earthquake. He frowned at me, then turned to call out to the people in the line, ¡°Stay calm, everyone, stay calm. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll pass in a moment.¡±


    The earthquake grew in intensity, and people began shuffling nervously.


    ¡°Please just stay in your ce and stay calm!¡±


    The earthquake grew even stronger, and people started shouting and shoving, leaving the line to get to shelter.


    ¡°Everyone!¡± The man shouted, ¡°Please, stay still while we wait for it to pass!¡±


    ¡°Sir, please,¡± I pleaded. ¡°Let everyone get to safety. If we could just get through the gate¨C¡±


    The soldier turned to me and shouted, ¡°If you don¡¯t leave me be and get in the gods-damned line I will make you!¡±


    Before I could respond, a massive shockwave pushed me off my feet and I tumbled to the ground, along with everyone else. An explosion so loud rang out from within the city that I was almostpletely deaf afterward, but with my limited hearing I could hear gasps of shock and screams of terror from the crowd as they looked at the source of the explosion. I hurriedly stumbled back up and turned my head to where they were looking. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped in awe and fear. It was¨C


    The Hellion was a type of monster that certain types of Demon could summon and control. Demons themselves were somewhat rare, so it was difficult for researchers to actually find Hellions to study, but there was still a decent bit known about them.


    Hellions wererge, Wurm-like monsters with a tail-end and a mouth-end. They didn¡¯t seem to have any sense of sight, instead relying on some other nebulous magical sense, and so their mouth-end was just that: a gigantic maw that took up the entire front part of their body. They typically burrowed into the ground, moving with surprising speed as they devoured all the earth in their path. Hellions themselves could be anywhere from two to ten paces long, and normally half a pace wide or so, meaning they could take huge bites out of an unsuspecting victim.


    Hellions appeared between the Levels of 10 to 20, giving them the potential to be extremely fierce opponents. That said, the next rank of Hellions, the Greater Hellion, was much fiercer, appearing between Levels 20 and 40. These Hellions were muchrger, at upwards of fifteen paces in length, and could also be up to three paces thick ¨Crge enough to swallow an entire adventuring party whole. That said, while Greater Hellions were extremely dangerous, they were also monsters that could only be born by way of summoning, meaning that there would have to be an incredibly skilled magic user for them to actually appear, so there were only a couple reported sightings of them.


    And then, only existing in books that marked it as ¡®theoretically possible to exist,¡¯ was the¨C


    The Supreme Hellion. The creature that had greater thickness than most buildings erupted forth from the ground, flying with great speed into the air. An explosion of stone and debris sted away from the massive tunnel that the Supreme Hellion left behind. I watched as it rose above the iconic clock tower in the center of Carth, then followed the arc of gravity and curved downward¨C


    ¡°Gods save us.¡±


    ¨Cand swallowed the entire tower whole.


    ¡°We need to run.¡± I said quietly, as if in prayer. Then, louder. ¡°We- <em>we need to run</em>! Now!¡± I grabbed Erani¡¯s hand again, yanking her out of her stupor and along with me. We dashed past the dazed guards and civilians, right through the gate and into the field surrounding the city. Just as we stumbled onto the grass, yet another shockwave sted out as the Supreme Hellion impacted the ground, burrowing straight back down as if attempting to split the world in two.


    That finally seemed to break people out of their stunned silence, and screams began to rise up from the city, filling the previously dead air with chaos. Fires and smaller explosions also began erupting around the market square ¨C or, rather, the hole that used to be the market square. I couldn¡¯t see what was going on or what was causing the fires, but I wasn¡¯t about to stay around and watch.


    Citizens swarmed out of the city, the guards having long since abandoned their posts. The fleeing people stopped once they got a decent distance from the city walls, seeming to want to watch the disaster unfold. Not that I could me them, of course; most of them probably had houses or families in Carth, so they¡¯d understandably want to see what happened.


    Erani and I, however, fled all the way to the edge of the forest line.


    ¡°Shit,¡± I panted once we got there. ¡°What do we do? Where do we go?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know,¡± she replied, her jaw ck and a thousand-pace stare on her face.


    I nced around, trying to figure out our next step. Just then, I spotted beings flooding out of the gates after the people. Not Humans, but red-skinned, Humanoid monsters. Demons. These Demons were huge, hulking creatures, almost twice the height of most of the Humans there, and with muscles so bulging that it lookedpletely grotesque. Their sunken eyes scanned the crowd of people as they rounded them up, containing them in a circle and examining each one, looking at their faces as though they were trying to find a specific individual.


    ¡°We need to get away,¡± I muttered to Erani, thankful we had fled so far as to not be caught up with the crowd.


    We stumbled back and into the forest, running until the city of Carth waspletely out of sight. We could still hear the screams, though, as houses continued to burn and people were no doubt killed by Demons. Judging by the show of power with the Supreme Hellionbined with that army that flooded the city, there was no possible way I could do anything to help those people. I kept going over the situation in my head as we ran, trying to find some way I could have done something. Maybe if I was firmer with the guard when asking him to let us go, or encouraged the people to flee further when they got out of the walls¡­


    But my thoughts were interrupted by a sound. This one wasn¡¯t an explosion or a scream ¨C it was a voice.


    ¡°Hello, citizens and visitors of Carth.¡± The voice was incredibly loud, and sounded like it was being projected all the way from the city. It must have been magically amplified. ¡°On the behalf of the Underworld, I apologize for the inconvenience as we enact this hostile takeover of your city.¡±


    Erani and I stared at each other in fear and bewilderment as we slowed to a stop so we could listen. The voice was understated and monotone, as if the person speaking was disinterestedly reading from a script.


    ¡°As I speak, our Infernals will begin corralling the poption of your city into waiting chambers. Please do not panic or resist. Those who dobat the Infernals will be found guilty of Code 17: Law Enforcement, Section 19: Resisting Arrest, and Code 17: Law Enforcement, Section 3: Assaulting an Officer. Those of you who have fled the city, please return immediately. Those who continue to flee or hide will be guilty of Code 17, Section 19 as well. The infraction of any Code for any reason is immediately punishable by death.¡±


    We looked at each other, looked back at the city, and wordlessly agreed that we weren¡¯t going back there, codes and sections be damned.


    The magically amplified voice continued to speak in its bored tone. ¡°Please do be aware that we do not n to upy this city for long. Rather, we will be simply checking the identities of each citizen against our Criminal, Deviant, and Fugitive Database ¨C hereafter referred to as CDFD. Those found with their names within the CDFD will be executed. However, do not fear, as we believe that there is only one such individual currently residing within Carth. This individual is guilty of Code 9: Underworld Property, Section 1a: Destruction of Underworld Property; Code 9: Underworld Property, Section 2: Theft of Underworld Property; Code 17: Law Enforcement, Section 19: Resisting Arrest¡­¡±


    As the voice continued to rattle off a series of crimes, I turned to Erani. ¡°What the fuck is going on? What are those Demons? Infernals, the voice called them? We need to get further away. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s run.¡±


    She just stared ahead, looking dazed.


    ¡°Erani,¡± I gently grabbed her, trying to get her attention. ¡°We need to focus on survival. Please.¡±


    She blinked, breathing heavily. ¡°I¡­ Okay.¡±


    We started moving, the voice continuing with its seemingly endless list of charges.


    Erani eventually spoke. ¡°The Demons that the voice was talking about, the Infernals, they¡¯re a powerful race of Demons. They¡¯re used by summoners that take contracts with them. Not smart, but incredibly physically powerful. And in numbers like that¡­ we¡¯d have no hope of fighting them off. Until Carth receives reinforcements from more powerful ssers, I doubt the city will have any hope of defending themselves, either.¡±


    As she spoke, the voice seemed to be finishing his list. ¡°...Code 131: Dangerous Beings, Section 56d: Killing of a Dangerous Being; and Code 237: Chain of Command, Section 11: Perversion of Hierarchy. This individual is considered to be highly dangerous, and if any person within this city has any information on this individual, you arepelled to tell the nearest Infernal immediately. The Infernals will be passing out portraits of the individual. His name is An Nota. Again, if you have any information¡­¡±


    My head snapped toward Erani as she looked toward me.


    ¡°Fuck.¡±

 Chapter 30: Survive

    Chapter 30: Survive


    ¡°His name is An Nota. Again, if you have any information, wepel you to tell the nearest Infernal immediately.¡±


    Erani looked toward me in rage and shock as we fled from the burning Carth. ¡°Are you fucking kidding me? You¡¯re a fugitive of the hells?¡±


    ¡°News to me!¡± I shouted. ¡°It must be because of my ss. I got it for killing Temporus. But I sure as hells haven¡¯t heard of Demons rising up from the Underworld to capture some random guy who killed a Demon!¡±


    ¡°What the fuck is a Temporus?! What the fuck are you talking about? You need to exin. Everything.¡±


    We slowed down and I looked around at our surroundings. We were in the middle of the forest, trees on every side. There could be Infernals right behind any of them, or maybe that damned Supreme Hellion was swimming below our feet this very instant.


    I took a breath, trying to shake my paranoia. The Infernals were toorge to hide like that. And the Supreme Hellion was what made that rumbling, so we¡¯d feel it if it was about to attack again.


    ¡°Listen,¡± I said to Erani, ¡°I barely know any more than you do. I killed a weird Demon and got a weird ss from it, and that was all I knew until just now. Apparently I got into some sort of trouble for killing it, but I had no idea. I wouldn¡¯t have ever gotten you ¨C or anyone ¨C mixed up in all of this otherwise. Fuck. Listen, if you want to leave now, I won¡¯t hold it against you. I¡¯m obviously in deep shit, and I wouldn¡¯t want you to die for it. Just please, don¡¯t tell anyone¨C¡±


    ¡°Leave? You think I can leave?¡± Eraniughed bitterly. ¡°I¡¯m mixed up in all of this just as much as you are, now. We were seen entering together, gave our names out, we talked to people together, and we were seen trying to leave together minutes ago. Anyone who knows your face knows I was with you. If I go back to Carth, best case scenario is that someone recognizes me, the Demons torture me for information, and then I get to leave with my life once I sell you out. That¡¯s the best case. The more likely case is I get killed at some point along that process.¡± She leaned up against a tree, sliding down it until she was sitting on her heels. ¡°We¡¯re fucked.¡±


    I took a breath, pacing around in a small circle. ¡°Not necessarily. We just need to take refuge somewhere until the Kingdom takes care of it. They won¡¯t allow an invasion like this tost, right? They¡¯ll send in a squad of elite ssers or something to take out the Demons, and then we¡¯ll be safe. Until then, we just have to hide out. We could go hide in Ordensville, or better yet, just hang out in the forest nearby your town, going in to periodically grab some resources while trying to stay unseen. All we have to do is stay away from Carth.¡±


    Erani shook her head. ¡°No. No! We¡¯repletely fucked. You seriously believe we can survive an entire Demon army searching for us? Did you <em>see</em> that gigantic fucking Hellion? It ate the clock tower. Ate it! We can¡¯t¨C I¨C fuck.¡± She exhaled, burying her face in her hands as she sat, leaning against the tree. ¡°We¡¯re dead. We¡¯re fucking dead. Cornered, helpless, in over our heads. We are fucking dead.¡±


    ¡°Shut the fuck up. You¡¯re wrong. We can survive this.¡± I knew I was being harsh, but I needed to convince myself just as much as I was trying to convince her, and I couldn¡¯t do that with a constant spew of hopelessness in my ears. ¡°We are going to survive. Okay. Issue one. Supreme Hellion. I haven¡¯t seen it since the initial attack, and it¡¯s been a few minutes. We would¡¯ve seen it again if it was still around ¨C or at least felt it moving around. It was making that earthquake from before, and I haven¡¯t felt it since. It has to be gone by now.¡±


    ¡°That still doesn¡¯t¨C¡±


    ¡°Issue two. Demons. There¡¯s only a finite amount of them, and the further away we get from Carth, the thinner they¡¯ll have to spread themselves to find us. If we get far enough away, there¡¯s no way they¡¯ll catch us before the Kingdomes in and dispatches them.¡±


    ¡°But¨C¡±


    I got down to my knees, my face in front of hers. Rtively speaking, Erani was still a stranger to me; we¡¯d only known each other for a couple days, and the most intimate moment we¡¯d shared was a first date. I didn¡¯t know her well at all. But I needed her. She was double my Level, and had ess to some incredibly powerful magic. We needed to work together. ¡°Listen. I will help you, and you will help me. We¡¯re going to wait this out. That¡¯s our n. Got it?¡±


    I watched her take a deep breath. ¡°Yeah. Yeah, we can get through this. It¡¯ll be easy. Just wait it out.¡± She seemed to be trying to convince herself more than me.


    ¡°Okay, good. Let¡¯s keep moving.¡±


    She nodded and took a moment to breathe before stuttering out, ¡°W-we can head to Ordensville. I know the area, so I¡¯ll be able to get what we need from my ce without alerting too many people. It¡¯s a good distance from Carth, too. Let¡¯s find the road and follow it there.¡±


    And that¡¯s what we did. We found the road that led to Ordensville and began walking down. Well, we didn¡¯t really walk down the road. Instead, we walked along the side of it, keeping out in the trees, that way we kept out of sight of anyone traveling along the road. Periodically, we would take a moment to sneak closer and take a nce at it to make sure we were going the right way.


    Not too long into our flight, we stumbled across a grisly sight.


    ¡°Oh!¡± Erani gasped, looking down at it and looking sick. ¡°Good gods.¡±


    I swallowed, feeling the same as her. It was a person ¨C or, at least, what remained of one. The form of the Human was crushed and broken, bent in countless ces it shouldn¡¯t have bent, bones stabbing through skin, and blood, guts, and general redness spread about the grass and leaves next to the road.


    ¡°What¡­ happened here?¡± Erani took a step back.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t ever seen a monster do something like this. Hells, I barely ever see monsters leave freshly killed corpses lying around uneaten. This¡­ wasn¡¯t something native to the forest.¡±


    ¡°The Infernals? Those Demons that attacked the city?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. This person, they must have tried to run, and¡­ the voice, it said that anyone resisting will be killed, right? This is probably how they kill you.¡±


    ¡°Fuck,¡± Erani closed her eyes and turned away from the morbid disy. ¡°Fuck! These people are innocent! How can they do this?¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how they sleep at night. It matters that they¡¯re trying to kill us. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s get moving.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t just leave them,¡± she looked at me. ¡°This person ¨C the city! They¡¯re innocent, all of them. I can¡¯t just pack up and flee! What if the Demons decide to kill them all when they realize we aren¡¯t here anymore, huh? What, what if they just decide to torture every citizen for information, just in case? What then? I can¡¯t have that blood on my hands.¡±


    ¡°What do you expect us to do?¡± I scowled ¨C not at her, but at the situation in general. ¡°Think we can just walk up and ask nicely that the Demon army return to the Underworld? Or, what, you think we can fight them all off? You saw what they could do. I¡¯m sorry for the people of Carth. And I wish it didn¡¯t happen. Hells, if there was <em>anything</em> I could do, I¡¯d have done it without even thinking. But right now, we are nothingpared to those Demons. We can¡¯t do anything but run.¡±


    ¡°We can do something.¡±


    ¡°And what would that be?¡±


    ¡°We go back¨C¡±


    ¡°I already told you, we¡¯d die if we did that.¡±


    ¡°Yes. We go back and die. The Demons are here for you, not the other Humans. They¡¯d probably leave if you were dead.¡±


    I just looked at her.


    ¡°The number of people. We¨C we can¡¯t just let them all die for our sake!¡±


    My scowl deepened. This time, it was directed at her. ¡°I¡¯m not just going toy down and die because the Demons are choosing to kill people. If they want my life, they''re going to have to fight me for it.¡±


    Erani took a shaky breath. ¡°...My family. They¡¯re in Carth. Right now, my sister, my parents, they could be¡­¡±


    I blinked, suddenly feeling a lot worse about my anger at her. ¡°We aren¡¯t letting them die. They¡¯re being killed. We are not the ones making the choice to kill them. Their lives are not in our hands. Their lives are in the hands of the Demons. Yes, the Demons <em>might</em> kill more people if we run, and they <em>might</em> decide not to do that if we kill ourselves. But personally, I¡¯m not interested in dying to <em>maybe</em> convince a group of evil bastards to not kill some innocents. If I¡¯m going to try and save these people, I¡¯m going to make the Demons spare them, preferably by sending them to whatever afterlife they go to.¡±


    Erani stared at me with an indescribable expression of grief and terror.


    ¡°Listen,¡± I sighed. I didn¡¯t want to be so callous, but now was not the time for tact. ¡°There was a lot of destruction in that invasion. Bottom line, your family might already be gone. We have no way of telling. But if we work to escape and get stronger, maybe we can avenge them. If wey down and die, we¡¯re telling the Demons that we Humans are no more than insects to them. That whenever they want, they can walk up, kill us, destroy our cities, and we won¡¯t do shit about it. They¡¯ll take it as an invitation to kill more people, because they¡¯ll know they can. But if we make this as difficult as possible for them, and stall for time until the kingdom steps in, maybe they¡¯ll learn to leave us alone. And nobody else will have to die.¡±


    Erani blinked as her eyes began to wet. ¡°Okay. We can do this. Just survive.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, survive. We can¡¯t let them win.¡±


    I gently guided her around the bloody corpse. Once we were past it, we kept walking in wordless silence. I did understand her panic at the situation we were in. I¡¯d gotten used to weird and dangerous things happening to me; my experience getting the Minute Mage ss and the subsequent fight for my life in the forest had mentally prepared me for this moment. But Erani had nothing like that. She was an adventurer, sure, but adventurers still didn¡¯t take jobs they couldn¡¯t beat. They didn¡¯t put themselves in situations where they genuinely didn¡¯t know if they¡¯d make it out alive.


    But I knew the oue here. I knew, because whatever the circumstances, I would <em>make</em> it happen. We would survive.


    After about a half hour of walking, the bored voice echoed out from Carth once again. ¡°Headcountpleted. Infernals, be advised: An Nota has not been found. Suspect Erani Wos has been confirmed to have information on fugitive An Nota. Erani Wos has not been found. Commence hunting efforts immediately.¡±


    Erani stopped. ¡°They know my name. They¡¯re hunting for me.¡±


    I nodded. After a moment, she sighed and kept walking.


    ¡°It¡¯ll be okay,¡± I could hear her mutter. ¡°I¡¯ll survive.¡±


    Before I could respond, there was a sound, like someone was shuffling around. It came from Carth in the same way the bored voice had before. I could hear two voices muttering to each other, amplified by the magic, but I couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying.


    After a few seconds, a new voice started speaking. This one was less bored, but not in a good way. It was full of frustration, like I could hear the scowl on the speaker¡¯s face. ¡°Listen, An Nota,¡± it said. ¡°It seems you¡¯re determined to cause us more trouble than needed. Do be informed that what happened here was a <em>mild</em> disy of our power. You have destroyed something that was ours, as well as stolen our property. You are a nuisance to be taken care of, and nothing else. An annoyance. But understand that if you prove it will require us to apply more force to solve this problem, we <em>will not hesitate to do so</em>.¡±


    Erani looked at me, worried.


    The voice continued. ¡°My name is Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep. Take care to remember that name, because it¡¯s going to be the one you will beg for mercy to. I¡¯ll take care to remember your name, too, since I look forward to reading your charges in person at your formal execution. But most importantly, remember this: there is no such thing as a Human that can gather enough power to oppose us. You have no hope of help, you have no hope of growing strong enough to defeat us. Your best option ¨C your <em>only</em> option ¨C is to turn yourself in and stop getting innocent people killed. Members of your own species are dying, An Nota, and it¡¯s all because you want to extend the remainder of your life for a few extra hours. Your death warrant is signed. You will not be making it out of this alive. Make onest contribution to your society, and take responsibility for your actions.¡± There was another shuffling noise, like someone had just gotten out of a chair, and the voice echoed out onest time, ¡°That is all.¡±


    I took a breath and kept walking.


    ¡°It¡¯s just wartime propaganda,¡± I said to Erani. ¡°They¡¯re attempting to demoralize us so that we turn ourselves in. Ignore it and keep walking.¡±


    She stayed put.


    ¡°There would be no reason for them to tell me all of that information unless it gave them an advantage if we knew it,¡± I said. I was also partially trying to convince myself. I knew that, logically, they didn¡¯t empathize with us and didn¡¯t care about Humanity, but there was still something incredibly intimidating about the voice ¨C that Xhag¡¯duul-something-something guy ¨C saying all of it so confidently. ¡°They would never tell us about their ns to bring in additional forces if they actually nned to do it. It¡¯d be much better to surprise us. They¡¯re just trying to get under our skin.¡±


    Erani took a slow breath, and kept walking. ¡°Okay. Just survive. As long as we can just wait it out, we¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t even sure that I believed that, anymore. Even if they didn¡¯t bring in any additional forces, the ones they had were still overwhelming.


    But we had to survive. I had to survive. And I would personally find that Xhag¡¯duul Demon and fucking kill him. You signed my death warrant? Well, motherfucker, you just signed yours, too.

 Chapter 31: Mapping Things Out

    Chapter 31: Mapping Things Out


    Erani and I kept walking, parallel to the road to Ordensville, fleeing from the smoldering Carth. There were apparently Demonsmencing their ¡®hunting efforts,¡¯ but we hadn¡¯t seen them yet in the couple hours that¡¯d passed. We had a bit of a head start, but who knew how long that wouldst? We were moving as quickly as we could, but it wasn¡¯t like we could sprint the entire day-and-a-half trip to the town.


    It also quickly became apparent how under-prepared we were for the impromptu road trip. Noon came and went with us eating nothing, since we didn¡¯t have any food with us. We had our waterskins, thankfully, but the long journey we had ahead of us would have to be done without food, it seemed. At least, unless we dropped below a certain standard.


    ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to try it?¡± I asked Erani.


    ¡°I am not eating raw meat. And no, I will not try cooking it with Firebolt. That¡¯s disgusting.¡±


    We were in disagreement on that topic.


    Our situation was very simr to my experience getting lost in the forest before, really. Hunted by stronger beings, forced to rely on the basic equipment we had with us to survive. I was mentally running myself through that previous experience, remembering all of the things I¡¯d done that kept me alive. We were immediately traveling toward a source of resources ¨C that was good. We were keeping along a trail that would lead us to civilization, so we weren¡¯t lost ¨C that was even better. We were staying out of sight of danger, we were sticking together for safety ¨C this was all good.


    I had one worry, though. ¡°We should be trying to Level up.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s an unnecessary risk,¡± Erani argued. She¡¯d gotten over most of her shock over the hours we¡¯d walked. That said, I still wasn¡¯t a fan of her over-cautious mindset. ¡°We can¡¯t just seek out monsters to kill when we¡¯re already being hunted. It¡¯ll drain our strength, and the fighting could also draw the Demons¡¯ attention.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t like being so helpless here. At the very least, I want for us to be able to keep ourselves alive if we get in a fight with the Infernals. Right now, we can¡¯t do that.¡±


    ¡°Then we should focus on not getting caught in the first ce. We don¡¯t win by killing them, we win by waiting them out.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we win by waiting them out, but we can¡¯t guarantee we won¡¯t get caught while we do that. We don¡¯t know how many of them there are, or what methods they have of finding us. We need a backup n.¡±


    ¡°But we <em>also</em> don¡¯t know how strong they are in the first ce. What if they¡¯re so much stronger than us that, even with a couple more Levels, we still don¡¯t stand a chance? Then we¡¯ll have drawn all that attention to ourselves and wasted all that energy for nothing. We need to go to Ordensville and wait it out. That was your original n, that¡¯s what I agreed to. All we have to do is wait for them to get kicked out by the kingdom. Nothing else.¡±


    I grunted. ¡°Fine, fine. I guess I agree.¡±


    I agreed, but I didn¡¯t like it. We weren¡¯t getting any stronger. Sure, I was practicing Noxious Grasp, but we weren¡¯t hunting monsters, so we weren¡¯t getting any XP. Now, this would all hopefully blow over soon, but it was still ufortable to be in a desperate situation like this while not really improving our circumstances at all. That was one of the core ts I lived by when I was lost before, and it was what kept me alive more than anything else.


    Besides, even though I¡¯d suggested it, relying on the kingdom to survive¡­ I didn¡¯t like it. What if they couldn¡¯t beat the Demons? It was unlikely, but possible. Or what if they just decided it wasn¡¯t worth the losses they¡¯d suffer to fight back against the Underworld? I simply wasn¡¯tfortable letting other people decide my fate. Just sitting back and waiting for others to solve my problems for me. I didn¡¯t like it.


    Still, that said, subtlety still felt like the objectively correct choice here. We couldn¡¯t go around blowing shit up and drawing attention to ourselves. So, we kept walking.


    Another couple hours passed, and the reality of the situation really started to set in. I was trying to focus as much as I could on putting one foot in front of the other, but being back out here, walking my legs off while hungry and stranded in the woods, it really got into my head.


    Even if I did wait this out, would I ever get to go back to a normal life? Why was it happening to me? I knew it was dumb toin, but couldn¡¯t I have just lived my regr life as a Swordsman? I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts.


    As we walked, a voice called out to us. ¡°Hey! You two youngsters! What¡¯re you doin¡¯ out here?¡±


    I snapped my head over to the road, fearful that we¡¯d been caught. A man driving a horse-drawn carriage had stopped on the road, looking at us. It seemed we¡¯d gotten a bit neglectful in our efforts to hide over the hours, and he¡¯d spotted us.


    ¡°Uh, hi, sir,¡± I called out, stepping onto the road. ¡°We¡¯re just traveling. Same as you, I¡¯d imagine.¡± I could feel sweat begin to perspire on my forehead.


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen a whole bunch of people like you traveling away from Carth,¡± he said. ¡°What¡¯s goin¡¯ on over there?¡± He seemed suspicious when he asked that, like he already knew the reason and was just trying to confirm it.


    ¡°Well,¡± I shared a nce with Erani before continuing, ¡°there was a Demon attack. We didn¡¯t stick around for long, but it seemed they were flooding the city and burning everything down. We¡¯re just going to Ordensville to get to safety.¡±


    ¡°Well I¡¯ll be darned,¡± he said. ¡°It happened in Carth, too?


    ¡°Wait,¡± my eyes widened. ¡°You don¡¯t mean Ordensville¨C¡±


    ¡°Scum-lickin¡¯ Demons got to it. Whole ce destroyed. We¡¯re leaving right now, nned on headin¡¯ to Carth. Darn Demons. Now we gotta find a new ce to squat.¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± I cursed, and looked at Erani. ¡°Do you think¡ª¡°


    ¡°Hey!¡± The man driving the carriage interrupted, ¡°watch yournguage. I got kids in the back here.¡±


    ¡°Uh, yes, sir,¡± Erani said to him. ¡°Do you know of any safe areas around here?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t got any clue. But I know a guy in Artinash, we was talkin¡¯ over Message Paper when it hit, he said they got invaded by Demons, same as us.¡±


    ¡°Artinash?¡± I asked. ¡°That¡¯s almost a week''s travel from here. Did they invade the whole gods-damned kingdom?¡±


    ¡°Language, young man!¡±


    ¡°I- sorry, sir.¡± I turned to Erani again. ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s go. We need to figure shit out.¡±


    The man just red at me that time, and drove away.


    ¡°Do you really think they took over all of Koinkar?¡± Erani asked me once he was gone.


    ¡°I have no idea. But obviously Ordensville isn¡¯t safe.¡±


    ¡°Where do we even go?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I shook my head, trying to think. ¡°¡­If we just keep traveling from ce to ce, trying to find a settlement that hasn¡¯t been attacked, and they <em>did</em> invade the whole Kingdom, we¡¯ll end up getting caught. But then, if there are any safe ces that the Demons didn¡¯t invade, we definitely want to find them.¡±


    ¡°I think we just camp out andy low in the wilderness. Maybe we can find someone willing to help us, and they can get us supplies.¡±


    ¡°No, we can¡¯t rely on the generosity of others to survive. What if they rat us out? I¡¯m sure the Demons will provide ample encouragement to tell them any information people might have on us.¡± I shook my head. ¡°We need to run. To get somewhere. If the Demons found out where we were once, they¡¯ll be able to find where we are again. So we need to stay on the move. But then, if we just move randomly to the nearest towns and viges, we¡¯ll be running right into them.¡±


    ¡°So where do we go?¡±


    I took a breath. ¡°We leave the Kingdom. I don¡¯t care how powerful they are, they wouldn¡¯t be able to invade the entire world. If we leave Koinkar and go to an entirely different territory, there¡¯s no way they¡¯d be there, too.¡±


    ¡°But what if they <em>did </em>invade the whole world? The Koinkar Kingdom, Barinruth Empire, Qarn Kingdom, what if they¡¯re everywhere?¡±


    ¡°Well, if they¡¯ve already taken over the entire world, we¡¯re fucked anyway. We have to y to our outs. If there¡¯s only one thing that can save us, we have to try it with all our might, even if there¡¯s only a chance it¡¯ll work. Because if we just sit around and wait to get caught, we die for sure.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Okay. But where do we go?¡±


    ¡°We just need to go wherever¡¯s nearest. You know your geography? ¡®Cause I don¡¯t have much of a clue what¡¯s where.¡± It was true. I¡¯d spent a lot of time in libraries researching the System, but that didn¡¯t mean I was well-educated in general. My vige didn¡¯t have much of an education program, unlike some of therger cities and towns.


    ¡°Well, the Qarn Kingdom¡¯s our most surefire bet. Straight enough road to get there from here, and it isn¡¯t incredibly far. Considering our travel options, maybe a month to get there?¡± She chewed her lip. ¡°Are you sure this is a good idea? I really think it¡¯s best to try and wait this out. Maybe the Kingdom can fight them off.¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± I shook my head. ¡°To both of those. We absolutely cannot stay here. And a month is just too much time. If you ask me, our situation here in Koinkar can only get worse as time goes on. The Demons¡¯ll stabilize, establish themselves, start sending out coordinated search parties¡­ we have to get out, and as quickly as possible.¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know what you want. Qarn is our closest option.¡±


    ¡°Not sure if I agree. I don¡¯t know geography, but I know monster territories. And I know that we sometimes saw Ghouls spread near my vige in the winter.¡±


    ¡°Wait, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±


    ¡°Kingdom¡¯s Edge is close. Much closer than Qarn. Maybe a week or two until we get there, if we hurry. And if we go through Kingdom¡¯s Edge, that¡¯s a straight pass to the Barinruth Empire.¡±


    ¡°No way. Kingdom¡¯s Edge? Are you insane? That mountain range is entirely too dangerous. You literally just mentioned it ¨C Kingdom¡¯s Edge is entirely infested with Ghouls. It would bepletely impossible for us to pass through there, even <em>if </em>Ghouls were the only problem. Are you even aware of the high-Level monsters that live there?¡±


    ¡°If we¡¯re careful, we can make it.¡±


    ¡°Absolutely not! The entire reason we don¡¯t trade with Barinruth is because that mountain range is in the way! Even traders with the strongest security details don¡¯t go <em>near</em> Kingdom¡¯s Edge, much less through it. What makes you think we¡¯d make it?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a second part to my n.¡± I fished from my pocket the two job pamphlets that the adventuring group had given me back in Carth. They detailed two extermination jobs: one to go and kill a group of Stripeks, and another to clear out a nest of Gray Drakelings. They had detailed directions leading to where the two nests were located. I showed them to her. ¡°Here¡¯s our ticket to a few extra Levels.¡±


    She grabbed the two papers and looked at them. ¡°These say they¡¯re only safe for an adventuring group of at least six wood-degrees. We¡¯re two.¡±


    ¡°All the more reason to do them. The higher-Level the monsters are, the more XP we get.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s- you can¡¯t actually believe that¡¯s sound logic.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Iughed, ¡°I was exaggerating a bit, but seriously. Those guidelines are over-cautious, and you know it. If we¡¯re smart, we can take them down no problem, and we¡¯ll be in much better shape to fight any Demons that catch us. And if we can kill the Demons, we¡¯ll only get more XP, and Level up more. It¡¯ll be a cascading effect, and by the time we get to Kingdom¡¯s Edge, it won¡¯t quite be suicide.¡±


    Erani just looked at me skeptically.


    ¡°I know it¡¯s shady, and I know we¡¯ll have to be as careful as we can, but it¡¯s the best shot we have. Compared to an army of Demons, a couple Stripeks are nothing. We¡¯re going to have to fight <em>something</em> we shouldn''t, no matter what, and this is the closest we can get to caution.¡±


    After a moment, she sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m agreeing to this, but fine. I guess that makes sense.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I smiled. I finally felt more in myfort zone, killing monsters and getting stronger. ¡°Let¡¯s hunt some Levels.¡±

 Chapter 32: Chased Away

    Chapter 32: Chased Away


    The unfortunate part of my n were the locations of the two monster nests we wanted to clear. Not only were they pretty far away, but the directions themselves were also much too vague. Well, the directions provided on the fliers would¡¯ve been just fine in any other situation, but in ours, they left something to be desired.


    Essentially, they relied on you taking roads to get where you wanted to go. The fliers told us to take certain paths and turn at certain intersections, that way we wouldn¡¯t have to cut through the wilderness. Except, when we were fugitives, we <em>really</em> wanted to cut through the wilderness. What it didn¡¯t do was tell us how far to walk or even provide an actual map. So, unless we took those roads, the directions were basically useless.


    Still, like we¡¯d done before, we could try to stay safe by not walking directly on the road, and instead following offroad along the side. Considering the distance, it was probably going to take all day walking to get there, so we got started right away.


    The monster camps were a bit out of the way ¨C not really straight off in the direction we wanted to go ¨C but I felt like, while unfortunate, it would be fine for a couple reasons. First, it wasn¡¯t like we were headed directly towards Carth. At worst, we were headed in a direction that neither increased nor decreased the distance between us and that disaster site. And, second, that seemingly-random movement would make us unpredictable. If we walked in a straight line, it¡¯d be incredibly easy for the Demons to figure out the direction we were going and set up an ambush right in front of us. This way, we were taking random turns and keeping them from ever truly knowing where we were going.


    So we set off, already tired from the terrifying day and the copious amounts of strain on our legs, but determined to keep moving.


    The determination started to wear off after an hour of walking. Recing it, I began to feel a more and more intense feeling of stress and fear. As the time since the disaster grew longer and longer, I got jumpier and found myself ncing around more and more often. Why hadn¡¯t we seen those Infernals yet? Where the fuck were they? While we walked, I tried my best to kick over any footprints we left behind, making them less obviously Human, but I wasn¡¯t sure if that would even help.


    ¡°Agh,¡± Erani groaned at one point, ¡°can we take a break? I need to sit down.¡±


    ¡°Oh, are your legs hurting?¡±


    ¡°No, no, it¡¯s just,¡± she paused tough. ¡°Y¡¯know, it feels a bit silly toin about to you, of all people. I¡¯ve been trying to keep Firebolt prepared so I can cast it at a moment¡¯s notice. But it¡¯s been giving me quite the headache.¡±


    ¡°Mm, I get it¡± I nodded, thenughed. ¡°In fact, I think I understand that headache better than anyone else could. We can take a break, but we really need to keep going as soon as possible.¡±


    I nced around the area, checking behind us for any Demons. There were none, for now.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± Erani said, rubbing her eyes, ¡°I just seriously don¡¯t think I can keep walking right now.¡±


    ¡°Okay. If it can¡¯t be helped, we can take five.¡± I sat down. I didn¡¯t like taking a break when we were so close to Carth, but I also didn¡¯t want Erani copsing in the middle of the forest. Obviously, it wasn¡¯t like I could abandon her; she was a much higher Level than me, and I knew just how useful her Explosive Firebolts were in battle. And even if she wasn¡¯t so powerful, I wouldn¡¯t feelfortable bringing someone into this mess and then leaving them to die.


    I leaned my head against a tree and took a breath, giving my body a well-needed rest. Sure, I didn¡¯t want to take this break, but I wasn¡¯t about to let it pass by without taking advantage of it while it was here.


    I let off another puff of Noxious Grasp as I rested. With a Mana/Minute of 6.15 and a Mana cost of 3.76 for Noxious Grasp, I was casting a second of the Spell close to once every thirty seconds, and I was filling up the massive Spell XP requirement for Rank 10 slowly, but steadily. Currently, it was at 51/355, as opposed to the 22 it started the day at.


    Truthfully, I was d I could cast the Spell so often now. Considering the situation I was in, I absolutely needed something familiar to upy my mind and prevent me from spiraling.


    Another string of mist rose from my hands as another thirty second interval passed. But then, as I watched it float up, I heard a cascade of heavy footfalls, much heavier than a group of Humans would make.


    ¡°Shit, get back,¡± I whispered to Erani, who was sitting against a tree with her eyes closed.


    She didn¡¯t respond.


    ¡°Are you fucking asleep?¡± I hissed. Still no response.


    <em>Shit</em>, I thought. She was obviously much more tired than she¡¯d let on.


    I crawled forward, up to the street, and snuck a nce down toward the sound. Yep, just as I¡¯d expected, there was a squad of those grotesque-looking Infernal Demons. The broad-shouldered, towering-stature monsters marched down the stone road, their dumb, sunken eyes ncing down at the sides of the trail as they lumbered along, toward where we were hidden. At only a few dozen paces away from our position, they¡¯d see us soon if I didn¡¯t do something.


    I scurried back the few paces needed to reach the still-unconscious Erani and shook her, whispering ¡°Erani!¡± in her ear.


    That seemed to be enough to wake her. She jolted up and said, at a horrifyingly normal volume, ¡°W¨C what?¡±


    I shushed her and grabbed her hand, taking her to her feet as she blinked repeatedly, obviously trying to get her bearings. I could hear the Infernals draw closer.


    ¡°Demons,¡± I whispered, and pointed in their direction. ¡°We need to go. Now.¡±


    That seemed to wake her up. Her eyes widened and I took off, dragging her behind me, deeper into the forest. Her feet stumbled across the leaves and sticks, making what felt like a deafening amount of noise to my fear-enhanced senses.


    I heard the Infernals stomp over to our rest site. With a heart-stopping pang of anxiety, I realized I¡¯d forgotten about our footsteps. They¡¯d be obvious, with thepleteck of my masking them. Not to mention the noises we were making.


    As we dashed through the forest, away from the road, I heard a set of footfalls from the Infernals leave the stone road and go onto the soft dirt. It sounded like the rest of the Infernals were staying on the road, so it must have just been one of them investigating our suspicious flight. They didn¡¯t know it was us yet, it seemed. We still had hope it wouldn¡¯t find us.


    As I did my best to silently run away, I listened to the Infernal meander through the woods, fallen branches cracking under its immense weight. Erani was fully awake by now, running alongside me. The Infernal didn¡¯t give up its pursuit, though. It obviously knew that someone was fleeing from it ¨C probably just didn¡¯t know who. Otherwise, it would¡¯ve called its buddies by now.


    I nced around as we fled, looking over the hilly terrain to try and find something that could save us. We wouldn¡¯t be able to run forever, and the Infernal seemed set on catching us.


    And it seemed we¡¯d have to stop earlier than I¡¯d expected. As we ran, we arrived up against a trench that split the ground in two. It wasn¡¯t incredibly wide or deep ¨C only five or six paces in across and downward ¨C but even that was enough that it wouldn¡¯t be safe to try and jump across. It was long, too ¨C long enough that we most likely wouldn¡¯t be able to go around it.


    The Infernal stomped closer.


    ¡°Hide behind that tree,¡± I told Erani, thinking quickly. She did so without argument, obviously sensing I had something in mind. Within seconds, she was out of sight a good number of paces away.


    I stood directly in front of the trench, standing ready for an attack.


    A few momentster, the Demon came crashing through the treeline. Once it saw me facing it, its face twisted in hatred. It immediately rushed at me, a roar escaping its throat. I ran up to meet it, but didn¡¯t yet cast Crippling Chill. I wanted to cast that at the perfect time to surprise the Demon, and if I cast it early, I¡¯d have to wait another 15 seconds before I had another chance.


    Once I was within range of the Infernal¡¯s long reach, it lifted its hands, preparing to smash them down on me. Right when it brought its fists down, though, I leapt out of the way, rolling across the ground to avoid the hulking smash. The ground shook when the Demon¡¯s fists collided with it, and I leapt up from the ground, tackling into the monster¡¯s huge leg.


    It barely stumbled back from the force of my attack, but it <em>did</em> visibly flinch once I activated Noxious Grasp. <em>At least it¡¯s mortal</em>, I felt myself thinking. That said, it didn¡¯t take long for the Infernal to kick me off its leg, flinging me far back and causing me to roll messily across the ground, eventuallying to a stop a dozen paces from the monster.


    You have struck Level 23 Infernal for 21.7 damage and drained 10.9 Stamina over the course of 1.4 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    5.26 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 320.


    I hurriedly got to my feet, shaking off the disorientation that came with being tossed so far away as though I were nothing. I had a better idea of the Infernal¡¯s strength and abilities after that exchange, but I still wanted to get a little more information before I tried my n.


    ¡°Erani, shoot it!¡± I shouted as the Infernal charged at me. A Firebolt flew from behind a tree and exploded against the Demon¡¯s chest, causing it to stumble back and brace itself against the st. It didn¡¯t get knocked over, however, and soon enough it was on me again, swinging its fist in a wide arc. I tried to leap out of the way again, but the beast was smarter than it looked ¨C it was a feint. The Demon¡¯s other arm came careening into my body, smashing into the side of my torso and sending me flying.


    You have been mmed by a fist. 86 damage.


    Your Health is 74.


    Your ribs have been fractured.


    I mmed into a tree and came to a sudden stop, falling to the ground with a <em>thud</em>. I coughed in pain, which only made my ribs hurt more. The Infernal had not only dealt almost 90 damage in a single hit, but the force of the strike had broken my ribs while I was at full Health. One more hit like that, and I¡¯d be dead. I realized with a start that I¡¯d already used my daily activation of Time Loop that morning, when the invasion had first hit. There was no safety here. If I died, I died for good.


    ¡°Erani!¡± I coughed as I struggled to my knees. I heard multiple explosions ring out almost instantly as my partner fired at the monster. By the time I got to my feet, I¡¯d heard at least four or five separate sts go off, and the Demon¡¯s skin was left smoking and charred.


    At this point, though, I felt like I knew the Infernal¡¯s abilities enough to pull off my n. Wincing at the sharp pain in my chest, I stumbled to the edge of the trench. The Infernal, which had just finished shielding itself from the barrage of explosions, looked at me in rage. It seemed to think I was somehow the one shooting the Firebolts, since it couldn¡¯t actually see Erani, who was hiding. The Demon may have been smart enough in hand-to-handbat to feint a strike, but it obviously didn¡¯t have much nonbat-rted wisdom.


    It charged right at me, hands out and prepared to crush me to death. Just before it reached me, I cast Crippling Chill on it, and a blueyer of frost immediately formed, coating its skin.


    You have cursed Level 23 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.79 Health and 4.63 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.6.


    48.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 281.


    Unfortunately, the Infernal was much more powerful than the Anacaps I¡¯d fought before, so a simple lowering of 11 Dexterity wasn¡¯t enough to make it fall t on its face. However, it did stumble in surprise, and right then, Erani nailed it in the back with an Explosive Firebolt, sting the already-unstable monster forward.


    Now, my n was for this explosion to push the monster into the trench, where it wouldn¡¯t be able to reach us, and we could escape. The problem was, I had miscalcted, and now I was standing right in front of it. So the Infernal was pushed forward from the explosion and knocked right into me, plowing through and causing both of us to fall the five paces down into the dirt hole.


    You have crashed into something. 7 damage.


    Your Health is 67.


    ¡°Oh no!¡± I could faintly hear Erani yelp when I disappeared over the edge.


    I quickly got to my feet and jumped on the Infernal, which was still recovering from its fall ¨C it was bigger and heavier, so it probably fell a lot harder, too. I straddled my legs around the beast¡¯s neck, activating Noxious Grasp as I did so. It reacted, trying to grab at my waist with its massive hands to throw me off, but I grabbed a nearby rock, hoisted it up, and mmed it down on the gigantic Demon¡¯s face.


    You have struck Level 23 Infernal for 18 damage using Stone.


    ¡°AARGH,¡± it roared in pain as the rock the size of my head crushed into its nose. I lifted it up once again, and dropped it back onto the beast¡¯s face.


    You have struck Level 23 Infernal for 19 damage using Stone.


    It groaned again, and I could begin to feel its oversized body begin to shrink beneath me from the effects of Noxious Grasp. But before I could m the rock down on the monster a third time, it smacked me aside, knocking me into the dirt walls of the trench, spraying dust everywhere as I tumbled along them and across the musty ground.


    You have been knocked aside. 26 damage.


    Your Health is 41.


    You have struck Level 23 Infernal for 122 damage and drained 61.3 Stamina over the course of 7.9 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    29.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 252.


    I scrambled back to my feet as the Infernal lumbered onto its own two legs. It wiped away the blue blood leaking from its nose and roared, charging at me. Due to the narrowness of the trench, the only way I¡¯d really be able to dodge the monster¡¯s attacks would be to jump back ¨C I couldn¡¯t go left or right ¨C which would make me incredibly predictable, and eventually lead to me getting hit and killed. Instead, I turned and ran.


    ¡°Erani!¡± I yelled, hoping she still had Mana for another Firebolt.


    ¡°You¡¯re too close,¡± she yelled back from the top of the trench, ¡°the explosion¡¯ll hit you, too!¡±


    I grunted in frustration, looking back at the pursuing Infernal. It was quickly gaining on me. Erani was above, watching the ordeal with fearful eyes.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 23 Infernal.


    You have struck Level 23 Infernal for 86.9 damage and drained 69.5 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    The Infernal shot forward with a burst of speed, no longer hindered by Crippling Chill.


    ¡°Just shoot!¡± I yelled.


    She fired, shutting her eyes tightly as she did so, as though she didn¡¯t even want to see the results of her attack. The moment the Firebolt was flung toward me and the Infernal, I turned on a heel and leapt forward, flying straight at the charging Demon. Surprised at my brazenness, it didn¡¯t immediately attack me, which was what I was betting on. Itched onto its chest, squeezing tightly and holding myself against the beast¡¯s body.


    Then the Firebolt hit, sting against the Infernal¡¯s back. The Demon¡¯s body worked as a shield against the explosion, the brunt of the fire and force going straight into the Infernal, rather than against me on the other side of it. It stumbled forward, with its lower Health pool protecting it less from the st. And just then, I hit it with another Crippling Chill.


    You have cursed Level 23 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 5.79 Health and 4.63 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 11.6.


    48.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 204.


    At the sudden loss of Stats mid-stumble, the monster couldn¡¯t catch its bnce. I heard it give a dumb grunt when it realized, and it fell down, crushing me beneath it. Luckily, it wasn¡¯t so bad as to deal damage to me.


    Squished beneath the Infernal, I activated Noxious Grasp, draining away its already-limited Health supply. Slowly, it struggled up on one arm as I stayedtched onto the Demon¡¯s chest. Then, it got up onto its other arm, so that it was on its hands and knees, and I was fully off the ground, dangling from its chest. But another Firebolt from Erani mmed it back into the ground, the monster¡¯s body shielding me from the explosion yet again.


    However, the force of it hitting the ground so hard and so quickly,bined with it hitting one of my bad ribs, dealt some damage to me and caused me to squawk in pain.


    You have been crushed. 8 damage.


    Your Health is 33.


    You have agitated an open wound. 4 damage.


    Your Health is 29.


    But I kept my hold under it, continuing to drain the Infernal¡¯s Health and Stamina. I could physically feel its body atrophying under the effects of Noxious Grasp. It also stopped moving, simply lying on top of me in just the right way to cause my chest intense pain. I had to turn my head awkwardly to the side to breathe, too.


    After way too long, I got the notification I was waiting for.


    You have struck Level 23 Infernal for 420 damage and drained 213 Stamina over the course of 27.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    101 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 106.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 23 Infernal.


    You have earned 316 XP. Your XP is 337.


    Threshold reached. 300 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 6.


    Due to achieving Level 6 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Endurance and 1 Dexterity.


    -Soft Cap has increased to Rank 4.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 6.


    -You may choose a Spell to learn.

 Chapter 33: Aftermath

    Chapter 33: Aftermath


    We had killed the Infernal, but now I was pinned underneath it, the beast¡¯s giant bodypletely smothering me. I pushed up against it, trying to lift the Demon up so I could get out, but the damned thing was too heavy.


    ¡°Erani!¡± I yelled. ¡°Help me get out!¡±


    I heard a muffled response, and after a few seconds of waiting, I felt her struggling to lift it. I pushed with her, and, with our strengthsbined, we managed to get the corpse up for long enough that I could slide away. The corpse crashed to the ground the moment we let go.


    I got to my feet, breathing heavily from the fight, and immediately noticed something different about the way I could move. My muscles felt more limber, like I had a wider range of motion, and I felt more aware of my surroundings. Then, I remembered the Level up I had gotten, and how Recursive Growth had activated, giving me an extra point of Dexterity. I wasn¡¯t used to such a feeling, having only ever raised Endurance, Conjuration, and Intelligence from Levels. Sure, I¡¯d gotten my 10 base Stats back when I was Unssed ¨C everyone got 1 in each of their Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity every two years until they turned twenty ¨C but it felt very different when there wasn¡¯t a seven-hundred-day buildup to the Stat increase.


    I looked down at my body, but all I saw were mypletely ruined clothes. Dirt, mud, and blood ¨C both my red blood and the Infernal¡¯s blue goop ¨C coated them.


    ¡°Damn it, these were new,¡± I muttered to myself.


    Erani snorted at myment, but then suddenly looked worried. ¡°I, listen, I¡¯m really sorry.¡±


    ¡°What? No, I¡¯m not actually upset about the clothes,¡± Iughed.


    ¡°No, I mean, I was the one that needed to take a break, and I was the one that fell asleep. It¡¯s my fault we got caught.¡±


    ¡°Oh. I mean, you didn¡¯t know they would find us. We took a risk, and got unlucky. It happens. The wilderness life takes some getting used to, anyway, so it¡¯s not like I don¡¯t understand needing to sit down for a bit.¡± I looked around and found a ledge to the trench that wasn¡¯t as steep as the others, and began to crawl my way up. ¡°C¡¯mon. We got pretty far away from those other Infernals, so I don¡¯t think they heard us, but they¡¯ll probably get suspicious once they realize this one isn¡¯ting back. We need to get out of here.¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah. Okay.¡± Erani began climbing up behind me.


    Once we got to the top of the miniature ravine, we immediately left the area of the fight. ¡°We just need to get away from the roads for a while,¡± I said, ¡°at least until my Health isn¡¯t so low.¡±


    ¡°Oh, what are you at?¡±


    ¡°29.¡±


    ¡°Oh my gods, you¡¯re almost dead,¡± her eyes widened. She immediately rushed over and began checking my bruises and cuts. I felt a sharp pain when she poked at my chest. ¡°Where¡¯s the worst of it?¡±


    ¡°Right there,¡± I winced, ¡°Ribs. System said they¡¯re fractured.¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡± She immediately drew her hand back, ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡±


    ¡°Stop apologizing so much,¡± Iughed, but the chuckles quickly turned into a pained groan.


    ¡°We need to get you rest,¡± she said worriedly.


    ¡°I am <em>not</em> resting after what happenedst time,¡± I smiled. ¡°Besides, we need to find water. We should stay away from roads for a while, so this¡¯ll be a good time to do it. Waterskin¡¯s still more than half full, but our supply wouldn¡¯tst forever. We should keep moving until we get to a river. <em>Then</em> we can rest and¨C¡±


    While I spoke, I tripped over a rock, failing to catch myself and tumbling to the ground.


    You have agitated an open wound. 3 damage.


    Your Health is 26.


    I gasped and clenched my fist tightly as my ribs screamed at me. Breathing heavily, I struggled back to my feet. I¡¯d gotten an additional point of Dexterity from my Level up, and I certainly felt better for it, but it obviously wasn¡¯t enough to help out much if I fell. It was only one point, after all.


    ¡°Yep, that dealt damage,¡± I groaned.


    ¡°You really need to rest,¡± Erani said, helping me up.


    ¡°Fine. But not here. We have to get out of danger first.¡±


    After another hour of agonizing walking, once we were deep into the forest, I felt like we were safe enough to sit down. Or, rather, to copse onto the ground, as that¡¯s what I did the second we stopped.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m gonna be out for a few,¡± I said, breathing heavily. ¡°I gotta manage a Level up.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you gained a Level?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Spell Choice. I¡¯ll let you know what I get.¡±


    Clearing my mind was difficult, considering the pain I was in, but eventually it died down and I was able to enter a mindset where I could manage my Level up.


    To start with, I looked at my Spell Choice options.


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Ray of Frost


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 20 Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a beam of icy energy from your hands, traveling up to 25 paces and dealing up to 40 damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being. Upon being hit, targets are cursed with frostbite for 5 seconds. While they are frostbitten, their Dexterity score is lowered by 5.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Betrothed of Fire</em>


    <em>Spiritual Guardian</em>


    <em>Gravity Well</em>


    Bioshift


    School: Alteration, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 80 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose up to two beings within 3 paces of you (can include yourself). You may have those beings get either +10 or -10 to Strength, Endurance, or Dexterity for 30 seconds.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Growth Spiral</em>


    <em>Neoform</em>


    <em>Battle Mastery</em>


    Bonfire of the Damned


    School: Demonic, Fire


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 140 Mana, 25% of your maximum Health <em>(45 Health)</em>


    ¡ª


    sts out a fiery wave in a 20 pace radius around you, damaging all other beings equal to 25% of the Health you are missing from your maximum.


    This Spell also knocks beings back with force proportional to the damage dealt.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>ck Sun¡¯s Zenith</em>


    <em>Tarfire</em>


    <em>Geosurge</em>


    Once again, it seemed like the three options offered to me would push me toward three different styles of fighting. Ray of Frost would help fight at more of a range, giving me a more significant source of damage than Crippling Chill that would work from far away, Bioshift would help me fight more up close, allowing me to target my enemy¡¯s weaknesses while simultaneously making me more capable in hand-to-handbat, and Bonfire of the Damned seemed to support a more Endurance-focused fighting style, taking damage and then dishing it back out to my enemies.


    While Bonfire of the Damned certainly seemed shy and powerful in the right person¡¯s hands, it didn¡¯t seem like it would work for me. I didn¡¯t have much Health to be spending on a Spell like that, and with my low maximum, it wouldn¡¯t be dealing much damage, anyway. The idea of damaging all enemies in arge radius seemed useful, but not enough to justify the downsides.


    Which left Ray of Frost and Bioshift. Truthfully, I¡¯d be happy to receive either of them. While I <em>had </em>been running out of Mana during the fight with the Anacaps ¨C trying to keep Crippling Chill active on both monsters at the same time was very straining on my reserves ¨C when I was facing off against the lone Infernal, I noticed that I finished the battle with hundreds of Mana to spare. And it made sense. Crippling Chill could only be cast once every fifteen seconds, and Noxious Grasp was limited to only when I was touching my target. So getting either of these would provide me with another Spell to sink my Mana into for added power.


    Ray of Frost was a tempting addition to my arsenal. While Crippling Chill was a good option to have at a range, it still didn¡¯t do much damage. So, with the addition of Ray of Frost, I¡¯d finally be able to attack my enemies without making physical contact with them. Of course, Noxious Grasp still remained the most Mana-efficient way to damage things, but having the ability to stay back would be helpful. I remembered back in the trench with the Infernal. Having something like this that could allow me to fight back against the monster while still running away from it ¨C that would¡¯ve been incredibly valuable. Not to mention, it also lowered the target¡¯s Dexterity, which would stack with Crippling Chill for an even more dramatic decrease.


    Bioshift, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction, focusing on my up-closebat potential. The range on the Spell was so close that it may as well have been contact only, like Noxious Grasp. As for its effect, it would let me choose two different beings, and make them both either stronger or weaker, essentially. I felt like the main use for me would be to make myself stronger and an enemy weaker simultaneously, in order to maximize the gap in the particr Stat that I chose.


    One thing to note was that I wasn¡¯t sure whether the Spell would be able to stack with itself or not. If I cast it twice in session, would it give the chosen Stat +20?


    ¡°Erani,¡± I said, making an effort to keep my eyes closed and stay in my meditative state while speaking to her. I read the description of the Spell to her ¨C and the rest of the Spells, too, while I was at it ¨C and asked her whether it would stack with itself.


    ¡°Oh,¡± she responded once I was done, ¡°yeah, it would. You can tell because it doesn¡¯t specify a status condition. Ray of Frost, for example, says that the target is ¡®cursed with frostbite,¡¯ right? So that means that, if you hit them with it again, it¡¯ll just refresh the curse back up to 5 seconds. But Bioshift doesn¡¯t say anything like that. It just says that their Stats are directly changed. That means that each individual change is tracked separately, rather than all of them falling under a single modifier like Ray of Frost¡¯s frostbite.¡±


    ¡°Huh. I¡¯ve never even heard of that distinction before. I didn¡¯t know there was a difference¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the type of stuff you learn when you have a researcher for a¡­ sister.¡± I could hear the pain in her voice once the topic of her sister got brought up. ¡°A-anyway, which one do you think you¡¯re gonna pick? Ray of Frost is actually offered to us Sorcerers, too, at Level 10, so it¡¯ll be offered to me not long from now.¡±


    ¡°Right, I think I remember you mentioning Ray of Frost. If I picked that, would you still pick it for your Level 10 choice?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I-I don¡¯t know ¨C you can¡¯t just drop that question on me like that,¡± sheughed. ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell you what I¡¯m going to pick even if this whole Demon thing <em>wasn¡¯t</em> a factor. I mean, Ray of Frost is certainly useful ¨C and its Upgrades are powerful, too ¨C but does that make up for the redundancy? Should I even care about redundancy? What if we get separated, what happens then? And what about after we¡¯re done with the Demons? I don¡¯t want to cripple my future by picking the wrong Spell here. But what if¨C¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay,¡± I cut her off, chuckling. ¡°I now realize I made a mistake in asking that question. How about, what would you advise I take?¡±


    ¡°Um, okay. So, for now, at least, we need to figure out how to work as a team. And the fact that you have to protect me in battle, when you¡¯re a Magic-Type sser yourself, doesn¡¯t work that well. Just in general, forcing yourself to fight up-close is going to end badly. Just look at yourself,¡± she gestured to my chest. As if onmand, my fractured ribs ached. ¡°Giving yourself some options to put some range between you and your enemies would probably be useful. So, in that aspect, Ray of Frost would be best.¡±


    ¡°Okay, so I¡¯ll¨C¡±


    ¡°That said, you could also go a more specialized route, taking Bioshift and transitioning into a more melee-focused front-liner. You¡¯d probably need to start putting Stat Points into Endurance if you did that, at the very least.¡±


    I hummed. ¡°Yeah, it feels like those are my two main options. There¡¯s another aspect to this, too, though.¡± I went ahead and exined my Trailzer Title to Erani, and told her the names of the Spells that would be offered to me in the future depending on the Spell that I picked here. ¡°Do you recognize any of those? It could help us choose if you know what any of them do.¡±


    ¡°Huh. I recognize Battle Mastery ¨C that¡¯s a Spell that Wizards get at their mid-Levels. It makes another being you¡¯re touching deal extra damage for a few seconds, essentially. You can¡¯t target yourself with it, though. The rest I don¡¯t know about.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so Battle Mastery would be useless for me, then.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. One thing to remember when you¡¯re in the undocumented territory of a ss ¨C which I guess is everything, for yours ¨C is that the System likes to offer Spells that are simr to the Spells you¡¯ve chosen in the past. It essentially guides you into ¡®builds¡¯ ¨C things like supporting others, melee fighting, or whatever else. So, if you take Bioshift here, the System might start offering a lot of Spells in the future that focus on making other people stronger, since that¡¯s one of the uses of Bioshift.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± that made Bioshift much less attractive in my mind. I had a very specific use for it in mind, but it really seemed to have a wide variety of uses, many of which would be to make others stronger, while doing nothing for myself. If that was the part of the Spell the System focused on ¨C which it seemed it might, judging from the fact Battle Mastery would be offered next ¨C I could end up forced to take Spells that could only make others stronger. And in my current situation, that was useless. ¡°I think that cements my choice, then. I was already leaning toward Ray of Frost, but I¡¯d rather be offered Spells that focus on dealing damage.¡±


    You have learned the Spell Ray of Frost.


    <em>Your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Betrothed of Fire</em>


    <em>Spiritual Guardian</em>


    <em>Gravity Well</em>


    After that, it was time to assign my three Stat Points. Like usual, I wanted to put them into Conjuration, here. With the newly-added Mana-sink of Ray of Frost, it was suddenly much easier to convert Mana directly into damage against an enemy, so getting more of that was always useful. And, as always, I wanted to be able to gather as much Spell XP as quickly as possible. And Conjuration was the best way to do that.


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 35.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    10


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>6</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>18</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>37</strong>/<strong>350</strong>


    Dexterity:


    <strong>11</strong>


    Health:


    <strong>31</strong>/<strong>180</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.066</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>35</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>53</strong>/<strong>85</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.558</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>6</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>350</strong>/<strong>380</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>7.2</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>Ray of Frost - XP 0/10</strong>


    Recursive Growth


    Trailzer


    Crippling Chill 3 - XP <strong>1</strong>/20


    Time Loop <strong>6</strong>


    Noxious Grasp 9 - XP <strong>54</strong>/355


    I opened my eyes and left the meditative state. My Soft Cap had increased up to Rank 4 when I Leveled up, which meant that Crippling Chill and Ray of Frost could both Rank up with minimal practice.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna test out my new Spell,¡± I said to Erani, who was sitting across from me in the small clearing we were taking a break in.


    I found a tree that looked far enough away, held out my hand like I¡¯d seen Erani do in the past, and closed my eyes, letting my Mana be guided into a new, unfamiliar pattern within my mind. After a few seconds, once everything had fallen into ce, I felt a cool energy gather within my palm, and I expelled it. I opened my eyes to see a bright blue beam of icy energy shoot through the wilderness, colliding with the tree and covering the impact zone with frost. The tree shook slightly from the hit, and I could see pieces of bark ke off.


    Threshold reached. Ray of Frost XP has reached 10.


    Ray of Frost Rank has increased to 1.


    Due to Ray of Frost Rank reaching 1, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 20 to 20.5


    Damage: From 40 to 42


    Dexterity Debuff: From 5 to 5.25


    I closed my eyes and cast again, this time a bit faster as I got used to the pattern of Mana. The tree shook again. I repeated this over and over until the Spell got up to Rank 4.


    Threshold reached. Ray of Frost XP has reached 11.


    Ray of Frost Rank has increased to 2.


    Due to Ray of Frost Rank reaching 2, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 20.5 to 21


    Damage: From 42 to 44.1


    Dexterity Debuff: From 5.25 to 5.51


    Threshold reached. Ray of Frost XP has reached 14.


    Ray of Frost Rank has increased to 3.


    Due to Ray of Frost Rank reaching 3, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 21 to 21.5


    Damage: From 44.1 to 46.3


    Dexterity Debuff: From 5.51 to 5.79


    Threshold reached. Ray of Frost XP has reached 20.


    Ray of Frost Rank has increased to 4.


    Due to Ray of Frost Rank reaching 4, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 21.5 to 22


    Damage: From 46.3 to 48.6


    Dexterity Debuff: From 5.79 to 6.08


    Due to Ray of Frost Rank increasing to Rank 4, Ray of Frost has reached a Soft Cap.


    Spell XP gain for Ray of Frost is 50 times slower until your Level increases past the Soft Cap.


    Increase your Level to 8 to increase your Soft Cap.


    Then, after that, I cast Crippling Chill, pushing my Mana through the familiar patterns of the Spell.


    Threshold reached. Crippling Chill XP has reached 20.


    Crippling Chill Rank has increased to 4.


    Due to Crippling Chill Rank reaching 4, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 48.5 to 49.7


    Health Drain: From 5.79 to 6.08


    Stamina Drain: From 4.63 to 4.86


    Dexterity Debuff: From 11.6 to 12.2


    Due to Crippling Chill Rank increasing to Rank 4, Crippling Chill has reached a Soft Cap.


    Spell XP gain for Crippling Chill is 50 times slower until your Level increases past the Soft Cap.


    Increase your Level to 8 to increase your Soft Cap.


    With that, all of my Spells had reached the Soft Cap. My Mana had gone down quite a bit from all the casting, now at 176/380, but it was nothing that half an hour of waiting couldn¡¯t fix. I got up to my feet, my chest still hurting, but the pain offset by the sense of progress in my heart. I felt a lot more capable of handling fights like the one with the Infernal.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said to Erani, ¡°rest¡¯s over. Let¡¯s go.¡±

 Chapter 34: Life-Giving Water

    Chapter 34: Life-Giving Water


    We continued on our journey after the brief break, staying away from roads as we traveled in a roundabout way to the two monster territories.


    While we traveled, we also kept alert for signs of water. We still had one or two days¡¯ worth in our waterskins, but we¡¯d run out eventually, and finding a renewable source like a river would help immensely. We also looked out for animals. We obviously had to be alert for any signs of the higher-Leveled monsters that roamed the forest, but we also needed something to eat.


    As we scanned the forest for creatures, I caught the familiar gaze of something.


    You have been inflicted with sickness. 12 damage. 6 Stamina drain.


    Your Health is 22. Your Stamina is 41.


    A Wood Wraith ¨C one of those monsters I had fought in the past that had a poisonous gaze ¨C was wandering through the forest and had caught my eye.


    ¡°Agh,¡± I stumbled back, doubling over in nausea. It wasn¡¯t as bad as I¡¯d experienced in the past, though; my higher Endurance Stat helped fight off the sickness.


    I held out my hand and closed my eyes ¨C both to help focus on my casting and to avoid the Wood Wraith¡¯s re ¨C and began pushing Mana through the pattern I had recently learned. Once the Spell was ready, I cast, firing a beam of icy energy straight into the green monster.


    You have struck Level 6 Wood Wraith for 31 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 6 Wood Wraith with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.


    22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 358.


    It growled in pain, and I cracked my eyes open to keep track of it, ensuring that my outstretched hand was always between my eyes and its. Its front left leg was covered in a thinyer of frost. I remembered the way the Spell was worded when it mentioned damage ¨C it dealt <em>up to</em> 48 damage, based on how urate I was. Considering it only did 31 here, I guessed a leg shot wasn¡¯t considered to be incredibly urate.


    The Wood Wraith charged toward me, but I didn¡¯t allow it to get close, casting Crippling Chill the second it began to move.


    You have cursed Level 6 Wood Wraith with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.08 Health and 4.86 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.2.


    49.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 308.


    Once both of the curses had been forced upon it, the Wood Wraith fell to the ground, unable to move. Its limbs twitched asionally, but it was as though its four legs had been bound against its body by an invisible rope. It seemed like having so much of its Dexterity taken away hadpletely drained its capacity to function.


    Without ceremony, Erani held her hand out and shot an Explosive Firebolt at it, causing an explosion that sted the monster against a tree. I got a kill notification that told me I¡¯d gotten 21 XP.


    I walked over to the monster¡¯s corpse. Had it not surprised me, I wouldn¡¯t have taken any damage from the encounter at all. I remembered when I was first lost in the woods, and killing one of these Wood Wraiths had been a major challenge. But now, not only had I killed it, I didn¡¯t even need to touch it to do so.


    I bent over and touched the green, semi-translucent skin of the Wood Wraith.


    I turned back to Erani. ¡°Dinner?¡±


    ¡°You really think we can eat this thing?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m hungry enough that I could pretty much convince myself to eat anything,¡± I said. ¡°Think you could cook it with Firebolt?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s really not that bad,¡± I tore off a bloody chunk of the desaturated green meat with my teeth.


    ¡°It <em>is</em> that bad,¡± Eraniughed, her own b barely touched. ¡°I don¡¯t understand how you can stomach that.¡±


    ¡°Oh, my poor Erani,¡± I teased, ¡°need I find you a silver fork to eat with? Or mayhaps you would find gold-coated Chimera meat to be more ptable?¡±


    She just rolled her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s that unreasonable to want my meat to have stopped bleeding before I eat it.¡±


    ¡°Hey, at least it¡¯s cooked.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s charred and burnt! And the inside is still raw.¡±


    Iughed, chewing the admittedly disgusting meat. ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to keep it down if I wasn¡¯t used to this type of thing already.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, I forgot you¡¯d pretty much already been through all of this before.¡± She looked around herself, the tall trees towering over us. ¡°How¡¯d you do it? Survive, I mean.¡±


    ¡°Well, it was mainly stuff like this,¡± I said, gesturing to the meat in my hand. ¡°Doing hard, gross, or painful stuff, over and over, until it was a bit easier to do than before. I killed monsters and practiced my Spells, up to and past the point of what would be considered reasonable. You know me and my habits,¡± I said, showing off my fingers as a puff of Noxious Grasp¡¯s fumes drifted from them. ¡°Stuff like that kept me alive.¡±


    Erani nodded and closed her eyes, looking serious. ¡°It was my fault that we got caught by the Infernal. And I know you want to say I don¡¯t need to apologize, but it¡¯s true. Sure, it turned out fine that time, but what if next time I do something wrong, five Infernals show up to attack us? We barely fought off one. What if I have to take a break when we¡¯re crossing through Banestinger territory, and get us killed there? What if I have too bad of a headache to cast a Firebolt that you need me to cast? I¡¯ve been thinking about it, and I realized I¡¯ve been thinking about this whole situation like a civilian. Like someone who¡¯s just riding out the storm. But you¡¯re wanting to <em>fix</em> it. To <em>beat</em> the storm. And, well, I think it¡¯s about time I do that, too.¡± She held out a hand for me to shake. ¡°I want you to train me to be better, stronger, more efficient. Beat the civilian mindset out of me. And don¡¯t hold back.¡±


    I squinted, a half-smirk appearing on my face in incredulity, but shrugged and took her hand, shaking it. ¡°If you¡¯re serious, sure. But do know that I¡¯d say the first few days I was serious about casting practice were literally the worst days of my entire life.¡±


    Erani blinked at that, and looked down at her hand, which was now covered in blood from the meat I¡¯d been eating. ¡°Y¡¯know, actually, I might want to reconsider.¡±


    ¡°Toote,¡± Iughed. ¡°We¡¯re doing this. C¡¯mon, you can train while we walk.¡±


    As we traversed through the forest, I had Erani practice her Firebolts. Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t like my Noxious Grasp or Crippling Chill where she could just cast it without actually having it do anything. The Spell had to shoot an Explosive Firebolt somewhere. So, she just shot them straight up, that way they would leave the effective range of 30 paces without exploding. The trees were tall enough that the Firebolts didn¡¯t quite peek through the top of the forest, too, so as long as we were careful where she shot it, we weren¡¯t likely to draw attention to ourselves. On my end, once my Mana had regenerated to full, I simply practiced Noxious Grasp like usual.


    By the time the sun began to set, I could see a pained sweat begin to glisten Erani¡¯s forehead. She didn¡¯t say anything, but I could tell her headache was getting bad. That said, I didn¡¯t tell her to stop. If she stopped every time it started to hurt and never pushed past that barrier, it would always hurt to practice casting. The only way I got to the point where the headache went away was when I kept going, even when it was agonizing.


    We also went out of our way to kill any weaker monsters we saw for the XP. In total, after the hour or two that we¡¯d been walking, my XP had risen to 71/350.


    Erani shot off another Firebolt, the projectile flying off harmlessly into the air and fizzling out once it passed by the treetops. I noticed her hand visibly shaking as she finished her casting of the Spell.


    ¡°You okay?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°Obviously not,¡± she gave a pained chuckle, ¡°but don¡¯t worry about me. It¡¯ll pass, right?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah. I mean, that¡¯s what happened with me.¡±


    ¡°Well then, we¡¯re just going to wait until it happens to me, too.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re really serious about this, huh?¡±


    ¡°Of course I am. It¡¯s life or death.¡±


    As we walked, she tripped over a fallen log, tumbling to the ground and groaning in disorientation. I knelt and reached down to grab her hand and help her up.


    When I pulled, though, a sharp pain jolted through my chest, my fractured ribs screaming in pain. I yelled out and reflexively dropped her back down. She hit her head on the log and groaned in pain while I clutched my chest, eyes shut tight as I tried to ignore the stabbing feeling in it.


    ¡°Well,¡± I got out, ¡°I guess neither of us are in very good shape right now.¡±


    ¡°Like two peas in a pod,¡± sheughed, still lying on the ground rubbing her forehead. ¡°At least I don¡¯t have to feel jealous of you.¡±


    I helped her to her feet, sessfully this time, and we continued walking.


    Another hour passed, and we ate a ¡®dinner¡¯ of some more meat, plus some foraged nts that Erani identified as edible. She said she recognized them from the collection jobs she¡¯d done for Alfo Arcian. The nts, uncooked and unprepared, were just as bad as the charred, bleeding meat, but I appreciated the variety.


    It was beginning to get dark at this point ¨C we could still see, but just barely. We probably should have set up camp a while ago, but we didn¡¯t for a couple reasons. First, we didn¡¯t have any of the camping supplies we¡¯d brought on our journey from Ordensville to Carth, so we would need to figure out some sort of sleeping arrangement. And second, we were trying to find some source of water beforehand. I knew from experience how important it was to do so, so we were holding out hope that we might be able to find one before we slept and had to go an entire night without water.


    While we were discussing this, Erani ¨C her Mana reaching full once again ¨C shot off an Explosive Firebolt into the air in order to practice, the same way she had been doing ever since she started training. Only, this time, instead of the Firebolt fizzling off into the air as it left its effective range, it collided with a stray branch that neither of us had seen in the dark, exploding suddenly in a st of heat and sound.


    Erani and I stumbled and crouched to the ground, surprised by the shockwave. And, soon after, we could see birds fleeing from nearby trees, scared off by the sound.


    ¡°Shit, do you think that was loud enough for any Infernals to hear?¡± I asked.


    But Erani kept staring off into the distance, looking at something.


    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°The birds. They all came from over there,¡± she pointed.


    ¡°What? Why would they all being from one area?¡±


    ¡°Maybe they¡¯re thirsty.¡±


    I blinked, suddenly realizing what she meant. Animals normally gathered around drinking ces, so if all of those birds were fleeing from the same area, chances were it was because it had water nearby.


    We immediately headed in that direction. In no time, I could begin to hear the familiar sound of rushing water. We kept heading in that direction, and soon enough, I could see the river. The wide stream guzzled, the current crashing against rocks and flowing down a steep incline.


    Once it was in view, I stopped, and stopped Erani, too. Rivers were life-giving, but they also attracted all sorts of other thirsty monsters. I wanted to be safe before rushing in.


    ncing around, I could see no immediate signs of Dire Bears or Drakes, but there was one strange thing that caught my attention. Next to the rushing water, a stump from a fallen tree had been shaved down, smoothed out, and carved to resemble a simple table. There were two rocks sitting across from each other, on either end of the ¡®table,¡¯ that seemed to act as chairs.


    However, there was nobody around the area that I could see. Erani and I shared a nce.


    ¡°Hello?¡± I called out, trying to keep quiet enough that I wouldn¡¯t get the attention of anything that wasn¡¯t in the immediate vicinity.


    ¡°Is anyone there?¡± Erani asked as well. ¡°We¡¯re going to stay here for some time, and drink from the water. If you want us to leave, please tell us to do so.¡±


    We waited for a few seconds, but there was no response. Cautiously, we both approached the river, and used it to refill our waterskins.


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s safe?¡± Erani asked me.


    ¡°I guess so. There doesn¡¯t seem to be anyone around, at least. Where do you think we should sleep?¡±


    But just as I asked that, two figures walked out of the forest. With their green, vine-covered skin,rge, pure-white eyes, and dirt-brown hair, I immediately recognized what they were.


    The two Nymphs held out their weapons toward us. One had incredibly long ws tipping its fingers, and the other held a whip that was covered in razor-sharp thorns.


    One of them ¨C the one with the ws ¨C shouted something at us in anguage I didn¡¯t understand.


    I leaned over to Erani. ¡°What the fuck are we going to do?¡±

 Chapter 35: Nymphs

    Chapter 35: Nymphs


    The two Nymphs stood ring at us with their sharp, pure-white eyes. They were clearly awaiting some sort of response.


    ¡°Um,¡± I said, hands up so as to show no harm, ¡°we just wanted some water.¡±


    The two Nymphs looked at each other, weapons still bared, and started speaking with each other in their ownnguage.


    ¡°Do you think we could survive if they attacked?¡± Erani muttered sideways to me.


    ¡°Probably not,¡± I said. ¡°Last time I had a run-in with a Nymph, it killed me in one hit.¡±


    ¡°It killed¡­?¡± She said, looking confused, but then seemed to remember what I meant. ¡°Oh, right.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I still don¡¯t have Time Loop back, by the way. I will in a few hours, but not now. And my Health is still only 44.¡±


    ¡°We need to convince them we mean no harm. Do you think they understood you?¡±


    ¡°If they aren¡¯t speaking ournguage, they probably don¡¯t understand it, either.¡±


    Erani looked around, and then began slowly making her way to the river. The Nymphs watched her, weapons still ready, and Erani seemed to take care to move carefully and without doing anything threatening. Once she got to the river, she showed the Nymphs an exaggerated motion of her drinking from it.


    It seemed to get the message across that we were just there to drink and rest. I was sure that the Nymphs had tons of monsters and animalse through to drink from the river, too, so us doing the same probably wasn¡¯t a stretch of the imagination.


    Eventually, the two Nymphs seemed to reach some sort of an agreement in their discussion with each other. They walked away, keeping their eyes trained on us, and sat at the makeshift table that was carved from the tree stump.


    ¡°It looks like they¡¯ve calmed down,¡± I said to Erani, who was still looking at them with caution.


    ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s get out of here while we still can.¡±


    I stopped and thought for a moment. ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t think we should.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Last time I was stuck in the wilderness with low Health, like we are now, one of the ways I stayed safe while waiting for it to regenerate was by sticking around a Nymph. Their two-way empathy calms down nearby monsters, so if we sleep here, they¡¯ll protect us.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say that they could kill us in a single hit?¡±


    ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t look like they¡¯re going to, does it? If they decided not to earlier, I don¡¯t see why they would now.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like this. Sleeping right next to something so dangerous¡­¡±


    ¡°In this forest, we¡¯ll <em>always</em> be sleeping next to something dangerous, whether we know it or not. This way, we¡¯ll at least be able to see that dangerous thing.¡±


    Erani set her jaw, chewing on her tongue as she thought. ¡°Okay, sure. You¡¯re the expert, I guess.¡±


    I sat down and leaned against a tree near the river, and Erani did the same, sitting next to me. By this time, darkness had overtaken the forest. The Nymphs were close, though, so we could still see them for the most part. The two of them were sitting on their rock chairs around their tree table, discussing something with smiles on their faces.


    It was strange,ing right after they threatened our lives, but seeing them chatting so carelessly made me smile, too. I could tell that they enjoyed each other¡¯spany, and their positivity radiated out, improving my mood, as well. At the very least, I was happy that not all hope had been lost. If all the cities and settlements in Koinkar had truly been taken over by Demons, it was reassuring to see that at least some of the monsters were still happy.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to have a bit of refuge, huh?¡± I asked Erani as we rested together.


    ¡°Yes,¡± sheughed. ¡°Today was a little hectic.¡±


    ¡°Do you want me to take first watch?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Do I look that tired?¡±


    ¡°I just know what it¡¯s like to practice for so long when you¡¯re not used to it. I sure as hells looked forward to sleeping every night,¡± Iughed.


    ¡°Well, it certainly wouldn¡¯t hurt.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, go ahead and get some sleep. I¡¯ll wake you up in a few hours once I get tired.¡±


    The Nymphs kept talkingte into the night. Once they realized that Erani and I were just going to sleep, they seemed to decide to ignore us. Theyughed and joked loudly ¨C so loudly that I was surprised Erani could sleep through the noise they were making. She must¡¯ve been pretty tired.


    After a few hours, once I wasn¡¯t sure I could keep my eyes open for much longer, I woke her up and we traded spots, with me sleeping at the base of the tree and her leaning against it next to me, keeping watch for anything dangerous.


    Eventually, I was gently shaken awake, and I opened my eyes to see the sun already having risen. My Status showed my Health having regenerated quite a bit over the course of the night, now resting at 92/160. It wasn¡¯t exactly good ¨C my ribs still hurt like the thirteenthyer of the hells ¨C but it was better than before. I¡¯d also practiced my casting throughout the night, as always, and Noxious Grasp¡¯s Spell XP was now at 116/355.


    ¡°Are you ready to go?¡± Erani asked me as I got to my feet.


    ¡°Mmh, give me a minute,¡± I groaned, rubbing my eyes. Considering I¡¯d only slept through half of the night, the other half having been spent watching out for monsters, I was still a bit more tired than I¡¯d have liked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll, I¡¯m going to wash off in the river while you wake up. Don¡¯t look.¡±


    ¡°Wash off? What, do you think we¡¯re going to a noble¡¯s royal ball tonight or something?¡± Iughed.


    ¡°No, but I¡¯m not exactly fond of being covered in dirt and sweat, so I¡¯d like to at least bathe while I can.¡±


    ¡°Alright, fine. I guess I¡¯ll clean myself off after you do so my stink doesn¡¯t rub off on you,¡± I joked.


    We both did our best to clean ourselves in the rushing river water, each looking the other way while the other bathed so we kept a little privacy. The cold water shocked the remaining sleepiness out of me, so once we were done I was ready to go.


    We were still a few hours away from the Stripeks and the Drakelings that we nned on clearing out, so if we wanted to get everything done without running out of daylight, we needed to leave in the early morning. We didn¡¯t really have time to sit around, anyway, given the general circumstances.


    ¡°Which of the two do you think we should go to first?¡± Erani asked me.


    ¡°Well, the Drakelings will probably give more XP, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, why?¡±


    ¡°I have Time Loop back, so, if possible, I want to use it right after killing the Drakelings so that I can go back and get double the XP for killing them.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so you want to do themst, then?¡±


    ¡°Exactly. If we do themst, then we¡¯ll still have Time Loop in case anything goes wrong during the Stripek fight.¡±


    ¡°Okay, sounds good. So we can go to the Stripeks first, then. Which direction are they?¡±


    As I consulted the route outlined on the job flier, one of the Nymphs ¨C the one with the whip ¨C walked up to us, having split off from its partner with the ws. It approached Erani, holding something in its hands.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I touched Erani¡¯s shoulder, spinning her so she could see the approaching Nymph. I held up my hands, ready for a fight.


    But the Nymph didn¡¯t seem to mean any harm. In fact, it seemed more nervous and embarrassed than aggressive. It stopped a few paces away from us, looking hesitant.


    Erani and I looked at each other, unsure about what to do. Eventually, the other Nymph, the wed one, walked up and patted the hesitant Nymph on the back, giving it a patient smile and seeming to urge it forward. The Nymph with the whip stepped forward, spurred on by its partner, and held out a hand to Erani, who looked confused by the whole ordeal.


    There was something sitting in the Nymph¡¯s hand, a white object that it was presenting to Erani. She cautiously approached and took the object, unfurling it and revealing it to be a small chain of white flowers.


    ¡°Um, I don¡¯t know what to¡­¡± Erani turned to the Nymph. ¡°Thank you?¡±


    The Nymph didn¡¯t seem satisfied, though, motioning for Erani to put it around her neck. Erani did so, and the ne of white flowers fit around her neck and hung down from her cor. I looked at the piece of handcrafted string of vines. Each individual flower was tied to another in a delicate knot.


    ¡°Where did it get that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°When I was on watch, I saw it working on something,¡± Erani said, tenderly holding the gift up from her neck so she could see it. ¡°I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be for me, though. Do you think we should give it something in return?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, ¡°maybe?¡±


    But the Nymphs had already begun walking away, apparently not expecting anything from us.


    ¡°U-um, wait!¡± Erani called out to them, patting around herself, obviously trying to figure out some sort ofst-minute gift. The Nymphs turned and looked at us.


    Obviously growing more and more frantic, Erani eventually settled on simply ripping a strip of cloth from the sleeve of her shirt. She tied it into a hasty knot, forming a bracelet out of the tan band of her sleeve.


    She presented it to the whip-wielding Nymph. It looked just as surprised as Erani did when she got her gift. Hesitantly, it took the band and put it around its thin wrist. The bracelet hung somewhat loose, but not so much that it would fall off. It smiled at the gift, and waved at Erani before turning around and walking off with the taller, wed Nymph.


    With that interaction seemingly over, Erani and I headed off.


    ¡°Why the bracelet made of shirt?¡± I asked Erani.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tease me, I didn¡¯t know what to do,¡± she frowned. ¡°What would you have given it?¡±


    ¡°No clue. I mean, I don¡¯t know why it gave you the ne in the first ce.¡±


    ¡°Neither do I. I mean, I got bored during my turn on watch, so I started drawing pictures in the dirt to pass the time. The two Nymphs came over and looked at what I was drawing ¨C they were curious, I guess. So maybe that had something to do with it.¡±


    ¡°What did you draw?¡±


    ¡°Um, nothing. It isn¡¯t important.¡±


    ¡°Seems important. Apparently it motivated two monsters to craft a hand-made ne of flowers for you,¡± Iughed.


    ¡°W-well, I was just drawing the things I saw around me.¡±


    ¡°Oh, like the river?¡±


    ¡°Um, no. Just, y¡¯know, other stuff.¡±


    ¡°Such as?¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Uh, just stuff like, um,¡± she turned away and muttered something I couldn¡¯t hear.


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°...You.¡± She said before hastily rifying, ¡°You were just the nearest thing, and I¡¯ve been meaning to practice drawing people anyway, so I just thought. So, it¡¯s not like, um, nevermind. I also drew other things, but I just¡­¡±


    She was cut off by myughing. ¡°I saw your little portrait of me when we woke up, you dork. Apparently I look pretty cute when I¡¯m sleeping on the ground.¡±


    ¡°I¨C you ass!¡± She lightly punched my shoulder,ughing along with me now.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, don¡¯t worry. One of these days, I¡¯ll draw my best portrait in the dirt of you. That way, we¡¯re even.¡±


    ¡°Somehow I don¡¯t think that makes us even.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, whatever,¡± I chuckled. ¡°Hey, your Mana is full now, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Why?¡±


    ¡°You know you¡¯re supposed to cast a Firebolt every time your Mana¡¯s full. So, you better get casting.¡±


    She groaned.


    It was about six hours of walking before we arrived at where the Stripek territory should have been. Erani¡¯s headache had returned, unsurprisingly, so I let her take a break about an hour away from our destination. That way, she wouldn¡¯t be hindered by it when we started fighting the monsters.


    Speaking of being hindered, my Health was still only at 116/160, so I wasn¡¯t exactly in peak fighting condition, myself. But we couldn¡¯t wait around for it to regenerate. The Demons were searching for us at all times, and the longer we waited, the better their chances of finding us. The only reason we were still in this area to begin with was so that we could get some extra Levels before traversing the dangerous wilderness.


    We¡¯d killed some of the smaller monsters on our way to the Stripeks, too. In total, I¡¯d gotten an extra 36 XP, bringing me up to 107/350.


    Once we were finally where the map told us to go, we started looking for signs of Stripeks. The tracks that the monsters left behind were obvious to spot, and weren¡¯t just footprints. Stripeks had long, ded ws that they would constantly sharpen using anything nearby, leaving cuts in logs and trees as they passed. The more of those cleaves you saw, the closer you were to Stripek territory. They also left behind random, deep impressions in the dirt. These were from when a Stripek used its powerful legs to kick off and dash toward its prey. The speedy monsters specialized in attacking and killing quickly, doing their best to attack before their prey noticed, and kill before their prey could even feel pain.


    And, of course, we were walking right into their home.

 Chapter 36: Stripeks

    Chapter 36: Stripeks


    As we ventured deeper into the Stripek territory, the signs of their presence grew stronger and stronger. More random cuts in logs and trees, and more deep holes in the ground from their quick sprints. We kept our eyes sharp, peeking in all directions to ensure we wouldn¡¯t get ambushed.


    A sh of movement to my left. I whipped around and immediately shot a Ray of Frost at the target dashing toward me.


    You have struck Level 4 Stripek for 38 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 4 Stripek with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.


    22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 358.


    The Stripek stumbled as it ran and I leapt back, barely dodging the charging monster. As it tried to turn around, I shot it with another Ray of Frost, dealing an additional 44 damage. Then, Erani shot a Firebolt of her own, which collided with the monster and exploded, sting it into a tree.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 4 Stripek.


    You have earned 13 XP. Your XP is 120.


    The entire fight took ce over the course of a couple seconds. Stripeks had very little Health, luckily, but they were fast, and packed a punch with their attacks. It helped that this one was lower-Leveled ¨C Stripeks appeared between the Levels of 1 and 10 ¨C but even the higher-Leveled ones probably wouldn¡¯t survive much longer than this one did.


    Then again, the higher-Leveled ones would probably also be faster and deadlier. Plus, the fact that we were attacked by a lone Stripek was more an exception than the rule. Normally, Stripeks stuck to their packs, rather than going off alone.


    The Stripek itself was a monster defined by its toned, sinew-y frame. Their semi-transparent skin made the inner parts of their bodiespletely visible. I could see the still-twitching muscles of the monster thaty before me. It was a bit bigger than a Wood Wraith, and from its two front legs protruded long, sword-like ws. They were t des that shined like metal.


    We continued venturing further in, eager to get away from the Stripek¡¯s corpse. Eventually, we would find the main pack that owned this territory, and then it would be a real fight. The monsters were pack animals, after all, so if the others saw that we¡¯d killed one of their own, we¡¯d get attacked immediately. Well, not that they¡¯d leave us alone either way ¨C we were intruding on their home.


    Eventually, we arrived at a cave that seemed to be near the center of the territory. It was an unnatural hole in the ground ¨C probably something formed from a powerful sser during a fight long ago ¨C that seemed to lead into a small cavern. There were shuffling and scratching soundsing from within. However, I couldn¡¯t see inside, the hole going deep enough that it was too dark to actually identify what was causing the sounds.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Erani asked me.


    ¡°...I think there are Stripeks in there?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she rolled her eyes. ¡°What should we do? We obviously wouldn¡¯t be able to see if we went in, so we won¡¯t be able to just waltz up and kill them.¡±


    ¡°Think we could lure them out? Or maybe we could just shoot projectiles wildly inside.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we could kill them just by shooting from out here. If the cave curves at all they¡¯d just hide around a corner while we ran out of Mana. If we could lure them out, though¡­¡±


    Eventually, we had a n formed. We¡¯d gone back for the corpse of the Stripek we had killed earlier, dragging it over to the cave entrance. Erani took her ce behind me as I ced my foot on the dead monster.


    ¡°You ready?¡± I asked her. She nodded.


    I took a breath, then kicked the corpse of the Stripek straight into the cave. I listened to it tumble through the rocky passage, leaving my sight and sliding down into the darkness. The scraping sounds from inside the cave stopped as the Stripeks listened to the object falling into their home. Eventually, with a fleshy thud, the corpse came to a stop at the bottom of the cave.


    There was a pause.


    And then, a chorus of screeching roared out as the angered Stripeks charged out of the cave, eager to avenge their fallen brethren. The moment they came into view, I began firing, and so did Erani. Rays of Frost beamed through the air as my Mana shot downward. I tried my best to ensure everyst Stripek that exited the cave was covered in frostbite, lowering their Stamina to a manageable level. System damage notifications flew through my mind, but I ignored them, focusing on my task of casting.


    Every time a Stripek got too close to us, Erani shot it back with an Explosive Firebolt. I could feel the waves of heat from where I stood. Soon enough, the weaker of the monsters began dying off in waves.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 2 Stripek.


    You have earned 7 XP. Your XP is 127.


    You have offered minor contribution toward the ying of Level 5 Stripek.


    You have earned 8 XP. Your XP is 135.


    You have offered minor contribution toward the ying of Level 3 Stripek.


    You have earned 5 XP. Your XP is 140.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 5 Stripek.


    You have earned 18 XP. Your XP is 158.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 4 Stripek.


    You have earned 14 XP. Your XP is 172.


    I got at least a dozen notifications like those, informing me of our killing of the lower-Leveled Stripeks that were pouring out of the cave. By the end of them, my XP was up to 257/350. While these monsters were certainly powerful and fast, they didn¡¯t seem to be smart enough to coordinate their attacks more than just all charging at once. However, my Mana was running low, having fallen to 72 after so many casts of Ray of Frost.


    ¡°Erani,¡± I called back, ¡°I¡¯m running empty. We might need to¨C¡±


    I was cut off as a Stripek rushed past our defenses and tackled me into the ground. I managed to deflect its ws at thest second, pushing them off to the side, but allowing myself to get pinned in the process.


    I immediately activated Noxious Grasp, draining away the life of the attacking monster. It didn¡¯t relent, however, taking another stab at me with its fist of long ws. In mypromised state, I couldn¡¯t fully dodge.


    You have been stabbed by ws. 44 damage.


    Your Health is 72.


    The ws sunk deep into my unprotected stomach, and an explosion of pain spread out into my gut. My ribs croaked angrily at the additional injury. I held out my hand at point-nk range and shot the monster with a Ray of Frost, the beam going straight into its skull.


    You have struck Level 8 Stripek for 48 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 8 Stripek with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.


    22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 44.


    The monster fell backwards at the sudden impact, and I took the opportunity to get on top of it, wincing from the pain in my stomach, and pinning its two front limbs against its chest, keeping Noxious Grasp active. It fought against my grip, but with my entire body weight on the Stripek, it couldn¡¯t get out of the pin. I watched through its translucent skin as the monster¡¯s flesh deteriorated in real time from the effects of my Spell.


    After a few seconds, I got a notification.


    You have struck Level 8 Stripek for 97.7 damage and drained 48.9 Stamina over the course of 6.3 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    23.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 20.


    You have in Level 8 Stripek.


    You have earned 52 XP. Your XP is 309.


    I stumbled to my feet, Erani still holding back the Stripeks that were pouring out of the cave. Most of them were dead by now, but there were a couple of them that were smarter and higher-Leveled and had stayed back in the cover of darkness.


    I walked forward, trying to ignore the pain radiating from the hole in my stomach.


    ¡°I¡¯ll draw the rest out,¡± I said.


    Erani frowned. ¡°Be careful.¡±


    I stepped into the cave, sure to stay well in the light so that I could still see. I could see the eyes of the cautious Stripeks hiding in the darkness of the cave. They stared at me with fury, but also fear. All I needed to do was get them to ignore their fear.


    I looked down at the corpses surrounding my feet. Picking the closest one, I lifted my foot up, and stomped hard on the head of the dead monster.


    Immediately, the Stripeks in the cave screeched in anger at their pack-mate¡¯s body being desecrated. They charged at me. Erani shot at two of them, sting them back into the darkness and giving me notifications of my contribution to their deaths.


    One of them was faster, though, and reached me. But I was ready, and familiar with their fighting style by now. I leaned back, dodging its initial strike, and spun around, hitting its back as it passed by me. It lost its bnce, tripping to the ground.


    I tackled it, pinning its limbs against its body like I had before, as I heard Erani continue to st away the rest of them. After a few seconds, and a few more notifications for the Stripeks that Erani was killing, I got the one for the monster I had pinned beneath me.


    You have struck Level 8 Stripek for 63.6 damage and drained 31.9 Stamina over the course of 4.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    15.4 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 5.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 9 Stripek.


    You have earned 29 XP. Your XP is 369.


    Threshold reached. 350 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 7.


    Due to achieving Level 7 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Strength and 1 Intelligence.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 7.


    Intelligence threshold reached. 8 Intelligence.


    Your Intelligence information rank has increased.


    Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You may now see the basic progression path of your ss.


    I got back up to my feet, looking around. It seemed like Erani had killed off the rest of the monsters, and the battlefield was finally silent. I flexed my arms once I got up, feeling the newly-gained point of Strength aid my muscles. It wasn¡¯t dramatic, but any sort of change this sudden ¨C even if it was small ¨C felt incredible.


    ¡°You good?¡± Erani asked me, looking down at my bleeding stomach. In the heat of battle, I¡¯d almost forgotten about that.


    I pressed my hand against the wound to try and stem the leaking blood. ¡°Yeah. It doesn¡¯t actually hurt as much as I feel like it should. And it isn¡¯t bleeding too much, either.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s probably because of your Endurance,¡± she said. ¡°Your ss raises it every Level, right? So at Level 6, you should be quite a bit tougher than a normal person, and that includes a higher pain tolerance and a faster bodily response to injuries.¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± I mused. ¡°My ribs are still killing me, though.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah. I¡¯d bet those aren¡¯t going to heal until you get some time to rest while at full Health.¡±


    ¡°So not for a while, then.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess it¡¯ll be a while until we get some time to rest,¡± Sheughed, then sighed and squatted, leaning her head against a tree. ¡°Speaking of rest, I¡¯m going to need five or ten minutes. I spent almost all of my Mana during that fight, andbined with all the practicing I¡¯ve been doing, the headache is really catching up to me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I need to manage my Level up, anyway.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Get anything good?¡±


    ¡°Mainly the usual stuff. But my Intelligence got to a new threshold, which means I get some more information. Something called a ¡®basic progression path.¡¯ I¡¯ll let you know once I see it.¡±


    I closed my eyes and began my meditation, focusing inward. After such a chaotic battle, I weed the quiet moment.


    Once a few minutes had passed, I began looking over the changes I could make. First up was whatever the Trailzer Title was talking about when it mentioned the basic progression path. I allowed the Title to guide my mind to what it wanted to tell me.


    Minute Mage Basic Progression Path


    -Every 1 Level: +1 Endurance, +2 Conjuration, +3 Stat Points, Time Loop Rank Up


    -Every 3 Levels: Spell Choice


    -Every 5 Levels: Talent Choice


    -Every 10 Levels: Time Loop Usage Increase, Time Loop Upgrade


    I looked over the information. Some of it was stuff I already knew, with the fact that I got Endurance and Conjuration every Level, and the fact that Time Loop Ranked up every Level, but other stuff was more interesting. It was good to confirm the fact that I¡¯d be getting a Spell Choice every three Levels, and a Talent Choice every five. So, I wouldn¡¯t get anything special at my next Level ¨C 8 ¨C but 9 would bring me a Spell, and 10 would bring me a Talent.


    And speaking of Level 10, it also said something intriguing about that milestone. Apparently, at 10, I¡¯d be getting a ¡®Time Loop Usage Increase¡¯, and a ¡®Time Loop Upgrade.¡¯


    I could only specte as to what that meant, but a few ideas immediately popped into my head. Maybe a ¡®Usage Increase¡¯ would mean I could use Time Loop more times in a single day, or it would refresh more often. Or maybe it would be able to take me back further. As for the ¡®Upgrade,¡¯ that was such a broad term that there was no telling what it would do. All I knew was that it would make the Talent better.


    Seeing that made me even more eager to reach Level 10. Not only would I be getting an additional Talent, but Time Loop ¨C by far the most unique and powerful thing about my ss ¨C would be made even more useful. It¡®d already saved my life multiple times, and I¡¯d also found multiple ways to gain a huge amount of additional XP using it. After these two additions to its abilities, what would it be able to do?


    After I did that, I assigned my Stat Points.


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 40.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    <strong>11</strong>


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>7</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>19</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>19</strong>/<strong>400</strong>


    Dexterity:


    11


    Health:


    <strong>72</strong>/<strong>190</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.0702</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>40</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>34</strong>/<strong>90</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.588</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>8</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>79</strong>/<strong>440</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>8.4</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Ray of Frost <strong>4</strong> - XP <strong>3</strong>/<strong>30</strong>


    Recursive Growth


    Trailzer


    Crippling Chill <strong>4</strong> - XP <strong>0</strong>/<strong>30</strong>


    Time Loop <strong>7</strong>


    Noxious Grasp 9 - XP <strong>142</strong>/355


    And with that, I finished my meditation. ¡°Alright,¡± I said to Erani, ¡°let¡¯s rest up, and then kill some Drakelings.¡±

 Chapter 37: Drakelings

    Chapter 37: Drakelings


    We rested for a few hours, and then began our journey to the Drakeling nest. With my seventh Level under my belt, I was practicing Noxious Grasp faster than ever during the journey, casting a second of the Spell about once every 25 seconds. Erani, on the other hand, was casting much less often. Compared to Noxious Grasp¡¯s 3.76 Mana Cost, her Firebolt was more than ten times as much for a single cast, so the amount of time between her casts was in the range of minutes, rather than seconds.


    That didn¡¯t mean it was any easier on her, of course. She was casting less often, but spending much more Mana ¨C and thus effort ¨C each time. I could see as much in her facial expression every time she shot one of the balls of fire into the afternoon sky.


    ¡°It¡¯s absolutely insane that you did this when you were lost before,¡± she panted at one point as we walked along the way to the Gray Drakeling nest.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it equally insane that you¡¯re doing it now?¡±


    ¡°I have you to hold me ountable. I would¡¯ve given up hours ago if you weren¡¯t here.¡±


    ¡°Well, at least you know yourself,¡± Iughed. ¡°But really, don¡¯t be so hard on yourself. It pretty quickly became a sort of crutch for me, if I¡¯m being honest. Even when it was still ufortable, I was practicing when I was also dying of thirst, so the familiar sensation of the casting sort of gave me relief. Even if it <em>did</em> cause pain at the same time.


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know, can you try stabbing me in the leg or something? Maybe that¡¯ll distract me.¡±


    Iughed and shook my head. ¡°Even if that was a good idea, I can¡¯t stab you with anything, remember? Stupid Magic-Type ss weapon limitations.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, I sort of forgot about that,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m used to using my Enchanted knife.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, looking down at my hands. ¡°Still not sure how I feel about having the Minute Mage ss. Obviously, I don¡¯t like having to deal with the Demons, but even if that wasn¡¯t a factor, part of me still wishes I could¡¯ve gotten the Swordsman ss. That¡¯s what I trained for. But then, Minute Mage feels so much more incredible. And, not to seem shallow, but it feels good to have something unique. But still. I got a point in Strength from Recursive Growth, and, well, it just felt so right. A single point is small, negligible, but¡­ I just can¡¯t shake the feeling that that¡¯s what I <em>should</em> be doing.¡±


    Erani nodded, and for a minute or two, we simply walked in silence. But eventually, she spoke. ¡°I¡¯ve always wondered how you can fight the way you do.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I mean, normally, a Magic-Type sser stays in the back, behind the Melee-Types. We cast our Spells in safety. Not just because we have a low Endurance, either. Casting takes concentration, and focusing on a fistfight alongside that would bepletely impossible. But you¡¯re capable of doing it. You have this arsenal of Spells that¡¯s uniquely crafted toward your style, and you have the fighting sense to actually pull it off.¡± She looked at me. ¡°What were the other Spells offered to you during your first Spell Choice?¡±


    ¡°Firebolt and Holy Strength. Why?¡±


    ¡°I think that if any other person was in your situation, stranded like that, they would¡¯ve picked Firebolt. I would have done it in a heartbeat, actually. Not even a moment¡¯s deliberation. Anyone else would¡¯ve felt like Noxious Grasp was terrible. It forces you to get up close with your enemies, and that¡¯s the opposite of how a Magic-Type should fight. But, well, you didn¡¯t think like a Magic-Type. I also think that if anyone was in your situation, and they picked Firebolt, they would have died for it. Level zeroes don¡¯t just survive days in the wilderness like that. Hells, they rarely survive hours. There¡¯s a reason that ¡®find this person who¡¯s missing in the wilderness¡¯ jobs are normally just called ¡®corpse retrieval¡¯. So, well, I think there¡¯s more that¡¯s unique about you than just your ss.¡±


    I thought about what Erani told me as we continued walking. Ironically, what she said seemed to motivate her more than it did me, and I watched her try harder than ever with her casting practice.


    Along the way, we killed a couple more small creatures. Some of them attacked us first, while others we ambushed. Either way, it ended with us gaining a little bit more XP.


    After a couple hours of walking, we finally got to our second destination: the Gray Drakeling aerie. The sun was just beginning to set before us as we approached. ording to the job flier, the Drakelings were nested atop a rocky crag in the area. It wasn¡¯t difficult to find, jutting out from the treetops in an incredibly unnatural fashion. The spiky rock formation was tall and thin, like a gigantic nail drilled into the earth.


    It looked unnatural because, chances were, it was. High-Level ssers ¨C especially Magic-Types ¨C were notorious for casting Spells or using Talents that left thend before them permanently scarred. You could immediately tell if the ce you were in had previously been a battleground between High-Leveled individuals because there would be gigantic holes in the ground, rock formations like the one before us, or even permanent magical curses on thendscape.


    We arrived at the rocky spire, ready to fight the Drakes ¨C or, rather, Drakelings. Drakelings were technically just the juvenile versions of Drakes, but there were many differences between the two different types of monster ¨C enough to ssify them as different species.


    The most obvious difference was that Drakes were much, much more dangerous than Drakelings. If a single Drake decided to attack me and Erani, we¡¯d be doomed. But taking on an entire nest of Drakelings wouldn¡¯t be much of a problem. In addition, there was a reason they were called ¡®Gray¡¯ Drakelings. Drakes all had colors, and those colors corresponded with the power it would have. Green Drakes gained ess to poison, Blue Drakes lightning, Red Drakes fire, and so on.


    Drakelings, on the other hand, had no specialization in a single element. Instead, they had a small amount of each. Once they grew into Drakes, they would keep one power and lose the rest. In that sense, Drakelings were a bit harder to fight than Drakes, since they were less predictable. But their Stats and overall power was dwarfed by their adult versions.


    That was why there were often jobs put out by the city to clear out nests of Drakelings. Drakes were menaces of the areas they controlled, and often took entire coordinated groups to kill, whereas Drakelings were small, easy jobs to take care of. Thankfully, Drakes followed the reproduction strategy of ¡®have a bunch of kids all over the ce, leave them alone, and maybe some of them will make it out alive¡¯, so there was never any danger of angering the parents when clearing the nests, either.


    ¡°You ready?¡± Erani asked me.


    ¡°Yep. Let¡¯s do this.¡±


    She lifted her hands into the air, and then formed and shot off an Explosive Firebolt at the tower of stone. It collided and shook the spire, pieces of rock cracking and tumbling off. Immediately, there was a hair-raising chorus of shrieksing from the area, and, from a small edge jutting from the crag, out flew a trio of Gray Drakelings.


    The monsters¡¯ leathery wings pped through the air as they searched for their attackers. They all had a simr look, each about two or three paces in length, and with a wingspan of five. After a moment, they saw us and dove, beelining in our direction.


    Erani readied herself, but held off on her Firebolts. At that distance and speed, it would be impossible to hit the flying targets with a projectile Spell.


    An instantaneous Curse, however¡­


    You have cursed Level 10 Gray Drakeling with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.08 Health and 4.86 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.2.


    49.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 390.


    You have cursed Level 13 Gray Drakeling with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.08 Health and 4.86 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.2.


    49.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 341.


    You have cursed Level 12 Gray Drakeling with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.08 Health and 4.86 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.2.


    49.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 291.


    Immediately, the three monsters stuttered, breaking their course toward us and careening to the ground. Their wings were suddenly not quite fast enough to carry their bodies through the air.


    Erani and I moved into action as the Drakelings moved to crash into us. She leapt out of the way, keeping her distance from the monsters, while I leapt forward, getting directly in their path. Once they hit the ground, theirrge bodies kicking up dirt and dust in the crash, Erani fired off her Firebolts, the Spells exploding against the Drakelings¡¯ hard hides.


    Two of the monsters immediately got to their feet and charged at me. I may have drained their Dexterity well enough to crash their flight, but they could certainly still move around. I took a few steps back, firing off Rays of Frost at my duo of attackers as I did.


    You have struck Level 12 Gray Drakeling for 41 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 12 Gray Drakeling with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.


    22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 269.


    You have struck Level 10 Gray Drakeling for 44 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 10 Gray Drakeling with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.


    22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 247.


    The Drakelings slowed even more in their charge, but therge animals clearly still had Stats to spare. I leapt to the side, dodging a bite from one of them, and then jumped onto its back,tching onto its wings to keep a grip on its leathery skin. I activated Noxious Grasp as my skin came into contact with it, immediately atrophying away at its already weakened body.


    I felt an explosion as Erani shot at the other Drakeling that had charged at me, drawing its attention away. Keeping my hands wrapped around the beast''s wings, I held tightly as it tried to buck me off, likely already feeling the sting of the magic. However, just as I felt like it might not be able to get me off, I felt a jolt of pain travel through my hands and through my entire body.


    You have been electrocuted. 14 damage.


    Your Health is 79.


    The monster sent an electrical current rolling through its skin, and, thus, into me. This electricity was part of a Gray Drakeling¡¯s arsenal. Luckily, in order to use these elemental abilities, it cost them Stamina. And two out of my three Spells drained away a significant amount of Stamina. So, the more of the electricity the Drakeling used, the easier it would be for me to tire them out.


    You have been electrocuted. 17 damage.


    Your Health is 62.


    But that didn¡¯t mean it couldn¡¯t use it for now. I noticed that I could feel it when the monster began charging up a use of its electrical shock. My hair would stand up, and my entire body would begin to tingle a couple seconds in advance.


    The next time I felt it begin to charge up, I leapt off, tumbling back to the ground.


    You have struck Level 12 Gray Drakeling for 101 damage and drained 50.4 Stamina over the course of 6.5 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    24.4 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 223.


    With a loud <em>snap</em>, the Drakeling¡¯s electricity went off uselessly, shocking the air.


    But now that I was on the ground, the monster could finally reach me. It snapped aggressively and I was forced back, keeping my guard up. The monster¡¯s teeth were long and sharp, and a solid bite from it could easily drop my Health to a very low number.


    With a low growl, the Drakeling stopped biting. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, I noticed the monster¡¯s open mouth glowing with a fiery heat. I immediately dodged to the side just as itunched a fireball from its mouth, sting into a tree right behind where I had been standing.


    Again, most of these elemental abilities used up Stamina, so part of me was d to see the monster using them so liberally. The only one that didn¡¯t use any Stamina was their acid, but that was because it was less of an ability and more of a simple fact of their existence ¨C a Drakeling¡¯s blood was highly acidic, burning through anything it touched. However, considering the nature of my Spells, I didn¡¯t anticipate seeing any of these monsters¡¯ blood.


    I aimed and shot another Ray of Frost at the Drakeling, the previous one¡¯s Dexterity-draining curse having worn off by now.


    You have struck Level 12 Gray Drakeling for 47 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 12 Gray Drakeling with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.


    22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 201.


    The monster flinched at the bright damaging Spell, roaring in anger at me. Through the roar, though, I could hear a shout.


    ¡°An!¡± Erani yelled from across the battlefield. With a quick nce, I could see that she had been cornered by the two Drakelings. There was a bleeding bite mark on her torso that she was clutching.


    ¡°On it!¡± I shot another Ray of Frost at the Gray Drakeling in front of me to distract it ¨C getting a notification that I¡¯d dealt another 40 damage ¨C and ran past it, getting within range of the other two monsters. I aimed my hands at them and shot off a rapid-fire stream of icy pulses.


    You have struck Level 13 Gray Drakeling for 41 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 13 Gray Drakeling with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.


    22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 157.


    You have struck Level 13 Gray Drakeling for 44 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 13 Gray Drakeling with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.


    22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 135.


    You have struck Level 13 Gray Drakeling for 39 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 13 Gray Drakeling with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.


    22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 113.


    You have struck Level 10 Gray Drakeling for 48 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 10 Gray Drakeling with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.


    22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 91.


    The flood of magic collided with the pair of monsters. One of them I hit three times, and the other once. The one I hit three times ¨C the Level 13 one ¨C fell to the ground from the force of it all. It was also badly-singed, I saw, so the damage Erani had done to it probably contributed to that. The other one ¨C it was Level 10 ¨C charged at me, enraged by the provocation.


    But as it charged at me, Erani nailed it in the back with an Explosive Firebolt, and it stumbled to the ground. The other Level 13 Drakeling was still struggling to its feet after my barrage of Rays of Frost, so I felt like she had things handled.


    I turned around and faced my original adversary, the Level 12 Drakeling. It had turned to face me, and was preparing to shoot another ball of fire my way. I dashed forward, dodging to the side as the Drakeling spat the head-sized ming sphere at me.


    As I got closer, the Drakeling got visibly hesitant, obviously cautious of me getting back onto its wings like I had been before. It backed away from me, snapping at me with its massive mouth to try and scare me off. But I knew that if it was acting so cautiously, it had to have been low on Health, and probably too low on Stamina to use its electricity element again.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 10 Gray Drakeling.


    You have struck Level 10 Gray Drakeling for 91 damage and drained 73 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 13 Gray Drakeling.


    You have struck Level 13 Gray Drakeling for 91 damage and drained 73 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 12 Gray Drakeling.


    You have struck Level 12 Gray Drakeling for 91 damage and drained 73 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    I nced behind me as the notifications of Crippling Chill wearing off the monsters flooded in. Erani still seemed to be doing fine, despite her two enemies suddenly regaining their lost Stats. The Health they¡¯d lost from ourbined barrage of Spells seemed to weaken them enough for her to be able to handle them.


    I turned back to the Drakeling I was fighting. It¡¯d benefited from the burst of speed, too, and it was now harder than ever to get close to it. However, Crippling Chill wearing off also meant that I could cast it again.


    I charged at it, and it prepared to intercept me. But just as I was about to reach it, I cast the Spell again.


    You have cursed Level 12 Gray Drakeling with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.08 Health and 4.86 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.2.


    49.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 41.


    Stunned by the sudden loss of Stats, it wasn¡¯t able to stop me from dashing by it and leaping onto its back, wrapping my hands around its wings once again. It screeched in surprise, desperately trying to throw me off.


    I held tight though, and the weakened and damaged monster didn¡¯t have the strength to throw me or the Stamina to electrocute me. It seemed I¡¯d won.


    But just as I thought that, the Drakeling craned its neck andshed out, biting at me with its teeth. It seemed like it missed ¨C it simply wasn¡¯t flexible enough to reach me. But, as I watched, I realized that <em>I</em> wasn¡¯t its target. The beast¡¯s teeth sank into its own flesh, and it tore away a chunk of its body.


    Blood poured out of the open wound, and spilled all across my body. My skin sizzled as I remembered, a bit btedly, that a Drakeling¡¯s blood was incredibly acidic.


    You have been burned by acid. 23 damage.


    Your Health is 39.


    I lost my grip, frantically brushing the painful liquid away from my skin.


    You have been burned by acid. 12 damage.


    Your Health is 27.


    I fell to the ground, crawling away from the profusely bleeding Drakeling.


    You have been burned by acid. 4 damage.


    Your Health is 23.


    You have struck Level 12 Gray Drakeling for 110 damage and drained 55 Stamina over the course of 7.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    26.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 17.


    I was worried about the Drakeling taking advantage of my damaged state, but when I looked over at it, I realized that it seemed to have problems of its own to deal with. It¡¯d copsed to the ground in the struggle, and seemedpletely incapable of getting back up. With its Health and Stamina still being continually sapped by Crippling Chill, it seemed like thatst attack had taken away the final bits of its strength.


    After a few more seconds, the Spell chipped away at thest of the creature¡¯s Health, and it died.


    You have offered major contribution toward the ying of Level 12 Gray Drakeling.


    You have earned 130 XP. Your XP is 149.


    I turned around to see Erani also finishing off the badly-damaged Drakelings she was fighting. It seemed she had things handled, and I was too low on Mana to help, so instead, I simply watched the brief lightshow of fiery explosions.


    She finished them shortly, and I received two more notifications.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 13 Gray Drakeling.


    You have earned 88 XP. Your XP is 237.


    You have offered minor contribution toward the ying of Level 10 Gray Drakeling.


    You have earned 29 XP. Your XP is 266.


    And with that, the fight was over.

 Announcement!

    Announcement!


    Hello everyone! I''ve gotten a few people asking about it, so it''s finally here: it is with extreme excitement that I announce to you that I now have a Patreon!


    I''m currently offering <strong>20</strong> advance chapters for you to read right now -- plus some Discord benefits, if you''re into that sort of thing. I''ve been considering adding some of my worldbuilding notes to the benefits too, so let me know if you''d be interested in that (careful, they''ve been written by a madman so they''re borderline iprehensible)


    I''ll also be working to increase the amount of chapters offered on the Patreon (while still not interfering the uploads here on RoyalRoad), so keep an eye out for the ever-expanding backlog!


    Oh, and be sure to check out our Discord! We''ve got lots of people on there talking about thetest chapters anding up with theories about An''s future builds and plot points toe (some of you guys have gotten surprisingly close, by the way) and, of course, I''m always on there answering any questions you have, so be sure to drop by!


    Also, and we''re currently on #2 of Rising Stars, which is absolutely insane. Thank you all -- yes, even you -- for supporting me, reading, following, leaving a rating, anything. You are all absolutely amazing people, and I look forward to seeing what you think about chapters toe!

 Chapter 38: Looping Time

    Chapter 38: Looping Time


    After the kills, my XP had risen to 266/400.


    ¡°Thanks for the save,¡± Erani said, pushing down on the bite wound on her torso to stem the bleeding. ¡°Health was getting a bit low back there.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s no problem,¡± I breathed.


    ¡°What¡¯s your Health at? Think we should take a rest?¡±


    ¡°No need. I¡¯m about to use Time Loop to go back and get the XP again.¡±


    Erani blinked. ¡°Oh. You haven¡¯t used it already?¡±


    ¡°No, not yet.¡±


    She looked shocked, a moment¡¯s pause passing between us. ¡°...Weird. From my perspective, up until now, I¡¯ve never actually seen you use it. Just the aftereffects.¡± She hesitated for a moment. ¡°So, when you use it, I lose my memories? It¡¯s like none of this happened?¡±


    I was a bit shocked, too. I realized I¡¯d never actually warned her before using the Talent. It¡¯d always been a desperate situation, where I had died, she had died, or I used it before she¡¯d ever known I had it. I wasn''t used to having to deal with this awkward moment beforehand. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll only go back a couple minutes. ¡­But yeah, I guess.¡±


    Erani chuckled, obviously nervous. ¡°Well, I mean, that¡¯s a bit like me dying, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡±


    ¡°No, no, don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re right. It¡¯s only a few minutes. It¡¯s just¡­ losing my memories like that, even if it¡¯s inconsequential. It feels a little strange to just allow it to happen.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess it would feel weird,¡± I frowned. I hadn¡¯t realized how distressing it would be on her end.


    ¡°So, if I won¡¯t remember anything ¨C and I won¡¯t even exist anymore ¨C I could do anything, right? No consequences.¡± She looked at me. ¡°I mean, what if I just walked up and kissed you? The other me wouldn¡¯t even know I did it.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s¡­¡±


    ¡°Rx, rx, I¡¯m just joking,¡± sheughed ¨C a bit maniacally. ¡°It¡¯s nice to be able to mess with you, for a change.¡±


    I chuckled. ¡°Yeah, I guess it would be.¡±


    ¡°So, you have to get going, right? It¡¯s time sensitive?¡±


    I nodded, unsure of what to do to soothe her nerves.


    ¡°Um, if it wouldn¡¯t be inconvenient, could you, just¡­¡± She walked forward, getting closer and closer, until I could feel her warm breath on my face. She reached out and grabbed my hands, holding on tightly. They were shaking. ¡°Just hold me? For a second?¡±


    I did just that, reaching out and embracing her. She reached her arms around me, as well, squeezing herself against my chest and back. In reality, the hug was probably wet and disgusting ¨C I was covered in mud and Erani had an open wound in her torso, my clothes were tattered and skin burnt from the Drakeling¡¯s acid blood, and our hair was tangled with sticks and dirt. But, in my mind, I didn¡¯t notice any of that. She was just warm, and her hands were soft on my back.


    ¡°Can you do me a favor?¡± Erani¡¯s voice was muffled, her head pressed against my chest. ¡°Don¡¯t tell the other me about this. It¡¯d only embarrass her.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m ready.¡±


    And with that, I activated Time Loop.


    I awoke in the in-between ce. I looked down, almost expecting to see Erani still holding onto me, but she wasn¡¯t there. I wasn¡¯t there, either. And I wasn¡¯t ¡®looking¡¯ at all, of course. I was bodiless, floating in nothingness. I mentally shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts of the encounter with Erani. I had a fight to redo, and the new her wouldn¡¯t even remember the moment, anyway.


    There were eight options presented to me, each a minute apart. The furthest-back one had us approaching the rocky spire that the Drakelings were perched on. I selected it, and felt my consciousness pulled back into reality.


    And then I was back, walking down the path with Erani. She saw me jolt as I was forced into my body.


    ¡°Time Loop?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I shivered. Using Time Loop always made me feel ufortable. ¡°Just came back to get the extra XP. And hopefully lose less Health over the course of the fight.¡±


    I didn¡¯t say anything to her about the previous timeline ¨C she had asked me not to say anything, after all. But I couldn¡¯t help looking at her in a different way. Was it really okay for me to keep this knowledge to myself? It felt like an invasion of privacy.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Erani nodded,pletely unaware of my thoughts. ¡°Let¡¯s go kill some Drakelings.¡±


    The fight was mostly the same asst time. I took on one of the Drakelings while Erani fought the other two, with me asionally stepping in with my Spells to help her out in a pinch. With my new knowledge of the Drakelings¡¯ fighting style and the way the fight would unfold, my strikes were better-timed, and I always knew when Erani would be in trouble.


    I avoided the electrical damage from the Drakeling I was fighting this time, leaping off of it the moment I felt it charging up, and I also avoided its acidic blood, anticipating itsst-ditch effort to kill me before it happened.


    However, while I was helping Erani ¨C I was paying extra attention to her to make sure she didn¡¯t get bitten this time ¨C I did get grazed by one of the Drakeling¡¯s fireballs, which dealt 17 damage to me, bringing my Health down to 77. Unfortunate, but it was better than the 23 I¡¯d been left atst time. And Erani was left unscathed, too.


    Eventually, the three Drakelings died once again.


    You have offered major contribution toward the ying of Level 12 Gray Drakeling.


    You have earned 126 XP. Your XP is 392.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 13 Gray Drakeling.


    You have earned 93 XP. Your XP is 485.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 10 Gray Drakeling.


    You have earned 64 XP. Your XP is 549.


    Threshold reached. 400 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 8.


    Due to achieving Level 8 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Strength and 1 Endurance.


    -Soft Cap has increased to Rank 5.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 8.


    I Leveled up to 8! It was amazing to see so much progress so quickly. I had a sizable amount of XP to spare, too ¨C it was currently at 149/450.


    ¡°I finally got to Level ten!¡± Erani celebrated once the final Drakeling had been in.


    ¡°I also Leveled up,¡± I smiled. ¡°I¡¯m only at 8, but still.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just Level up to 7 after the Stripeks, too? Only one fightter, and you¡¯re already at 8.¡±


    ¡°Technically two fights,¡± I said. ¡°This is the second time I¡¯ve killed the Drakelings.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting about your Time Loop thing,¡± she said. ¡°For me, it¡¯s like you never even go back. You just kinda pop in with random knowledge.¡±


    It reminded me of the conversation I¡¯d had with her before, when she realized she was in the timeline that got reset.


    Was this really a new version of her? A new existence? Had I killed the other version? Did she have a right to know before I activated the Talent? I mean, I¡¯d want to know if I was about to be reset to a previous version of myself. Or maybe I should only ever use the Talent when it¡¯s absolutely necessary from now on, instead of using it to re-buy monster kills, like I¡¯d been in the past.


    I shook my head, trying to ignore those thoughts. I was dealing with real, life-and-death stakes here. If I didn¡¯t get strong enough, we¡¯d die for real, and there wouldn¡¯t be any going back to fix it. I could worry about philosophical time-deathter.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I eventually said. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s go ahead and manage our Levels.¡±


    So we sat and meditated, each focusing inward to our own minds. After a few minutes, I had ess to my Stats. I only had the one choice ¨C where to allocate my 3 Stat Points ¨C so it wouldn¡¯t take me long. Besides, it wasn¡¯t much of a decision; I was simply going to continue my path in adding more and more to my Conjuration. Especially against the damage-sponges that were Infernals, I¡¯d need as much Mana as I could to defeat them.


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 45.


    With that, I checked my Status to see the changes made.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    <strong>12</strong>


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>8</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>21</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>149</strong>/<strong>450</strong>


    Dexterity:


    11


    Health:


    <strong>77</strong>/<strong>210</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.0774</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>45</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>67</strong>/<strong>97</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.642</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>9</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>109</strong>/<strong>495</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>9.45</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Ray of Frost 4 - XP <strong>5</strong>/30


    Recursive Growth


    Trailzer


    Crippling Chill 4 - XP <strong>4</strong>/30


    Time Loop <strong>8</strong>


    Noxious Grasp 9 - XP <strong>162</strong>/355


    I opened my eyes. Erani was still meditating. Level 10 was always big for any ss, so it made sense that she¡¯d want to spend some extra time on its choices. My Status wasing along, too, though. I was almost at 10 Mana/Minute, which would be 1 Mana per six seconds ¨C an incredible rate. And my Maximum Mana was just about 500, too. With that, I¡¯d be able to cast ten Crippling Chills, twenty-two Rays of Frost, or over two full minutes of Noxious Grasp.


    And speaking of those Spells, I reminded myself, my Soft Cap had risen to Rank 5. That meant Ray of Frost and Crippling Chill could Rank up again. I went ahead and cast them both a couple times, aiming at nothing in particr.


    Threshold reached. Ray of Frost XP has reached 30.


    Ray of Frost Rank has increased to 5.


    Due to Ray of Frost Rank reaching 5, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 22 to 22.6


    Damage: From 48.6 to 51


    Dexterity Debuff: From 6.08 to 6.38


    Due to Ray of Frost Rank increasing to Rank 5, Ray of Frost has reached a Soft Cap.


    Spell XP gain for Ray of Frost is 50 times slower until your Level increases past the Soft Cap.


    Increase your Level to 10 to increase your Soft Cap.


    Threshold reached. Crippling Chill XP has reached 30.


    Crippling Chill Rank has increased to 5.


    Due to Crippling Chill Rank reaching 5, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 49.7 to 50.9


    Health Drain: From 6.08 to 6.38


    Stamina Drain: From 4.86 to 5.1


    Dexterity Debuff: From 12.2 to 12.8


    Due to Crippling Chill Rank increasing to Rank 5, Crippling Chill has reached a Soft Cap.


    Spell XP gain for Crippling Chill is 50 times slower until your Level increases past the Soft Cap.


    Increase your Level to 10 to increase your Soft Cap.


    The gained Ranks increased my Spells¡¯ numbers incrementally, as always ¨C seeing the Dexterity Debuff on both Spells go up was especially exciting. While Ray of Frost was absolutely useful for its damage, and Crippling Chill¡¯s Stamina Drain was potent, one of the major benefits of both Spells was the ability to physically weaken my enemies. With the additional boost to the debuff, that benefit would be evenrger.


    My next Level was 9, too, which would hold yet another Spell Choice in store for me. I remembered from myst Spell Choice that my three options would be between Spells called Betrothed of Fire, Spiritual Guardian, and Gravity Well, but I didn¡¯t have any idea as to what those Spells would do. Part of me wanted to Level up fast so that I could make the choice already, but the other part of me knew what would have to be done to Level up again. Whether it was a fight with the wild monsters around us, or with more of those Infernals, I¡¯d have to risk my life a lot more if I wanted to get out of this alive.


    I just had to hope I was strong enough to make it through.

 Chapter 39: Fighting for New Lands

    Chapter 39: Fighting for New Lands


    I sat and rested for a few more minutes, waiting for Erani to finish up, but she never did. It¡¯d been much longer than I¡¯d expected her to take at that point.


    ¡°Erani? You good?¡± I asked to check up on her.


    ¡°...No, not really,¡± she responded while keeping her eyes closed. ¡°I can¡¯t decide on what Spell to take.¡±


    ¡°Still choosing a Spell?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. There¡¯s just too much to take into ount, and I can¡¯t take back my decision.¡±


    ¡°Well, what are your options? I¡¯ll help you choose.¡±


    ¡°My three Spell Choices are Ray of Frost, Mana Geyser, and Angelic Shield. You already know what Ray of Frost does, of course. Mana Geyser temporarily allows me to spend additional Mana to have a Spell deal extra damage. It costs 50 Mana up front, and then, for thirty seconds, whenever I cast a Spell, I can spend 1 additional Mana to have the Spell deal 1 additional damage to anything it hits. Normally, Ray of Frost is the most rmended Spell to take at Level 10, but Mana Geyser is generally considered to be the next best choice. It lets me take care ofrger groups of enemies more effectively, so I could spend a couple hundred Mana on a single Spell to take them all out with one Explosive Firebolt.¡±


    ¡°Right, but that¡¯s only if you¡¯re attacking multiple enemies. Ray of Frost deals about 2 damage for every 1 Mana you put into it, and this only deals 1. So, it¡¯s only good if you¡¯re hitting multiple enemies with the Spell you¡¯re using it on. But if you¡¯re using it on a single enemy¡­¡±


    ¡°Right. On a single enemy, it¡¯s borderline useless. Normally, that¡¯s just considered to be the reasonable downside of a generally good Spell, but in our situation, not so much. If we face off against an entire group of Infernals, we¡¯re dead anyway. So, what we really need is the ability to more easily face off against groups of two or three of those Demons.¡±


    ¡°So the Spell¡¯s downside is much more apparent in our situation. What¡¯s your other choice?¡±


    ¡°Angelic Shield. It¡¯s a¡­ not very popr Spell for us Sorcerers. What it does is it prevents damage that would be dealt to you, at a rate of 2 Mana per 1 Damage.¡±


    ¡°So if someone tries to hit you for 40 damage, you just spend 80 Mana instead, and lose no Health? Doesn¡¯t sound bad.¡±


    ¡°Well it has two major downsides. First, at Rank 0, it can only prevent up to 15 damage at a time. So, sure, if something scratches your arm for 14, you¡¯ll be fine, but if something tries to hit you for 40, you¡¯ll spend 30 Mana to prevent 15 of it, and then take the other 25 damage head-on.¡±


    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s less good.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s more. If you ever <em>do</em> take more than 15 damage, Angelic Shield ¡®breaks¡¯ and bes useless for an entire minute. Can¡¯t use it.¡±


    ¡°Wow. Even for a Rank 0 Spell, that¡¯s¡­¡±


    ¡°Not great, yeah. That¡¯s why nobody takes it, but it gets much better over time. Each Rank-up increases the maximum damage the Spell can prevent by ten percent. And it reduces the amount of time any ¡®break¡¯sts by ten percent, too. Of course, it increases the amount of Mana you spend for each point of damage you prevent by two-point-five percent, but that¡¯s pretty negligible.¡±


    ¡°So, after a few Ranks, it¡¯s¡­¡± I counted in my head, trying to do the math.


    ¡°By the time it gets to Rank 10, it can prevent almost 40 damage, and it¡¯s only offline for 20 seconds after a break.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s certainly better. Think it¡¯s worth it at that point?¡±


    ¡°Probably. Plus, the Rank 10 bonus is what really seals the deal. One of the choices is that, upon breaking, the shield goes down like normal, but it prevents <em>all</em> of the damage from the hit that broke it, no matter how much that hit was for.¡±


    ¡°Oh, wow. So if an Infernal tried to hit you for, like, a thousand¡­¡±


    ¡°Exactly. It¡¯d make me lose all my Mana, but I wouldn¡¯t take any damage at all from the hit. The next one, I would, of course. But it¡¯d buy me some time, at least.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that sounds great.¡±


    ¡°Right, but until then, it¡¯s basically useless, especially against those heavy-hitting Demons, which is really what we¡¯re trying to fight against in the first ce. And we aren¡¯t exactly in the ce where we have ess to the Spell Crystal necessary to get that Rank 10 benefit. Also, it¡¯s a bitch to practice.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not an Active-type Spell. I can¡¯t just cast it when I want to. It¡¯s Passive-Type. So, whenever I take damage, it gets automatically cast, but I can¡¯t cast it if I¡¯m not taking damage.¡±


    ¡°Oh. So, you¡¯d have to figure out a way to constantly get hit?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± I paused to think. ¡°So, you¡¯re not sure which of the three to choose? Any that you¡¯ve ruled out?¡±


    ¡°Not really. Originally, I was nning on taking Ray of Frost. In terms of my overall life trajectory, I feel like it¡¯s the best choice, really. And it¡¯s the path I¡¯ve researched the most.¡± She rubbed her face with her hands. ¡°But now I¡¯m not sure. I mean, in our situation, isn¡¯t Ray of Frost the worst of the three options? If you already have it, me getting it isn¡¯t going to help much ¨C the Spell¡¯s Dexterity debuff doesn¡¯t stack with itself. But then what about after? If I take something other than Ray of Frost, then after we get out of this, am I just going to be permanently crippled because I took a Spell I didn¡¯t want? Taking something other than Ray of Frost is only a good idea for however long I¡¯m with you.¡±


    I nodded, even though she couldn¡¯t see me ¨C she still had her eyes closed to meditate.


    ¡°I mean¡­¡± she paused. ¡°What¡¯s going to happen after this? What exactly are we?¡±


    ¡°Uh, Humans, presumably.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± sheughed, then sighed. ¡°Like, what are we, as a unit? Are we only working together because of our circumstances, and the moment this is over, we¡¯re done? Are we friends? Are we, um¡­¡±


    ¡°Lovers?¡±


    ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    I stopped to think for a moment. I¡¯d liked spending time with her before, sure, and we¡¯d even gone on a date. But at the time, that was mostly me just messing around and having fun. Once the attack happened, any potential serious romance or rtionship between me and Erani had pretty much left my head. Sure, I still made small jokes andments, but my mind was much too upied with survival to think about that.


    ¡°If this ends,¡± Erani said, ¡°and we¡¯re just done with each other, I don¡¯t want to leave myself with the wrong decision. So¡­ what are your ns?¡±


    ¡°Well, to be honest, I have no idea. I¡¯m kind of thinking short term, right now. I mean, we¡¯re going to an entirely different country, right? I¡¯d imagine we¡¯d want to stick together for at least a bit after that, just so we had someone we were familiar with. But, well¡­ I don¡¯t know you. Not extremely well, at least. We¡¯ve known each other for, what, a week? Even less time? And it¡¯s barely been a day since the Demons invaded. I really just can¡¯t tell you my long-term ns.¡±


    Erani pursed her lips. ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d have a straighter answer for me.¡±


    ¡°Listen. For now, at least, we need to be thinking about what we can do to survive the immediate encounter ahead of us. We don¡¯t have the luxury of long-term ns. We¡¯re going to be struggling more now than we probably ever will for the rest of our lives. We might die here. If you pick the wrong choice and because of that, say, end up losing an arm, your choice will have ruined the rest of your life, anyway. Get yourself killed, and that¡¯ll <em>really</em> ruin the rest of your life.¡±


    Erani groaned. ¡°You¡¯re not helping my stress.¡±


    ¡°No, no. What I¡¯m saying is that we shouldn¡¯t be thinking about that nebulous ¡®rest of my life¡¯ stuff right now. All we need to focus on is our <em>current</em> survival. So, when you think about it, we¡¯re really removing variables, not making it moreplicated.¡±


    She breathed. ¡°Okay, you¡¯re right. Fewer variables. We need to worry about Infernals, wild monster attacks, food and water. Basic survival. I guess I can eliminate Ray of Frost, since the effect <em>would</em> be redundant, at least for when I¡¯m fighting alongside you. Between the other two¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d say our main problem is Infernals, right? They¡¯re probably the most likely thing to kill us. Mana Geyser makes your Spells more effective againstrge groups of enemies, so it would be useful against bigger groups of monsters like those Stripeks, but it feels like that¡¯s the less effective choice for dealing with Infernals.¡±


    ¡°Well, Angelic Shield isn¡¯t very good, either.¡±


    ¡°Right, but you were just talking about how it could get better with time, right? So if we give it a bit of practice as we travel, it¡¯ll be useful.¡±


    ¡°But I was <em>also</em> just talking about how it¡¯s awful to practice. If I, say, practice by using a knife to trigger the Spell, and I swing a bit too hard, it can break the shield and leave me with a de in my arm. It¡¯s incredibly difficult to practice safely.¡±


    I hummed. ¡°Well, I¡¯m pretty much constantly casting Noxious Grasp, and I can choose exactly how long I cast it for. If I use it on you, I can always make sure I cast below the amount of time it would take to break the shield. And even if I do mess it up, you can just pull away before it hurts you.¡±


    ¡°But what about after¨C¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have the luxury to worry about when this is over, alright? I don¡¯t know what¡¯ll happen. But for now, you have my word that I¡¯ll stick by you. Okay?¡±


    Erani paused. I could tell she was thinking hard about it. ¡°You promise?¡±


    ¡°Yes. We¡¯re stuck in this together, and I need you just as much as you need me. Besides, you make a pretty good fleeing-from-the-Underworld partner.¡±


    Erani smiled. If her eyes weren¡¯t closed, I was sure she¡¯d have rolled them. ¡°Okay. Fine. I think I¡¯ll take Angelic Shield.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°d we got that figured out. What else did you get?¡±


    She blinked her eyes open. ¡°I got a Talent, but I already picked it. Primal Might. It makes my projectile Spells have the potential to do more damage, but only as long as you have perfect uracy. Normally, it¡¯s just okay. If you used it with Ray of Frost, for example, it might make it be able to sometimes deal a bunch of extra damage, but only when you hit spot-on. But when itbines with any explosive Spell, like Explosive Firebolt, almost all of my attacks technically count as hitting ¡®perfectly¡¯ since the explosion covers such arge area. So, with that, Primal Might pretty much always triggers and deals the extra damage.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Sounds pretty good.¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± she grinned and stood up, stretching after such a long meditation session. ¡°I¡¯m feeling confident about the next time we see those Infernals.¡±


    It was gettingte, so we decided to camp out in the same general area we killed the Drakelings in. We wandered around until we found a shallow hole in the side of the Drakeling¡¯s crag, and used it as shelter to sleep in. We used dirt and leaves to make the stone hollow as soft as possible so that we could sleepfortably, but it didn¡¯t do much. Still, after thebat-filled day we¡¯d had, I slept just fine. Erani covered the first watch while I closed my eyes and rested.


    When I woke up, I covered the next watch while Erani slept. Judging by the thinyer of smoke that had collected at the top of our shelter, it seemed I¡¯d been practicing Noxious Grasp while I slept, as usual. I¡¯d made sure to warn Erani about it before wey down so she didn¡¯t identally touch me and get zapped. Its Spell XP had risen to 196/355, and that was just halfway through the night; I still had Erani¡¯s turn sleeping to continue my practice.


    So I sat, patiently practicing while I kept an eye out for any threats. Of course, it was the middle of the night, so it wasn¡¯t like I was going to <em>see</em> anything, but I kept an ear out, at least.


    Once or twice I noticed some smaller animals scurrying through the forest nearby, and I killed them with Ray of Frost for the XP. Considering the constant battle for my life, I would be remiss to let resources such as them go to waste.


    You have in Level 3 Wood Spirit.


    You have earned 7 XP. Your XP is 156.


    You have in Level 2 Seeker Owl.


    You have earned 6 XP. Your XP is 162.


    It¡¯d been some time since we¡¯d seen any of therger, more dangerous monsters, though. Sure, we¡¯d just got through fights with Drakelings and Stripeks, but those were monsters we¡¯d actively sought out. Other monsters like Wood Wraiths, Dire Bears, or even full-grown Drakes should have been moremon.


    Perhaps the Demons were simply clearing them out during their search for us? They could just ignore the Rabbits and Wood Spirits and such, butrger monsters like Anacaps would get in their way. So it made sense that such a huge army of Demons would quickly push those monsters out of their territories. The Infernals could easily kill most of those monsters, so they were effectively overhunting them into local extinction. I wasn¡¯t sure whether to be happy or sad about that ¨C we didn¡¯t have to worry about them anymore, but it would also have some incredible consequences down the line.


    Though, I wouldn¡¯t be living here much longer, anyway, would I?


    I was just d that our staying away from roads seemed to throw the Demons¡¯ lead on us, at least for now. Who knew how long it would be until we ran into them again.


    The hours passed by rather quickly. By the time the sun came up, Noxious Grasp¡¯s Spell XP had risen all the way up to 230/355. It was almost two thirds of the way there by now ¨C only a bit longer to go until it finally reached Rank 10. My Health had also regenerated over the night. I¡¯d gotten back up to 133/210, which was better. At least now I had more Health than I did when I was totally Unssed.


    Erani awoke around then, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. ¡°What¡¯s the n?¡± she yawned.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve found and killed all the high-XP monsters that we know of around here, so it seems like we need to head out. To Kingdom¡¯s Edge, huh?¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± she said. ¡°Not like there are many other options than heading out, anyway. For better or worse, our fates are tied together from now on.¡±


    ¡°I guess they are. You aren¡¯t having any second thoughts about Kingdom¡¯s Edge, are you? Because now¡¯s ourst chance to change our minds and go somewhere else.¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s the best ce to go. Now that I¡¯ve seen those Infernals in action, we need to get out of Koinkar as quickly as possible. If I have to choose between a mountain full of highly dangerous monsters that don¡¯t really care about me, and a forest full of highly dangerous Demons that are actively hunting me, I¡¯m picking the apathetic ones.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s get going.¡±


    ¡°Which direction is it even in?¡± she asked as she got to her feet in our makeshift shelter. ¡°I lost my bearings.¡±


    ¡°Pretty sure it¡¯s back the way we came,¡± I said as we exited the crag. ¡°We just head back to that river with the two Nymphs, and then keep going that direction. Shouldn¡¯t take more than a week or two to get to Kingdom¡¯s Edge, depending on our travel speed.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re doing this. Just¡­ getting up and leaving my home.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Well, this ce stopped being home a while ago. It¡¯s time to fight our way into newnds.¡±

 Chapter 40: Angels and Demons

    Chapter 40: Angels and Demons


    We began our journey to the Barinruth Empire. First, we would go back to the Nymphs¡¯ river to reorient ourselves, restock our water, and enjoy a bit of a rest inside the monster-calming aura of the Nymphs¡¯ two-way empathy. And then, we¡¯d start the trek to Kingdom¡¯s Edge.


    ¡°Gonna be a long walk back to the river,¡± I said as we hiked through the forest. ¡°Think we should figure out Angelic Shield on the way?¡±


    ¡°I was hoping you wouldn¡¯t suggest that,¡± sheughed nervously. ¡°But yeah, I guess.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I hesitantly grabbed her forearm. ¡°Do you need to do anything to turn it on?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not Toggled or anything. I wouldn¡¯t be able to shut it off, even if I wanted to.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Ready?¡±


    She nodded.


    Hoping for the best, I activated Noxious Grasp.


    Immediately, right as the familiar mist floated from my fingertips, the spot I was touching on Erani¡¯s arm began to glow. A soft white light shone from her skin where I was touching it, and I could feel it tangibly harden, like Angelic Shield was forming a physical wall preventing me from actually affecting her with my Spell. A bright matrix of wires covered her arm in neat lines, forming squares across the part of her skin I was touching.


    After half a second, I deactivated the Spell.


    You have struck Level 10 Human Sorcerer for 0 damage and drained 0 Stamina over the course of 0.6 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    2.26 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 493.


    ¡°Whew!¡± she shuddered, rubbing her arm. ¡°That felt weird.¡±


    Her arm¡¯s glow slowly faded back to normal. The matrix of wires also faded away, seeming to sink back into her body.


    ¡°So it worked?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yep. 9.3 damage prevented, minus 18.6 Mana.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Well, whenever I practice Noxious Grasp, I¡¯ll just do it while I¡¯m touching you. Sound good?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Erani held out her arm again, and I grabbed it.


    We walked like that for some time. I would cast a small burst of Noxious Grasp asionally, which would activate Erani¡¯s Angelic Shield. The hard matrix of wires that manifested whenever I damaged her felt strange, like a soft forcefield.


    One time, I identally cast for a bit too long, which broke the shield. She only took a small amount of damage, but that wasn¡¯t what surprised us. Upon breaking, a loud shatter filled our ears as the magical threads covering her forearm spun apart and were flung into the air, dissolving after a couple seconds.


    I apologized, embarrassed at my causing a scene. But we eventually got back to practicing after her Angelic Shield finished the cooldown following the break.


    Within only a few minutes, her Spell rose to Rank 6, which was where her Soft Cap was at. At that point, the Spell could handle a bit over 25 damage before breaking, and it would only be offline for about 30 seconds in that situation. Not amazing by any means, but it was at least useful at this point. Lots of fights were won by means of many small attacks, not one huge burst of damage ¨C hells, tiny increments of damage was normally how I killed anything.


    Because of the frequent need for physical contact between us, we didn¡¯t want to keep grabbing on and letting go over and over, so we just walked through the forest hand-in-hand. asionally, I¡¯d tell her I was about to cast ¨C she said she didn¡¯t need any warning, but I felt bad just dropping it on her ¨C and then activate Noxious Grasp for a second or so.


    We acted like the hand-holding was just for the functionality of practice, but I couldn¡¯t help smiling when she interlocked her fingers with mine. And I caught her blushing asionally, too.


    Luckily, the way Noxious Grasp worked, if the damage got prevented, the Stamina drain got prevented, too. It was good that Noxious Grasp worked that way, because if it always drained her Stamina, that¡¯d be a problem. We probably wouldn¡¯t be able to use Noxious Grasp to practice at all, and instead have to repeatedly stab her with a knife or something. That would be a bit more unfortunate to identally cause a break with.


    At some point, we encountered another Wood Wraith. Instead of killing it immediately, Erani said she wanted to get some practice using Angelic Shield in livebat. So, I stepped back and let her handle it.


    First, she shouted at the monster, and it immediately whipped its head around and made eye contact with her. She didn¡¯t double over in nausea like normal, though. The signature glowing matrix of Angelic Shield spread around her eyes and face, protecting her from the poisonous re.


    This didn¡¯t dissuade the Wood Wraith, though. Seeing its re attack did nothing, it charged forward, its mouth wide and ready to bite into Erani. She stepped to the side, but she wasn¡¯t as experienced with closebat as she was with ranged, and while she dodged the bite, she left herself open for a w swipe.


    The beast scratched its ws against her leg, but again, the glowing wires formed around her skin, protecting her from damage. She stood her ground,pletely unfazed by the force of the strike, as though she hadn¡¯t been touched at all. The Wood Wraith, on the other hand, tripped over itself and fell on its face, expecting to knock her aside with its strike instead of hitting an immovable wall.


    Erani stood and waited for the monster to get to its feet. It was obviously furious at this point, and charged at her again. This time, she took a step back, readying herself. Right when the beast got close, she turned, pivoting on one leg, and kicked the monster in its mouth. This would have worked perfectly, but she was still a bit slow, and it managed to turn its head just in time for her to kick her shin into its open mouth.


    The monster was still knocked aside from her attack, but I heard a shatter and saw bright strings fly from her legs. It seemed the damage on her leg was too great for the Spell.


    ¡°Agh,¡± Erani grunted, bending over to hold her shin. ¡°Okay, enough practice.¡±


    She pointed her hand at the monster and unleashed a barrage of Explosive Firebolts, immediately killing the Wood Wraith.


    ¡°That was enlightening,¡± she said as she shook the battle jitters from her body.


    ¡°Think you¡¯re getting the hang of it?¡±


    ¡°The real trouble is trying to figure out how much damage something¡¯s going to deal before it even hits me.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Guess it¡¯ll just take practice.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Killer headache, too.¡±


    ¡°Oh, this is your second ever Spell, right? Yeah, I noticed that too. It¡¯s way harder to train a new Spell than it is to train the ones you have experience with.¡±


    ¡°Hopefully it fades quickly,¡± she sighed. ¡°I was just starting to get used to Firebolt.¡±


    ¡°Well, the only way to get rid of the headache is by practicing more,¡± Iughed.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± She walked over and grabbed my hand again, smiling. I smiled too.


    It was another few hours before we finally got to a ce I recognized as being near the river. At that point, Noxious Grasp¡¯s Spell XP was at 271/355, and my Health had risen a bit more, up to 166/210. Erani¡¯s Angelic Shield hadn¡¯t quite gotten to Rank 7, but it was close.


    ¡°So, Sorcerer sses get a Spell Strengthening every second Level, right?¡± I asked as we walked, hand-in-hand. ¡°How does that work when you have multiple Spells?¡±


    ¡°Oh, so whenever I get a Strengthening, I choose one of my two Spells, and it gets a free Rank without getting any more expensive to get its next Rank. Wish it affected both Spells, but unfortunately I can only pick one.¡±


    ¡°So which are you gonna choose, then?¡±


    ¡°Probably sticking with Firebolt, for now. It doesn¡¯t matter as much for us right now, since getting Firebolt to Rank 20 or Angelic Shield to Rank 10 won¡¯t give me an Upgrade ¨C I don¡¯t have any Spell Crystals ¨C but we might end uping across some way to get them in the future, so I want to stick with the books, and the books say that improving my main way of dealing damage is the best y here.¡±


    While we were approaching the river, I listened carefully for the sound of rushing water through our conversation. That way, we would know when we were getting close and could head toward the sound. But as we got closer and closer, a different sound came to my ears. Well, I also heard the river, but another sound was louder. The sound of fighting. Thrashes, crashes, and shes were being thrown through the forest from the direction of the stream. Erani met my eyes.


    Part of me wanted to flee in the opposite direction. But I also needed to know what was going on. If it was a group of Infernals, we would need to go in arge radius around them in order to avoid any other Infernal groups that could be nearby. But if it was just some random animals fighting each other, we could wait the fight out and cut through like normal. Besides, if the Infernals were fighting so ferociously, what could they be fighting against?


    Erani seemed to arrive at the same conclusion. We slowly crept forward, keeping our senses sharp for anything that might attack us. Sneaking through the wood, we eventually saw the familiar sight of the river we slept at poke through the trees. And next to the river was the source of the sound.


    On the riverside were the two Nymphs we¡¯d befriended, beaten and battered, fighting against a trio of Infernals. As I watched, I realized they weren¡¯t just fighting against the three Infernals. Hellions burst from the ground throughout the fighting, attacking the Nymphs anytime they left their guards down. Thankfully, the Hellions were the normal-sized kind ¨C only three or four paces long and a bit wider than my thigh ¨C but they were still dangerous.


    The Nymphs fought valiantly, and it seemed like they were truly giving the Infernals a struggle. I could see each of the hulking Demons leaking blue blood from their many wounds, and even the Hellions, asionally bursting from underground to ambush the Nymphs, were cut up in ces. The shorter Nymph struck out with its whip, fighting from a distance and never letting the Demons close, and the taller one, with its long ws, was moving from enemy to enemy, stabbing and slicing and fighting for its life.


    However, despite their brave efforts, they were losing. The shorter Nymph couldn¡¯t keep all of the Demons back with its single whip, and constantly had to move back, getting chased by the Infernals, and the wed Nymph had obviously taken a few hits. Due to the severe disadvantage both in numbers and in raw power, it was obvious that the Nymphs would lose this fight. They¡¯d be ughtered.


    However¡­


    I¡¯ll admit, it was a greedy thought. I remembered the amount of XP I¡¯d gotten from the Infernal Erani and I had killed in the past. A single one was enough to Level me up. And here were three badly damaged Infernals, and two extra allies to help me kill them. I had Time Loop back from the night¡¯s passing, so even if we died in the process, the XP gained could very well be worth it.


    I¡¯ll also admit I was reluctant to let the Nymphs die. They¡¯d let us stay with them for safety, and even given us a parting gift. And if I just stood by to allow them to be killed by the hands of an enemy that I brought here in the first ce¡­ Well. I wouldn¡¯t be able to live with myself.


    A Hellion burst from the ground, chomping into the leg of one of the Nymphs ¨C the shorter one with the whip. Before it could bite the Nymph¡¯s leg clean off, though, the other Nymph ¨C the taller one with the ws ¨C dashed forward and sliced at the giant worm. It screeched and let go, burrowing back into the earth. But the distraction allowed one of the Infernals to lumber up behind the wed Nymph and swing its hand out in a gigantic, powerful backhand, striking the Nymph andunching it backward into a tree. The Infernal took another step forward, now bearing down on the shorter Nymph, which was still nursing the wound in its leg. The giant Demon raised its fists high, preparing a smash to end the Nymph¡¯s life¡­


    I couldn¡¯t let it happen.


    Thinking quickly, I raised my hand and fired a Ray of Frost at the attacking Infernal.


    You have struck Level 26 Infernal for 47 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 26 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 472.


    The moment it connected and applied its effect, I cast Crippling Chill on the same target.


    You have cursed Level 26 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.38 Health and 5.1 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.8.


    50.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 422.


    Even against a monstrous threat like the Infernal, the stacking Dexterity debuffs caused it to stumble and slow, giving the Nymph the time needed to get to its feet and scramble away from the monster. The Infernal turned toward the source of the newfound curses, looking straight into my eyes, and roared in rage.


    Erani grabbed my arm. ¡°Are we seriously fighting them?¡±


    ¡°We have to at least try.¡±


    Seeming to understand my resolution, Erani nodded.


    And we charged.

 Chapter 41: Demons and Nymphs

    Chapter 41: Demons and Nymphs


    I charged forward into the battlefield of Nymphs and Infernals, and Erani scrambled behind a tree. She may have gotten a defensive Spell, but her Health was still abysmal. The Infernal I¡¯d shot had already noticed me and turned to face me, and the second Infernal saw me during my charge out of the forest. It began running along the muddy riverbank to intercept me, brown sludge sshing across its red skin as it stomped along. The third Infernal turned and went to pursue the two Nymphs that had fled into the forest. The Nymphs had been able to handle themselves for at least a bit against all three, though, so just one shouldn¡¯t have been a problem for now.


    I cast Crippling Chill on the Infernal that was approaching me.


    You have cursed Level 26 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.38 Health and 5.1 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.8.


    50.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 371.


    However, I didn¡¯t worry too much about it catching me. Just as it got close¡­


    <em>BOOM!</em>


    An explosion sted against it, Firebolts pelting out from the trees against the Demon¡¯s head. It turned and roared in anger at Erani, who was supporting me from the back lines. It charged toward her, and I was just left with the one Infernal. Not exactly an easy fight, but judging from the many cuts and wounds, sh marks and stabs from its previous fight with the Nymphs, hopefully it would be doable.


    As I neared the hulking Demon, it held out its arms out in preparation to grab me. Just as I got within its reach, though, I shot a Ray of Frost directly into its eyes, blinding it with the bright blue light, and strafed to the left.


    You have struck Level 26 Infernal for 50 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 26 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 348.


    It roared and iled its arms wildly while it blinked away the sh. However, by that time, I¡¯d already scrambled behind it. From there, I leapt onto its back, wrapping my arms around its meaty neck and activating Noxious Grasp. It roared and tried to reach around and throw me off, but its thick muscles worked against it, ruining its flexibility.


    It roared and iled, trying to buck me from it, but I held strong, the few extra points I¡¯d gotten in Strength aiding me. Eventually, the Demon grunted and gave up on trying to throw me from its back. Instead, it crouched, then leapt up, leaning backward so it wouldnd directly on its back ¨C and consequently, me. I immediately pushed off, jumping to the side as itnded on the ground.


    You have struck Level 26 Infernal for 175 damage and drained 88 Stamina over the course of 11.3 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    42.4 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 306.


    It mmed into the muddy ground with a thud, and began mbering to its feet, taking wild swipes at me as I continued to back away. As it got to its feet, I received a notification.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 26 Infernal.


    You have struck Level 26 Infernal for 96 damage and drained 77 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    I quickly cursed it once again with Crippling Chill, bringing my Mana down to 255. It may have been damaged, but I didn¡¯t want to deal with this thing at full capacity. In the background, I could hear signs of the other two scuffles going on. The explosions of Erani¡¯s Fireboltsbined nicely with the roars of pain from the Infernal she was firing them at. As for the Nymphs, I could hear faint thwips and slices from their respective weaponsing from the surrounding forest.


    I kept my distance from the Infernal in front of me, raising my hand in preparation to cast Ray of Frost. It was likely pretty low on Health at this point, and its Stamina must have been dragging after all it had been through. So, if I just kept out of its melee range and pelted it with Spells from afar, I could kill it with little effort.


    But before I could even get my first Spell off, a rumbling came from the ground below me, and the dirt burst apart, a Hellion jumping from beneath the earth. Its head-sized mouth chomped onto my thigh, the circr rings of fangs digging into my skin.


    You have been bitten by teeth. 57 damage.


    Your Health is 109.


    I screamed in pain as the worm longer than I was tall ripped into my flesh. Panicked, I aimed my hand at it and cast a barrage of Rays of Frost, the cold beams burning into its skin and coating it with ice.


    You have struck Level 11 Hellion for 41 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 11 Hellion with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 232.


    You have struck Level 11 Hellion for 44 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 11 Hellion with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 210.


    You have struck Level 11 Hellion for 39 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 11 Hellion with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 187.


    You have offered major contribution toward the ying of Level 11 Hellion.


    You have earned 48 XP. Your XP is 210.


    The Hellion fell limp off of my leg, its body syed twitching on the dirt. I fought back the urge to lie on the ground and nurse my wound, struggling back to my feet as the dozens of tiny tooth marks in my leg leaked blood.


    The Infernal was on its feet at this point, and running toward me. I limped backward and cast yet more Rays of Frost at the Infernal. The many beams shot into its skin, spreading patches of sleet across the areas of impact. After the many castings, my Mana had gone further down to 97. The Demon didn¡¯t slow, though, stomping toward me. And considering my crippled state, it would reach me soon.


    ¡°Erani!¡± I called to my right, where I could still hear the explosions from her fight. I watched as she burst from the treeline, an Infernal of her own chasing after her. Its entire body was smoking and covered in scorch marks. She reached out as she ran toward me,unching a Firebolt at the Infernal pursuing me. It exploded against the beast¡¯s head, knocking it aside and causing it to roar in surprise.


    ¡°Could use some help of my own!¡± she yelled back to me as she arrived at my side.


    Understanding what she meant, I cast Crippling Chill on the Infernal that had been chasing her.


    You have cursed Level 25 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.38 Health and 5.1 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.8.


    50.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 46.


    Obviously not expecting the sudden loss of mobility, the monster tripped and fell into the mud. In fact, it looked like it was almost dead from the countless cuts and burns across its body.


    ¡°Watch out for Hellions,¡± I said to Erani, who now stood beside me. ¡°Got my leg earlier.¡±


    She nodded, and cast another Firebolt on the still-standing Infernal. It fell back. ¡°Running low on Mana. How¡¯re you looking?¡±


    ¡°About fifty. Need to stick to Noxious Grasp for damage from now on.¡±


    ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll cover you.¡±


    I took a breath, bracing for pain, and then ran forward at the Infernal that had been chasing Erani ¨C the one that seemed to be lower on Health. As it took thebored movements to get onto its hands and knees, I tackled it, knocking it back into the mud. We were close enough to the riverbank that its impact into the ground caused a ssh in the water.


    I activated Noxious Grasp and began draining away the remainder of the Infernal¡¯s Health. It roared in pain and swung its arm at me. I tried to lean out of the way, but my position on top of the monster was awkward, and I couldn¡¯t move as much as I needed to. Its oversized hand smacked into my body.


    You have been knocked aside. 31 damage.


    Your Health is 78.


    You have struck Level 25 Infernal for 104 damage and drained 52 Stamina over the course of 6.7 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    25.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 20.


    I flew off the Infernal,nding a few paces away. Hurriedly, I got to my feet. If the Infernal got up, it¡¯d be that much harder to take down again. So as quickly as possible, I ran back over to it. As I half-sprinted, half-stumbled, I scooped a handful of mud into my hand, and flung it into the Demon¡¯s eyes. It grunted and tried to wipe the gunk from its face, but just as it did so, I grabbed onto its arm, and, using every bit of my strength and of my Strength, I dragged the gigantic monster over a pace, so that its head was in the water. Still blind, it roared and swung around at me, but I was able to dodge the wild strikes.


    Its head was floating in the water, the water sshing onto the spluttering beast¡¯s face.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get that mud off you,¡± I said and lifted my foot, then stomped down onto the Infernal, pushing itpletely underwater.


    You have struck Level 25 Infernal for 12 damage using your Foot.


    Before it could grab me, I lifted my foot again, staying out of its reach. But just as fast, I kicked down again, hitting it for more damage and keeping it beneath the water.


    You have struck Level 25 Infernal for 5 damage using your Foot.


    The drowning Demon iled out at me, but I kept at it, stomping my foot onto its face repeatedly while keeping far away when it tried to reach for me. My still-bleeding leg ached in pain with each kick, but the adrenaline kept me steady.


    The other Infernal had gotten to its feet by now, and started to run toward me, eager to save its drowning kin, but before it reached me, an explosionunched it off its feet and back into the mud. Erani nodded at me as I finished the job. And, soon enough, the Infernal stopped moving.


    You have offered minor contribution toward the ying of Level 25 Infernal.


    You have earned 122 XP. Your XP is 332.


    By the time the Infernal drowned, the other one had gotten to its feet once again, but Erani sted it once again. It groaned, but didn¡¯t seem like it was capable of getting back to its feet again. I trudged over to it, and grabbed onto its head with Noxious Grasp active. Its bloodshot eyes shot open as thest of its Health drained away from it, and it slumped over.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 26 Infernal.


    You have earned 304 XP. Your XP is 636.


    Threshold reached. 450 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 9.


    Due to achieving Level 9 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Dexterity and 1 Conjuration.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 9.


    -You may choose a Spell to learn.


    I smiled at the Level-up, but the battle wasn¡¯t near over. In fact, before I could even take a solid breath, I heard a noise from the trees. As I nced over, I watched the two Nymphs leap through the treeline,ing toward us with desperate looks on their faces. They¡¯d done some damage to the Infernals, too, so they must have gotten kill notifications for the two Demons and realized it was safe toe over, now. Not that Erani or I would be a lot of help to them; we were both too low on Mana to cast many Spells.


    Still, I had some, and now I¡¯d have the two Nymphs to back me up. I ran forward and stood next to them, all three of us preparing to fight the Infernal. The two Nymphs were covered in bite marks ¨C I guess that was where the other Hellion had been. The Demon slowed down when it saw me and Erani. In fact, it came to aplete stop when its eyes met mine. I remembered that the entire reason these Infernals were out here was because they were looking for me, so seeing me would have given them pause. Why didn¡¯t the other Infernals have a reaction like that, though? Were they seriously so dumb that they didn¡¯t recognize me?


    This Infernal was doing something strange, though. As it stood, it seemed to be struggling to do something. Its sunken eyes were shut tight and its forehead wrinkled. Did the Infernals have an ability I wasn¡¯t aware of? Well, if the Demon wasn¡¯t going to approach me, I¡¯d take the fight to it. I wasn¡¯t going to just stand by and let it do whatever it was trying to do.


    I ran forward at the Infernal, but before I could get to it, its eyes snapped open. Whatever it was trying to do, it seemed to have done it. I didn¡¯t notice any change, though. Whatever. I¡¯d figure it out eventually.


    The Nymphs charged behind me, the taller one with its ws held out, and the shorter one with its whip in its hand, wound up and ready to strike. Just as we reached the Demon, the wed Nymph leapt high, soaring over my head and stabbing its ws into the Infernal¡¯s chest. It hung there by its ws, but the Infernal grabbed the Nymph and flung it away. The Nymphnded on its feet, though, and dashed right back at the Infernal as the other Nymph with the whipshed out at the Infernal, strafing to its side.


    The Infernal grabbed the Nymphs whip and flung it in the other direction, the Nymph going flying into the ground, but as it did that, I collided with it and activated Noxious Grasp. It didn¡¯t seem bothered by me, either, though, and kicked me away.


    You have struck Level 38 Infernal Commander for 22 damage and drained 11 Stamina over the course of 1.4 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    5.26 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 15.


    <em>Oh shit</em>, I thought. <em>Infernal Commander?</em>


    The thing was Level 38, over 10 Levels higher than the other Infernals I¡¯d faced. It made sense that it didn¡¯t seem bothered by our attacks, and why it had been giving the Nymphs so much trouble. Still, why was it going so easy on us? It almost seemed disinterested, like it was just waiting for something to happen.


    I backed away. In our state, it wasn¡¯t likely we could take on an enemy like that. But as I backed away, it followed, its eyes locked onto me.


    ¡°We need to go!¡± I called back to Erani. ¡°It¡¯s Level 38. Something called an Infernal Commander.¡±


    The Demon still just looked at me.


    I turned and ran. The Nymphs seemed to get the message, and they fled too. But the Infernal chased after us, jogging along as we sprinted at top speed. It was obviously holding back. Its sunken, beady eyes stared on with a scowl.


    And then, there was a crash. And another. And then, the entire forest felt like it was copsing. Through the trees, dozens upon dozens of Infernals came charging straight at us.


    My eyes widened at the sight. ¡°It called in reinforcements! Run!¡±


    Erani and I ran into the river, the strong water tugging at our feet and threatening to topple us. The Demons chased after us, wading into the pool. At this point, the Infernal Commander had stopped running and was just standing by, watching our struggle. I realized what it had been doing. It waszy. It just didn¡¯t feel like killing me, preferring for its underlings to do so instead.


    The river slowed down the horde of Infernals, but it slowed us down just as much. The rushing water tripped us, sticks and loose rocks knocked into our legs and tripped us, and the loose footing underneath the water made it impossible to move quickly. The two Nymphs were more easily able to move through the water, their nimble bodies cutting swiftly through the river, but even they were having trouble.


    Eventually, we made it to the other side, panting from the effort. The water and sticks made my leg hurt more than ever. But just as we stepped onto drynd, there was a familiar rumbling from beneath, and a Hellion burst from the ground. Not just one, actually ¨C two. One of them, a big one, came from directly underneath my leg, its gigantic maw enveloping my foot, then shin, then thigh as it moved up my skin like a sleeve. Then, just as it reached the top of my leg, it bit down.


    You have been bitten. 65 damage.


    Your Health is 13.


    You have been dismembered.


    My entire leg had been eaten by the Hellion. I screamed in pain and copsed to the ground as the limb was carried off into the ground by the gigantic worm. The other Hellion had aimed itself at the taller Nymph with the ws. It¡¯d burst out of the ground from afar, and was currently soaring through the air, aimed so that it would fall with its mouth directly around the Nymph¡¯s head. The Nymph didn¡¯t seem to notice, too distracted by the attack on me, and I watched as the Nymph¡¯s demise headed straight for it.


    But the shorter Nymph didn¡¯t let that happen. It lunged forward, pushing the taller Nymph out of the Hellion¡¯s arc, but in the process, it became the new target. The Hellionpleted its arc, falling directly into the Nymph¡¯s chest, pushing it to the ground and then tearing a hole straight through. It burrowed back into the ground, leaving a gigantic wound behind that let you see more internal organs than external.


    The Nymph gasped, its white eyes fading darker and its grip loosening on the handle of its whip. A sickly yellow sap leaked from the massive hole in its torso. The taller Nymph fell to its knees, cradling itspanion¡¯s face in its hands. I could see a white liquid leaking from its eyes. The dying Nymph tried to say something to the taller one, but it could barely move its mouth, much less speak. Instead, it just settled on a smile. One that was loving, but tainted by the intense pain it must have been experiencing.


    The taller Nymph had burst fully into tears at this point, and choked out a phrase that I couldn''t understand, repeating that phrase over and over as it cradled itspanion¡¯s bleeding body.


    The shorter Nymph¡¯s pained smile grew at that, its own ever-darkening eyes tearing up. And then, they went fully ck. And it stopped moving.


    I was snapped back to reality by the roar of an Infernal as it crossed the halfway point of the river. The pain in my leg ¨C my stump ¨C shocked back into my brain, and I realized I¡¯d been groaning in pain that entire time.


    ¡°Mana?¡± I gasped to Erani.


    ¡°A hundred,¡± she answered. ¡°About enough for two Firebolts.¡±


    ¡°Use them on their legs,¡± I said. ¡°Try to knock down the nearest ones once they get close.¡±


    I didn''t have enough to cast Crippling Chill ¨C I may have regenerated a couple points in the time we''d been fighting, but it wasn''t nearly enough Hells, even if I had a thousand Mana, I wouldn¡¯t be able to curse them all ¨C let alone kill them.


    I used my one good leg to start pushing away from the riverbank. The still-living Nymph didn¡¯t even seem to remember its surroundings. Instead it just crouched, cradling the corpse of the other.


    There was an explosion as one of Erani¡¯s Firebolts sted the legs of one of the Infernals. It tripped and fell into the rushing water, but was quickly overtaken by five more. My leg hurt more than anything had ever hurt in my life.


    We weren¡¯t going to win this fight. And I wasn¡¯t interested in seeing it through to the end.


    I looked over to the grieving Nymph. I wasn¡¯t interested in prolonging the suffering of mypanions, either.


    I was going to do this again, and I¡¯d do it right.


    I activated Time Loop.

 Chapter 42: Rescue Operation

    Chapter 42: Rescue Operation


    And then I was back, nine minutes beforehand, walking through the forest with Erani before we¡¯d ever heard any signs of fighting. I immediately had a decision to make. I¡¯d Leveled to 9 during the fight beforehand, and had gotten a Spell Choice. However, in order to make changes to my Status, I¡¯d need to meditate for about ten minutes. And, by the time ten minutes had passed, there was no doubt in my mind that the Nymphs would be killed.


    However, it could still be possible to catch up and kill a couple of the Infernals after the fight, if we were careful about the Infernal Commander. Again, the Nymphs would die, but we could likely get a substantial amount of XP.


    ¡­Yeah, no. Even though it was technically an option, sacrificing these Nymphs that had been nothing but kind to us for the chance at a measly Level or two wasn¡¯t a decision I wasfortable making. Besides, gaining the Nymphs as allies could be hugely beneficial to us.


    I¡¯d already begun forming a n to save the Nymphs without getting ourselves killed. Now I just needed to put it into action. And to do that, we needed to get there fast. I grabbed Erani¡¯s hand and started running.


    ¡°Wha¨C An!¡± She shouted in surprise.


    ¡°Time Loop,¡± I said. ¡°There are Infernals at the river, and they¡¯re going to kill the Nymphs.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± She stumbled, trying to keep up with my pace. ¡°I <em>really</em> wish I could keep my memories after you use Time Loop, like you do. This stuff is bad for my heart.¡±


    I filled Erani in and exined the n to her as we ran. Within a minute or two, we could hear the fighting, and within another, we could see the battle. We¡¯d gotten there a bit earlier due to our quick movement, so the situation wasn¡¯t as bad as it¡¯d been before. The two Nymphs didn¡¯t look quite as exhausted, at least.


    ¡°You ready?¡± I asked Erani.


    ¡°Not really, but sure.¡±


    We burst through the treeline, rushing into the riverside clearing and headed straight for the two Nymphs. The three Infernals noticed us and moved to intercept, but I slowed them down.


    You have cursed Level 26 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.38 Health and 5.1 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.8.


    50.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 444.


    You have cursed Level 25 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.38 Health and 5.1 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.8.


    50.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 393.


    You have cursed Level 38 Infernal Commander with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.38 Health and 5.1 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.8.


    50.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 342.


    The Infernals stumbled, but didn¡¯t fall. One of them stayed back to continue the fight with the Nymphs, trying its best to deflect their quick slices and shes, while the other Infernal and the Commander moved in to attack us. There were still around thirty paces between us and the Nymphs, and the two enemies were directly in the way.


    ¡°Left!¡± I called to Erani as we approached the Infernal and Commander. The weaker Infernal was on that side, and we strafed in that direction. Just as we got to it, Erani shot a Firebolt directly into its face. The ball of mes exploded in a loud st against its head, and the Infernal stumbled back, roaring in pain. The Commander ran to intercept us, but I shot a Ray of Frost at it, slowing it down enough that we could slip past.


    You have struck Level 38 Infernal Commander for 51 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 38 Infernal Commander with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 320.


    The third Infernal¡¯s back was to us, still fighting the Nymphs, but it heard the explosion and turned around, seeing us charging forward. Behind us, the Infernal and Commander chased. The only reason they hadn¡¯t already caught up to us was because of the Dexterity debuffs they were under, I suspected. Plus, it still didn¡¯t seem like the Commander cared much to catch us. I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d recognized me yet, and it was running with more of azy jaunt than a true sprint. It also hadn¡¯t stopped and closed its eyes to call in reinforcements yet.


    Surrounded by us and the Nymphs, the third Infernal didn¡¯t seem to know where to face, turning back and forth between us with a confused expression. Before it could settle on a decision, Erani sted it with a pair of Explosive Firebolts, knocking it back and allowing us to reach the two Nymphs.


    The Nymphs were obviously surprised at the sudden rescue operation, but we didn¡¯t have time for that. Erani and I each grabbed one of the Nymphs¡¯ hands, and we started dragging them with us, heading for the rushing riverside about a dozen paces away.


    I nced back to see how close the pursuing trio of Demons were to us, and in that moment, my eyes connected with the Infernal Commander¡¯s. Itszy expression changed to one of surprise, and its run slowed. It barked something at its two subordinates, and they looked surprised, too. I didn¡¯t have to guess at what they had just realized.


    ¡°Let¡¯s pick up the pace,¡± I said to Erani. ¡°Pretty sure they¡¯re about to start trying a lot harder.¡±


    Just as I said that, the Infernal Commander stopped and closed its eyes, just like it had donest time. It was calling in reinforcements.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got a minute or two before this ce¡¯ll be swarming with Demons.¡±


    We arrived at the edge of the river, but didn¡¯t jump in to start crossing. Instead, I grabbed the two Nymphs and pulled them in tightly against my chest. Luckily, they didn¡¯t do anything to resist, confused but at least understanding that we didn¡¯t mean them harm. Well, we¡¯d harm them a bit here, but for the greater good. I stood next to Erani as the Infernals closed in on us.


    ¡°Ready?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think this is a good idea,¡± she said. ¡°Maybe¨C¡±


    ¡°Toote! Just shoot!¡±


    She squinted and aimed her hands directly downward at the ground in front of us, and cast Explosive Firebolt. The projectile flew into the ground and blew up just as we jumped into the air.


    You have been blown up. 49 damage.


    Your Health is 117.


    I heard a shattering sound as Erani¡¯s Angelic Shield broke from the damage. The Nymphs yelped in surprise and pain. And suddenly we were in the air, sent flying from the explosion. We ragdolled into the sky and over the river before gravity pulled us back down to the ground and wended with a heavy thud.


    Coughing, I stumbled to my feet. My arms burned from the explosion, and I had to fight the urge to dunk them in the cold water. The Demons were stranded on the other side of the river, with us safely on the opposite side from where we started. But the two Infernals quickly waded into the pool, eager to catch up to us.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± I shouted and started to dash away from the Demons. Erani followed suit, and, after a moment¡¯s hesitation, so did the Nymphs. They were obviously dazed and bewildered, but they at least knew who was trying to kill them, and who was trying to save them.


    We ran into the forest, weaving between trees as we put distance between us and the river. I nced behind us at the quickly-disappearing Infernals who were still wading through the rushing water. Behind them was the Infernal Commander, which had just seemed to finish its call for reinforcements. It opened its eyes and saw us quickly escaping, then looked at the slowly-pursuing subordinates clumsily stomping through the water.


    It didn¡¯t seem satisfied with their efforts.


    It took a few steps back, and then charged forward, heading straight at the river. And then, just as it got to the river¡¯s edge, the Demon leapt. It soared over the entire river, no explosion necessary, directly over the heads of the other two Infernals, andnded on the other side with a massive boom as the ground shook under its weight.


    Then, it took off after us, pounding through the trees and knocking aside the same obstacles that we had to avoid.


    ¡°Fuck! Run!¡± I shouted and pushed my legs even faster. The Crippling Chills had worn off the Demons by now, so I reapplied the curse on the Infernal Commander, bringing my Mana down to 269. I frantically shot a Ray of Frost over my shoulder, and missed. I shot again, and missed. I grunted and steadied my arm, shooting again and hitting the Infernal Commander square in the chest this time.


    You have struck Level 38 Infernal Commander for 48 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 38 Infernal Commander with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 201.


    The Demon slowed a bit, but not nearly enough for it to stop being a threat. It was quickly gaining on us, and I was out of ways to slow it down. The Nymphs seemed to understand the circumstances, and turned around to face the monster. The taller, wed Nymph took the lead, baring its des and charging headstrong into the arms of the beast. The Nymph leapt up and shed at the Infernal¡¯s face, but the Demon blocked the strike with a thick arm, the des sinking into its muscled flesh instead.


    The shorter Nymphshed out with its whip from afar, the thorned vine striking into the Infernal¡¯s torso and ripping into its skin. It roared and grabbed the whip, but before it could fling the shorter Nymph away like it had donest time, I shot it in the eyes with another Ray of Frost.


    You have struck Level 38 Infernal Commander for 50 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 38 Infernal Commander with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 178.


    The Demon roared and covered its eyes as the bright, cold light spread ice across its skin. The wed Nymph, sensing an opportunity, charged back in and shed at the Infernal Commander¡¯s stomach. Its des sunk deep into the beast¡¯s muscle, spilling bright blue blood onto the ground. Despite its many wounds, though, the Demon seemed rtively unfazed. It snatched the Nymph off the ground, lifting it up with its massive hands and squeezing tightly. The Nymph yelped in pain as its body was crushed.


    I raised my hands to try and shoot at the Infernal Commander, but the Nymph doubled as a hostage, blocking any shot I might try and take. The Nymph with the whip didn¡¯t hesitate to move into action, though, jumping up on the back of the Demon, whose hands were now upied, and wrapping the thorned whip around its neck. The Infernal pelted the wed Nymph into the ground to free up its hands, and smacked the Nymph off of its back.


    The wed Nymph, who had just been thrown hard into the dirt, struggled back to its feet, obviously having taken a significant amount of damage.


    We weren¡¯t getting anywhere with this fight. The Infernal Commander barely seemed tired, the Nymphs were tiring out, and I suspected Erani and I could run our Mana pools dry before we killed this thing.


    ¡°We need to keep running, c¡¯mon!¡± I yelled to the Nymphs as Erani and I turned and sprinted away. I knew they couldn¡¯t understand ournguage, but they¡¯d get the sentiment of us running away and gesturing for them toe along.


    They followed, but I could see the wed Nymph looked frustrated at our retreat. The thing had taken the most damage out of all of us ¨C how was <em>it </em>the one that wanted to stay and fight?


    We fled, but the Commander was still faster. Erani shot Firebolts behind us as we ran, doing her best to ruin the Demon¡¯s footing. It stumbled as the explosions sted against its legs, roaring in anger. If we could continue with this for a bit longer, maybe the damage would finally pile up enough, and Crippling Chill¡¯s Stamina drain could tire it out enough that it would give up.


    I took a deep breath as we ran. There was a chance we could all make it out of this alive and okay.


    The Infernal Commander looked like it was getting angrier and angrier as the fireballs tripped it and burned its ankles. Until, finally, it snapped. It roared loudly, stopped running, and stomped its foot on the ground repeatedly. I didn¡¯t stay to watch. Was it having a tantrum?


    The ground was shaking under the weight of its stomps. Every time its foot impacted the ground, a tremble went through the earth. In fact, the ground was even trembling when it wasn¡¯t stomping.


    Wait, what?


    Two Hellions burst through the ground beneath us! That bastard was masking their traveling through the ground with its stomping! One of the Hellions was aimed at Erani, and the other at the wed Nymph. Erani tried to sidestep the one aiming for it, but it managed to nce along her arm. But as the monster¡¯s teeth scraped against her skin, a matrix of glowing wires appeared, protecting her from harm.


    The wed Nymph wasn¡¯t as lucky. The Hellion aimed for its thigh, and was too quick for it to dodge. It bit into the Nymph¡¯s leg, removing a sizable chunk of its green flesh. It copsed to the ground, its legpletely unable to support its weight, yelling in pain. I kicked away the Hellion and shot it with a Ray of Frost, scaring it back into the ground.


    I focused on the ground as Erani helped the Nymph back to its feet, slinging its arm around her shoulders to support its movement. The rumbling faded away as the Hellions burrowed back deep underground. The damn things worked as ambushers, appearing at the worst possible times and staying away otherwise. They had low Health, sure, but that didn¡¯t matter if you could never hit them.


    The Infernal Commander, satisfied with its actions, continued its charge forward. And now, we had an injured member. I cast Crippling Chill once again on the Demon, the Spell already having worn off.


    You have cursed Level 38 Infernal Commander with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.38 Health and 5.1 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.8.


    50.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 105.


    Despite its deep wound, the wed Nymph charged to meet the Infernal, limping ahead. It clearly didn¡¯t want to get carried along by us. It stood in front of the Demon, baring its ws and prepared for a fight. As it approached, the Infernal grabbed a tree branch from the ground, the massive implement seeming like a simple club in its grip.


    It swung the tree branch in a wide arc at the Nymph, but the Nymph leapt up over it,nding on a single leg so as to not agitate its wound, and swiped at the Infernal with its long ws. The Infernal raised the branch to block, but the shorter Nymph was on it once again,shing out and cutting the branch clean in half, letting the ws strike their target. The Demon grunted and swung again with the cut branch. The wed Nymph tried to backpedal and dodge, but it stumbled once it put weight on its wounded leg, and the branch hit it squarely in the side, sending it flying.


    The shorter Nymph rushed to its side, and I stepped in to distract the Infernal Commander in the meantime. I was aware of the time; we were moving quickly, but so were the reinforcements, and soon they¡¯d catch up with us and the Commander. Once we could slow down the Demon a bit, we¡¯d be able to escape, but for now we were ying with borrowed time. I barraged it with Rays of Frost, keeping it on the backfoot while the shorter Nymph tried to help the wed one to its feet. I could tell Demon was at least somewhat tiring out, at this point. I was also noticing our attacks sinking deeper and deeper into its skin, which meant its Health was lowering bit by bit. I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d be able to kill it, but it was possible we¡¯d escape with our lives.


    As the shorter Nymph knelt beside its badly woundedpanion, I felt the ground rumble in that same, familiar way. I nced around, preparing myself for a Hellion attack, but none came. At least, none near me. Right where the wed Nymphy, a Hellion burst out of the ground, instantly removing its arm from its shoulder. It screamed as yellow sap poured out of the wound and the Hellion quickly burrowed back into the ground, its meal still stuck in its mouth.


    The shorter Nymph gasped and panicked, trying to stem the bleeding from the wound as the wed Nymph groaned and red at the Commander with hatred in its pitch-white eyes. It said something to itspanion, who was still trying to stem the bleeding, which stopped it in its tracks. The shorter Nymph seemed to argue with its wounded counterpart, and a short conversation ensued. Eventually, the shorter one seemed to concede to the wed one¡¯s suggestion.


    The wounded taller Nymph stood up and looked at Erani, making wild gestures that I didn¡¯t immediately understand. I cast another Ray of Frost at the Infernal Commander, and my Mana hit 15. I couldn¡¯t cast any more of them. The Demon quickly realized this, and smugly walked over to a tree to grab a new branch weapon. It clearly wasn¡¯t in a rush; it knew we were wounded and depleted.


    The Nymph continued trying tomunicate with Erani. It pointed at the ground behind itself with its remaining arm, mimicking a huge explosion and then drawing a line between itself and the Infernal Commander. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what it was suggesting. Was it asking Erani to kill it, so that the Infernal wouldn¡¯t be able to? It kept pointing to the ground behind it, though.


    Erani lit a Firebolt in her hand, and then pointed to the ground behind the Nymph. It nodded frantically. The shorter Nymph began crying once Erani understood her role.


    ¡°You think this is a good idea?¡± She asked me.


    ¡°It obviously seems to know what it¡¯s doing,¡± I said.


    She shook her head and prepared to cast. The shorter Nymph backed away, wiping its eyes. The wed Nymph held its remaining arm close to its chest and bent its legs, a resolute look on its face. The Infernal Commander snapped a branch off a tree and looked back to see the wounded Nymph staring at it hatefully.


    Then, Erani shot the Firebolt.


    It impacted the ground directly behind the Nymph just as it jumped forward, just as we had done at the river. The explosion propelled it toward the Infernal and the Nymph flew through the air, but its two legs were alsopletely destroyed in the process, its likely incredibly low Health doing nothing to protect it like it hadst time. There was nothing left below its knees by the time it arrived at the Demon, its remaining hand of ws held out in front of it.


    The des impaled the Infernal¡¯s neck, piercing all the way through anding out the other side. The momentum the Nymph carried punched the Demon backward, and its throat was nailed to the tree behind it, the beastpletely pinned in ce. It shook in pain and shock as the Nymph, stuck to the tree alongside the Infernal, screamed at us in itsnguage. Itspanion hesitated, obviously torn between helping the Nymph, and doing as it had said.


    I didn¡¯t understand what the wed Nymph was saying, but I understood what it was doing. It was buying us time. Despite the damage we¡¯d dealt to it, the Infernal Commander looked nowhere close to dead. But, if we got far enough away, maybe it wouldn¡¯t be able to track us anymore. The Demon at least looked stunned, and the Nymph would do its best to keep it there for as long as possible.


    I grabbed the shorter Nymph¡¯s hand, and looked at the other. I wasn¡¯t able to save that Nymph. I was too weak.


    But I could at least save one. So I ran.

 Chapter 43: A New Friend

    Chapter 43: A New Friend


    We ran for what felt like hours, keeping up the fastest speed we could manage for as long as we could. The Nymph we managed to save ran along with us gracefully, seeming barely tired from the gauntlet of hills to ascend and fallen logs to leap over. Its whip bounced against its thigh as it bounded through the forest with us. At first, I was impressed, but eventually, as my legs felt more and more hollow and powerless, I was just jealous of its seemingly endless Stamina.


    The Nymph didn¡¯t just run with us, though. It led us. As we fled from the Infernals we¡¯d left behind us, it took a sudden turn to the left, toward what seemed to be a massive hill that¡¯d be hell to climb up. But then it took us behind a tree, through a squeeze between two rocks, and into a tunnel that¡¯d been bored through the hill long ago. Maybe it was a digging monster, or a sser that used some Spell to bore through the hill, but the hole was still here. The Nymph led us through, and suddenly we were on the other side, moving straight through an obstacle that would¡¯ve taken ten times as long to traverse otherwise.


    And then we came across a massive ravine that split the earth in two. We¡¯d have to go around it, I thought. A detour, but one the Demons would have to take, as well. It was too long to jump across, and too deep to go down and back up. But then the Nymph grabbed a vine that clung to a nearby tree and split it off, and used it to swing all the way across the ravine. We did the same, and suddenly we were that much further ahead.


    Over and over, the Nymph used its seemingly-infinite mastery of the terrain and environment ¨C knowledge of every tree and rock, of every monster territory, of every single shortcut that one could think of ¨C to eke us further and further ahead. The constant movement and climbing and crawling and ducking under this and jumping over that only served to tire me more, though.


    The exhausting sprint helped keep my mind off the sacrifice we¡¯d made to escape, though. I couldn¡¯t forgive myself for letting someone die there, right in front of me. Sure, I¡¯d also left behind the citizens of Carth, but it waspletely impossible for me to have stopped that invasion. The Supreme Hellion, the legions of Infernals ¨C they were more of a force of nature than something I could have stopped. This time? I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that if I¡¯d just been a bit stronger, gained one extra Level, I could¡¯ve gotten out of that encounter with everyone alive in the end.


    Maybe I¡¯d chosen the wrong Spells and Talents. I¡¯d raved to Erani about Recursive Growth¡¯s infinite potential, but I sure as hells wasn¡¯t feeling that power now. And her Angelic Shield hadn¡¯t been very useful in that fight, either. I¡¯d known it wouldn¡¯t be very good for a while, and yet I still convinced her to take it. What was I thinking?


    I set my jaw as we ran. There was no use in condemning myself for my past actions. At the end of the day, the reason we had to leave that Nymph behind was because the Demons decided to attack us in the first ce. <em>They </em>were the ones to me.


    My legs screamed at me, begging me to lie down for even a moment. My ankles jolted in pain with every footfall, and my feet chafed and blistered from rubbing against my shoes. But I kept running. If the Infernals caught up to us, we¡¯d be dead, and that Nymph¡¯s sacrifice would have been for nothing.


    But eventually, after pushing myself to a physical limit, past that limit, and then up to a second physical limit that I didn¡¯t even know I had, I received a System notification.


    Your Stamina has reached 1.


    You can no longer physically exert yourself.


    Immediately, I copsed onto the ground as I felt all strength leave my legs. I gasped for air, suddenly realizing just how out of breath I was. It was as though all of my physical Stats had left my body.


    ¡°Shit, are you okay?!¡± Erani gasped. She crouched down and helped me sit back up.


    ¡°At one Stamina,¡± I managed to get out. ¡°Need to rest.¡±


    She looked around the area. We were still in the middle of the forest, but there weren¡¯t any signs of Demons around us.


    ¡°I guess we should all rest,¡± Erani said, breathing heavily. ¡°I don¡¯t like being out in the open, but¡­ Well, at least we have the Nymph with us to keep the nearby monsters calm.¡±


    She copsed against a tree. Both of us had sweat drenching our skin and dripping from our face.


    The Nymph was still standing. I could tell it hadn¡¯t entirely mentally recovered from the attack. I reached over and took its arm, pulling it down into a sitting position. It looked at me, but I couldn¡¯t entirely parse what it was thinking. I knew Humans, but the emotions of monsters were another thing entirely. Itsrge white eyes stared into me, and its green skin, with its shifting vines and leaves, never quite seemed like it was still.


    I closed my eyes while I continued gasping for air. Before long, without realizing it, I fell into an exhausted trance.


    I didn¡¯t know how long I rested, headid against a tree trunk with my eyes closed, but eventually, I awoke to the noise of a snarl. I opened my eyes and saw a Panther charging out from the treeline at us. Its teeth were bared and its eyes had an unquenchable rage in them. Instinctively, I shot off a couple Rays of Frost, freezing and killing the enemy.


    You have in Level 2 Panther.


    You earned 6 XP.


    I looked at the Nymph. It was obviously stressed and traumatized. It didn¡¯t even react to the attacking Panther. As things were, we probably wouldn¡¯t get any rest; the Nymph¡¯s empathy would automatically agitate any animals or monsters that came nearby, and it didn¡¯t seem like it could turn that off.


    Currently, the Nymph was sitting still, staring at nothing. Mustering as much energy as I could, I sat back up and leaned over to it. My Stamina was regenerating now that I was resting, but that didn¡¯t make my exhaustion go away. Erani was still fully asleep on the ground next to us. It didn¡¯t seem my scuffle with the Panther had woken her up.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± I asked the Nymph. It didn¡¯t respond or react to my words. I knew it wouldn¡¯t understand, of course, but I hoped a calm tone and a little interaction with another person might help get its mind off things. I gently touched its arm. It flinched, but kept staring at the distant point in space. ¡°I know it must be hard. Losing a friend, or a lover, or whatever it is that the other Nymph was to you, is always difficult to bear. And so is losing a home. I don¡¯t know how attached Nymphs get to their homes, but we Humans care a lot about where we live. That¡¯s where we put our lives.¡±


    The Nymph seemed to realize I was speaking to it, and turned to look at me. Its eyes were empty of feeling.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I dragged you into this. I knew I was being hunted, and I stayed with you and took advantage of your kindness anyway. And I¡¯m sorry that I wasn¡¯t strong enough to take responsibility for the consequences of those actions when the time came. I put you in danger. I didn¡¯t realize¡­ I wasn¡¯t thinking about that in the moment. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    The Nymph tilted its head. I wondered what it was thinking now. Could it at least understand the intentions of my words? It at least seemed a bit calmer, which was the point of all that. It looked down at the ground and began tracing its finger across the dirt, making lines in the soil. After a moment, I realized it was drawing the riverbed. The winding river cut through the ground, trees and rocks scattered along the side. Every detail was perfect, each bend in the stream and root of the trees in the exact ce they were in reality.


    The Nymph had a wistful look on its face, as though it were making a true attempt to bring itself back to its home. Every time I felt like it was done, it would only go back and add more detail to the perfect picture. A vine on a rock here, a patch of moss there, tiny dots in the dirt to represent pebbles scattered across the dirt. When its fingers were toorge to draw the details, it would use a stick from the ground, and when the stick was toorge, it would use the sharpened tip of its fingernail.


    Eventually, it seemed to get to a point where it was satisfied with its drawing. Then, it put its finger to the area of the drawing that contained the makeshift table that it had been sitting at when Erani and I first arrived at the stream. It traced careful lines above the rock sitting next to the stump, and by the end, I recognized it to be the Nymph itself, sitting at the table, cheerfullyughing at an unsaid joke.


    The Nymph put its finger to the rock on the opposite side of the stump. But it never drew its conversation partner. Its finger stood there, stuck in the dirt, shaking. I looked up to realize the Nymph was crying.


    I wasn¡¯t sure what I could even do. I gently lifted the Nymphs hand from the dirt, careful not to ruin the beautiful illustration, and turned the Nymph around so it was facing me. Then, I leaned over and began drawing a picture of my own in the dirt. I wasn¡¯t sure what to draw at first. My room in the inn back in my vige wasn¡¯t very interesting, and I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to draw it very urately, anyway. I never really paid much attention to my material possessions.


    Eventually, I settled on thendscape of Carth, from the top of the clock tower. I wasn¡¯t sure if I could do it justice, but I¡¯d do my best. I drew out the city streets and the boxy houses lining them, the distant market squares and the walls surrounding the city. The Nymph watched, intrigued. As a monster, it¡¯d probably never seen anything like this before.


    Once I was done with therger picture of the grid-like roads, though, I had trouble with smaller details. I found my ¡®people¡¯ walking the streets were more like little blobs, and the lines I meant to be straight were instead shaky and nted. When the Nymph noticed me struggling, it reached out and began helping me with my lines, detailing my scene more urately than I ever could.


    However, it seemed to misunderstand what it was I was trying to draw. Instead of the people I¡¯d meant them to be, the Nymph detailed my blobs into tiny boulders peppering the streets. Instead of windows in the houses, it drew vines covering the square buildings. My roads were turned into gigantic roots protruding from the tree that it interpreted the clock tower to be. I guess it made sense; it¡¯d only ever known the wilderness, so it wouldn¡¯t be able to see anything else.


    In the end, the picture looked like one straight out of the bard¡¯s tales, a city taken over by roots and vines, rubble scattered in the streets. Even though it was a misunderstanding, it was strangely beautiful.


    Eventually, the Nymph yawned, clearly tired. I understood the feeling. It nced at me, and theny down on the ground next to Erani, closing its eyes. I was d I¡¯d managed to help it. I leaned back, too, remembering my exhaustion, and closed my eyes.


    Before I knew it, I fell into a slumber.


    I awoke to a gentle stirring by Erani. It was dark out ¨C I¡¯d apparently slept through the rest of the day and all the way into midnight. The Nymph was still on the ground, sleeping soundly.


    ¡°You doing okay?¡± Erani asked me.


    I checked my Status.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    12


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>9</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>22</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>181</strong>/<strong>500</strong>


    Dexterity:


    <strong>12</strong>


    Health:


    <strong>126</strong>/<strong>220</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.0804</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>48</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>102</strong>/<strong>102</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.672</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>10</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>530</strong>/<strong>530</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>10.14</strong>


    <strong>Stat Points:</strong>


    <strong>3</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>[Spell Choice Avable]</strong>


    Recursive Growth


    Trailzer


    Ray of Frost <strong>5</strong> - XP <strong>4</strong>/<strong>45</strong>


    Time Loop <strong>9</strong>


    Crippling Chill <strong>5</strong> - XP <strong>4</strong>/<strong>45</strong>


    Noxious Grasp 9 - XP <strong>332</strong>/355


    ¡°Uh, yeah, pretty much. Health¡¯s still only around half, but my Stamina¡¯s full now.¡±


    Erani flicked my forehead. ¡°I can assume that much, dummy. I mean outside of your Status. You feeling alright? It got a bit intense back there. I got worried when you copsed.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Yeah, yeah, I¡¯m doing fine. Sorry, got a bit distracted when I checked my Status. I Leveled up earlier andpletely forgot about it. Got a Spell Choice and everything.¡±


    ¡°Oh, congrats,¡± she smiled while I closed my eyes to begin meditating. ¡°While you get focused to make those changes¡­ mind discussing what we¡¯re gonna do with the Nymph?¡±


    I winced, keeping my eyes closed. ¡°Yeah, sorry. Guess from your perspective, I just appeared and dered what was happening with no discussion or information.¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± sheughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, though. I¡¯ve been getting used to that sort of thingtely.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, I¡¯m not exactly sure what the n is from here. I guess it depends on what the Nymph wants to do. It¡¯s just¡­ I saw them back there, fighting for their lives against the enemies <em>I</em> brought, and I saw that I could do something about it.¡± I didn¡¯t mention that my reasoning also included the XP from killing the Infernals. The second timeline, at the very least, I spent all my effort on saving them. ¡°If the Nymph wants to go, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m gonna do anything to stop it. And if it wants to stick with us, I say we need all the help we can get.¡±


    ¡°Makes sense to me.¡±


    After a few minutes, I was able to open up my Spell Choice and look at the options.


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Betrothed of Fire


    School: Fire


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 6 Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    While active, douses you in an aura of me, dealing up to 10 damage per second, depending on how close they are to you, to any being within 5 paces of you.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Sr ze</em>


    <em>Energy Bolt</em>


    <em>Force of Will</em>


    Spiritual Guardian


    School: Divine


    Type: Passive


    Cost: 10% of your Mana regeneration


    ¡ª


    All damage you take is reduced by 5%.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Holy Day</em>


    <em>Parasitic Bonds</em>


    <em>shfreeze</em>


    Gravity Well


    School: Arcane


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 10 Mana/Second per Being Affected


    ¡ª


    While active, increase gravitational pull by 25% for any number of beings within 30 paces of you.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Ethereal Armor</em>


    <em>Abrupt Decay</em>


    <em>Stasis</em>


    It wasn¡¯t immediately obvious which one I should pick. Betrothed of Fire had obvious synergies with the Spells I¡¯d been taking ¨C it was basically a longer-ranged Noxious Grasp ¨C but its damage left something to be desired, especially in situations where I only had one enemy in range. Spiritual Guardian would be interesting, simply consuming some of my Mana/Minute to reduce any damage I took. However, as a Passive Spell, I wouldn¡¯t be able to ever turn it off, so that Mana/Minute consumption would be permanent. And Gravity Well seemed like a great Spell to control a battlefield and keep opponents weakened, but it would be expensive to use, and not always useful on smaller or lighter monsters.


    I read them all out to Erani.


    ¡°Which do you think?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I was honestly hoping you¡¯d recognize one of those Intelligence Information Spells as something we desperately needed so I wouldn¡¯t have to figure it out myself.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I do,¡± she said thoughtfully. ¡°But just from hearing all of their effects, I¡¯d say Betrothed of Fire is the weakest.¡±


    ¡°I was thinking the same thing. If I¡¯m up close with a monster, Noxious Grasp already does what it does, but better. The main situation it would be good in would be fighting a gigantic swarm of weak enemies, but I don¡¯t see that happening soon, and your Explosive Firebolts handle situations like that just fine.¡±


    ¡°Right. So it¡¯s between the other two, them?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s hard to choose. Gravity Well would work very well with Crippling Chill and Ray of Frost¡¯s Dexterity debuffing effects, but it¡¯s Mana-intensive. It¡¯ll be good against the slow and heavy Infernals, sure, but against any other smaller, more agile monsters, it doesn¡¯t seem like it¡¯d be as good.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but Spiritual Guardian¡¯sck of flexibility worries me. Since it¡¯s a passive Spell, you can¡¯t ever turn it off. So even if you desperately need the Mana for something else, you¡¯ll have to always use up some of your Mana on the Spell.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°But it seems useful to have <em>some</em> sort of protection for me, right? It¡¯s been a very long time since I¡¯ve seen myself at full Health, and I need something to keep me safe.¡±


    Erani hummed. ¡°Well, from before, when you were picking your Talent. Recursive Growth came with the Intelligence Information that in your next Talent Choice at Level 10, you¡¯ll be offered a Talent called ¡®Regenerate,¡¯ right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, why?¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know exactly what it will do, but judging from the name, it probably regains Health. So, if you know you¡¯ll be offered some healing in the future, you know that you¡¯ll get another option to fill that role of keeping you alive.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t even thought of that. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. I guess if it¡¯s still desperately needed at that point, I can always look into Regenerate. So Spiritual Guardian isn¡¯t quite as unique in its effect, it seems. Still, think Gravity Well is better here?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I mean, against an enemy like the Infernals, it¡¯s obviously pretty useful, since they¡¯re so heavy. Especially against something that jumps around like the Infernal Commander. But in the long-term, I could imagine you going up against all kinds of things that it¡¯s borderline useless against.¡±


    I pursed my lips. Did I really have the luxury to think in the long term right now? Gravity Well would be an immense help in keeping those massive Infernals off us, and that was exactly what I needed right now. If I kept taking things that would only work in the long term, I¡¯d just die in the short term. So, while Spiritual Guardian would probably always be at least a little useful, it was also likely that it¡¯d just get me killed here. ¡°Gravity Well it is.¡±


    You have learned the Spell Gravity Well.


    <em>Your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Ethereal Armor</em>


    <em>Abrupt Decay</em>


    <em>Stasis</em>


    I also went ahead and put my Stat Points into Conjuration. With the new high-cost Spell, I¡¯d need that Mana more than ever.


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 51.


    And with that, I was settled, a new Spell in my arsenal and some additional Stats to help use it.


    ¡°Now I¡¯ve just got to get the damned thing to Rank 5 like the rest of them.¡±

 Chapter 44: Welcome to Hell. Let’s Have a Chat.

    Chapter 44: Wee to Hell. Let¡¯s Have a Chat.


    A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. Long-forgotten papers were scattered across the floor, covered in so many dirty footsteps it was impossible to tell what was written on them anymore. The Devil leaned, hunched over the empty desk, chewing on one of his fingers. It had be a bad habit of his, biting down on a thumb or pinkie any time he became stressed. It had gotten so bad, in fact, that he regrly bit down hard enough to identally draw blood. But some small wounds on a finger were the least of his worries. For now, he listened intently to a report being given to him by an underling, eyes focused on an arbitrary bump in the desk.


    ¡°¨Cfive-hundred and six Overworld losses in the past twenty-four hours. Of those, two-hundred fifty-five Infernals are currentlyatose in the Underworld, along with forty Hellions, and a Hellion has perished due toplications in the awakening process, as well. Eleven Human settlements have beenpletely destroyed, and sixteen ssed Humans of Level twenty or more have been killed. We suspect there are still at least one-hundred and twelve with teleportation capabilities and the ability to track our forces, of which one-hundred and eleven are currently beingbated or tracked. There are two-hundred ny-one individuals which we suspect might be capable of the same, of which we are investigating two-hundred fifty-seven. Eighteen Human settlements¨C¡±


    ¡°Ton¡¯dao,¡± the Devil interrupted. He looked up from his desk and into the underling¡¯s eyes, or rather, eye. This particr Demon was a Balor, arge, one-eyed race of Demons. They stood tall and wide, so the Balor, Ton¡¯dao, had to hunch over to fit in the Devil¡¯s office. Its body was covered in patchy hair, tiny groups of strands sprouting up along random spots of the Demon¡¯s brick red, muscled body. Its face was covered in folds as though there was twice as much skin than necessary on its head. The Devil fought back a scowl as he looked across the Balor¡¯s ugly form. ¡°Is An Nota dead yet?¡±


    ¡°...No, Superior Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep,¡± Ton¡¯dao said in a deep, rumbly voice. Its sentences were stilted, a pause just barely too long after every phrase in its speech. ¡°He has been spotted two times, though, and we have Diviner squads working around the clock to locate him. His constant movement proves him a difficult target, but¨C¡±


    ¡°¨Cbut you haven''t done it yet,¡± the Devil sighed and rubbed his eyes. ¡°Fucking worthless. What Level is he?¡±


    ¡°Formal expression of apology, but that is currently unknown. He has dispatched one Infernal that we know of, utilizing the help of another ssed individual, so our estimates say above Level five.¡±


    ¡°¡®That you know of?¡¯ Can you not keep track of your own troops?¡±


    ¡°No, Superior, that is not the case. It is just that we do not know if he has killed any in alternate timelines.¡±


    ¡°So, what you¡¯re telling me is that we have just been feeding our own enemy power in the form of gift-wrapped units for him to kill, and we don¡¯t even know how strong he is.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Listen, Ton¡¯dao. I have about thirty different meetings that I need to go to after this, so I¡¯m going to have to cut this one short. Just tell me this: why, in your own opinion, is this taking so abysmally long to do? How ipetent can these soldiers be that they can¡¯t even kill a scared little boy hiding in the woods? We control the <em>entire fucking kingdom he lives in</em>. How in the name of the lord below has he survived more than ten fucking minutes? It has been seventy-two hours, Ton¡¯dao. We outnumber him tens of thousands to one.¡±


    The Balor scratched his head, obviously confused at the Devil¡¯s emotional outburst. Such things were rare to see in Demons. ¡°...Well, in my opinion, the main problem is the rest of the Humans. We cannot mobilize the majority of our forces because, any time we try, the Humans will attack and try to kill our troops. There are groups of individuals inw enforcement who are focused on keeping the peace in the cities. These individuals posed problems at first, but now that we are searching for An Nota in the forest, they are not as problematic. However, there are also Humans who call themselves ¡®adventurers¡¯, who will go into the wilderness to kill any Demons they see. We are fighting a war on two fronts, and if we attempt to focus too much on An Nota, the Infernals will be ughtered.¡±


    The Devil bit down on his index finger once again, and soon tasted blood on his tongue. He looked down at the bleeding finger, blue ichor dripping from the wound onto his desk. He scowled and closed his eyes, trying to bring his stress under control. ¡°And why haven¡¯t you spoken with the Humans?¡±


    ¡°I do not have an Overworld form, currently.¡±


    ¡°I mean ¡®you,¡¯ the whole. Just¡­ fucking, any of you. A single Demon, ever. Why has nobody spoken with the Humans that are attacking you?¡± The Devil waved hands angrily as he spoke. ¡°They aren¡¯t fucking brainless, you know. They are capable of conversation, same as the rest of us. If they¡¯e killing our men and sending soldiers to ughter the Infernals, maybe you should have considered fucking <em>diplomacy</em>? Or are you so fucking meatheaded that your first instinct was punch your way through the problem?¡±


    ¡°I do not possess the power to speak with the Humans, or to ask others to do so on my behalf.¡±


    ¡°I am once again talking about ¡®you¡¯ the whole, you fucking dumbass. Tens of thousands of Demons in this operation, and not one person thought ¡®oh hey, maybe we should, fucking, I dunno, try saying words.¡¯¡± The Devil groaned. ¡°This shit is going to be the death of me. I swear, my chest is just going to implode one day and I¡¯ll be dead.¡±


    ¡°...Formal expression of apology, Superior, but what should we say to the Humans?¡±


    ¡°What should you say? Listen, we are only going to be in the Overworld for as long as An Nota is alive. Once An Nota is dead, we leave. So, all you need to do is to point out to the Humans that it is within their best interest to ensure An Nota is dead.¡±


    ¡°Would they not want to ensure the survival of one of their own?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re killing hundreds of Humans every day! Do you think they don¡¯t know that? Every day An Nota remains alive, more Humans die. All that needs to happen to ensure those Humans <em>don¡¯t</em> die is for them to let one single Human into our hands. It is simple negotiation.¡±


    ¡°But the Humans do not want us to kill Humans. If Humans will die either way, they will fight us like they are doing now.¡±


    ¡°They aren¡¯t a monolith, moron,¡± the Devil groaned into his palms, rubbing his face. ¡°Listen, talk to the ruler. Be diplomatic. Be convincing. Be threatening, be friendly, be whatever. It shouldn¡¯t be difficult to convince the Humans to save their own lives.¡±


    ¡°I do not understand. Which of those should I be?¡±


    ¡°Fuck this shit. I¡¯m doing it myself.¡± The Devil stood. ¡°Ton¡¯dao, are you busy after this meeting?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Superior. I will be reporting to fourteen other higher-ups with the information I have told you, and then going back to reconfigure troop arrangements, assign Commanders to key locations, gather intelligence on significant enemies, and¨C.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re not doing any of that anymore. You¡¯re in charge of canceling or rescheduling the thirty meetings I have after this one. I¡¯m going to be busy.¡±


    ¡°...Yes, Superior.¡±


    The Devil walked out of his office, squeezing past the Balor¡¯s oversized body. He stepped into the mainplex office, hundreds of desks pushed together with Ember Mites and Gargoyles working away, trying their best to uphold the duties that the Devil had been forced to abandon in order to focus full-time on the An Nota project. He looked around the room, trying to catch the eye of one of the workers, but all of them seemed to perfectly avoid his gaze.


    He shook his head. He was too overworked for this dumb office mindgames shit.


    ¡°Who here can manage an Overworld trip?¡± he projected his voice across therge room.


    Nobody answered.


    He rolled his eyes with a scowl. ¡°If nobody volunteers within the next, let¡¯s say, five seconds, I am going to kill all of you.¡±


    A few dozen hands went up.


    ¡°Thank you. You,¡± he pointed to the nearest one, a Gargoyle. ¡°Take me to the nearest projecting station.¡±


    Once they got there and got through the inordinate amount of bullshit bureaucracy necessary to get assigned a Projector Demon, the Devilid himself down in a projection pod, impatiently readying himself to be transported to the Overworld.


    It was strange. He normally never felt like the amount of paperwork or checks and bnces that had been put into ce in the Underworld was unnecessary, but in his recent days, he felt himself bing more and more critical of the way things were run down here. When he was on such a tight timetable, there were a lot of things he realized werepletely unnecessary. The amount of time needed to get confirmation for a simple troop reassignment, the fact that he was expected to read every single report of all the meaningless information given to him, it was ridiculous.


    But at least he was able to take some actions in a reasonable timeframe, like his traveling to the Overworld. He¡¯d have to use a weaker projection of his true self because of hisck of scheduling ahead of time, but it was fine. He was going in for negotiations, not to fight on the front lines like the rest of those brutes.


    The pod hey in was stone on the bottom and a clear, refined quartz covering the top. The Gargoyle that took him there was still outside the projection room, making preparations and arrangements. The Devil could hear its sniveling voice through the walls.


    Eventually, a Projector Demon came in. It was short and shriveled, its skin sagging from its body and back hunched dramatically. It walked with a wooden cane. None of this was testament to its age, however ¨C that was just how the Projectors were born. A simple rucksack of a hood covered most of its face, but a long snout pointed from it, whiskersing from its nose. Its snout was wrinkled, too.


    ¡°Formal expression of greeting. It will be a pleasure to project you, Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep.¡± It spoke with an old man¡¯s voice, as well, a crotchety croak of a sound. ¡°My name is Ar¡¯dinandinyuu¡¯amwinton¡±


    ¡°What kind of body can you get me?¡± The Devil intentionally ignored the greeting. He¡¯d been doing so more and more often recently. Once again, he was busy and didn¡¯t have time for those formalities.


    It wasn¡¯t like he was being urgent about the issue of the body to be difficult on purpose, though. Bodies were an important part of negotiation. They dictated your looks, and thus, peoples¡¯ first impressions of you. They created the sound of your voice, and the tools you would have avable to you. Some people could yell threateningly, others could only whimper. Some could make themselves look pitiful and inspire empathy, others only looked brutal. If the Devil was to be an effective negotiator, he would need an effective body.


    ¡°Ah, I am a newer Projector. I was the only one they had on hand when you came in. Normally, there is a waiting list, but¡­ we understand some matters are urgent.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t answer my question.¡±


    ¡°Uh, yes, of course. I will be able to project you into a form that is ¨C and pardon my rounding to only six decimals ¨C 3.942517% as powerful as your true self.¡±


    The Devil sighed. That wasn¡¯t exactly ideal, but it wasn¡¯t the worst, either. It seemed he wouldn¡¯t be very imposing, but at least he¡¯d have a face and a voice that had a good range of emotion. Some Projectors could only put Demons into formless wisps of smoke that couldn¡¯t do anything but observe the world around it. At least this way, he¡¯d still look like himself. ¡°That¡¯s fine. Take me there.¡±


    ¡°Well, we first need to get initializations set up on paper¨C¡±


    ¡°Just start projecting. I don¡¯t have the patience for this.¡±


    The Projector Demon looked at the Devil for a moment, before sighing. ¡°Yes, Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep. I will do so immediately.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± The Devil leaned back and closed the quartz top, creating a casket of sorts that the Devily inside. He allowed the Projector to do its work, weaving Spells with the utmost uracy. They¡¯d already worked out the general area that the Devil would be projected to and the other mundane details. The Devil had been mentally working out a n for how he¡¯d go about his discussion with the Humans, and he was confident.


    After the preparatory Spells had been cast, the Projector spoke up, its voiceing muffled through the quartz and stone case. ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    ¡°Send me in. I have some people I need to speak with.¡±

 Chapter 45: Welcome to Hell. And by Hell, I Mean the Overworld.

    Chapter 45: Wee to Hell. And by Hell, I Mean the Overworld.


    A Devil stood outside of a city on a bright, sunny day. Or, it wasn¡¯t really a Devil that stood there, a false body of the Devil being projected from the Underworld. The Devil looked down at his hands and body, finding that he felt much weaker than he did in his original body, and almost¡­ lower resolution. Like his skin wasn¡¯t as detailed as it used to be, and his ck shirt and pants didn¡¯t have as many fibers. His eyesight was worse and his hearing was lower definition, and he could feel in his mind that he didn¡¯t have ess to many of the Racial abilities he was used to having.


    <em>Let¡¯s get this over with</em>, he thought as he walked up to the city walls. The stone barriers were tall and intimidatingpared to his individual personage, but the Devil didn¡¯t pay them any mind. He could get them open easily.


    An arrow flew at him from the top of the wall, perfectly aimed to strike right between his eyes, but he tilted his head to the side, allowing the arrow to fly right by. Another arrow came, and he did the same. He continued walking calmly forward.


    While the Devil was technically an office worker ¨C and had been one all his life ¨C that didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t know how to fight. Like many other Demons, when he was young and naive, he¡¯d gotten interested inbat and tried to learn how to fight on the front lines like the rest of the soldiers. He¡¯d been disillusioned of that stupid fantasy by now, but he still had the training he¡¯d received, so even when he wasn¡¯t in his much more powerful true body, his instincts remained.


    Even so, the arrows were annoying, and his n involved diplomacy, so he raised his hands in a gesture of peace. The arrows stoppeding after that, but the gates didn¡¯t open.


    In fact, after a moment, a voice came from the top of the walls. ¡°Demon! Do not approach any further!¡±


    It was a¡­ Human male? It was difficult for the Devil to tell smaller details things like a Human¡¯s sex, especially just from their voice.


    The Devil cleared his throat and called back ¡°I am¨C¡± he coughed. His new voice gargled and was ufortable to speak with, like his throat was full of phlegm. With a grunt, he cleared it and got a bit used to the false vessel¡¯s way of speaking. He¡¯d never actually been projected before, so he hadn¡¯t ever experienced how ufortable it was. ¡°¨CI am a diplomat. Ie to discuss the state of our rtions with your king.¡±


    ¡°Your kind is not wee! Get out or we will shoot!¡±


    The Devil resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Idiots. ¡°I wish to establish a mutually beneficial rtionship between Humans and Demons. If you do not like what I have to say, you may kick me out or kill me. But please hear me out first. At least inform your king that I wish to speak with him.¡±


    There was a pause. ¡°Fine. Stay there. And his name is King Koinkar. Do not disrespect the lord¡¯s title!¡±


    The Devil sighed and plopped down, sitting in the grassy field surrounding the city walls. In his time with the assault on the Overworld, he¡¯d be incredibly familiar with the strangend where there was no ceiling, but it was still strange to be there physically. There was something that thousands of magical depictions and illusions couldn¡¯t depict.


    It was¡­ the smell. Yes. It smelled like absolute shit here. Disgusting. It was also loud. Was that the wind? Making the trees¡¯ leaves rustle? What an irritating noise. And the grass was too soft. Why couldn¡¯t they have stone floors like normal people? This ce was terrible.


    After waiting for much too long, the gates finally opened. A dozen Human soldiers walked through, on guard with weapons bared. They wielded swords and spears, and one of them even had a magical shield surrounding themself. What an overreaction. The Devil would barely be able to hurt even one of them in his current state.


    ¡°If you try to pull any tricks, you¡¯re dead,¡± one of them said. Did they even know that dying in the Overworld wasn¡¯t true death for a Demon? That wasn¡¯t much of a threat.


    The Devil nodded. ¡°Of course.¡±


    The Humans led him through a city. Citizens were crowded in, bustling around the roads in what was obviously overpoption. Some were napping on the sides of the streets, too, apparently homeless. Many of them were probably refugees from nearby destroyed towns and settlements. Since the city housed the king of this ce, it made sense that it would also be the best-protected, and thus, the most in-demand for housing. The Humans strayed away from the Devil as he was escorted through the city, parting before him as though he were surrounded by a magical forcefield. They looked at the Devil with disgust and fear.


    Good, the Devil thought. They should be afraid.


    Eventually they got to the main castle which held the king. It was impressive,pared to the rest of the city, with huge marble walls and pirs, intricate statues and fountains. Of course, it would barely be worth mentioning if it were next to the Underworld pces and castles. Where was the brimstone? Or the rivers ofva?


    Oh well, the Devil thought. It was no surprise that the Humans had no taste.


    They entered the castle, and yet more guards surrounded the Devil. At this point, it was like he was the eye of a maelstrom of des and armor, all aimed at him. He didn¡¯t pay them any mind, though. After many halls and rooms full of meaningless decoration, they got to the audience chamber. A gigantic set of double doors gated entry.


    The guards opened the doors slowly, revealing a massive room within which a throne sat. The golden-white chair shone with brilliance, and the Devil realized the shining wasn¡¯t by ident. The entire ce was Enchanted, full of lights that were perfectly aimed at the brilliant seat. The whole ce seemed tailor-made to intimidate anyone who entered.


    And then, of course, there was the king himself. The man was old ¨C incredibly so ¨C and draped in multipleyers of furs, cloaks, and jewelry. It was all Enchanted, most likely with magic to help the frail man stay alive.


    The Devil had researched general Human anatomy, and knew that an Unssed person normally wouldn¡¯t ever survive past eighty or ny years of age, but with the help of the Endurance Stat, that number could be expanded out incredibly far. Of course, the body would still be frail and clumsy with age, which was normally mitigated by equally high Strength and Dexterity Stats, but it seemed like this king wanted to live longer above all else, and had put every Stat Point he had into Endurance, simply relying on magical items to allow him to move around.


    Standing beside the king was a group of four highly-decorated soldiers, each with well-crafted, Enchanted gear that would likely rival the cost of the entire room. The royal guard, the Devil guessed.


    One of them, a Human in silver te armor with blue ents and a spear on her back, stepped forward. ¡°You are in the presence of King Koinkar. Bow.¡±


    Reluctantly, the Devil obeyed. He normally would never bow before someone with such a pathetic, short name, but desperate times called for desperate measures.


    ¡°Say your name, Demon.¡± The armored Human ¨C a female, perhaps ¨Cmanded.


    ¡°Formal expression of greeting, King Koinkar. My name is Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep.¡±


    The Humans looked at the Devil strangely as the time it took for him to speak his name dragged on and on. One of them even took a step back, guarding themselves like he was reciting some sort of ancient magic.


    <em>Idiots</em>.


    ¡°Er, we will call you Demon,¡± the woman said.


    The Devil fought back a scowl. Completely disrespectful.


    ¡°That is fine,¡± he said with gritted teeth, and looked at the frail king. ¡°I am here on a diplomatic mission on behalf of Demonkind. We wish to negotiate with the Humans. You are the king of the Human species, correct?¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± the king finally spoke. His voice was strained and hoarse. ¡°I rule the Koinkar kingdom, not Humanity as a whole. Have you perhaps attacked the wrong ce? Are you here to announce your departure from ournds?¡±


    The Devil, of course, knew that this Koinkar was not the king of the entirety of Humanity. The intentional misunderstanding was strategic. By forcing the king to rify himself as lower in authority than the Devil had said, he put the man on the backfoot. His job was paperwork, but the origins of the race of Devils was in deception and cunning above all else. These were his roots.


    ¡°No, we attacked here intentionally,¡± he said. ¡°As I am sure you are aware, we hunt for An Nota. And, for as long as he is located within your borders, so will we be.¡±


    ¡°Foul beast,¡± the woman spat. The red feathering from the top of her helmet swayed back and forth as she shook her head in rage. ¡°Murderer!¡±


    ¡°What I propose,¡± the Devil continued, unfazed, ¡°is that we work together to achieve ourmon goal.¡±


    ¡°We have nomon goal with Demons,¡± the woman said, but the king held up a hand to silence her, nodding the Devil along.


    ¡°Neither you nor I want the Demons in the Overworld. We would like to leave as soon as possible, and we will leave you be the moment An Nota has been killed,¡± he exined. ¡°So, if we work together to kill this fugitive, it will make both sides happy. No more valuable resources spent on a war that has nothing to do with you.¡±


    ¡°...What would you propose we do?¡± the king asked. The Devil smiled; he had the man hooked.


    ¡°Simply lend your soldiers to our cause for the time it takes to rid ourselves of our problem. If you help us, we will have no reason to fight.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps it would be possible for us to simply step aside and allow you to do what you must? After the fighting our soldiers have already gone through, we do not have the numbers to be able to assist with such a task.¡±


    ¡°Sire,¡± the woman looked at the king incredulously. ¡°You are not truly considering siding with the Demons?! This is an innocent man. He hasmitted no crime. Need I remind you the Demons attacked us without warning? They had the opportunity to ask for passage before a single Human life was lost, but they did no such thing. They have no regard for Human life, and working with them will only allow more tragedy in the future.¡±


    ¡°Now is not the time for ideals, Cami,¡± the king said tiredly. ¡°Wars require sacrifices.¡±


    ¡°We would not be at war if not for them,¡± the woman ¨C Cami ¨C replied. ¡°It would be aplete betrayal to our people to work with the same beings that killed their families.¡±


    ¡°It would be a betrayal to allow more to die.¡±


    ¡°Then fight! Where is the guarantee that these fiends will not attack us the moment our backs are turned?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s enough, Cami. Do your job and stand guard.¡±


    Cami hesitantly got back into position.


    The king looked back to the Devil. ¡°So, would it be possible for our forces to let you pass, but not directly contribute to the hunting of this person you are hunting?¡±


    ¡°Regrettably, that is not so,¡± the Devil said. He wished it would have been possible to just take that deal and leave, but he really did need the Humans to help. Not because his forces werecking, of course, but because he needed to ensure the Humans with the power to hinder their operation were busy. Any Human with ess to teleportation and a way to track the Demons might interrupt their hunt at any moment, and he couldn¡¯t let that happen. ¡°It is only one person we are looking for, however, so we would not require many soldiers. Perhaps we could use any individuals with teleportation Spells or any Enchanted items that allow for teleportation, that way we can more effectively mobilize our forces in an efficient fashion, and dispatch the fugitive as quickly as possible.¡±


    The king hesitated. ¡°...Allow me to privately speak with my advisors, so that we may reach a decision.¡±


    ¡°Of course, take all the time you need.¡±


    The group of four royal guards stepped forward and escorted the Devil out of the audience room, standing there with him while they waited for the king to finish his discussion. The woman, Cami, turned to face him. Her silver-and-blue armor shimmered in the torchlight. ¡°I have half a mind to strike you down right here.¡±


    ¡°Doing so would hurt you more than it would hurt me. Killing an innocent diplomat is cause for us Demons to destroy your kingdom, if not the entire Overworld,¡± the Devil lied. ¡°I was not the one that decided to attack your kingdom, anyway,¡± he lied once again. ¡°I am simply a messenger, carrying out the wishes of my leaders.¡±


    ¡°What did this ¡®fugitive¡¯ of yours do so wrong, anyway?¡±


    ¡°He attacked and killed a very valuable Demon, unprovoked. We are simply taking back what he stole.¡±


    ¡°And why would I believe you?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to.¡±


    Cami looked over her shoulder at one of the other guards. ¡°What do you say, Ragavan? Think the Demons¡¯ll get mad if I just maim him?¡±


    Once the time waiting was over, thankfully with nobody getting stabbed by Cami¡¯s spear, the doors opened once again and the Devil was escorted back in. From the way the king looked at him, he could tell he¡¯d receive good news.


    ¡°I have discussed it with my advisors, and we have agreed that it would be beneficial for the kingdom to work alongside you in this endeavor.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± Cami interjected. ¡°You¡¯re siding with them? You¡¯d rather ughter an innocent man than fight back against the enemy that razed our cities to the ground?¡±


    A soldier put a hand on her shoulder, and the king reprimanded her, ¡°Now is not the time. We can discuss thister.¡± He looked back to the Devil. ¡°Would you like to discuss the specifics of our agreement?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± the Devil smiled. ¡°I look forward to building a mutually beneficial rtionship between our sides.¡±

 Chapter 46: Upgrade

    Chapter 46: Upgrade


    After our rest, Erani, the Nymph and I got up and started on our way, heading to Kingdom¡¯s Edge. It would be a long journey, but heading anywhere away from Carth would be a good development in our situation. On our way, I worked to Rank up my new Spell, Gravity Well.


    Gravity Well


    School: Arcane


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 10 Mana/Second per Being Affected


    ¡ª


    While active, increase gravitational pull by 25% for any number of beings within 30 paces of you.


    I had to choose at least one target for the Spell in order for it to spend Mana so I could get Spell XP for it, so I ended up choosing myself as I activated the Spell.


    ¡°Hurk!¡±


    My feet sunk a bit into the soft dirt at the sudden extra weight. It felt like a backpack full of rocks had been dropped onto my shoulders from the top of a tree, and I almost fell to the ground from the pressure. It was mostly the surprise that caused me to stumble, though, and after a bit, I almost felt used to it. Throwing an extra quarter of my weight on top of me was certainly rough, but it was spread all throughout my body, so it wasn¡¯t as bad as it could have been.


    At 10 Mana/Second, before I hit the Soft Cap of Rank 5, I was getting 5 Spell XP per second. So in rtively little time, I got there.


    Threshold reached. Gravity Well XP has reached 10.


    Gravity Well Rank has increased to 1.


    Due to Gravity Well Rank reaching 1, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 10 to 10.3


    Gravity Increase: From 25% to 28%


    Threshold reached. Gravity Well XP has reached 11.


    Gravity Well Rank has increased to 2.


    Due to Gravity Well Rank reaching 2, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 10.3 to 10.6


    Gravity Increase: From 28% to 31%


    Threshold reached. Gravity Well XP has reached 14.


    Gravity Well Rank has increased to 3.


    Due to Gravity Well Rank reaching 3, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 10.6 to 10.9


    Gravity Increase: From 31% to 34%


    Threshold reached. Gravity Well XP has reached 20.


    Gravity Well Rank has increased to 4.


    Due to Gravity Well Rank reaching 4, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 10.9 to 11.2


    Gravity Increase: From 34% to 37%


    Threshold reached. Gravity Well XP has reached 30.


    Gravity Well Rank has increased to 5.


    Due to Gravity Well Rank reaching 5, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 11.2 to 11.5


    Gravity Increase: From 37% to 41%


    Due to Gravity Well Rank increasing to Rank 5, Gravity Well has reached a Soft Cap.


    Spell XP gain for Gravity Well is 50 times slower until your Level increases past the Soft Cap.


    Increase your Level to 10 to increase your Soft Cap.


    I finished Ranking the Spell up in about fifteen seconds, and switched it off. ¡°Phew,¡± Iughed, ¡°that¡¯s a good workout.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m d you decided to use it on yourself and not me,¡± Erani smiled. We were still holding hands as we walked, the pretense of it being for ¡®training¡¯ havingpletely left our heads. At this point, it was just nice to know she was there. I wasn¡¯t sure how I would¡¯ve survived so long without her high-powered artillery, her tactical advice, or her good conversation.


    The Nymph wordlessly watched us as we talked. I still wasn¡¯t sure how I felt about it sticking with us. I was thankful to have the extrapanion, of course, but not being able to fullymunicate with it was irritating, and even got a bit scary when I would asionally look over and see it staring through me with itsrge, ssy eyes. I swore, it noticed it made me jump every time it did that, and now it was just doing it on purpose because it thought it was funny. Erani didn¡¯t believe me, though. She said it was cruel of me to pin such intentions on an ¡®innocent thing that can¡¯t defend itself¡¯.


    The Nymph¡¯s glowing white eyes weren¡¯t made any less unsettling while we walked through the night-lit forest. We¡¯d woken up from our rest in the middle of the night, and the sun was only just now beginning to rise. And so we kept on with our journey, doing our best to move fast and keep our eyes out.


    By the time the sun rose and set again, we¡¯d traveled far and I was getting tired. Practicing Noxious Grasp helped take my mind off of things, though. And I wasn¡¯t just casting it to help my mind.


    Noxious Grasp 9 - XP <strong>350</strong>/355


    At my current rate of practice, I¡¯d be able to finally get Noxious Grasp to Rank 10 in about another hour. And with that, my main weapon would receive a huge boost in power. Erani¡¯s Angelic Shield had also slowly been gaining XP, and had even Ranked up to 6.


    But the thing I was most excited about was my next Level. I checked my Intelligence Information.


    Minute Mage Basic Progression Path


    -Every 1 Level: +1 Endurance, +2 Conjuration, +3 Stat Points, Time Loop Rank Up


    -Every 3 Levels: Spell Choice


    -Every 5 Levels: Talent Choice


    -Every 10 Levels: Time Loop Usage Increase, Time Loop Upgrade


    It said that every 10 Levels, I got what was called a ¡®Time Loop Usage Increase,¡¯ and a ¡®Time Loop Upgrade.¡¯ I didn¡¯t know exactly what that would entail, but I sure as hells was excited for it. So I was eagerly keeping an eye out for any monsters I thought I might be able to kill as we walked. We didn¡¯t find much, though. It seemed like the Demons¡¯ clearing out the forest was making it harder and harder for me to Level up. And the longer it took, the fewer monsters would be out here for me to kill.


    But at least I still had Noxious Grasp¡¯s next Rank to look forward to.


    We continued walking and I continued eagerly practicing, slowly shortening the intervals I took to wait before casts as I got more and more impatient. I was even forced to let go of Erani¡¯s hand every now and then while I practiced, as my Noxious Grasp was beginning to threaten her Mana pool from preventing all the damage with Angelic Shield. She asked me what was up, but understood when I told her how close I was to Rank 10.


    Eventually, I finally got there. I could feel Noxious Grasp¡¯s Spell XP had passed 355, but nothing happened yet. For a second, I was confused. But then I got a notification.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 355.


    Consume a Poison Spell Crystal to increase Noxious Grasp Rank to 10.


    After being reminded of the additional requirement for getting a Spell to every 10th Rank, I fished the green orb back out of my pack and held it in my hand. Despite never having used one before, I felt some sort of innate instinct guide me through using it. I pushed my Mana into the object, feeling it wrap around inside the crystal and pull it toward my inner self. The crystal didn¡¯t move at all in my hand physically, but I could feel its essence slowly being tugged into my body.


    Within moments, the Spell Crystal emptied, losing its color and bing a gray hunk of rock. Inside my body, the Poison Spell Crystal¡¯s magic was consumed by my consciousness.


    And then¡­


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 355.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 10.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 10, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 3.76 to 4.7


    Health Drain: From 15.5 to 16.2


    Stamina Drain: From 7.76 to 8.15


    You may choose an Upgrade for Noxious Grasp


    The first thing I noticed was therge increase in cost. Compared to the tiny intervals I¡¯d seen before, increasing by an entire Mana per second was quite the leap. The Health and Stamina drains each went up by a more regr amount, though. But I understood why there was such arge increase in cost. Those words at the bottom, ¡°Noxious Grasp Upgrade has be avable,¡± more than made up for the markup.


    ¡°I just have to meditate like normal to choose the Upgrade, right?¡± I asked Erani.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s all. But, wait, it¡¯ll take you ten minutes to get there, you sure you wanna do it now?¡±


    ¡°Why would I wait?¡±


    ¡°Well, not wait, but why not go back with Time Loop? You could arrive back in time, before you¡¯d ever used the Spell Crystal, and keep the Upgrade while also keeping the crystal. That way you won¡¯t have to buy another in the future. Or, y¡¯know, you could just sell it.¡±


    ¡°Shit, you¡¯re right,¡± I mused. We¡¯d been walking for enough time that it was already approaching night, so using Time Loop here wouldn¡¯t make me vulnerable for very much time. ¡°I guess I always think about the Talent in terms ofbat, but it can be used for other reasons too, huh?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± sheughed. ¡°...So, are you going to use it now, to get back your Poison Spell Crystal?¡±


    ¡°It would be pretty irresponsible not to, yeah.¡±


    ¡°How does it work, then? I¡¯ve never actually seen you do it.¡±


    ¡°Well, I just kinda use it. And then I¡¯m back a few minutes in time.¡±


    ¡°Huh. So I just¡­ disappear.¡±


    I blinked. I knew where this was going; I¡¯d already had the conversation with Erani in a previous timeline, and she didn¡¯t even know I¡¯d already had it. ¡°You don¡¯t disappear, you just go back a bit in time with me. It¡¯s only a few minutes, and I promise I won¡¯t change anything. You¡¯lle back to this point with no changes, alright?¡±


    She just stared at me, a mixture of fear and confusion in her eyes. I stepped forward and wrapped her in a hug. She jumped, clearly startled by the sudden gesture.


    ¡°Does this happen often?¡± She looked up and asked with a teary smile. ¡°Seems like you already know what to do.¡±


    ¡°Once or twice,¡± Iughed.


    ¡°Just go ahead and do it. I don¡¯t want to think about this anymore¡±


    I nodded, and activated Time Loop.


    When I got back, already holding the Poison Spell Crystal in my palm and prepared to consume it, I closed my hand around it and put it back in my pocket.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Erani watched me put the sphere away. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you using it?¡±


    ¡°I already did,¡± I said. ¡°Just went back so I¡¯d still have it, while also having the Upgrade.¡±


    ¡°Oh, good idea!¡±


    ¡°It was yours, actually.¡±


    Erani blinked. ¡°Huh. Didn¡¯t think I¡¯de up with that.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you¡¯re smarter than you give yourself credit for,¡± I shrugged, trying to keep her from going down that rabbit hole. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m gonna choose that Upgrade.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right. Let me know what you get!¡±


    I eagerly sat down to meditate and look at the options I had avable to me.


    Choose one Upgrade for Noxious Grasp:


    Venomous Grasp


    School: +Curse


    ¡ª


    Noxious Grasp Festers beings it damages. While they are Festered, beings lose double Stamina from all sources. The Fester remains for 5 seconds after you stop contact with the being.


    Draining Grasp


    School: +Necromancy


    ¡ª


    Noxious Grasp now drains 25% as much Health and Stamina. <em>(Currently 4.05 Health and 2.04 Stamina).</em>


    50% of the Health and Stamina the target loses is given to you. <em>(Currently 2.03 Health and 1.02 Stamina).</em>


    Annulling Grasp


    School: +Arcane


    ¡ª


    Noxious Grasp now drains Mana equal to the amount of Health it drains. <em>(Currently 16.3 Mana/Second)</em>


    I read my options out to Erani as I looked them over, myself.


    ¡°Well,¡± she said, ¡°in a normal situation, I¡¯d say Annulling Grasp would be the strongest option here.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± I asked, ¡°I feel like it¡¯d be the weakest.¡±


    ¡°Sure, for us it is. But that¡¯s just because we know none of the Demons we¡¯re fighting are magic users.¡±


    ¡°Right, but it¡¯s not like other people are constantly fighting magic-using monsters, or even fighting them half the time.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but think about it like this: if you¡¯re in a party of adventurers, and each one is specialized against a specific type of monster, then you¡¯ll most likely always be facing off against a monster that <em>someone</em> fights best against. And think about how powerful that Upgrade really is. If you choose Draining Grasp, it¡¯ll start healing you for 2 Health every second you use it on something. But with Annulling Grasp, it drains 16 Mana. Firebolt, for example, uses 30 Mana to deal 75 damage, so 16 Mana is worth about 40 Health¡¯s worth of damage dealt. It¡¯s literally twenty times as good at preventing damage, as long as your opponent uses Mana to hurt you. Plus, it doesn¡¯t lower your damage dealt at all.¡±


    ¡°Hmm,¡± I wondered, ¡°you make a fair point, but it really doesn¡¯t do much at all for us right now. I don¡¯t want a repeat of the fight we had with the Infernal Commander. I waspletely helpless to do anything against the thing, and ideally, this Upgrade will help keep situations like that from happening in the future. What do you think, then? Seems like you made a prettypelling argument against Draining.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Healing is incredibly useful, sure, but I¡¯m not sure how I feel about crippling your main source of damage like that. Plus, it can only heal you when you¡¯re damaging something ¨C if you need the healing and there isn¡¯t anything around to kill, you¡¯re out of luck.¡±


    ¡°So, Venomous Grasp?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what seems good to me ¨C at least in this situation. With Venomous Grasp, they¡¯ll always be Festered while you¡¯re draining them, and stay like that for the next five seconds. Seems worth it. Since they¡¯re always losing double Stamina while you¡¯re using Noxious Grasp on them, the Upgrade pretty much just doubles the amount of Stamina that Noxious Grasp drains, plus it helps your Crippling Chill in a huge way.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded. ¡°And with Gravity Well, reducing Stamina is bing easier and more effective than ever. Don¡¯t need the healing if my enemy never moves, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± sheughed. ¡°Let¡¯s not get too cocky, though.¡±


    I selected the Upgrade.


    Noxious Grasp has gained the Upgrade Venomous Grasp.


    We got back up and continued walking once I was done. The Poison Spell Crystal was safe and sound in my backpack once again, ready to be used again once Noxious Grasp reached Rank 20. Not that I felt like that woulde anytime soon, though. The next Spell XP cost was 461, and it would only get even higher with each Rank.


    I asked Erani, and it turned out most people never got a single Spell to Rank 20 in their entire lives. The Spell XP requirements got so high at that point that most people who stuck to the lower Levels didn¡¯t ever practice enough to get there. By Rank 15, the cost would already be well into the thousands, apparently.


    I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted to dedicate myself to that kind of long-haul so early, though, so I decided to start focusing on practicing another Spell. It¡¯d take forever to Rank it again, and for so little benefit. But with another Spell, I could get that benefit with much less work. And those small increments in power were what I sorely needed right now. Choosing which of my three new Spells ¨C Crippling Chill, Ray of Frost, and Gravity Well ¨C to start practicing was a surprisingly tough decision. Crippling Chill was an integral part to my ability to weaken my enemies, Ray of Frost allowed me to deal with enemies while staying far away from them, and I anticipated Gravity Well being a huge asset to stack on top of Crippling Chill and Ray of Frost¡¯s debuffs.


    They all seemed like they were equally important parts of my fighting style. Choosing one to prioritize just seemed wrong. Like choosing a favorite child.


    But I had to do it. I considered my options once again. When thinking about the Upgrade that Noxious Grasp had just gotten, I felt I should really prioritize anything that drained Stamina, so I could maximize what I gained from Venomous Grasp. And, well, there was only really one Spell that did that ¨C Crippling Chill.


    So, that was the Spell I started to spend my time practicing. It had the added benefit of also being able to damage Erani in small increments, that way she could continue to practice Angelic Shield, too. The shield blocked the Stamina drain, but unfortunately it couldn¡¯t do anything about the lowered Dexterity. And, with only a 10 in the Stat, she would getpletely paralyzed by the Spell.


    ¡°So, should we just sit and take a fifteen-second rest every time you cast it on me, then?¡± Erani asked when I exined that I was going to be focusing on Crippling Chill from now on.


    ¡°We could¡­ but sitting around and doing nothing for fifteen whole seconds? Sounds like a waste of time to me.¡±


    ¡°...No, not really,¡± she looked at me, confused. ¡°It¡¯s just fifteen seconds, and the amount of damage I¡¯d have to prevent would drain enough Mana that we¡¯d only have to do it once, like, every twenty minutes.¡±


    ¡°Right, but I think it would be better if we kept moving while practicing,¡± I smiled


    ¡°And how would you propose we do that? I¡¯d be paralyzed.¡±


    ¡°Like this.¡±


    You have cursed Level 10 Human Sorcerer with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, she loses 6.38 Health and 5.1 Stamina each second, and her Dexterity score is lowered by 12.8.


    50.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 509.


    Before Erani could copse, I caught her and lifted her off the ground in a princess carry, one arm under her back and the other under her legs, so that she was looking up at me. I knew she couldn¡¯t say anything due to the paralysis, but I could see in her eyes a mix of rage, embarrassment, and something else I couldn¡¯t really identify. She blushed hard, though, and that was the goal. The Nymph looked at us strangely, but eventually shrugged and continued forward.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this so much more efficient?¡± I snickered to her. When I got no response ¨C as expected ¨C I just kept walking forward. I probably wouldn¡¯t ever hear the end of this, but I¡¯d take the time to enjoy it for now.

 Chapter 47: Execution

    Chapter 47: Execution


    Over the course of the next couple days, we continued on our path toward Kingdom¡¯s Edge with surprisingly fewplications. The forest was normally a relentless predator, full of monsters to constantly keep watch for, but thebination of the Nymph¡¯s calming aura and the Demons¡¯ clearing out of the surrounding forest meant there weren¡¯t many aggressive things left in the woods. We¡¯d even had urrences of things like Wood Wraiths walking up to the Nymph and rubbing affectionately against its leg, paying us no mind.


    The only other threat to our safety, the Demons, were few and far between. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was because we were leaving the immediate area of Carth, or if the Demons were up to something, but we hadn¡¯t seen them at all in thest two days. But I hadn¡¯t let my guard down. In fact, I felt more on-edge than ever, constantly anticipating the next attack. I was still Level 9, and I already knew from experience that wasn¡¯t enough to beat an Infernal Commander.


    Over the days of travel ¨C and, consequently, ack of barber¡¯s tools ¨C I ended up growing the beginnings of some facial hair. I¡¯d taught myself how to shave and trim a beard and how to cut my own hair in order to save money, back when I was in my home vige, but I didn¡¯t really have the time or means to do that, now. Erani said the scraggly beard made me look like I¡¯d aged three years over the course of three days, which I felt was ironic, considering my ss.


    My already-shaggy hair hadn¡¯t really been given time to grow out yet, but it¡¯d definitely been given time to get gross and messy ¨C at some point I just gave up on trying to fish out all the sticks and leaves that got stuck in there. Natural camouge.


    And, of course, to try and get stronger, I¡¯d spent the couple days looking for monsters to kill. Since we were in the presence of the Nymph, I felt it wouldn¡¯t be a good idea to tantly kill everything I saw in front of it, so I would asionally separate from the group and go out, hunting for monsters. Problem was, as I mentioned before, there were no monsters around anymore. I¡¯d found and killed a couple, but only enough to get me an extra 22 XP, bringing me up to 209 ¨C which wasn¡¯t even close to the sum of 500 I needed to get to Level 10.


    What I <em>had</em> made progress with was Crippling Chill. In the days I¡¯d spent in unending casting of the Spell, I¡¯d already brought it up to Rank 9. I¡¯d found that, ever since I started focusing my practice on Crippling Chill, I started casting that Spell in my sleep instead of Noxious Grasp. All it took was a change in habit and mindset, and it seemed like my unconscious mind took care of the rest.


    Really, the hardest part of the change was the fact that my castings were much fewer and further between. I¡¯d gotten used to Noxious Grasp, which I would cast every twenty or so seconds, but Crippling Chill was more a matter of minutes. To anyone else, this would be an upside, decreasing headache and pain, but to me, it just meant I was more stressed and anxious than ever, the calming effect of the frequent castings suddenly taken from me.


    But it was worth it. I looked over Crippling Chill¡¯s current effects.


    Crippling Chill <strong>9</strong>


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>56.2 </strong>Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a being within 40 paces of you. It bes coated in frost for the next 15 seconds. For as long as it is coated in frost, it loses <strong>7.76 </strong>Health and <strong>6.21 </strong>Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by <strong>15.5</strong>.


    Compared to the Spell¡¯s previous numbers, this was a huge improvement. It dealt an extra 1.38 damage per second, drained 1.11 more Stamina, and, of course, the main improvement was that it lowered Dexterity by almost 3 more points. Now, it obviously also cost a bit more, but that was barely anythingpared to the more than 20% increase in effect.


    The main benefit was locked away, though. At Rank 9, that would normally mean I was close to another Rank 10 Upgrade, but in order to get it, I¡¯d need either a Curse Spell Crystal or a Cold Spell Crystal. And, unfortunately, all I had was Poison.


    Part of me wanted to try and sneak into a nearby city and try to get a new Spell Crystal so I could get the Upgrade, but Erani was against it. We didn¡¯t know what was going on in those cities, she said. Logically, I agreed. The entire Kingdom could have been forced into martialw under the Demons for all we knew, and we¡¯d be caught immediately upon trying to enter. But emotionally, I was stressed and restless, and I was itching to improve our situation in some way.


    I felt my Mana finally hit full after what felt like hours of waiting, and I eagerly cast Crippling Chill again.


    You have cursed Level 10 Human Sorcerer with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, she loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and her Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 504.


    Erani yelped and fell, but I caught her and picked her up like I¡¯d done many times in the past, carrying her in my arms. Turns out she wasn¡¯t opposed to the idea, after all. When the paralysis wore off after the first time, she muttered something about efficiency and a well-needed break from walking, but I was pretty sure I knew the real reason she liked it.


    I looked down at her furiously blushing face, enjoying the feeling of serenity that washed over me after the cast of my Spell. For a moment, the unnatural feelings of stress and restlessness washed away, and it felt like someone had finally loosened an invisible vice mping down on my chest. I knew it would be back soon after I went a minute or two without casting, but I relished it while itsted.


    On Erani¡¯s end, we did end up needing to slow down the rate she was practicing. She got used to the headaches, sure, but they never stopped messing with her, and it really only seemed to get worse the longer we pushed it, contrary to how it worked for me. We each had our theories as to why my case was so different ¨C maybe Noxious Grasp was special, maybe it was because it was a Toggle Spell, maybe something about my experiences in the forest helped ¨C but at the end of the day, we just epted it and moved on.


    So every now and then I¡¯d just find something else to practice my Crippling Chill on instead of casting it on her. Still, we were doing our best to train her Angelic Shield up, and it was currently approaching Rank 9.


    But at this moment, it was Erani¡¯s turn. After Crippling Chill wore off, she got back to her feet, making a show of straightening her long-since ruined and dirty clothes. ¡°You really should warn me before you do stuff like that.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I smiled sheepishly, ¡°I¡¯ve just been getting a bit impatient. I¡¯m used to Noxious Grasp¡¯s constant casting, so this is a pretty ufortable shift.¡±


    She grimaced. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re okay? You¡¯ve seemed restless ever since you started with Crippling Chill. I¡¯m starting to get worried.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I reassured her. ¡°It¡¯s just a bit of difort.¡± I wrapped my hand around hers, pulling close. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I promise.¡±


    We kept walking, chatting the hours away. We normally foraged for food, eating wild nts and any animals we could find, and so when the time for lunch came around, we kept an eye out for anything edible. However, as we searched, we found it more and more difficult to find an animal to kill and eat. The Nymph normally didn¡¯t care when we killed animals as long as we ate them, but it didn¡¯t seem interested in helping us lure anything to us, so we were on our own here.


    She and I split up to cover more ground, ensuring we each stayed in earshot and didn¡¯t stray too far from each other. The Nymph went with Erani when we split up, leaving me on my own. I was beginning to think it favored her over me, since any time we separated it always chose to stay with her.


    Eventually, as we wandered in search of food, I heard a squawking from above. I looked up, and saw arge hawk perched on a branch above me. It seemed big enough that it could sustain Erani and I for a meal; the Nymph didn¡¯t need to eat since it drew its nutrients from the ground. I couldn¡¯t identify the bird, though, so to stay safe, I decided to get Erani¡¯s analysis before attacking it ¨C I didn¡¯t want some gigantic mama hawk toe and crush me for killing its baby.


    ¡°Hey, Erani!¡± I called, ensuring I didn¡¯t scare the bird away. ¡°Think this¡¯ll work?¡±


    ¡°Coming!¡± she replied.


    I looked back up at the hawk. It stared down at me. In fact, I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d seen it take its eyes off me once in all the time I looked at it. It had curious yellow irises that almost glowed, trained directly on me.


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Erani said as she arrived by my side.


    ¡°Right up there,¡± I said, pointing up at the strange bird. ¡°You recognize it?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she said, squinting as she looked up at it. ¡°It almost looks like¡­¡±


    Suddenly, the bird wasn¡¯t there anymore, reced by the whip of the Nymph. It¡¯dshed out so suddenly I didn¡¯t have time to react. Just as the whip had cut into the bird, the animal just¡­ disappeared. It faded away into dust and threads, kind of like how Erani¡¯s Angelic Shield unraveled whenever it broke. The Nymph had a look of disgust on its face.


    ¡°...A magical Familiar,¡± Erani said, ncing around. ¡°Someone was spying on us.¡±


    Almost immediately, a cacophony of sounds erupted from around us, like if someone had pulled open a hole in space and allowed all the air toe rushing out. t, circr things opened in the air in front of us, objects that I realized to be teleportation portals ¨C incredibly high-Level magic. Out from the portals stepped a group of four soldiers each dressed in silver te mail with blue ents. I felt a bit relieved upon seeing them; they were Humans, not Demons.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked, still a bit on-guard.


    ¡°I am Cami Bennitt, noble captain of the throne¡¯s royal guard.¡± One of the soldiers stepped forward. She was different from the other three in that her helmet was open-faced ¨C as opposed to the closed helmets covering the others¡¯ faces ¨C and it had a red feather sprouting from it. There was pain in her voice, like she desperately wanted to be doing anything but this. ¡°An Nota, you are under arrest for crimes against Humanity. The penalty is execution without trial.¡±


    Immediately, all four soldiers drew their weapons. The woman ¨C Cami ¨C held a decorated spear, another had a thick battleaxe, a third held a traditional sword and shield, and the fourth a bow and arrow.


    I blinked, and then immediately cast Crippling Chill on all of them and jumped back to put distance between us.


    You have cursed Level 27 Human Spearman with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, she loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and her Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 504.


    You have cursed Level 24 Human Archer with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, she loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and her Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 447.


    You have cursed Level 23 Human Swordsman with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, he loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and his Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 391.


    You have cursed Level 25 Human Berserker with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, she loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and her Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 335.


    My eyes widened when I saw their Levels. Monsters were one thing ¨C each monster species'' power scaled differently from Humans and from each other, so it wasmon to see monsters that were weaker than a Human while still technically being a higher Level than them. But a Human with a higher Level than another Human? The one with the higher Level would win almost every time. And when the gap was this big, <em>plus</em> we were outnumbered¡­


    ¡°Run!¡± I shouted and backed away, pulling Erani and the Nymph along with me. But the Swordsman banged his sword against his shield, echoing a deafening shockwave around him and over us.


    You have been browbeaten. For the next 23 seconds, your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity have been reduced by 10.


    Erani immediately fell to the ground, paralyzed from the effect. She didn¡¯t die instantly or anything, despite having 0 Endurance, though. Even when your Endurance was lowered to 0, and, thus, your maximum Health was lowered to 0, it wouldn¡¯t actually lower your current Health. Maximum Health really just dictated where you¡¯d stop regenerating at, so, even if your max was lowered below your current Health, you wouldn¡¯t actually lose any ¨C you¡¯d just be unable to regenerate.


    I stumbled, too, suddenly barely able to hold myself off the ground. The Nymph seemed the least affected out of the three of us, but it was still obviously weakened. It turned andshed out with its whip at the four soldiers who had still only just begun walking forward from where they stood. All three seemedpletely unaffected by my Crippling Chills.


    I grabbed Erani and dragged her up from the ground, then manually grabbed her wrist and moved her hand so that it was aimed forward at our enemies. She got the message and cast an Explosive Firebolt at the group of people. The Berserkerwoman with the battleaxe swung the de and cut the ball of fire clean in half before it could even explode, dissipating the magic. Must¡¯ve been Enchanted. Panicked, I shot off a barrage of Rays of Frost at the group. Some of them hit, but the decrease in Stats was apparently so negligible that it still didn¡¯t seem to do anything to them.


    By the time I got below 100 Mana, they were still approaching at the same speed. I tried to shoot another Ray of Frost at the Archer, but just as I raised my hand at her, she scowled and drew her bow, faster than I could react, and shot. The arrow flew with a green glow behind it and impaled straight into the palm of my hand. It continued in its path, flying through my hand and into my straightened forearm. The bones in my arm were pulverized by the magically-infused arrow, and it flew out the other side of my elbow, unfazed, embedding itself in a tree behind me.


    You have been shot. 126 damage.


    Your Health is 94.


    I screamed in pain as my arm fell limp to my side, my hand more of an abstract explosion of red than anything resembling what was once a limb. Trying to get my breathing under control, I grit my teeth and looked at the te-armored soldiers. ¡°W-what¡¯s wrong with you? Relishing in our struggle? Just wanted to see some low-Levels flounder before ughtering them?¡±


    To my surprise, this actually seemed to give the soldiers pause. Cami stopped and shook her head. ¡°I do this because I must, not because I want to. The king has ordered it.¡±


    I coughed, struggling to hold Erani up with my remaining hand and slowly dragging her away. ¡°Just because some man in a crown tells you to do something doesn¡¯t mean you have to do it.¡±


    ¡°People are dying!¡± She shouted, breaking herposure. ¡°The Demons are killing them, and it¡¯s because <em>you¡¯re</em> still alive.¡±


    ¡°So your solution is to kill more innocents? My only crime was being in the wrong ce at the wrong time. I was unlucky, and now I¡¯m being killed for it? How noble,¡± I spat. ¡°If the king ordered it, he¡¯s a shitty king.¡±


    Cami tightly gripped her spear. ¡°Do not <em>dare</em> insult the leader of our kingdom! This discussion is over. You have been afforded no trial, and thus there is no reason for conversation with you. Asmo.¡±


    ¡°Yes, captain,¡± the woman with the bow and arrow said.


    ¡°Carry out our duty.¡±


    ¡°Yes, captain.¡± She raised her weapon, drew, and released.


    You have been shot. 191 damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have died.

 Chapter 48: Something to Kill

    Chapter 48: Something to Kill


    And then I was back, searching for food in the forest before I was ever shot and killed by that woman. The spot on my palm tingled where it¡¯d been pierced. I took a deep breath, trying to think the situation through. The moment that familiar died, they teleported in. But it¡¯d been watching me for at least a few minutes beforehand, if not longer. In fact¡­


    I nced up as discreetly as I could. The familiar falcon stood there, looking down at me.


    They were watching me right now. There was no escaping them, then. They already knew I was here, and were probably just waiting for us to go to sleep or otherwise fall off-guard before attacking. And once we took out their spy, they chose that as their time to attack. I grit my teeth. What could I even do? We were obviously no match for them, and they apparently had a magic-user with ess to Familiars and teleportation magic, so it wasn¡¯t like we could escape, either.


    I thought back to my discussion with that woman, Cami. She didn¡¯t want to kill me. She said so herself, even. And in the end, she didn¡¯t. She ordered the Archer to kill me. She didn¡¯t even hurt me over the course of that entire situation.


    I nced around. Erani was a few paces away, examining a berry bush. I walked over and leaned up to her ear.


    ¡°Listen,¡± I whispered, ¡°we¡¯re being spied on by a bunch of people who want us dead and are way more powerful than us. I can¡¯t take the time to exin or we¡¯ll look suspicious, but I have a n. Just go along with it, please.¡±


    She paused, then sighed and nodded. I was sure she was getting very tired of having things like this dropped on her. Though, I was getting tired of being the only one truly knowing what was going on, too. It was lonely. And terrifying. I hated my n, and wanted more than anything to get a second opinion, but there was no time. They were probably already getting suspicious of us, and for all I knew, they could hear what I¡¯d said to her anyway with magically enhanced hearing or something.


    I turned around and looked directly into the hawk¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Cami!¡± I shouted at it. ¡°I know you¡¯re watching me. Come out here.¡±


    There was a moment where nothing happened. The falcon continued to stare at me, Erani looked at me like I was crazy, and the Nymph sat on the ground to look at an anthill, blissfully unaware of what was toe.


    But then, the familiar sounds of the portals ripping into reality echoed around us once again, and the four soldiers stepped out. Before any of them could say anything, I stepped forward. ¡°I am An Nota, the man you¡¯ve been ordered to kill. And Cami, I request a duel.¡±


    ¡­


    There was a moment where nothing happened. Erani still looked at me like I was crazy, but for apletely different reason this time, the Nymph stood up in shock at the sudden appearance of our enemies, and the four soldiers looked at me like I¡¯d just said I was about to kill God. Which, considering our rtive strength, I pretty much had just dered my intent to.


    ¡°...I won¡¯t pretend to know how, but it seems you¡¯re aware of the order that has been ced on your head,¡± Cami eventually said. ¡°Very well. I will grant you your duel, as a final request. To the death, no interference from outsiders.¡±


    One of them, the man with the sword and shield, put a hand on Cami¡¯s armored shoulder.


    ¡°Boss,¡± his voice echoed from his helmet, ¡°this is obviously a trick. We should just¨C¡±


    ¡°If it is a trick, I grant him that, too,¡± she interrupted him. ¡°This man has had a fair legal trial stolen from him. A trial bybat is a fair recement for that.¡±


    ¡°You know King Koinkar wouldn¡¯t approve¨C¡±


    ¡°I am in charge of this operation. Perhaps you will not tell King Koinkar. Perhaps the Divination Wizards won¡¯t either,¡± she nced up at the falcon that was watching us. ¡°If the Demons are going to bully us into killing him, I don¡¯t see why it would be unfair for me to at least do it in an honorable way.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to her.


    She just stared at me.


    I breathed, trying to calm my nerves, then looked back at Erani. ¡°If you wouldn¡¯t mind counting us down?¡±


    ¡°Um, sure, I guess,¡± she said, obviously still in shock at the entire situation. She took a few steps back, pulling the Nymph along with her. ¡°Three.¡±


    I got into abat stance, and the other three armored soldiers stepped back away from Cami.


    ¡°Two.¡±


    Cami drew her spear, taking a step forward and lowering it at me.


    ¡°One.¡±


    I mentally prepared myself for what I was about to do. It was maybe the dumbest idea I¡¯d evere up with, but¡­


    ¡°Go.¡±


    ¡­


    Cami stood, waiting for my attack. Spears were a defensive weapon, so she¡¯d wait for me to approach before attacking. And I was obviously acting suspicious, so she¡¯d want to avoid stepping into a trap. She stood with the spear leveled against me, prepared for me to strike at any second.


    But I didn¡¯t.


    Instead, I got down on one knee, then on both, then put one hand behind my head, then the other. I knelt before her,pletely and utterly defenseless.


    ¡°What is this?¡± Cami demanded, her battle-ready stance breaking a bit.


    ¡°I refuse to fight you.¡±


    ¡°What? Y- you requested the duel.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I did request a duel. One that we¡¯re still in. By your own rules, nobody can kill me except for you.¡±


    The woman scowled. ¡°You think I can''t kill you? Are you calling me weak? Do you have any idea¨C¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not calling you anything. I¡¯m just asking you to kill me.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what you¡¯re here for, isn¡¯t it? You¡¯re here to kill me. That¡¯s okay, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve made your peace with it, and I won¡¯t hold it against you. So, I¡¯m asking you to do it now. It¡¯s no different from that sham of a duel you agreed to, right? You¡¯re triple my Level. We both know you would¡¯ve killed me before I could blink. I¡¯m just removing the extra parts. You¡¯re here to kill an innocent man, and when you do that, there¡¯s nothing there but the life you¡¯re ending, and you. So I won¡¯t give you the trouble of fighting me. Because you¡¯re innocent too. You¡¯re stuck in a shitty position, and I get it. So I won¡¯t fight. I¡¯ll just kneel here, and wait for you to end it.¡±


    Cami squeezed the handle of her spear and took a step forward, pointing it at my neck. ¡°If you think I won¡¯t do it, you¡¯re wrong.¡±


    ¡°And I don¡¯t doubt you. I mean, I don¡¯t know everything here, but I have to assume you¡¯re doing this because you truly want to. You really think this is the best thing to do.¡±


    I could hear her breathing inside of her helmet.


    ¡°I can¡¯t imagine you¡¯d personally take on the guilt of killing an innocent just because someone else told you to, after all.¡±


    She stood there, motionless, for a second. Then two. Three. In a sudden motion, she whipped her spear back, mming its butt into the ground. She turned around. ¡°Well, soldiers, it seems we couldn¡¯t find the fugitive, after all. Nothing here.¡±


    ¡°Captain¨C¡± the Archer, Asmo, started, but was cut off by Cami.


    ¡°We couldn¡¯t find the fugitive. We¡¯re leaving.¡± She walked toward the portals, and, after a moment, the three other soldiers followed. She nced up at the falcon as she walked through the portal. ¡°I don¡¯t suspect we¡¯ll find the fugitive in the future, either. In fact, I¡¯d go as far as to say that we¡¯re incapable of doing so. If the Demons want An Nota dead, perhaps they should do it themselves.¡±


    The portals closed behind them.


    The moment they were gone, I let out a breath and copsed to the ground, my heart pounding in my ears.


    ¡°A-are we okay?¡± Erani asked as she knelt beside me, helping me up. ¡°We¡¯re safe?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I breathed.


    ¡°Oh thank the gods. What in the hells were you thinking? How¡¯d you find out that she wouldn¡¯t kill you?¡±


    ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t really know, just a feeling I got from the fight beforehand. But we didn¡¯t really have any other options. They had Familiars and teleportation, and their Levels were all in the twenties.¡±


    ¡°Twenties? All of them? What did they want with us, anyway?¡±


    ¡°Seems like the Demons got to the king or something. Said the only way to stop their assault is if I die. So they caved, and now the Kingdom is against us, too.¡±


    Erani scowled. ¡°Really? That bastard King Koinkar. I always thought he was a coward, but not this much.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, not much we can do about it now.¡± I got up and dusted myself off. ¡°We absolutely need to get more powerful. We were lucky she was sympathetic to us, but what happens when they start recruiting adventurers who just want a paycheck? Or threaten peoples¡¯ families?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we do, but we also need to stay safe.¡±


    ¡°Right, sure,¡± I said. ¡°C¡¯mon. I¡¯m fucking stressed and need something to fight.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re listening to me!¡± Erani said as I walked away from her.


    My heart still felt like it was beating out of my chest, and I just <em>needed</em> a release. That fucking king, sing his guards on us like we were some kind of monsters. Forcing them to kill an innocent like that¡­ <em>he</em> was the monster. No, no, he wasn¡¯t. He was a useful idiot, manipted by the Demons. They were my enemy, and I¡¯d make sure they knew it.


    After stomping through the woods for another hour, I eventually found something I could kill. An Anacapy in wait, stalking a Wood Spirit that was happily wandering the forest. Its blue-and-ck, chitin-covered body was crouched over, its unnaturally tall form now on all fours as it slowly approached its prey. Normally, we would have avoided something like that, trying to conserve our slow-to-regenerate Health pools for any more serious fights we encountered, but I felt like this would be the perfect thing for me right now.


    ¡°Don¡¯t help me,¡± I said to Erani as I approached the monster. ¡°It¡¯s mine.¡±


    <em>Gods</em>, I just needed to cast something. My mind felt so clouded.


    ¡°An, wait,¡± Erani grabbed my shoulder, ¡°are you sure this is a good¨C¡±


    I shrugged her off, continuing my march forward. She sighed and grabbed the Nymph by its arm, preventing it from moving forward to help me. Once I got close to the monster, it turned and looked at me, jumping to its feet in rm and revealing its towering height, head-and-shoulders taller than I was.


    I broke into a sprint toward the monster, and it charged at me, in turn. The moment it got in range, I activated Gravity Well and cast Crippling Chill on it at the same time.


    You have cursed Level 11 Anacap with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 504.


    Thebination of the forces on its back and the sudden loss of Stats forced the monster to the ground, and I immediately pounced on it,nding on its back and holding it down as I activated Noxious Grasp. I felt the Spell¡¯s new Fester Upgrade take effect. While normally only my skin gave off the poison mist while it was active, now I could see the dark smokeing out of the monster¡¯s skin where I touched it, causing everything to start sapping its Stamina at twice the normal rate.


    It sluggishly swung its ws at me, obviously feeling the effects of the many stacking Curses, but I easily dodged. I got to my feet and grabbed it, picking it up off the ground with me. Then I mmed it back down, cracking its exoskeleton on a rock in the dirt.


    You have struck Level 11 Anacap for 16 damage using Ground.


    It hissed and struck out at me again, and this time I was caught a bit more off guard and forced to let go of the monster to dodge.


    You have struck Level 11 Anacap for 125 damage and drained 125 Stamina over the course of 7.7 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    36.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 379.


    The moment I dropped it, it got to its feet and scurried away, fighting through the Curses and heightened gravity to flee. I held out a hand and shot it with a Ray of Frost.


    You have struck Level 11 Anacap for 49 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 11 Anacap with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 356.


    It copsed to the ground once again, trying its best to struggle back to its feet, but obviouslycking the power to do so. With such low Stamina reserves and such a weakened Dexterity, it could barely move at all. I walked up to it and grabbed it, but before I could even activate Noxious Grasp, the thing died on its own from Crippling Chill.


    You have in Level 11 Anacap.


    You have earned 116 XP. Your XP is 325.


    I breathed heavily, but not from exertion. My mind was still racing from abination of the fight from now, the situation from earlier with the soldiers, and the stress from the deprivation from casting I was under. Part of me just wanted to switch back to Noxious Grasp, but it would just take some time and I¡¯d get used to it. It waspletely ridiculous that simply not casting Spells as often was affecting me so much, anyway, and I wanted to bust the habit.


    But for now, I was stuck dealing with this.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Erani touched my arm. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± I said. ¡°We need to find something else to kill.¡±

 Chapter 49: Welcome to the Kingdom: Deception

    Chapter 49: Wee to the Kingdom: Deception


    Ripley T, member of Squad Minor of King Koinkar¡¯s royal guard, stood in one of the war rooms housed within the Imperial Castle. It was in this room that she was having a discussion with her squad captain, Cami Be, her other squad-mates, Ragavan and Asmo, and a few of the Divination-focused Magic-Types that were supposed to be helping them find the Demons¡¯ fugitive. Except, of course, they already had found him. And had let him escape.


    Ripley wasn¡¯t exactly pleased with her captain¡¯s decision. Cami had essentially decided to go rogue, disobeying orders from Koinkar in favor of her own personal feelings. And, in doing that, she¡¯d dragged Ripley and her other squad-mates down with her. Even if Ripley went and told someone about what was going on, it was still possible she¡¯d be punished alongside everyone else to make an example out of them.


    The Imperial Castle was Enchanted against Divination magic and most other forms of surveince, so Ripley wasn¡¯t too afraid to be discussing the incredibly uwful act they¡¯d justmitted, but it still made her nervous to do it in the same building as King Koinkar.


    The Imperial Castle was one of many castles located throughout the Koinkar Kingdom. They were all linked through Teleportation Circles for quick movement, so once you were in one castle, you effectively had ess to the rooms and resources of all of them, but these circles were costly to activate, so there were protocols in ce to prevent overuse.


    So, really, she would have preferred to be doing this in any of the other castles throughout the kingdom. At least then she wouldn¡¯t be so physically close to the man that could order her death. Others may have had blind allegiance to the king, but Ripley knew better than to immortalize him. Well, he <em>was</em> near-immortal, but that didn¡¯t mean he was infallible.


    ¡°We still know where the fugitive is,¡± one of the Magic-Types said to Cami. She was a woman wearing Enchanted robes to help with her Mana regeneration. ¡°We believe it would be wise for you to go back in and get this over with. Or at least tell King Koinkar to send someone else. There is no shame in not being able to¨C¡±


    ¡°It is not about shame,¡± Cami interrupted her. ¡°It¡¯s about what¡¯s right.¡±


    Ripley cleared her throat. ¡°It would be <em>right</em> to end this Demon invasion once and for all. More innocents die if we let the fugitive go.¡±


    ¡°Human life is not a numbers game,¡± Cami scowled. ¡°Murder is indefensible.¡±


    ¡°Doing nothing is effectively murder. We hold the key to stopping this violence, and all we have to do is turn it. To do nothing would be the same as killing those people ourselves.¡±


    ¡°No, it would not. Killing and letting die are different actions. <em>Especially</em> when there is another person choosing to kill the people that we are ¡®letting die¡¯. It is not the same as killing those people ourselves, it is the Demons killing them. And the Demons do not deserve to be rewarded for their murders. Nor am I interested in carrying out their dirty work for them. If I am to try and stop this senseless killing, it will be through justice, not through carrying out yet another senseless murder, myself.¡±


    Ripley just looked at Cami. If she wouldn¡¯t take her advice, there was no helping it. Arguing would just increase tensions more than they were already at.


    Asmo, the Archer, spoke up in her usual monotone voice. ¡°Let it be known that I disagree with the direct disobedience of our king¡¯s orders.¡±


    Cami nced over. ¡°Do you intend to inform King Koinkar of my disobedience?¡±


    She paused, before saying, ¡°No, captain. It would likely impact our team performance if you were executed.¡±


    ¡°Ragavan?¡± Cami said to her Swordsmanpanion. ¡°Are you going to tell anyone?¡±


    He sighed, leaning up against a wall with his arms crossed. His armor nked against the stone bricks behind him. ¡°Whole thing¡¯s bullshit, and I get where you¡¯reing from, but I still don¡¯t think we should let him go.¡±


    ¡°Then¨C¡±


    ¡°But I don¡¯t think you should be killed for doing what you think¡¯s right. I won¡¯t say anything. Some other squad can handle it. If you think it¡¯s an immoral order, it¡¯s not your job. Maybe the damn king¡¯s gone senile after all the years, allying with the Demons after they¨C¡±


    ¡°Do not speak about King Koinkar that way,¡± Cami scolded him. ¡°Have respect.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just directly go against his orders? Not sure you get to talk about respect after that.¡±


    Cami looked like she was about to retort, but then realized she didn¡¯t have anything she could say to her squad-mate. She really couldn¡¯t say anything about respect, after what she¡¯d done. Cami took off her helmet and ced it on the table, sweeping the long brte hair from her face. Ripley wasn¡¯t sure how she dealt with such long hair under the helmet ¨C she kept her hair short so it wouldn¡¯t get into her face mid-battle.


    After a pause, Cami eyed the three Divination users in the room and turned back to Ragavan, saying, ¡°Make sure the magicians understand what¡¯s going on. And what they¡¯re not to say. I¡¯m going to inform King Koinkar of our failure.¡±


    Once Cami was gone, Ripley and her two remaining squad-mates talked to the Magic-Types and made sure they wouldn¡¯t snitch. It still made Ripley feel shitty to let the fugitive go, but at this point, self-preservation kicked in. Koinkar wasn¡¯t known for being the kindest of rulers, and Ripley could be pretty certain he¡¯d kill her even if she was the one to tell him what happened. Even if Cami had ordered her to, by walking through that portal, she was technically disobeying a royalmand. The damage was done. She was officially a criminal.


    So there she stood with Asmo and Ragavan, her fellow squad-mates and, at that point, partners in crime. A few moments passed in silence.


    ¡°Welp,¡± Ragavan leaned forward and off the wall he had his back against. ¡°I¡¯m heading out. Gonna catch some z¡¯s. See y¡¯all.¡±


    ¡°Fucking idiot,¡± Ripley rolled her eyes as she spoke to Asmo. ¡°It¡¯s four p.m.¡±


    Asmo just nodded. She wasn¡¯t much for conversation.


    Ripley took a breath and shook her head. ¡°I need to get my mind off this shit. Wanna spar?¡±


    Asmo nodded again.


    Ripley stood against Asmo in the wide, open-aired sparring fields. They were absolutely massive ¨C a couple hundred paces in diameter ¨C especially considering they were supposed to only facilitate a single duel at a time. The reason, of course, was because these were high-Level duels. Those could get pretty big on the whole ¡®coteral damage¡¯ thing if people weren¡¯t given their space. The hard dirt ground crunched under their te-armor boots as they walked away from each other, getting into their starting positions.


    They got in ce, about fifty paces apart, and prepared for the fight.


    ¡°Three,¡± Asmo called in her robotic tone.


    Ripley drew her battleaxe from her back and gripped it tightly. This would be a nice release of pressure.


    ¡°Two.¡±


    Asmo drew her massive wooden bow from her back and swiped the shoulder-length hair out of her eyes.


    ¡°One.¡±


    Each adopted a battle-ready stance, Ripley holding up her axe and Asmo nocking an arrow in her bow. Ripley did one more once-over of her Status, making sure everything was up and ready. Her Health was topped out, at a solid 2200/2200, her Berserk Talent and her Martial Arts were all off cooldown, her Stamina was looking good, it all seemed up to snuff. Considering the matchup, she was definitely the one with the favored ss between them, plus she¡¯d recently pulled a Level ahead of Asmo, so this fight was most likely hers to take.


    ¡°Zero.¡±


    Ripley dashed at Asmo, getting ready to activate Berserk the moment she was in melee range. Meanwhile, Asmo pulled back the drawstring, activating her Spectral Arrow Martial Art, and¨C


    ¡°Soldiers! Stand down,¡± a voice called out, interrupting their fight.


    Ripley stopped her charge and Asmo lowered her bow, each of them looking over at the source of the noise. Cami stood at the sparring grounds entrance, watching them


    ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡± Ripley asked as Cami walked over.


    ¡°Fine enough. King Koinkar probably didn¡¯t believe me, but he didn¡¯t say anything, either. He informed me that he¡¯d try to find a new way to catch the fugitive, though, so we shouldn¡¯t need to worry about still being on this job.¡±


    ¡°You sure he isn¡¯t going to secretly order our executions, or something?¡±


    ¡°No. I mean, I¡¯m currently the only person in line for the throne, so I doubt he¡¯d kill me off just from suspicion.¡±


    ¡°Fucking pampered princess,¡± Ripley rolled her eyes. ¡°Koinkar¡¯s probably not dying for another half a millenia anyway, why¡¯s he need to name a sessor that¡¯s just gonna die before him?¡±


    ¡°In case he dies by means other than natural processes. There could be an assassination, or¨C¡±


    ¡°How in the thirteen hells could someone assassinate him? How many hundreds of points does he have in Endurance? He¡¯s a Pdin, so that¡¯s three per Level, and he¡¯s been putting all of his Stat Points into Endurance since Level 0, so¨C¡±


    Cami hushed her. ¡°You know it¡¯s rude to specte about someone¡¯s Status like that. Especially when it¡¯s King Koinkar.¡±


    Ripley just rolled her eyes. ¡°You royal types and your formalities. Anyway, what¡¯s up? I was kinda in the middle of something, here.¡±


    ¡°Well, so, you know how King Koinkar said he¡¯d find a new way to catch the fugitive? He¡¯s nning on instating a bounty. So, whatever city kills him gets a mary reward.¡±


    ¡°Okay?¡±


    ¡°And that reward is our annual sry.¡±


    Ripley blinked. ¡°We¡¯re not getting paid?¡±


    That seemed to get Asmo¡¯s attention. She snapped her head over to Cami. ¡°I¡¯m quitting if I don¡¯t get my gold.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Ripley knitted her brows. ¡°I get that you did what you had to do back there, but you can¡¯t take my entire year¡¯s pay and expect me to be fine with it.¡±


    ¡°King Koinkar made the decision,¡± Cami said. ¡°I had nothing to do with it. Listen, if that bounty does end up getting paid out, I¡¯ll figure something out. I¡¯ll talk to him when he¡¯s not as upset, or try to make it up to you myself.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you fucking better.¡±


    ¡°Please consider this my formalint,¡± Asmo said.


    ¡°Listen, it¡¯ll only be a problem if the bounty actually gets paid out. If he dies from anything else, you¡¯ll be fine. Or if he escapes.¡±


    ¡°Escapes? Where¡¯s he going?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But you saw the Divinations. He was obviously headed in some specific direction. Listen, the point is, if he dies, or if these gods-forsaken Demons leave ournds, you¡¯ll be okay.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be rooting for either one. I just want this shit to be over. I don¡¯t want to ever see that damned Demon that keepsing to talk to us ever again.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Hopefully it won¡¯t be an issue for much longer.¡±

 Chapter 50: Divine Intervention

    Chapter 50: Divine Intervention


    We continued walking for Kingdom¡¯s Edge. It¡¯d been enough time that I was pretty confident we were getting close, but I really had no way to tell. Not only were wecking a map, but because of the forest¡¯s constant tall thicket of trees surrounding us, we wouldn¡¯t even be able to see the mountain range in the distance until we got close.


    I was still itching to kill something by the end of the day, but I wasn¡¯t so lucky as to find another Anacap or anything like that. No, by the time the sun had set, we hadn¡¯t found anything at all, much to my annoyance. I wanted ¨C needed ¨C to get stronger.


    ¡°Think we should go ahead and set up for the night?¡± Erani asked. ¡°You¡­ don¡¯t look too good. I think you need some rest.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± I said. ¡°And no, there¡¯s still some daylight left. The whole kingdom¡¯s hunting for us now, remember? We should go further while we still can.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but you really¨C¡±


    ¡°I said I¡¯m fine. Need to Level up, that¡¯s all. I¡¯m at 325 out of 500, and I¡¯m tired of being Level 9.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure? You sound like you need to rest.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure. Just¡­ Can you distract me? Tell me a story from your life, or something. I really need to get away from myself for a bit.¡±


    Erani sighed and looked at me worriedly. We walked in silence for a moment, before she finally spoke up, ¡°Did I ever tell you about how I ended up bing a Sorcerer?¡±


    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Okay, so I¡¯d just recently turned twenty, and I wasn¡¯t actually nning on getting a ss. I mean, I¡¯d thought about it as a kid and everything ¨C who hasn¡¯t ¨C but it¡¯s not like I had any big ideas about my life as a sser at that point.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you got yours on ident, too,¡± Iughed.


    ¡°No, no. I mean, that isn¡¯t really possible for Sorcerer. You know the requirements for getting it? You have to kill a monster of at least Level 10 while holding a Spell Crystal in your hand.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, that¡¯d definitely take some pre-nning.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. So, at this point, my sister had already gotten her ss as an Enchanter and picked up some work in Carth, but she still came to visit me often back in Ordensville. Only this time, as a celebration of me turning twenty, she decided to take me to Carth for the first time. I¡¯d never been before, but after hearing her stories of the big city, I knew I just had to go. Now, she had friends of her own in Ordensville, so she went partying with them, hitting up the local tavern while she was in town before she was ready to take me, and by the time she was sobered up, it was already dark out. But she wasn¡¯t worried about it, and decided to take me to Carth regardless of the night.¡±


    ¡°Really? Through the forest at night?¡±


    ¡°Okay, so maybe she was only a little sober,¡± Eraniughed. ¡°But she did have a good reason for her confidence. She was young, but already a damned good Enchanter, and had built herself a Wand of Lightning Strike. It only had three charges, but being able to cast Lightning Strike three times is generally enough to get you through any fight with a monster you might find on those public roads.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Lightning Strike, isn¡¯t that, like, a hundred-fifty Mana Spell?¡±


    ¡°Mhmm,¡± she nodded. ¡°One-sixty-five, to be exact. So in total, that Wand had almost five hundred Mana stored in it. Hell of a protection, if I do say so myself. Anyway, we headed out to Carth. It was my first time really going outside those town walls, so I was scared out of my mind, but my sister reallyforted me,¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure the Wand did a bit of thatforting, too,¡± Iughed.


    ¡°Well, yeah, that too. But as we were walking, I started seeing these eyes appear in the dark. One set, then two, three, until, on one side of the road, there had to be at least a dozen of them. My sister noticed them too, and we backed off, so that the road was between us and these things. I could only barely see what they were in the dark ¨C a pack of Stripeks. Just these sets of yellow glowing eyes, staring at us and pacing back and forth. They didn¡¯t seem to want to cross the road, though. I guess they didn¡¯t know how strong we were yet, and didn¡¯t want to risk attacking us. But whatever those things were, I could tell they were hungry.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯d you do?¡±


    ¡°Well, my sister readied the Wand, and cast Lightning Strike. The bolt of lighting tore through the forest and hit a few of them. Killed them instantly, of course, but there were still a lot more. They backed off some, but didn¡¯t flee. They still just sat there. We didn¡¯t know what to do. So we just kept walking, and the Stripeks followed us. They stuck to their side of the road, and we stuck to ours. We stayed facing them as we walked. Every now and then, one of them would test the waters a bit, putting a foot on the road for a moment, or charging for a couple steps, then backing off, but we held our ground. But then one of them got confident, and charged at us for real. So my sister shot another one at it. Killed it, but there were still at least a half dozen left.¡±


    ¡°And then you only had a single charge left, right?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Not nearly enough to handle them. When we were moving, they got more confident, so we hunkered down, kneeling down right there on the ground and facing the monsters. They stopped too, just kept staring at us. My sister told me that they were just waiting for us to show weakness. That they were waiting for us to get too tired to stay awake, or to take a moment toy down, and they¡¯d strike. So we had to stay up and ready. If they attacked us, we¡¯d die for sure, but a couple of them would die, too. And they probably just wanted to wait until they were sure none of them would.


    ¡°Well? How¡¯d you escape?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m getting there,¡± sheughed. ¡°So there we were, facing off against the Stripeks. The eyes in the dark. They just wouldn¡¯t leave us alone. And so we faced off like that for what felt like forever. Must¡¯ve been hours we sat there freezing our asses off in the night, waiting for these Stripeks to attack. Because I knew that if they attacked us, we were taking at least one of ¡®em down with us. And how else could it end? It was the middle of the night on a roading from a small town. No reason for anyone toe and help us, no way for us to get out of it. But we sure as hells weren¡¯t going to make the first move.¡±


    ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯ll believe me when I say this, but, so, okay. We¡¯re sitting there, Lightning Wand in hand, waiting for the Stripeks to attack, right? Dead of night, dead silent. And in the distance, I can just barely start to make out a noise. Sounds like this weird, steady banging, like metal on metal. And it¡¯s getting closer and closer. And then,ing from around a bend in the road, I see this bright, shing light. It¡¯s shing over and over again with that banginging along with it, and whatever it is, it¡¯s just charging down the road! We all look over ¨C me, my sister, the Stripeks ¨C and as it gets closer, I can make out what it actually is. It was a person! This big, armored guy, buckler in one hand and hammer in the other, just banging his weapon on his shield over and over as he sprints down this road at top speed. Just this <em>bang, bang, bang, </em>and every time his hammer hits his shield, there¡¯s this blinding sh of light. Must have been a Talent or a Martial Art or something.¡±


    ¡°¡­What in the hells?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I thought,¡± she shook her head. ¡°But once he got close, that loud banging and the bright shing lights, it scared the Stripeks off! They just ran off into the woods, and the guy kept sprinting down the road past us. Didn¡¯t even look at me as he ran by. Just kept banging his hammer on his shield and sprinting along ¡®till he was out of sight. And after that, we just got up and kept walking to Carth. Didn¡¯t know what to think of it. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d even believe my own memory if my sister hadn¡¯t seen it, too. It was such a strange sight, it¡¯s still burned into my head. Just this guy, sprinting down the road in full te armor with a hammer and shield, hitting them together as hard and fast as he could, a huge sh of light bursting out every time. Can¡¯t forget it.¡±


    ¡°Did you ever see him again?¡±


    ¡°Nope. Never. And y¡¯know what? I don¡¯t think I ever will. I mean¨C do you believe in divine intervention?¡±


    ¡°What, like the godsing down to the material world to interfere with our lives? No, not really. I¡¯ve always felt like they probably don¡¯t care about us. Compared to them, we¡¯re like ants in the dirt. Why?¡±


    ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t buy too much of that stuff, either, until that night. But I¡¯ve thought and thought, and I just can¡¯t think of a single exnation for what happened other than a god deciding to save us.¡±


    ¡°Why¡¯s that? Don¡¯t think it was just luck?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t. I mean, think about it. Why was that guy running down the road with his hammer and shield, banging them together to make all that racket? There¡¯d be no reason to do something like that if it wasn¡¯t because he saw what was going on between us and the Stripeks. He had to have been doing that to scare them off on purpose. But then, if he was trying to help us, why not stop and stay with us to make sure we were alright? Or in case the Stripeks came back?¡±


    ¡°What if he was in a hurry to get where he was going, and didn¡¯t have time to stop?¡±


    ¡°Even then, he didn¡¯t even look at us while he was running. Seriously, not a nce. Anyone would at least look over, give a nod, <em>something</em>. And besides, I mean, I believe that you can get lucky, but really? That someone woulde by just in time, ready to save us, just sprinting along like that?¡±


    ¡°Unlikely things happen every day,¡± I shrugged.


    ¡°Well, you think it¡¯s unlikely it was divine intervention, right? Maybe that was the unlikely thing that happened that day.¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay,¡± Iughed. ¡°Fine. But this was a story about how you got your ss, right? What happened from there?¡±


    ¡°Well, we got to Carth unscathed, but I felt mentally traumatized. I really thought I was gonna die there! Made my peace with the world and epted it and everything. And, well, I just didn¡¯t wanna feel powerless again. Sure, I was thankful that the guy came and saved us ¨C whether it was really a god or not ¨C but I didn¡¯t wanna rely on chance like that ever again. So, well, I decided to get ssed. Funny thing is,¡± sheughed, ¡°I actually chose Sorcerer to begin with because I knew you could get Lightning Strike with it. But you only get offered Lightning Strike if you choose Darkst as your first Spell, so I¡¯ll never even end up getting it. It was because of that requirement to get the ss - killing a monster while holding a Spell Crystal. I knew I¡¯d need a Crystal, so I decided I¡¯d grab one that would work with the first Spell I¡¯d choose for my ss, and then I decided I¡¯d need to look into the different options given to the Sorcerer ss, and so I bought a book, and then another one, and suddenly I knew everything there was to know about any choice you could make and its strategic implications before I¡¯d even gotten the damn ss. And I ended up going with the ssic Firebolt.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s as good a reason as any to go with a ss, I guess,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess. But listen,¡± she got serious. ¡°I told you that story for a reason. I just¡­ I know what it¡¯s like. I know what it¡¯s like to feel powerless, and like your life is hanging on a single gamble, in someone else¡¯s hands. And I know that dig for power that you do afterward, that desperate search for a solution, so that you never have to put your life in another person¡¯s hands again.¡± She sped her hands around mine. ¡°I want you to know that it¡¯s going to be okay. I¡¯ll always be here, and I hope you can think of me as a part of you, not as another chance you sometimes have to take.¡±


    I looked at her for a moment before hesitantly grabbing her hand back. ¡°Thanks. But¡­ it¡¯s not that easy. I mean, we kind of have a fundamental difference in knowledge, sometimes. And I hate it, but it¡¯s true. Sometimes, I¡¯ve already experienced an entire situation, and you haven¡¯t, and, well, I can¡¯t rely on you in those situations. I have to do them myself, or at least make the decisions myself, and most of the time it ends up with me taking a gamble that I don¡¯t want to take. There¡¯s no other solution to some problems. Or, at least, there are no other solutions that I cane up with in the moment. We need to get stronger ¨C <em>I</em> need to get stronger ¨C because sometimes the entire situation relies on me.¡±


    ¡°But if you keep pushing yourself like this¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to be okay. I just¡­ fuck. My head hurts so bad, and I feel so out of it sometimes. I just need an outlet. It feels like I¡¯d be pushing myself more if I <em>didn¡¯t</em> take it out on something every once in a while.¡±


    ¡°What? That doesn¡¯t sound normal. Are you sure it isn¡¯t¨C¡±


    ¡°Shh.¡± I held out a hand in front of me, eyes wide. Scuttling through the trees, I saw something. Arge brown insect, familiar in shape and size. It moved again, and I got a better view. The same monster I¡¯d fled from when I arrived at Ordensville, when I met Erani for the first time. The gigantic scorpion monster moved through the trees. We must¡¯ve stumbled into Banestinger territory without realizing it. With a sudden movement, it turned its body, spotting us and readying itself for a charge. Its gigantic, sword-length stinger dripped with deadly venom.


    It was time for a rematch.

 Chapter 51: Venomous

    Chapter 51: Venomous


    The Banestinger charged at us, and Erani and I leapt to the side, dodging its massive stinger. If the sword-length injector didn¡¯t kill me, the venom surely would.


    ¡°We need to run,¡± Erani grabbed my arm as the massive monster turned around, recovering from its missed charge.


    ¡°No, we can take it,¡± I argued. ¡°And the amount of XP it¡¯ll give us will definitely be enough to Level me up.¡±


    ¡°We can kill something else! You already used Time Loop today, we can¡¯t take this risk.¡±


    ¡°This is faster. We¡¯re on a time limit here.¡±


    The Banestinger turned around and charged again, ready to strike.


    ¡°Don¡¯t have time to argue,¡± I said. ¡°Follow my lead!¡±


    Erani grunted and backed up, readying an Explosive Firebolt while the Nymph grabbed its whip, standing next to me. I didn¡¯t know how much I could rely on its help; the individual power of a Nymph varied a lot from one to the other. I knew that, when I first saw a Banestinger, I¡¯d also seen a Nymph kill one single-handedly, but that one had obviously been incredibly high-Level, and I wasn¡¯t sure how ourspared. Just as the Banestinger got to me, I cursed it with Crippling Chill, activated Gravity Well, and shot it with a Ray of Frost all at the same time.


    You have cursed Level 44 Banestinger with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 504.


    You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 51 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 44 Banestinger with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 481.


    Under thebined effects of all three Spells, the beast¡¯s two front legs gave out in the middle of its sprint toward me and it copsed, sliding across the ground from its momentum. I jumped up andnded on its back, standing unsteadily on the giant monster while the Nymph dashed off to the side andshed out with its whip. The Banestinger hissed in anger, now unable to reach either of us with its massive ws. I felt a st of heat from above me and looked up to see one of Erani¡¯s Firebolts smacking the Banestinger¡¯s stinger-tipped tail away from stabbing me through the back.


    The explosion rocked the unsteady tform I was standing on, forcing me down, lying prone on the scorpion¡¯s hard shell. I activated Noxious Grasp the moment my skin touched its body, beginning the process of sapping away its massive Health pool. I also deactivated Gravity Well. The Spell was costly, and in a fight like this, I needed to prioritize spending my Mana on dealing damage to the monster, rather than protecting myself. Otherwise, I¡¯d end up with no Mana left and a monster still standing, and be forced to flee. And I couldn¡¯t have that.


    The Banestinger, no longer hindered by the increased gravity, immediately got back to its feet and started violently shaking its body, trying to throw me off, while it thrust its stinger at the Nymph, which was forced to dash away to avoid being stabbed. I held on as tightly as I could, trying to fit my fingers into the chinks in its chitin. But, once the Banestinger aimed its stinger at me once again and struck down, Erani shot it with another Firebolt, saving me, but the explosion throwing me off in the process.


    You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 104 damage and drained 104 Stamina over the course of 6.4 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    30 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 405.


    The Banestinger snapped out with its ws as I fell, pinching them into my torso. I quickly struggled away, tearing my shirt and skin in the process.


    You have been ripped open. 29 damage.


    Your Health is 191.


    The monster, seeming to be done dealing with me, instead turned to face Erani, who was trying to stay further away in the forest. It charged full-tilt at her, seeming topletely disregard the Explosive Firebolts she shot at it in an attempt to push it away. I chased after, shooting a couple Rays of Frost of my own at the quick-moving beast while the Nymph chased it alongside me.


    You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 44 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 44 Banestinger with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 383.


    You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 47 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 44 Banestinger with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 360.


    It slowed down just enough for Erani to dodge one of its strikes, but not the other. Its w pinched around her arm, and I saw the wire frame of Angelic Shield light up around her, protecting her from the damage. She tried to tug her arm away, but it had a solid grip on her, and she couldn¡¯t escape. It readied its pointed stinger to skewer it through her. But just before it could strike, I leapt forward, tackling the monster¡¯s tail, right as the Nymph also swung its whip so that it wrapped around its tail at the same time. Together, we pulled back, keeping the Banestinger from stabbing Erani with its massive stinger.


    I activated Noxious Grasp, refreshing the Fester that had been ced on the Banestinger from before and draining away more of the monster¡¯s Health. It turned around to face me, and Erani got out of its tight grip as it did so, but now I had to deal with its head-on attack. I tried to stay gripped onto the scorpion¡¯s tail, but I was thrown off, just barely managing to catch onto one of its legs as it stomped around.


    It jabbed its stinger at me, but I dodged out of the way, ttening myself against the Banestinger¡¯s side to do so. It stabbed downward again, and I barely managed to lean back once again, desperately trying to keep in contact with it while it attacked. It jabbed down at me one more time, and this time I had to reach up to physically parry and redirect the stinger away from me.


    ¡°An!¡± Erani shouted, ¡°Just let go, I can get it from a range!¡±


    ¡°I need the Contribution!¡± I yelled back.


    ¡°You can¡¯t get it if you¡¯re dead,¡± she replied. ¡°Survival, <em>then</em> XP!¡±


    The Banestinger interrupted our conversation with a roar, turning suddenly and throwing me from its body. I tumbled and rolled across the ground.


    You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 177 damage and drained 178 Stamina over the course of 6.4 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    51.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 354.


    It charged at me, and I shot off a few more Rays of Frost at it to slow its approach as I scrambled to my feet, dealing another couple hundred damage and dropping my Mana down to 270. The Nymph leapt in between us, baiting out an attack from the Banestinger before stepping back, just barely dodging its pincers and stinger, thenshing out with its thorny whip and striking a hard blow against the creature¡¯s chitin, creating a crack in the shell.


    It stumbled back, stunned from the blow, and I rushed in, realizing my opportunity. At this point, it had to have been getting low on Health and Stamina. I cursed it once again with Crippling Chill, reactivated Gravity Well, and jumped up to get on the beast¡¯s back.


    You have cursed Level 44 Banestinger with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 213.


    The suddenly-incapacitated beast couldn¡¯t do anything to stop me, trying to pick itself up after being suddenly crushed by its own weight, as Inded on its hard back and started ripping at the crack made by the Nymph¡¯s whip. I dug my hands in, tearing off small piece by small piece of the hard armor to reveal a gushy interior.


    You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 7 damage using your Hands.


    There was an explosion as Erani shot another Firebolt to hit away the monster¡¯s stinger, once again trying to stab me while I was preupied.


    The Nymph continued to fight at its front, tying up its legs with its whip and tripping it so that it couldn¡¯t shake me off. I got notification after notification of damage being done to the Banestinger every time I ripped off another piece of its chitin, exposing more and more of its vulnerable interior. Another explosion as Erani fought back its deadly stinger, dripping with venom. Once I felt like I was steady on top of the monster, I deactivated Gravity Well again; I was getting really low on Mana, at that point.


    ¡°Hurgh!¡± I grunted as I tore off onest big piece, bug guts flinging all over me. With that, I jumped back off the monster.


    You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 19 damage using your Hands.


    You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 228 damage and drained 230 Stamina over the course of 14.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    66.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 21.


    By this time, it was moving sluggishly and stumbling more. We had to be close.


    ¡°Erani,¡± I called over to her, ¡°Explosive Firebolt at the weak spot!¡±


    ¡°I need to focus on its stinger!¡± She yelled back. ¡°I¡¯m the only one keeping it from cutting us in half!¡±


    ¡°Another way to keep it from stabbing us is by killing it,¡± I argued. ¡°Just shoot it!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll kill the Nymph if I stop hitting its tail! Those two are still fighting!¡±


    I groaned. ¡°Nymph!¡± I called. It didn¡¯t respond. Of course it didn¡¯t; we didn¡¯t speak the samenguage. It was still locked in intensebat with the oversized arthropod, dodging ws and striking out with its thorned whip, too. I shook my head and ran forward, trying to pull mypanion away from the monster, but it was moving so quickly I couldn¡¯t safely get to it. I looked back at Erani. ¡°Just shoot it! I¡¯ll handle things if they go bad.¡±


    Erani sighed. ¡°Fine,¡± she said as she changed targets and shot off three rapid-fire Firebolts at the Banestinger¡¯s now-exposed fleshy interior. They mmed and exploded against its insides, each one ripping a burnt hole further and further inside of its body. It stumbled and screeched in pain as they tore apart its insides. The Nymph stood in shock at the spectacle ¨C you could even see the fire rippling throughout the beast¡¯s organs through the semi-transparent exoskeleton.


    But, as it spasmed in pain from the devastating attack. It twitched onest time, shooting its sword-length stinger right at the Nymph.


    ¡°Shit!¡± I shouted as I rushed in to intercept. I pushed the Nymph out of the way, but the stinger was now headed straight for my heart. Thinking fast, I activated Gravity Well with thest of my Mana on the barely-alive Banestinger, causing the monster¡¯s stinger to suddenly shoot downward in its arc, missing my chest and instead just grazing my thigh.


    You have been cut. 22 damage.


    Your Health is 169.


    I sighed in relief. Good thing it worked out. That could have been bad if I hadn¡¯t¨C


    You have been poisoned. 88 damage.


    Your Health is 81.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. You will lose 44 Health every hour for a number of days equal to 44 minus your Endurance <em>(22 days)</em>.


    I doubled over in pain. It felt like a tiny person was casting Lava Darts through my veins, tearing through my leg and boiling my blood. I gasped as I felt the venom rise into my hip, and then my stomach, and then my chest, and then, just as it touched my heart and the pain reached its peak¨C


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 80.


    Then the pain receded, just a bit. I felt the venom drop back down into my thigh where the wound was. But it''d already started rising again, traveling its way up to my hip. It¡¯d take another minute and a half to hit me for 1 again, I realized. 1 damage every ny seconds, for¡­ twenty-two days.


    ¡°An!¡± Erani ran over to me. ¡°You okay?!¡± She looked over my body, looking for what was causing me pain.


    ¡°Venom,¡± I gasped, breathing heavily. Sweat began forming all over my body and I fell fully into her arms, now unable to hold myself up. I looked at the notification I¡¯d received. ¡°44 damage an hour.¡± I took a breath. ¡°Every hour.¡± Another breath. It was so hard to talk, I felt like my lungs were malfunctioning, spasming randomly as the venom rose further and further, closer to my heart once again. ¡°For twenty-two days.¡± I finally got out. ¡°Gonna kill me.¡±


    ¡°Shit, shit, shit¡­¡± Erani looked around. The Banestinger had copsed to the ground, but had still not technically died. ¡°Will the poison end if we kill it?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± I groaned. ¡°Doesn¡¯t say.¡±


    ¡°We have to try.¡± She gently set me down onto the ground and ran over, readying an Explosive Firebolt to end the monster.


    The Nymph crouched down next to me, holding me with a worried expression on its face. It didn¡¯t seem to be panicking, though. It just held me and massaged my leg. The massage eased the pain, somewhat.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 79.


    The massage obviously didn¡¯t reduce the damage though. Part of me wondered how the Nymph knew to do this in the first ce. The massage was a specificbination of rolling and pressing that¡¯d obviously been borne of practice, so where did it learn this? At first I was confused, but then I realized it¡¯d probably seen tons of animals die in the exact same way I was, and this was what it did tofort me as they lost their lives.


    Yeah, what was going on didn¡¯tfort me.


    An explosion rippled out from behind me and I heard the sound of bug guts stting against the ground in a rain of goop.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 44 Banestinger.


    You have earned 431 XP. Your XP is 756.


    Threshold reached. 500 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 10.


    Due to achieving Level 10 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has improved from reaching a tenth Level. You now gain 4 random Stats each time your Level increases.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 2 Strength, 1 Dexterity, and 1 Conjuration.


    -Soft Cap has increased to Rank 6.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 10.


    -Time Loop has received a Usage Increase.


    -You may choose an Upgrade for Time Loop.


    -You may choose a Talent to obtain.


    I didn¡¯t even look through my Level benefits, the things I did this whole fight for. Instead, I waited, eagerly anticipating any sort of notification that I was no longer poisoned.


    None came.


    We had no way to cure the poison.


    I was going to die.

 Chapter 52: Desperation

    Chapter 52: Desperation


    ¡°The poison isn¡¯t going away,¡± I groaned to Erani.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 78.


    ¡°Seventy-eight Health left,¡± I continued. I was a fucking idiot. Why did I fight that thing?


    ¡°Fuck¡­¡± she muttered as she approached me, crouching by my side. The wound where the Banestinger grazed me was swollen and purple. ¡°Do you know what can stop it?¡±


    ¡°Not sure,¡± I said, ¡°do we have any antidote potions, or Spells that cure poison?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she said, and stopped to look around. ¡°We¡¯re near a city, they should have healers, but¡­¡±


    ¡°...But we¡¯re wanted criminals now,¡± I said. ¡°I probably can¡¯t get in, much less get treatment.¡±


    ¡°We have to try. You¡¯re dead, otherwise.¡±


    Working together with the Nymph, she helped me up, and I was able to barely stand with the assistance of both. It felt like fire in my veins, putting weight on my leg, but I pushed through. I was on a time limit, now, and couldn¡¯t afford to move slowly. With their help, I limped along, heading for the nearby city. There was one ray of hope still in my mind, though. I¡¯d gotten a Time Loop Usage Increase from the Level up. It was possible that could help to take me back, before I¡¯d ever been poisoned. I hurriedly scanned over the System message exining it.


    Time Loop Usage Increase


    You may now use Time Loop one additional time per day. This takes effect starting the next time the Talentes off cooldown.


    My eyes widened in excitement when I read the first sentence, but then the second line came. I¡¯d already used up my one use of Time Loop for today, and this second use wouldn¡¯t be given to me until the <em>next</em> time midnight rolled around. Sure, midnight was in a few hours, but I didn''t have a few hours. I¡¯d have normally been ecstatic about this benefit doubling the potential uses of Time Loop, but I was about to die. For all I was concerned, it did absolutely nothing.


    ¡°What were you thinking?¡± Erani broke me out of my thoughts. ¡°You know we need to be more cautious than that. You can¡¯t do shit like that, okay?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I know it was reckless, I was being stupid. I¨C¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t just stupid, it was thoughtless,¡± Erani interrupted. Her voice was shaky. ¡°You can die, An. It seems like you feel you¡¯re invincible, sometimes. But you¡¯re not. And I¡¯m certainly not, either. I know you feel like you can push through anything and you¡¯ll always end up fine, but I don¡¯t. You can do what you want, you can put yourself in danger. I don¡¯t want you to do that, but I can¡¯t stop you. But I need you to understand you can¡¯t just pull me into these situations and fights for no reason.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t¨C I wasn¡¯t thinking clearly. It¡¯s¨C argh,¡± I stumbled over a fallen branch and groaned, ¡°it feels like it¡¯s getting harder and harder to think. Ever since I stopped practicing Noxious Grasp, the headaches have been getting worse, and¨C¡±


    ¡°You need to start back up with Noxious Grasp, then,¡± she interrupted again. ¡°You¡¯re going through some sort of withdrawal, and we cannot deal with that right now.¡±


    ¡°But it would be inefficient to work on Ranking it, though. The other Spells¨C¡±


    ¡°You almost got us killed! And you still might die, yourself. Efficiency doesn¡¯t matter when you¡¯re dead.¡±


    I groaned. ¡°Fine, fine. What do you mean by withdrawal, though? Am I addicted to Noxious Grasp, or something?¡±


    ¡°No idea. But if it¡¯s messing with your head when you stop, just stick with it for now. We can figure out a better fixter.¡±


    I just breathed and focused on putting one foot in front of the other.


    While we walked, my Health ticked downward and downward, eventually passing below 40. Ironically, though, I felt better than ever, physically. I¡¯d been practicing Noxious Grasp for about an hour and a half, now, and my mind felt so much clearer that the relief wrapped back around to being anger. I had seriously allowed myself to live like that for days on end? I¡¯d been miserable, I realized. That said, the intense pain in my leg had certainly put a damper on my relief.


    Also, the mental pain was another aspect of it. I felt embarrassed and ashamed of myself. I hadn¡¯t even realized it, but I¡¯d been taking riskier and riskier steps over time. Part of that, I suspected, came from the cloudiness in my head from not casting Noxious Grasp, but I could recognize that some of it also came from myself.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said as I limped through the forest, helped along by Erani. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± she responded, looking ahead. Her voice was cold. ¡°You already said that.¡±


    ¡°No, no, I mean,¡± I sighed. ¡°I put you in danger. And I didn¡¯t say anything to you, or ask you for your opinion, and I don¡¯t have any good excuse for that. I was in some sort of withdrawal, sure, but that wasn¡¯t all of it.¡±


    She nced over at me with a hard expression. ¡°Listen, we need to get to this city. Don¡¯t worry about it for now. We can talk once you¡¯re not dying.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s the problem. I might not make it out of this. And I know that me dying would technically be a good thing for you ¨C I mean, the Demons would probably leave if I was gone. But I just can¡¯t die without at least saying sorry. For dragging you into this.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. You weren¡¯t thinking right when you attacked the Banestinger.¡±


    ¡°No, this whole thing. The Demons and shit. It¡¯s my fault that they showed up, and it¡¯s my fault they attacked Carth, and it¡¯s my fault that you were with me when they did. You got mixed up into all this because of me. You had a life. And I took that away from you. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    She kept walking with me in silence for a while, to the point where I began to worry she was just ignoring me. But eventually, she spoke up. ¡°You didn¡¯t do that. I mean, it happened because of you, but it wasn¡¯t your choice. You had no idea what would happen. The Demons were the ones who chose to attack. They took my life away. And An, if you die before you have the chance to help me make every single Demon alive regret that decision they made, I swear to the gods I will find a way to revive you just so I can kill you myself.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I choked out augh, ¡°at least I¡¯ll get to die by the hands of a beautiful woman.¡±


    She just rolled her eyes.


    ¡°No, seriously, that Banestinger was ugly as shit. I saw it up-close. Really put a damper on my day. And it would¡¯ve been going so well otherwise.¡±


    She half-sighed, halfughed. ¡°Yourst words better not be some shitty joke.¡±


    ¡°Well, y¡¯know, gotta give the people something tough at during the funeral.¡±


    ¡°Well let¡¯s try to give you some more time toe up with better material. Otherwise you¡¯ll just make them cry harder. So no more reckless stunts, okay?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded. ¡°Sorry again. For putting you in danger, I mean. I¡¯m kind of used to doing things on my own. Not just with me getting lost in the forest before, either. I¡¯ve always been pretty self-reliant. After my parents disappeared, I was pretty much on my own, and had to do things myself. And I think that made me forget what it¡¯s like to have a partner like this. I¡¯ve been used to <em>needing</em> to take charge because of Time Loop, but that doesn¡¯t mean I get to have de facto final say on this stuff. We¡¯re in it together, and I¡¯ll be sure to get confirmation with you before doing something like that, from now on.¡±


    Erani¡¯s hard expression finally broke. Her frown began to shake, lips quivering. ¡°Please don¡¯t die, okay? Please.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll do my best.¡±


    By the time we got there, my ever-decreasing Health had fallen to 30. As we approached the city and the walls entered my sight, we began to see posters nailed up on trees with my face on them, detailing my bounty and reward. Never mentioned any list of crimes, though ¨C how interesting, I thought with a scowl.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Erani said. ¡°I¡¯m the less infamous one between us two, so I¡¯ll go in alone first. I¡¯ll figure out how to disguise myself, then run in and see if I can talk to anyone with poison-curing Spells. Maybe someone has some potions or Enchanted items that can cure you. Be right back.¡±


    I sat on the ground as Erani left, and motioned for the Nymph to sit with us. I kept my eyes open and kept my head on a swivel, constantly checking all around us for enemies. We were close enough to a city that a troop of soldiers coulde by at any moment ¨C or, gods forbid, an Infernal.


    More than anything, I wanted to just close my eyes and rest, but I didn¡¯t have that luxury. I¡¯d gotten used to the venom for the most part, but I still winced every time it reached my heart and hit me for another point of damage. Sweat from the stress on my body glistened my forehead.


    The Nymph sat with me and gazed at the walls of the city. This one ¨C its name was Oakenside ¨C was located in the bottom of arge valley, and we were sitting up at the top, so we could almost see over the walls as we were. I wondered if the Nymph had even seen a city before. Its original home was somewhat near Carth, but how much did Nymphs explore their surroundings? Maybe it never ventured far enough from that river to see the city walls.


    I felt oddly calm, despite the fact that I was quite literally dying. Maybe it was because I couldn¡¯t really do anything to stop it? I wished I could have talked to the Nymph at least once. I¡¯d die sitting right next to it, but without ever hearing its voice.


    I¡¯d die without ever getting to know Erani better. I felt close to her due to our circumstances, but we¡¯d only known each other for a matter of days, and I didn¡¯t know much about her past. I was so busy escaping and trying to survive, but now that I was going to die, all of that stuff suddenly felt unimportant. I was going to die anyway, why didn¡¯t I just do some stuff that mattered instead of bothering with that survival shit?


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 24.


    My breath stuttered at the sudden pain. I could die before she even got back out here. I barely even had an hour left. Was I seriously going to die without even saying goodbye? I chuckled. The Infernals hadn¡¯t even been the ones to get me. Done in by my own actions. How fucking poetic. If I hadn¡¯t been so obsessed with getting stronger, maybe I could¡¯ve survived longer. Even if the Demons eventually killed me, at least I¡¯d have been able to live to see a few more days. But I¡¯d shortened it with my own mistakes.


    I breathed, still ncing around and keeping myself on as high alert as I could.


    The minutes went on, and soon enough, my Health had fallen into the low twenties, then the high tens, then the low tens, until finally¡­


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 9.


    I had 9 left. The Nymph was simply sitting next to me, seeming to just be waiting for me to die. It knew there was no hope for me. And I¡¯d die without a single person I could even speak to.


    But no. No, I couldn¡¯t let that happen. I searched through my Status, trying to find anything that could save me, or at least prolong the inevitable.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    <strong>13</strong>


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>10</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>23</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>256</strong>/<strong>600</strong>


    Dexterity:


    12


    Health:


    <strong>9</strong>/<strong>230</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.0846</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>55</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>101</strong>/<strong>106</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.714</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>11</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>603</strong>/<strong>605</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>11.55</strong>


    <strong>Stat Points:</strong>


    <strong>3</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>Gravity Well 5 - XP 3/45</strong>


    <strong>[Ability Choice Avable]</strong>


    Trailzer


    Ray of Frost 5 - XP <strong>9</strong>/45


    Recursive Growth


    Crippling Chill <strong>9</strong> - XP <strong>95</strong>/<strong>355</strong>


    Time Loop <strong>10</strong><strong></strong>


    <strong>+[Time Loop Upgrade Avable]</strong>


    Noxious Grasp <strong>10</strong> - XP <strong>8</strong>/<strong>461</strong><strong></strong>


    <strong>+Venomous Grasp</strong>


    There was one possibility. I remembered back to when I had chosen Recursive Growth as my Level 5 Talent, the Intelligence Information had told me my next three Talent options. I struggled to remember. They were Temporal Fold, Expedited Recovery, and¡­ Regenerate. They just might be able to help me. But to choose one, or even to see my options, I¡¯d have to meditate for ten minutes. Ten minutes, during which I¡¯d have to sacrifice my awareness of my surroundings while so close to a city. If a patrol of Infernals saw me¡­


    I¡¯d just have to take the risk. I¡¯d wanted to wait for Erani, but she obviously seemed to be taking more time than I¡¯d hoped to find something to help me. So I reluctantly closed my eyes and sat quietly, trying my hardest to clear my mind and ignore the painful poison in my veins. My Health ticked downward and downward, and before I knew it, it was at 7, then 4, then 2.


    But just then, I finally got to the point where I could see my Talents and choose one.


    Choose one Talent to obtain:


    Temporal Fold


    Type: Activated


    ¡ª


    Creates a stitch in time, causing an hour¡¯s worth of Mana regeneration to happen in a single instant. <em>(Currently gains 693 Mana)</em>


    This Talent may only be activated once per day.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Emergency Reserves</em>


    <em>Typhoon</em>


    <em>Land on Your Feet</em>


    Expedited Recovery


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Allows unused Health regeneration to contribute to Mana regeneration. As long as your current Health is equal to your maximum Health, your Mana Regeneration is increased by 100%.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Breakneck</em>


    <em>Restore Bnce</em>


    <em>Intensify</em>


    Regenerate


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 20 Stamina, plus twenty minutes worth of Stamina regeneration. <em>(Currently 34.28 Stamina)</em>


    ¡ª


    Greatly increase your body¡¯s recovery speed, at the cost of your Stamina. When activated, your Health/Minute is multiplied by 1,000 for 10 seconds, then returns to normal.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Status Reconstruction</em>


    <em>Precognition</em>


    <em>Exponential Remation</em>


    I nced over all three until I saw what I needed. Regenerate didn¡¯t cure poison, but it¡¯d keep me alive for a bit longer, and that was good enough. It was a shame to lose out on the other two options, but I had no choice here.


    You have obtained the Talent Regenerate.


    <em>Your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Status Reconstruction</em>


    <em>Precognition</em>


    <em>Exponential Remation</em>


    Immediately, I opened my eyes, left the meditation, and went to activate the Talent. It was a bit different than a Spell or Time Loop, but after letting the System briefly guide my mind to the right action, I felt a mental switch flip.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 14.3 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    34.3 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 67.


    The Stamina that was part of its cost drained from my body, and I immediately felt a bit more tired and my eyes a bit heavier.


    That said, though, I also felt a sudden rejuvenation. My Health/Minute had increased a thousandfold, going from 0.0846 to 84.6, and I could physically feel my Health total increasing. Over the ten seconds Regenerate was active, the System-given shield around me grew a little stronger with each passing moment. My Health went from 2 up to 3, then 4, 6, 10, until it finally rested at 16 and the Talent wore off.


    It wasn¡¯t exactly safe waters, but I was in a massively better position than I was in before. I activated the Talent once more.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 14.3 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    34.3 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 33.


    The wave of healing washed over my body and repaired more of the damage the poison had done. I also felt exhausted at that point, my Stamina now at a third of what it had been seconds before. But my Health was at 30, and I¡¯d bought myself more time. My Stamina would regenerate more quickly than my Health, too, so I¡¯d be able to activate the Talent again soon.


    Part of me wanted to re-enter the meditative state while I waited so I could choose an Upgrade for Time Loop, but I was still in the middle of enemy territory, and closing my eyes like that for an entire ten minutes would be too much risk for something that, in the end, wasn¡¯t going to do anything until midnight came. For now, I just needed to wait and keep an eye out ¨C I could choose an Upgrade once Erani came back.


    Hopefully she¡¯de with good news.


    ¡°What¡¯d you find?¡± I asked Erani after watching her climb the hill to meet us.


    ¡°Nothing much as far as people who can cure poison or heal. Apparently all those people have been needed so badly in other areas to heal the wounded from this whole Demon fiasco that it¡¯s basically impossible to get a hold of them.¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± I cursed, my head falling back and hitting the tree trunk behind me.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 36.


    The prick of venom just added insult to injury.


    ¡°There¡¯s still something, though. There was one guy in there who could help; he had a Dryad with him.¡±


    ¡°Dryad?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s actually an evolution of Nymphs,¡± she gestured to our Nymph, who was sitting next to me, petting a squirrel which had settled in itsp. ¡°You know how Tribute works ¨C other monsters can sacrifice their own Levels to give a Nymph a portion of their own power. Normally, this is just something small, like the whip on this one, but certain, more powerful monsters can actually induce an evolution in the Nymph. And, when they get Tribute from a Faerie Queene, Nymphs evolve into Dryads, gaining ess to Mana and Spells of their own. And one of those Spells just so happens to cure poison.¡±


    ¡°Great! So we just need to get help from that guy¡¯s Dryad?¡±


    ¡°Well, he had a small clinic where he helped some people with poison, so I went in to talk to him. I kept my eyes low for the most part when going through the city, so most people didn¡¯t recognize me, but I had to speak with him for a while, and I think he might have realized who I was. Or not, I don¡¯t know. All I know is he randomly asked me to leave, and wouldn¡¯t hear a word otherwise. I came back here right afterward, since I was worried he¡¯d call the authorities. I don¡¯t think I was trailed.¡±


    ¡°Dammit,¡± I cursed. ¡°So they¡¯re useless?¡±


    ¡°Well, they would be, but where do you think that Dryad came from?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean I found a flier in the adventurer¡¯s guild. It asks for volunteers to go to the nearby Faerie vige and try to build better trade rtions with them, or something. Point is, there¡¯s a Faerie Queene nearby, and we have a Nymph.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°...You know that¡¯s a long shot, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s our only choice.¡±


    I swallowed, thenboriously pushed myself to my feet,menting my dangerously low Stamina from the many Regenerates I¡¯d used.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I grunted. ¡°We¡¯ve got a Nymph to evolve.¡±

 Chapter 53: Village Journey

    Chapter 53: Vige Journey


    The walk to the Faerie vige was tiring, especially when I was forced to spend all of my Stamina on Regeneration in order to keep myself alive. Despite the extra Health from the Talent, I was still losing Health every hour ¨C just not as dramatically. It wasing up to midnight, and my Health had dropped to 19.


    As Erani helped me walk along, I also decided to go ahead and look at my options for what was called a ¡®Time Loop Upgrade¡¯. I had the time while we walked, and whatever it entailed might end up helping us on our mission.


    It was hard to meditate while moving since I had to keep my eyes closed, but Erani was already helping me walk, so I just had her guide me as I tried my best to sink into my own mind. Before I looked at my Upgrade options, I first looked at Time Loop itself.


    Time Loop ¨C Rank <strong>10</strong>


    Type: Activated


    Go up to <strong>11</strong> minutes back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other Talent cooldowns ¨C as well as the rest of the world ¨C but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.


    This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.


    This Talent may only be activated <strong>twice</strong> per day.


    The Time Loop Usage Increase was true ¨C I could now use Time Loop twice per day, instead of just once. Of course, I couldn¡¯t reap those benefits yet, but after midnight came ¨C it wouldn¡¯t be too long, at this point ¨C it¡¯d essentially be twice as good. That was an incredible increase in power.


    Then, I looked at my Time Loop Upgrade choices.


    Choose one Upgrade for Time Loop:


    Extended Loop


    ¡ª


    Time Loop now goes back up to 1 hour in time, rather than 11 minutes.


    Further Level-ups will increase the amount of time Time Loop goes back by 30 minutes rather than 1 minute.


    Invigorating Loop


    ¡ª


    Upon activating Time Loop, when you arrive in the new timeline, you gain 40 Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity for one minute.


    Incrementing Loop


    ¡ª


    Whenever you activate Time Loop and arrive in the new timeline with more XP or Spell XP than you had before, increase the amount you gained by 100%.


    So it was like a Spell Upgrade, I mused. Three options, each of which added a new, unique ability to the Talent. And they were all incredibly powerful. Extended Loop would make it take me much further back in time, Invigorating Loop would give me a temporary boost in physical strength every time I used it, and Incrementing Loop would give me extra XP whenever I went back in time after killing a monster.


    Invigorating Loop was the first one I looked at. It was an intense increase in power ¨C just about tripling my Endurance and quadrupling my Strength and Dexterity ¨C but I actually didn¡¯t like it that much, regardless of that insane enhancement. Especially with Recursive Growth, as time went on, that Upgrade would get worse and worse, since the amount it increased my Stats didn¡¯t actually go up at all. Sure, it¡¯d quadruple my Strength for <em>now</em>, but once I was Level 20, would it even double my Strength? Eventually, it¡¯d barely do anything at all.


    Besides, it actually had a surprisingly limited range of uses, even now. It wouldn¡¯t be much help in the situations when I didn¡¯t go back right into the middle of a fight, because of the extremely limited one-minute time limit on the Stat increases. Even if I went back to redo a fight, if I gave myself any time beforehand to rest and think, the buff would wear off by the time the fight started. And even if I went back into the middle of the fight, if it dragged on too long, I¡¯d also lose out on the buff.


    Incrementing Loop seemed incredibly useful. Over the course of, say, a year, it could easily gain me enough extra XP for multiple additional Levels. If I killed something and got 100 XP, then went back in time, I¡¯d arrive in the new timeline with <em>200</em> extra XP ¨C plus I¡¯d still get to kill the monster again. Given enough time, I could end up way ahead of the curve. But¡­


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 18.


    I wasn¡¯t sure if I¡¯d survive to see the next year. Or the next month, week, even day. I¡¯d been burned many times now for getting too greedy and taking options that didn¡¯t do anything at all in the immediate future. And now, I needed help more than ever. So taking an Upgrade like Incrementing Loop that would do absolutely nothing now, even if it would work incredibly wellter on, felt like a mistake.


    Extended Loop felt like the perfect in-between. It didn¡¯t explicitly gain me more XP, but by going back an entire hour, I could fit more time into a single day, and still end up getting some extra XP. It had an immediate use of multiplying the amount of time I could go back by a factor of almost six, and with its benefit only increasing as I Leveled, I could soon find myself with more time than I knew what to do with, rather than scrambling for every second.


    Plus, that much extra time would only be more powerful as I continued to get more Time Loop Usage Increases, effectively multiplying the amount of time I could go back for every one I got. It felt like a reasonable in-between of the short-term benefit of Invigorating Loop while not giving up on the long-term strength of Incrementing Loop. It¡¯d help me now <em>and</em>ter.


    So, I picked the Upgrade.


    Time Loop has gained the Upgrade Extended Loop.


    But before I could even process the change, I was suddenly shaken out of my mediation by Erani. I opened my eyes and looked around. We¡¯d stopped, and I was currently leaning against a tree, squished between Erani and the Nymph.


    ¡°What¡¯s¨C¡± I started, but Erani interrupted me with a shush. She nodded her head in a direction around the tree, and I leaned over to see what she was talking about. I realized that we weren¡¯t just leaning up against a tree ¨C we were hiding. A group of armored soldiers walked through the forest on the other side, examining the area and looking for something. It was obvious what ¨C or rather, who ¨C they were searching for.


    That guy with his Dryad must¡¯ve snitched to the guards about us, I thought. They obviously weren¡¯t those royal guards from before with the blue-and-silver te armor, instead they seemed like normal city guards. They had simple swords and spears and some leather armor with the most important bits covered by small pieces of metal, an emblem of a sword and hawk¡¯s feather zened on their chests.


    Normally, I¡¯d be confident we could take them. But¡­


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 17.


    My Health was abysmally low, and wouldn¡¯t be going up any time soon. If I even got poked, my Health would drop dramatically, and even if the strike didn¡¯t kill me, it¡¯d put me in a position to be killed much sooner by the venom.


    I was incredibly thankful to have Erani to keep me out of danger there.


    But now, I wasn¡¯t sure what we could do. It didn¡¯t seem like Erani knew, either. We were close enough to the soldiers that if we ran, they¡¯d immediately see us and attack, and if we stayed, they¡¯d eventually find us, anyway. The Nymph seemed to have its own ideas of what to do, drawing its whip from its side and pulling it taut in its fingers.


    But we couldn¡¯t fight. If we did, they¡¯d only attack me, and¡­


    Well, actually, maybe the Nymph was on to something. If it was the only one toe out, the soldiers would just think it was a random monster attacking them. It hadn¡¯t been tied to us yet, ording to the fliers we¡¯d seen posted around the area, and if they were distracted by the fight, Erani and I could flee without being seen. After that, the Nymph could safely disengage and follow us, and the soldiers would think it just ran away.


    I wasn¡¯t sure how I could actuallymunicate this to the Nymph; not only could I not speak due to the nearby enemies, but it didn¡¯t even understand mynguage, anyway. I¡¯d just have to hope it could figure it out as it went. Who knew, maybe it had the same idea we did.


    The Nymph tensed, readying its attack, and Erani put up a hand to stop it, but I grabbed her wrist and held it down, shaking my head. She seemed to understand that I intended for it to attack. I pointed to us, then pointed in the opposite direction of the soldiers. She nodded.


    I watched as the Nymph waited a few seconds, took a breath, and dashed out from behind the tree, thorny whip held tightly in its hand. The moment I heard the soldiers shout in surprise and draw their weapons, I dashed off, Erani¡¯s hand held tightly in mine, and didn¡¯t look back as I fled. I didn¡¯t want to slow down for even a second.


    The sounds of battle became quieter and quieter as we ran into the night. Once we were far enough away that it was totally silent, I stopped, hands on my knees, to catch my breath. I¡¯d been spending so much Stamina on Regenerate that I barely had enough to move around.


    ¡°Where¡¯d theye from?¡± I asked Erani.


    ¡°No idea,¡± she said. ¡°We were just walking along, and I randomly saw them walking through the treeline. Obviously looking for us.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Think the Nymph can handle them?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, hopefully. Seems strong enough that it can handle its own against some simple town guards.¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± I furrowed my brow. ¡°Think we should just wait for it toe after us?¡±


    ¡°Seems like it.¡±


    We waited for a while for the Nymph toe back and find us, Erani and I ncing around and making sure we were rtively hidden from sight. If there were any more enemies around, we needed to see them before they saw us ¨C especially when we were so far from one of our allies. Thirty seconds passed, then a minute, then two. Once a few more minutes had passed, I knew something had to have been wrong. The Nymph was a quick fighter, and itsbat shouldn¡¯t have taken longer than it took for us to even run to where we were, much less even longer.


    ¡°We need to go see what¡¯s going on,¡± I said. ¡°It could be in trouble.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s too risky,¡± Erani shook her head. ¡°If they¡¯re powerful enough to give the Nymph trouble, they¡¯re powerful enough that we can¡¯t go after them.¡±


    ¡°But if all it needs is a bit more help so it can escape, we can¡¯t just leave it to die. What if it misunderstood what we intended to do, and thought we would have its back? We can¡¯t just abandon it.¡±


    Erani pursed her lips, taking a moment to think. ¡°I¡¯ll go ahead, you trail behind and yell if anything happens. If I wave my hand like this,¡± she demonstrated, ¡°it means it¡¯s too dangerous for you, go back.¡±


    I didn¡¯t like feeling like dead weight, but I guessed that was pretty much what I was at this point.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Sounds good.¡±


    We cautiously made our way back, with me a couple dozen paces behind Erani as she crept her way forward, ncing around as she did so. It was eerily quiet as we approached. Had the soldiers really captured the Nymph and taken it off somewhere?


    After a few excruciatingly long minutes ¨C both mentally from anticipation, and physically from the poison ¨C Erani arrived at the area of the fight. I was too far back to see, but she stopped and stared ahead, looking shocked and afraid. She didn¡¯t wave her hand, though, so I kept approaching. What was up there to make her look so fearful? Some sort of calling card? Or a ransom note?


    When I got there, I understood.


    Scattered throughout the woods was red. The trees were painted with blood, the leafy ground fertilized with intestine. A bone here, yed skin there.Though it all obviously came from Humans, there were no recognizable bodies in sight. Still, it was less likely that they had been taken away, and more that they were all around us. A crushed heart lying alone on a stone, a lung inside a log. In the dark, it was somewhat difficult to see, but it was obvious that the Humans that were once here had beenpletely obliterated. The entire location waspletely unrecognizable from what it had started as.


    And, sitting inside this cathedral of chaos, the only green thing in these red woods, was the Nymph, alone and unharmed, cleaning off its bloodied weapon.


    It looked up and saw us, smiling and running forward. It handed me a piece of metal, one that I btedly recognized to be the emblem of sword and hawk feather from the armor of one of the soldiers. It was offering me a trophy from its hunt.


    ¡°What the fuck¡­¡± Erani was clearly at a loss for words.


    ¡°Well¡­ at least the Nymph was okay,¡± I exhaled.


    We continued on our way after that spectacle, leaving the reddened battlefield behind us. I fought to keep the contents of my stomach inside my body as I tried to forget the sight. And the stench. The smell from back there was so nauseating, the sight so horrible¡­ Still, it wasn¡¯t so bad as to make me faint, or anything. Ironically, the abstract nature of the scene ¨C the fact that I couldn¡¯t really even recognize anything there asing from a human body ¨C made it a bit easier to stomach.


    Still, I couldn¡¯t stop thinking of the Nymph. I nced over at it as we walked away from the scene. I knew Nymphs were powerful monsters ¨C I¡¯d experienced their strength, myself ¨C but it still put things into perspective to see that power turned on a group of people like that. I¡¯d never seen what the Nymph had done to my body from an outside perspective, either.


    But what if the Nymph decided to turn that power on me and Erani? Would it be able to destroy us in the same way? I kept side-eyeing it as we walked, afraid it would suddenly turn on us. I mean, it was obviously upset at these Humans and Demons for attacking its home, so what would happen if it knew that I was the one to bring the Demons to it?


    My mind was filled with thoughts of betrayal and ns in case it did attack us. The Nymph was a monster, I reminded myself. It didn¡¯t care about Humans. I felt like I¡¯d slowly allowed myself to get attached to it and gottencent with my guard. It could kill Humans and not give a damn afterward. The fact it was skipping alongside me with such a cheerful expression was proof enough of that. Sure, the Humans it¡¯d just killed were our enemies, but I doubted it cared about that.


    It was a bloodthirsty beast, and I couldn¡¯t let myself forget that.


    Eventually, as we walked, I finally felt a sudden change in my mind, like something had been unlocked. It was the familiar feeling of Time Looping off its cooldown and bing avable to use again. Only, this time, it was slightly different, like a second lock I didn¡¯t know was there had been utched, as well. It was my second use of Time Loop, added by the Usage Increase. So I had two one-hour redos now, in case anything went wrong. Of course, if I died to the poison, there wouldn¡¯t be much I could actually redo ¨C my mistake there was a day in the past, not an hour ago. So I¡¯d have to do everything in my power to remedy it soon.


    My Health continued to tick steadily downward, and as it got to the low single digits, my Stamina also finally got high enough for another activation of Regenerate, and I eagerly did so.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 14.3 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    34.3 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 2.


    Dropping my Stamina down to 2 wasn¡¯t a veryfortable sensation, to say the least, but I had to do it in order to stay alive. I fought the urge to drop to my knees ¨C if I¡¯d just give it some time, my Stamina would regenerate a bit. After the ten seconds, my Health was up to 19. I¡¯d done the math, though, and my totally exhausted Stamina wouldn¡¯t recover fast enough for it to get to 34 before my Health reached 0. In other words, that was myst activation. I had 19 Health left, and I¡¯d either use that timer to cure myself of the poison, or I¡¯d die trying.


    As I trudged along,pletely drained by the sudden loss of almost all of my energy, I realized my ability to figure out this cure would be put to the test sooner than I¡¯d thought. Because just off in the distance, I could see thatch roofinge into view, colored a pale blue and purple from some magical lights set up in the nighttime.


    We had arrived at the Faerie vige.

 Chapter 54: Faerie Village

    Chapter 54: Faerie Vige


    The Faerie vige was surrounded by a strong-looking wooden palisade. It was made of thick logs and connected by rope strung of green nt fibers. Roofs of thatch poked out from the top of the walls guarding the vige, and I could see floating orbs of light strewn throughout the air above, illuminating the area in a soft blue-and-purple glow.


    At one side of the wall was a huge gate made of the same wide logs, with a simple turnwheel to raise and lower it. It must¡¯ve taken an immense amount of strength for a single person to turn it hard enough to lift so much weight. Next to the gate was the person I assumed did that manualbor ¨C a muscr man in tight-fitting green clothes and simple sandals. And, of course, most notably were the four distinct eyes on his face.


    I hadn¡¯t done much research on Faeries in my time ¨C I was much more interested in the monsters I¡¯d more likely have to fight ¨C but I at least knew enough to recognize their most notable trait. The man¡¯s four almost diamond-shaped eyes blinked all at different times as he looked around, guarding the gate. Faeries themselves had many different shapes and sizes between their subspecies, some of theming smaller and with wings on their back, while others were more Human-shaped like this one. But what all of them shared were the four eyes.


    I set myself and approached alongside Erani and the Nymph, unwilling to waste any of my limited time. The Nymph, oblivious to our ns of diplomacy with the Faeries, had a hand on its whip, which I had to grab and remove, trying to get the point across that we were not, in fact, ughtering these ones.


    The Faerie man quickly noticed us walking forward, and immediately grabbed a dagger from his belt, holding it out at us and calling out, ¡°Hold. You are approaching Nugyuk Vige, a guarded Faerie settlement that is closed to outsiders. Turn and leave.¡±


    He spoke with a clear ent ¨C Faeries didn¡¯t usually speak any Humannguages, so it was clear that he had learned it at some point. Erani had mentioned that this vige used to trade with the nearby city, so maybe he had learned it to speak with them.


    I took a breath, choosing my words carefully. ¡°Wee with a humble request. We would not bother you if it were not urgent.¡±


    Erani nodded. ¡°We are willing to do what we can to help you in return for any help you can offer us.¡±


    The Faerie stood and looked at us for a moment, particrly at the Nymph¡¯s spiked whip that was on disy. Maybe we should have hidden that somewhere before approaching. Weapons didn¡¯t seem too diplomatic. I stood, trying to be patient, but silently wishing he would just hurry up and say something ¨C we were acting on borrowed time.


    ¡°What do you request?¡± He finally asked. ¡°And what would you be able to offer in return? Why must you bother us in the first ce? Could you not ask your fellow Humans for help? And how did you find our vige?¡±


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 18.


    I fought back the urge to sigh in frustration. I didn¡¯t want to have to exin our circumstances to a guard, just so I could go and talk with the Queene and exin it all over again.


    ¡°Would it be possible for us to discuss specifics with the Queene, or someone else of influence?¡± I asked in as polite a manner as I could manage. ¡°We are unfortunately pressed for time, and¨C¡±


    ¡°I am the right hand of the Queene,¡± the man who was apparently not a guard scowled. ¡°I can assure you I am someone of influence.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I-I¡¯m sorry,¡± I stuttered. ¡°I just assumed, since you were standing out here guarding the gate¨C¡±


    ¡°Guarding the gate is one of the most prestigious jobs afforded to an individual. I assure you I take the duty of protecting the lives of each and every one of our citizens incredibly seriously. Now, if you are finished with your insults, you may leave.¡±


    ¡°I apologize for his rudeness,¡± Erani put a hand on my shoulder, ¡°mypanion is just ignorant of your culture. I assure you he meant nothing by his presumptuous statements. We are honored to speak with someone of your stature. We can offer to do anything you request of us, provided it is within our ability, and we ask that your Queene give this Nymph,¡± she gestured, ¡°a single Tribute. What is your name?¡±


    ¡°A Tribute?¡± the man asked. ¡°That is not what Humans normally ask for. My name is Aankin the Stalwart. As for whether we can give you what you ask for, we have skilled Enchanters and powerful Spell-casters, that much I can offer. But a Tribute from the Queene¡­ fine. I understand why you would request to speak to her directly. How can you prove you are worthy to receive such a blessing?¡±


    Worthy? What did he mean by that? I wasn¡¯t sure if it would be polite to ask him to rify ¨C we were already not off to a great start of a conversation ¨C so I just guessed. ¡°I assure you we are virtuous individuals, and mean no harm to your vige in any way. We simply have¡­ medicalplications that could be solved by the healing powers granted to the Nymph by a Tribute.¡±


    The buff man ¨C Aankin the Stalwart, apparently ¨C looked at me with all four of his eyes skeptically, before saying ¡°...Hm. Fine. If you''re having medical problems, that would be the way we could help. I will take you to see her majesty. Simply open the gate, and I will guide you in.¡±


    I looked down at the simple hand-crank used to pull open the massive door.


    ¡°We just use this?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°...Is there any trick to it?¡±


    ¡°Just turn the wheel, and the gate will open.¡±


    Taking a breath, I stepped up and grabbed the crank, which was currently set upward, and started pushing down to try and lift the gate. It didn¡¯t budge against my venom-weakened body. Erani stepped forward and helped, pushing down on the wooden handle. Combined, we could just barely begin to move it. The Nymph put its hands down, crowding the crank further, and pushed, and with that, it began to slowly turn, each of us pushing our entirebined weight down on the handle.


    Once it was in a downward position, the gate had been pulled up enough that I might be able to fit an arm inside, if I squeezed. We started to pull back up, which was a bit harder, and then push it back down, trying our best to synchronize our movements.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 17.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 16.


    After a few minutes of effort, we managed to get the damned gate open. While we held it, Aankin stuck a metal pole through the turning mechanism to lock it, so that it wouldn¡¯t fall back down when we let go. ¡°Passable effort. I guess I didn¡¯t <em>technically</em> say you couldn¡¯t use outside help, and the three of you are requesting our assistance as a group, so I will allow it. You have proven your strength, and may enter Nugyuk Vige.¡±


    ¡°That was a test?¡± I panted, hands on my knees. ¡°Why do you need us to prove our strength?¡±


    ¡°How could we trust you to use the Queene¡¯s power responsibly if you were not strong? If you are weak, people can take advantage of you and use the power we give away. Before we can begin negotiations, we must know you can¡¯t be exploited by our enemies. It is only logical to do so.¡±


    ¡°Ah, right, of course,¡± I said and followed him into the vige. What the fuck was he talking about?


    Since it was nighttime, there weren¡¯t many people out, but those I did see had incredibly diverse appearances. There were the Humanoids and the winged ones, but there were also short, bearded creatures that I recognized as Gnomes, golems made of stone lumbering throughout the vige, and even a literal tree ¨C rooted in the ground and everything ¨C all living together and socializing. And all had the signature four eyes, of course.


    They watched us as we walked through the dirt roads and past the y-and-thatch huts, but didn¡¯t say anything. Or, if they did, they said it in their ownnguage, not ours. In the center of the vige, even as far away as we were, I could see a huge building pierce the sky. It was the only multi-story structure in sight, and at least as wide as ten of the huts side-by-side. We headed toward it, led by Aankin.


    As we moved through the few crowds of varied Faerie forms, the Nymph, trailing behind, yelped and stumbled back from one of the Faeries upon seeing it. I looked around, trying to see if anything was attacking us, but there was no movement, and the Nymph didn¡¯t actually seem to be damaged as it ran back and behind Erani, hiding from the Faeries in the crowd. They were all clumped together, so I wasn¡¯t actually sure which one it was that the Nymph was scared of, though.


    Our guide just continued walking, though I thought I heard him scoff at the Nymph¡¯s actions, which irritated me. Poor thing had no idea what was going on, exploring some ce full of unfamiliar monsters. Of course it¡¯d be on-guard; thest time it saw a monster it didn¡¯t recognize was probably when it¡¯d been attacked by the Demons. And that didn¡¯t exactly go well for it.


    As I thought that, I also reminded myself of the people the Nymph massacred back in the forest. How could something act so vicious in one moment, and then act so afraid in another? Maybe Aankin was onto something,ughing at that disparity. Not that he knew what this particr Nymph had done, of course.


    Other than the light scoff, Aankin was silent as he led us along. I wasn''t sure if his silence worried me or put me at ease ¨C I wouldn¡¯t have as many chances to mess things up in conversation, sure, but I also had no idea what he was thinking. What worried me for sure was that he never put away the dagger he drew when he first saw us. The curved weapon was still in his hand as he walked.


    By the time we got to the main building, my Health had dropped another point, down to 15. I¡¯d gotten good enough at masking my winces whenever the poison hit my heart, but it was still hard to move around with such low Stamina and Health. I didn¡¯t want the Faeries to know that I was in such a desperate state, though; if they knew that, they¡¯d know just how much we needed their help. My life was on the line ¨C theoretically, they could charge me the price of being their eternal ve, and it¡¯d still be a better deal than dying, so I¡¯d effectively be forced to take it. So I couldn¡¯t let them know just how much power they had over me.


    Not to mention, this Aankin the Stalwart seemed to hold power in high regard. And, if he knew just how weak I currently was, I wasn¡¯t sure if I¡¯d be able to hold his respect.


    The door to the main pce was the exact same as the one that led into the vige itself ¨C a huge gate made of thick logs that was attached to a simple hand-crank. Thankfully, Aankin didn¡¯t force us to raise it this time, instead gripping his meaty fist around the handle and cranking it himself single-handedly. We entered.


    The building was a single room that was emptier than I¡¯d have assumed it would be. There were pirs scattered throughout the structure that seemed to be there purely out of necessity ¨C the roof would surely copse without them ¨C and not much else.


    Well, other than the Faerie Queene, of course.


    She was by far thergest Faerie I¡¯d seen in this ce, her body taking up at least a fourth of the massive floor space of the pce. She was sorge, in fact, that she had to lie down on her side so that she didn¡¯t hit her head against the ceiling that towered far above my normal-sized head. Proportionately, she was simr to a Human, just twenty times bigger. And, of course, with the ssic four eyes of the Faeries. She wore a dazzling dress of gold, sewn together with too many threads to count, and leaned her head against her hand as shey, looking ahead at us as we entered.


    Her massive eyes locked onto us and she opened her mouth, speaking, ¡°Why do you bring Humans here, Aankin the Stalwart?¡±


    Aankin held out a hand to stop us from approaching any further, the dagger pointed directly at me. He responded, ¡°They wished for an audience with you, your majesty. They do not seem to be aligned with the other Humans.¡±


    I looked sideways at Erani. What other Humans?


    ¡°They passed the trial of strength,¡± Aankin continued, ¡°and so I allowed them passage. They will now speak their request.¡±


    He stepped aside.


    I assumed that was my cue to speak. I stepped forward. ¡°Uh, we humbly request a Tribute from you to our Nymph, your majesty,¡± I bowed, trying my best to act regally when I had no idea how to do so. ¡°We can offer¨C¡±


    ¡°Why do you ask humbly?¡± She boomed out.


    ¡°I-I beg your pardon?¡±


    ¡°And why do you beg?¡±


    I blinked. ¡°I was trying to be polite?¡±


    ¡°I do not care for Human niceties. Humility is for those too weak to unt their power, and begging is for those too weak to take what they want. Those traits are unbing of a trade partner, Human. You want Tribute, yes? And yet you refuse to prove yourself as one worthy of respect, much less Tribute.¡±


    ¡°I¨C¡±


    ¡°If you wish to be below me, that is fine. In the case that you wish to be below me, my price is that you give up your life, and I give Tribute.¡±


    ¡°Well¨C¡±


    ¡°I suspect that is not what you wish, though,¡± her voice was so loud that it consistently drowned mine out. I could only be heard once she decided to stop speaking. ¡°I suspect that you in no way believe yourself to be truly below me. I suspect that you coated your words in courtesy in order to get what you want without ever having to fight for it. I suspect that youe here wanting more, but unwilling to act as though you do. I suspect youe here with the assumption that I would sink myself to act your equal without you ever earning that privilege. In the case that you wish for my respect without working to earn it, then leave and do note back.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not¨C¡±


    ¡°But while I suspect those things to be true, I do not want them to be. I want you toe to my domain and offer me the respect of proving that you are my equal. I want you to ask for what you want without politics or kindness or charm. I want you to show me that I am not wasting my time by saying these words to you right now. In the case that you wish to truly speak to me on a level that we both deserve, then prove yourself to me.¡±


    She finally stopped speaking, allowing me to do so.


    ¡°The third case is true. I want to prove myself.¡± I didn¡¯t have much of a choice, truthfully. Hopefully whatever test of power she cooked up wasn¡¯t going to be too difficult for someone in my state.


    ¡°Good. The test begins now.¡±


    ¡°Okay. What do you want me to¨C¡±


    You have been stabbed. 29 damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    A dagger poked through the front of my chest. Aankin¡¯s dagger. I fell to the ground.


    I could barely hear him say ¡°So he was a weakling, after all,¡± before my vision faded to ck.


    You have died.

 Chapter 55: Trials

    Chapter 55: Trials


    I came to consciousness in the all-too-familiar ck void of Time Loop. The first thing I realized was that I had died. Gods damn it. The second thing I noticed was that I had many, many more choices being presented to me thanst time. Sixty choices, to be exact. After a moment¡¯s confusion, I remembered that Time Loop could now take me up to a full hour back in time, instead of the ten-or-so minutes that I used to be able to go back.


    I could already feel myself fading ¨C it took me a good moment to get my bearings after the surprise death and the overwhelming feeling of having six times as many timelines to choose from. So, I selected the furthest-back option of sixty minutes ¨C why not have more time, after all ¨C and felt my consciousness be pulled from the space, and¨C


    **********


    And then I was back, walking through the forest toward the Faerie vige alongside Erani and the Nymph. I stumbled, unready to return to such an ufortable and pain-riddled body.


    ¡°You alright?¡± Erani asked. ¡°Need help walking?¡±


    ¡°No, no, I¡¯m fine,¡± I said. ¡°Time Loop.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    I exined what happened in the previous timeline.


    ¡°So he just stabbed you in the back? No warning?¡±


    ¡°Well, there was kind of a warning. She said something like ¡®the test starts now¡¯ and <em>then</em> Aankin stabbed me. So I guess that was my warning. But before she would even begin to negotiate, she was pretty insistent that I somehow ¡®prove my strength.¡¯ No clue what all that entails, but whatever it is, it somehow involves a knife going inside of my body.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you were supposed to, like, anticipate it and dodge, or something? And that would prove you¡¯re aware enough to avoid attackers?¡±


    ¡°Maybe I was supposed to just tank the damage, to show I¡¯m survivable.¡±


    ¡°Well I¡¯d hope that isn¡¯t the case. You aren¡¯t really in a state to do that.¡±


    ¡°Think you can take it for me? Angelic Shield should protect you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it could, but I¡¯d rather wee up with a n that involves none of us getting stabbed. Besides, we don''t even know if that''s the whole test.¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Maybe they just wanted us to fight? And if we won, we¡¯d prove ourselves?¡±


    Erani sighed. ¡°We can specte about what might happen all we want, but it probably won¡¯t be very productive. We need to make a n.¡±


    ¡°Okay, what¡¯s the n?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I thought you¡¯d have one.¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Not very helpful.¡±


    ¡°Fine, fine,¡± sheughed. Despite the circumstances, I still felt a little smitten whenever I saw her smile. She sighed, obviously thinking hard on a solution to our problem. ¡°Well, they let us open the gate together, right? Called that our ¡®test of strength?¡¯ Think they¡¯d let us all fight that Aankin guy together?¡±


    ¡°...That could work.¡±


    She looked over at the Nymph. ¡°Think the Nymph¡¯ll realize that we aren¡¯t attacking the entire vige? That Queene sounds like she could just step on us and we¡¯d die, not to mention whatever other nasties they have tucked away in their vige. If the Nymph just starts fighting random people, we¡¯d definitely get in trouble.¡±


    ¡°Not sure. After that incident with those soldiers from before¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m beginning to recognize the downsides of having something that can¡¯tmunicate with us on our side. If it misunderstands our goals, we could end up down to onest try at this.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll just have to keep an eye on it and step in if things get out of hand,¡± I shrugged. I didn¡¯t like the solution, butmunicatingplex ideas with absolutely no sharednguage, no shared culture, and not really any basic knowledge on what the Nymph could or couldn¡¯t understand was out of my depth.


    ¡°d to have the extra firepower, though,¡± Erani said.


    I nodded. The Nymph may be difficult to understand, but it was also a beast inbat ¨C both of those were proven in that encounter with the soldiers.


    The poison in my veins reached my heart and pinged me for another point of damage, making me flinch. I still hadn¡¯t gotten used to it. The extra hour I went back was certainly useful for nning, but it made for a hell of an ufortable time, walking all the way back to the vige.


    I sighed, swearing to myself that I better not have to go through this a third time.


    By the time we got back to the Faerie Vige, I was tired and covered in sweat. Again.


    ¡°Hold. You are approaching Nugyuk Vige, a guarded Faerie settlement that is closed to outsiders. Turn and leave.¡± Aankin said his spiel again when we approached.


    ¡°Uh, hi,¡± I said, trying to remember what I¡¯d said before. What had worked and what hadn¡¯t? Acting all humble seemed to be a bad look to the Faeries, so I tried to be more casual this time. ¡°We¡¯re just travelers. Not looking for trouble, just to trade. It¡¯s a bit urgent, otherwise we would¡¯ve sent notice ahead of time.¡±


    Aankin looked us over, once again taking note of the Nymph¡¯s whip. This time, though, I realized that he probably wasn¡¯t doing so because he was afraid of an attack. He was assessing our strength, like the tests they¡¯d done before.


    ¡°We need a Tribute,¡± I continued, ¡°from your Queene. We would be willing to pay you back in a fair trade. I understand that guarding the vige is a job for an influential person, but it may still be necessary for us to speak directly with her about this matter.¡±


    ¡°And how can I know that you are worthy enough for an audience with her majesty?¡±


    ¡°We are powerful individuals,¡± I said, remembering the values of this culture. ¡°We will use whatever you afford us responsibly, and will never allow it to unwillingly fall into the hands of others.¡±


    Aankin looked at me for a long moment, to the point where I almost got convinced that I said something wrong. Just before I began backpedaling, though, he nodded. ¡°Fine. Open this gate, and I will show you to her majesty.¡±


    He stepped aside to reveal the same hand-crank that we¡¯d struggled with before.


    I walked forward, along with Erani and the still-confused Nymph, which obviously wasn¡¯t in the know of what was going on here. Erani and I gripped the handle and prepared to go through the arduous process of raising the gate. This time, though, I had a n that might make it easier.


    Together, the two of us pushed our weights down on the lever just likest time, beginning its slow rotation. Once our weights were down on it, though, I activated Gravity Well, targeting both of us. My muscles tensed in surprise as my entire body suddenly became forty percent heavier, as did Erani¡¯s. It was harder to hold myself up, to move, and generally to exist.


    But that wasn¡¯t the only thing the Spell affected, though. The lever sustaining our weights immediately moved much faster by the sudden and intense increase of force being put upon it. It would¡¯ve been even easier if the Nymph was helping, but the poor thing still had no idea what we were trying to do.


    Of course, once the lever reached the bottom of its rotation, we had to pull it back up, which Gravity Well wouldn¡¯t help with at all. I shut it off, feeling a sudden relief at the weight literally being taken off my shoulders, despite the fact that it was only for a couple seconds. It still wouldn¡¯t be as bad asst time, though, since the momentum carried with the lever and helped us along for the first bit of the upward rotation.


    Still, it was hard to do, and about halfway through our effort to pull the lever up, the Nymph seemed to understand what it was we were doing, and grabbed on to help. We got it to the top, and I reactivated Gravity Well, starting our cycle again. It was hard to get used to, though ¨C putting my body under such sudden and intense weight, taking it off, then putting it back on again, over and over under such a short period of time. It was awkward and I¡¯d asionally identally turn on or off Gravity Well at the wrong time, ruining our rhythm and slowing the process.


    As we worked, though, I was surprised by a System notification.


    Threshold reached. Gravity Well XP has reached 45.


    Gravity Well Rank has increased to 6.


    Due to Gravity Well Rank reaching 6, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 11.5 to 11.8


    Gravity Increase: From 41% to 45%


    Due to Gravity Well Rank increasing to Rank 6, Gravity Well has reached a Soft Cap.


    Spell XP gain for Gravity Well is 50 times slower until your Level increases past the Soft Cap.


    Increase your Level to 12 to increase your Soft Cap.


    I lurched slightly as the gravity pulling me down suddenly got a bit stronger. At first I was confused ¨C I didn¡¯t have nearly enough Spell XP to be due for a Rank up in any of my Spells soon ¨C but when I read the Soft Cap notification, I was reminded. I¡¯d increased my Soft Cap when I got to Level 10! I¡¯dpletely forgotten about it because of the poison, but my Soft Cap was 6 now. That meant Ray of Frost could be Ranked up, too.


    I looked around. Not exactly the best time to shoot off deadly beams of energy, with the vige guard who¡¯d literally already killed me standing right next to me, so I guessed I¡¯d just have to Rank that one upter.


    I felt like I¡¯d forgotten about another of my Leveling benefits, too, but I was too focused on trying to work with Gravity Well to take the time and remember, or even read through my Status. I had to make sure I did everything perfectly in front of Aankin, and distracting myself like that would just mess me up.


    Anyway, by the end, once we got the hang of using Gravity Well and started truly making solid progress, we got the heavy log door to the top of the wall, finally creating a passage inside. Even though I¡¯d seen the vige already, I still felt a bit amazed at the sight, most likely due to the sheer amount of work I had to go through to open that damned gate. Like my mind was making up reasons just to excuse the exertion it¡¯d gone through to see the ce.


    Aankin showed us through the vige just likest time, dagger still in his hand. If he was at all impressed by our much more efficient opening of the gate, he didn¡¯t show it. Though, I guessed he didn¡¯t see the improvement between both tries ¨C just the final product. That was sure to make any aplishment feel a bit less substantial. Not that it made me any happier about the fact that he didn¡¯t at leastment on our unnaturally fast speed; I¡¯d hoped it would make trade discussion go a bit faster.


    Halfway through our walk across the vige, the Nymph had that same scared reaction at one of the monsters in the vige, yelping and retreating to hide behind Erani. This time, though, I was watching it, and saw what it was that the Nymph was afraid of. It was a creature that could best be described as a sentient pile of goo, slopping around by tumbling over itself. It had the four Faerie eyes floating around inside its jelly-like form.


    I shrugged. Guess there weren¡¯t too many Slimes in the forest area that the Nymph lived before. Wasn¡¯t much I could do about it, anyway, and there weren¡¯t any Slimes in the pce, so it wouldn¡¯t be an issue. We continued on.


    By the time we got to the pce, my Mana had regenerated a bit from the casting of Gravity Well, back up to around 300, and my Health had of course fallen down to 18. Aankin opened the doors and revealed the familiar room inside.


    Despite having been there just an hour before, I still felt myself a bit taken aback by the imposing sight of the Queene. I prepared myself to try and give off a strong veneer in front of her demanding presence.


    ¡°Why do you bring Humans here, Aankin the Stalwart?¡± She asked.


    ¡°They wished for an audience with you, your majesty. They do not seem to be aligned with the other Humans.¡±


    There was that mention of the ¡®other Humans¡¯ again. Were they the people from the city we found out about the vige from? Erani mentioned the job being to go here and ¡®repair trade rtions,¡¯ whatever that would entail, so they had somehow damaged their rtionship with the Faeries.


    ¡°They passed the trial of strength,¡± Aankin continued and stepped aside, ¡°and so I allowed them passage. They will now speak their request.¡±


    I took a breath, trying to muster my courage. In just a bit, a fight was going to break out. Trying to show strength while also not being rude, I spoke, ¡°We wish to trade with you for a Tribute. If you give a Tribute to our Nymph, we are willing to give you goods or services of equal value.¡±


    The Faerie Queene stared at me for some time with her eyes that were at least asrge as my entire head. ¡°You may have passed our basic test of strength, but that, on its own, does not prove to us that you are trustworthy enough to trade with.¡±


    ¡°If it isn¡¯t insulting to ask, why do you require your trade partners go through such a rigorous testing process?¡± I asked. Part of it was because I wasn¡¯t mentally ready to be stabbed again, and so I just wanted to stall a bit, and the other part was because I genuinely wanted to know. If we <em>did</em> have to do this again, the more information we had, the better it would go. ¡°I understand you need to test their strength, but wouldn¡¯t it be beneficial to have as many trade partners as possible, instead of turning so many away?¡±


    ¡°Hm. Well, for the record, yes, it is insulting to ask. But I¡¯ll answer anyway.¡± This was the first time I¡¯d seen the Faerie Queene smile, so maybe that was a good thing? ¡°You Humans seem to think that hoarding rtionships and connections is the most effective way to be stronger. That is incorrect. Connections are also liabilities, and can cost much more than they gain. To use a Human saying, we follow a ¡®quality over quantity¡¯ policy with our trade rtions. If someone cannot prove their strength, they are not a high enough quality for us tomunicate with. Strength is the most important aspect of a trade partner, more than how much they can ¡®stimte our economy¡¯ or how polite they are. That is why I answered your question. No matter how impolite it may be, curiosity begets strength. I respect that.¡±


    ¡°Well. Thank you for answering my question,¡± I said. ¡°Is that why you stopped doing trade with the nearby Human city?¡±


    ¡°Meh,¡± an irritated look shed across her face. ¡°They refused to treat us with respect. Constantly sending in different ambassadors that we had to test over and over again, asking insulting things of us like toe and live inside <em>their</em> walls. What convinced me to finally cut off contact with them was when they sent in some sniveling weakling that died in a single hit! Simple test, dagger to the back, and he just dropped to the floor.¡± She shook her head. ¡°He was pathetic to begin with, with his bowing and scraping, saying ¡®please¡¯ and ¡®thank you¡¯ and ¡®may I¡¯. Spineless. If you want something, you take it. You don¡¯t ask. You demand and fight and steal and kill for what you need.¡± She cleared her throat. ¡°I¡¯ve gotten off topic, though. We must test you in order to ensure you are a quality partner. Do you consent to our test?¡±


    ¡°May I know what¨C er,¡± I stopped myself, remembering what the Queene had said about ¡®may I¡¯s and politeness. ¡°I mean, tell me what the test is.¡±


    She snorted. ¡°You¡¯re learning. Your objective is to survive by any means necessary. Do not hurt nonbatants. Go.¡±


    And a knife flew at my back.

 Chapter 56: Cheating

    Chapter 56: Cheating


    ¡°Your objective is to survive by any means necessary,¡± the Queene said. ¡°Do not hurt nonbatants. Go.¡±


    I immediately ducked as a knife flew over my head, right where my back would¡¯ve been. I turned and stepped back from Aankin, my attacker, and raised my hands to cast a Spell. The Queene¡¯s words were permission enough to fight back, so I went ahead with it.


    You have cursed Level 29 Faerie Champion with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, he loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and his Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 252.


    Aankin stumbled at the effect and chuckled. ¡°So you were hiding some magic from me! Strange, I had you pinned as a melee fighter. Seems I underestimated you.¡±


    He lunged forward, much more quickly than he¡¯d been when he stabbed at me before, despite the fact that his Dexterity was lower. He must¡¯ve been holding out on me. His knife was held out, ready to strike again, but Erani stepped in and sted him with an Explosive Firebolt, shaking the entire building. He stumbled back, coughing and fanning away the smoke.


    ¡°Two magic users? I understand your struggle with the test of strength, now. Still, think a couple Spells are enough to kill me?¡± He lunged forward again with an excited grin on his face, dodging another Firebolt shot by Erani, which flew past him and impacted the walls of the pce, blowing a hole straight through so that I could see the night sky outside.


    He continued rushing at me, but I shot him with a couple Rays of Frost, the fast-moving beams of cold much more difficult to evade.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 39 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 29 Faerie Champion with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 228.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 50 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 29 Faerie Champion with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.


    22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 206.


    ¡°Ooh,¡± Aankin stopped and rotated his shoulder, stretching as he no doubt felt the effects of the two stacking curses. He looked behind him at the hole in the wall. ¡°You two are packing some firepower, huh?¡±


    ¡°You sure you¡¯re okay with us attacking you?¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna tear down your pce by ident. Or kill you, for that matter.¡±


    ¡°We can build a new pce,¡± the Queene spoke up, spectating our battle, ¡°and I can get a new Champion.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re okay with dying, just like that?¡± Erani asked Aankin, obviously taken aback.


    ¡°No, no,¡± Aankinughed, stretching his arms as he spoke. ¡°My spirit is hundreds of years old. Every time one of my bodies dies, I just possess the most worthy Champion Vessel that lives in this vige. They train every day in hopes that I do. Honestly, I¡¯ve been meaning to get a new body soon, this one¡¯s getting a bit rusty.¡±


    ¡°The Champion Vessels, they¡¯re conscious?¡± I asked. ¡°And they¡¯re alright with you just taking over their bodies?¡±


    ¡°Of course. Who wouldn¡¯t want to be chosen as the strongest candidate in the entire vige?¡±


    The Nymph looked back and forth between me and Aankin as we talked, no doubt confused at the sight of Aankin and I, who were fighting just moments before, standing around and talking ¨C albeit still on guard.


    Truthfully, it wasn¡¯t like I was only asking questions for the sake of curiosity. No, I also just needed a break. Despite the fact that I¡¯d only moved a small amount, my incredibly low Stamina reserves were begging me to just lie down and take a nap. I¡¯d depleted them almost fully so that I could keep myself alive with Regenerate, and I was really feeling that cost now.


    ¡°Well, seems like that curse you put on me has worn off,¡± Aankin said. ¡°Let¡¯s get back to it.¡±


    Oh. He was stalling, too.


    The muscr Faerie dashed toward me once again, forcing me to step back as I shot off another Ray of Frost, bringing my Mana down to 183, but he anticipated it and dodged right as I cast the Spell. Before he could sh his knife across my chest, though, Erani leapt in the way, blocking his strike with her body. A sh of light blinded me, the matrix of Angelic Shield¡¯s protective wires blocking the knife from piercing her.


    It was then that the Nymph seemed to decide that yes, we were fighting with this guy, and leapt into the fray. Itshed its whip from behind Aankin, striking him hard with the thorny vine and ripping his shirt with the tiny spikes covering the weapon. He turned to face his new enemy, and Erani and I took that opportunity to flee further away from him, exiting his melee range.


    The Nymph struck at him once again, but he caught its weapon in his hands, seemingly ignoring the thorns covering it, and yanked hard. The Nymph didn¡¯t let go, but it seemed its strength wasn¡¯t close to Aankin¡¯s, and he pulled the Nymph toward him. He flung the whip through the air, the Nymph¡¯s rtively small body flying across the room and mming into one of the pirs holding the roof of the pce up. It crashed straight through, destroying the pir and causing the ceiling to suddenly sag and threaten to copse.


    The Faerie Queene, watching this unfold, smiled amusedly. ¡°I know I said it was okay if you broke the pce, but don¡¯t <em>try</em> to. Here,¡± she looked over, through the hole Erani had made in the wall, and called out to someone outside. ¡°Uungik the Sturdy. Yes, you. Get some others ande repair the pce.


    A sentient puddle of goop that was sludging through the street responded, a low hum creating a voice that spoke in anguage I didn¡¯t know. Its four eyes floated freely in the muck, rotating to look inside at us.


    ¡°Yes, I know there¡¯s a fight going on in here,¡± the Queene responded. ¡°Just not sure that I care. C¡¯mon, get moving.¡±


    The Slime ¨C Uungik, apparently ¨C glopped its way through the hole in the wall, stting on the floor, and continued forward toward the pir.


    I turned my attention back toward the fight in front of me. Aankin had turned back around and began rushing back toward me, knife still held in his hand. Erani stood between us, prepared to protect me with her body. It was strange having to be the one in the back; Noxious Grasp was useless, and I still hadn¡¯t been able to find a time to use Gravity Well effectively ¨C its fairly limited range was much more restrictive when I wanted to be as far away as possible from my enemies.


    Regardless, I knew my role, and kept back while Erani kept Aankin upied. I wasn¡¯t able to get a clean shot from back here with Erani so close to my enemy. How did she ever find times to shoot our enemies with Firebolt? Especially when her Spell exploded. Regardless, her Angelic Shield did most of the work there ¨C she had basically no melee training to my knowledge, so her ability to dodge and parry were next to none. She ducked and weaved, trying her best to keep out of range of the knife, but Aankin was simply more experienced.


    sh of light after sh of light blinked at me as Aankin shed his knife against Erani over and over. She was fine for now, but I knew her Mana couldn¡¯t hold up forever. A huge explosion enveloped them both as she cast a point-nk Firebolt, sting Aankin away and leaving Erani standing in the mes. She was breathing hard. I stepped forward, now that I had a good shot on our enemy, and fired off a few more Rays of Frost at the stunned Faerie.


    48 damage. 51 damage. 49 damage. With each Ray came another notification, and anotheryer of sleet that covered Aankin. I got a notification that Ray of Frost had Ranked up ¨C and that it had hit my new Soft Cap of Rank 6 ¨C but ignored it for now.


    It started to seem like we could actually win, and once the Nymph could get back up and rejoin the fight, I felt like my confidence would cement itself. We outnumbered him, and just needed to get in enough pokes of damage to get him down.


    My Mana was getting a bit low, falling down to 114. But I truly felt like we could do this.


    I looked over at the Nymph to see how it was doing. It was only just then getting up from the rubble of the pir, sitting up after the hard fall and rubbing the dust from its white eyes. It blinked and nced around, its sightnding on the pile of goop that was still slowly approaching.


    The Nymph shrieked and backed away, kicking its feet to distance between it and the innocent Uungik. It grabbed its whip, preparing to strike at the pile of goo that was moving in its direction.


    ¡°Shit,¡± I nced over at Aankin, who was slowly getting up from the ground. I shot him with another Ray of Frost and turned, running to the Nymph. The Faerie Queene had explicitly said that we could not hurt any nonbatants, and the Nymph was definitely about to do that. The Queene herself was watching with a smirk on her face as I rushed over. She¡¯d definitely done this on purpose. How did she even know the Nymph was afraid of these things?


    I reached down to the Nymph, restraining the arm that had the whip. It flinched when I touched it, but calmed down when it saw it was me. I helped it get to its feet, after which I let go of it, pointing at Aankin, trying tomunicate that <em>he</em> was our enemy here. It looked at me for a moment, then turned back to the still-approaching Uungik and raised its whip, preparing to strike.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 29 Faerie Champion.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 116 damage and drained 93 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    ¡°No!¡± I shouted and grabbed the Nymph¡¯s arm once again, restraining it from killing the Slime. I wished I could just tell it what was going on.


    An explosion sted out from behind me. I turned to see another hole blown in the wall ¨C Aankin must¡¯ve dodged another one of Erani¡¯s Firebolts. He rushed forward and shed at her with his knife once again, much faster and harder than he¡¯d been doing before, and I heard a distinctive shatter and watched as the glowing lines of Angelic Shield ripped apart and were flung into the air.


    Fuck, I¡¯d forgotten about Crippling Chill! I¡¯d gotten a notification that it¡¯d worn off while trying to keep the Nymph from attacking the Slime and hadpletely forgotten to refresh it on Aankin. With his suddenly-stronger Dexterity, he was able to dodge her Firebolt and break her shield. Erani was pushed back from the force of his strike,nding on her back a few paces away from him. Then, he turned toward me, who was still trying to keep the Nymph from mutting this pile of goo in front of us.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have your protector anymore,¡± heughed at me. ¡°Let¡¯s dance!¡±


    Aankin rushed forward at me. It was at that point that the Nymph noticed him and turned to strike, but he was too fast and toote. He arrived right in front of me and stabbed out with his knife. I ducked and cast Crippling Chill, trying to trip him up with that, but he¡¯d already gotten used to the effect, and it obviously didn¡¯t surprise him to have it re-enabled.


    I tried to stand back up from my ducking position as Aankin prepared to swipe at me once again, but my tired legs gave out on me, unable to lift me back up, and I copsed back on my butt,pletely open to attack. Aankin grinned, lifting up his knife for a stab, but the Nymph leapt onto him, wrapping its whip around his throat and strangling him with the thorny vine. His eyes bulged and he elbowed back at it, trying to push it off of him, but its small stature helped it here, allowing it to easily dodge his frantic strikes.


    With my Mana barely above 30, I couldn¡¯t do much to help but back away to make myself a harder target if Aankin did break out of the choke hold. I looked behind them as Erani just began struggling back to her feet. Once she was up and able to continue, we could finish this guy.


    ¡°Hm,¡± the Faerie Queene grunted as she watched the spectacle in front of her, her loud voice echoing through the damaged pce. ¡°That¡¯s too boring an ending. Iinwak the Brave, Oonwit the Speedy,e in here,¡± she called through the holes in the walls once again.


    Two more piles of goop came tumbling through. One of them moved slightly faster than the other, at more of a tortoise¡¯s pace than a snail¡¯s. I guessed that one was Oonwit, judging by its name.


    Uungik, the first Slime, had only just then arrived at the pir. It began slowly ¨C incredibly slowly ¨C sucking up stones into its body, sloshing over to the pir, and excreting the stones back onto it.


    ¡°Uungik the Sturdy, Iinwak the Brave, and Oonwit the Speedy,¡± the Queenemanded, ¡°I order you to¨C¡± and then her speech changed, no longer speaking anguage I understood, but instead humming in a low tone in the same way the Slimes had spoken to her. Her loud voice resonated throughout the room, causing minor tremors until she was done.


    Immediately, the three Slimes changed course, now heading directly for the Nymph, who was still busy trying to strangle Aankin to death. Or, not to death, really ¨C he¡¯d just get a new body. Strangle to rebirth? Anyway, it was trying to cut off his air supply until his body stopped functioning, so it thankfully didn¡¯t have time to look around and see the group of Slimes slowly encroaching. And the Slimes moved slowly enough that they probably wouldn¡¯t reach it for another hour ¨C maybe in fifty minutes, for Oonwit the Speedy.


    The Queene sighed as she seemed to realize the same thing I had. ¡°That won¡¯t do. Let¡¯s see, let¡¯s see¡­¡± she pondered, looking off in the distance at nothing in particr.


    ¡°Could you just let the fight go on without interfering and cheating on your Champion¡¯s behalf?¡± I asked as I struggled to my feet. ¡°Bending the rules in your favor doesn¡¯t show off your strength that well.¡±


    ¡°Oh, but it does,¡± she smiled at me. ¡°It is precisely because I¡¯m stronger that I can cheat. Otherwise, you¡¯d just kill me for cheating. But you can¡¯t do that, can you? See? I¡¯d say that shows off my power very efficiently. Oh! I know!¡± She said suddenly, looking back at the Nymph. Then she began speaking in another, newnguage, one that I also didn¡¯t understand. Only¡­ no, it wasn¡¯t entirely new. I¡¯d heard it once before. Back when we¡¯d first met the two Nymphs, when they were speaking with each other, was this the exact samenguage that the Queene was speaking now?


    The Nymph¡¯s head snapped over to look at the Queene as she spoke ¨C I¡¯d be surprised, too, if the first person in days spoke anguage I could understand. The Queene finished whatever she was saying, and watched smugly as the Nymph suddenly looked around itself, obviously searching for the Slimes. The moment it saw them, it yelped once again and backed away, weakening its grip on the whip it was strangling Aankin with, allowing him to finally escape from her and push her away.


    ¡°Finally!¡± he rubbed his bleeding neck, ¡°thought that¡¯d never end. Anyway,¡± he marched up to me, knife raised. I tried to back away, but my exhausted body could still barely move, and he quickly got ahold of my shirt, raised his knife, and struck.


    You have been stabbed. 29 damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have died.

 Chapter 57: Challenge

    Chapter 57: Challenge


    And then I was back, reawakening in my body as we walked the all-too-familiar trek to the Faerie vige, an hour before I died.


    ¡°That fucking bitch!¡± I cursed the moment I had a mouth again.


    Erani looked at me, wide-eyed. ¡°Sorry?¡±


    ¡°No, not you,¡± I sighed. ¡°Gods fucking damn this shit. Wouldn¡¯t be surprised if that bitch crawled her way up from the bottom hell.¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s a lot of sphemy you¡¯re doing over there. Something going on? Time Loop? I thought you just got back from thest timeline, like, five minutes ago.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, shit went down,¡± I took a breath, trying to calm myself. The Queene seriously had to interfere? We were there. We were about to win. How were we even supposed to pass this dumbass test of hers if she refused to y fair? And really? She spoke the Nymph¡¯snguage? Of course, don¡¯t use that to help usmunicate better with it, or to establish better trade connections. Purely use that to kill us. Great. Fucking phenomenal.


    While I continued to mentally curse the Queene, Erani went on guard at my confirmation that something had gone wrong. She looked around and raised her hands, preparing to cast a Spell. ¡°What is it? An attack?¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± I rified. ¡°I¡¯m from an hour ahead. Nothing right now.¡±


    ¡°Oh. What happened? Did you die again?¡±


    I sighed, frustrated with the fact that I had to exin the events of the most recent loop when I¡¯d just gone through exining everything. Erani hadn¡¯t done anything wrong, though, so I tried not to direct any of that frustration at her.


    It seemed like I¡¯d ended up going back to a few minutes after I¡¯d gotten back before, so Erani <em>did</em> know about our first attempt, when I was stabbed in the back, but <em>didn¡¯t</em> know about our second attempt, when we actually fought Aankin. This day felt like it had gone on forever. Which, it <em>had </em>been a couple hours longer than temporally possible, so I guessed that was appropriate.


    ¡°Yeah, I died again,¡± I finally said.


    ¡°The n we made didn¡¯t work? Teaming up on Aankin with the Nymph?¡±


    ¡°The Nymph was kind of the problem,¡± I said, and went on to exin what had happened in the previous timeline.


    By the time I was done, Erani had her lips pursed. ¡°So, if we lose, we die, but if we¡¯re winning, she¡¯ll just make sure we lose.¡±


    ¡°And die.¡±


    ¡°...That¡¯s unfortunate.¡±


    ¡°Pretty much. And it¡¯s not like we can even tell the Nymph what¡¯s gonna happen and have it react better to the Slimes,¡± I gestured to the Nymph, who was entertaining itself by weaving together a rudimentary doll out of sticks and leaves as we spoke. ¡°It can¡¯t understand us. So, no matter what, the Queene can always distract it.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯re sure we can¡¯t handle Aankin without the Nymph¡¯s help?¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s part of the problem, but even if we <em>can</em> kill him without the Nymph, the Queene can just do something else. Who¡¯s to say she won¡¯t just throw in a few more soldiers if we do too well? Or that Aankin won¡¯t just be reborn ande and attack us again if we kill him?¡±


    ¡°Wait, what? Reborn?¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, I didn¡¯t mention that. Apparently Aankin doesn¡¯t even care if he does die, because he¡¯s got a dozen more bodies waiting for his spirit to take them over or something. So, if we kill him, he¡¯ll just possess a new person and be totally fine.¡±


    ¡°...Huh.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. A bit of a fucking predicament.¡±


    ¡°No, no. I think we can use that.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s get walking. I¡¯ll exin while we go.¡±


    By the time we¡¯d arrived at the Faerie Vige once again, I¡¯d heard Erani¡¯s n and was on-board with it. It was risky, especially for her ¨C almost uncharacteristically so, to the point where <em>she </em>was the one who had to convince <em>me </em>to go through with it. But maybe it wasn¡¯t that it was risky, and more that we had no truly safe options. I mean, what else could we do? Just try the exact same thing once again and see if it worked?


    Still, I wasn¡¯t a fan of it. I¡¯d just have to trust that we knew these Faeries as well as we thought we did, and I <em>really</em> didn¡¯t like putting my life in the hands of strangers.


    I contemted how much I didn¡¯t like our n as I scaled a tree at the edge of the vige. At this point, I¡¯d gotten to the point where the branches were almost too thin to hold my weight, and I looked down at the unaware Aankin who was still guarding the gate. My boosted Strength and Dexterity helped me climb, the action much easier than it¡¯d seemed when I¡¯d still been on the ground.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 19.


    The poison definitely added some challenge to the climbing, though. The ascent had taken enough time that my Health had fallen pretty low, and I was beginning to feel anxious. That anxiety may have just beening from the ground that was far below me, though. I hoped the n to break my fall actually worked, here.


    Damage dealt from falling was generally pretty consistent, as long as you understood how to minimize it. As long as you took the correct steps andnded with your legs bent, rolling out of the impact, it wouldn¡¯t be too severe. Even if you were falling out of a tree. Considering the height, I was pretty confident that I could survive this, even with my current Health. Plus, I had something to cushion the impact.


    We had to do it this way, otherwise we were doomed to fail. We knew that Aankin was an even match ¨C if not the favoredbatant ¨C against the three of us, and if things took too long, he¡¯d just get reinforcements. It would be quick, dirty, and dangerous.


    I looked behind myself and, from my vantage point, saw Erani and the Nymph, who were both waiting far back, out of Aankin¡¯s sight, so as to not blow my cover. I held out a hand in the signal we¡¯d agreed on, meaning ¡®I¡¯m about to go, get ready.¡¯ She nodded.


    I took a breath. I <em>really</em> did not want to do this.


    ¡°Okay. Just let go,¡± I muttered to myself. ¡°Just let go of the branches, and let your feet slip. Just¨C¡±


    I fell.


    I looked down as the wind whipped across my face and through my hair, trying to ignore the urge to scream. I was headed straight down toward Aankin, hurdling downward at a speed I did <em>not</em> want to be going at.


    But I could go faster.


    I activated Gravity Well, targeting myself, and suddenly found the air pulling on me much harder. My speed increased faster and faster as I fell downward at the unsuspecting Faerie Champion, until¨C


    You have crashed into something. 14 damage.


    Your Health is 5.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 19 damage using your Body.


    Your leg has been broken.


    My body impacted Aankin¡¯s and a sickening crack sounded alongside an intense pain in my left shin, sending an electric jolt through my entire body. This time I did scream, which harmonized with Aankin¡¯s own shouts of surprise and pain quite well.


    With my body fully entangled with his, I activated Noxious Grasp and cast Crippling Chill on him, trying to add to the disorientation he must have been feeling right now.


    You have cursed Level 29 Faerie Champion with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, he loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and his Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 519.


    He groaned and tried to swat at me, but part of me was under him, part of me was on top of him, my arms were entangled with his, and my leg was bent in a couple different directions ¨C fucking <em>ouch</em>, by the way ¨C so he obviously wasn¡¯t sure where I was. Hells, even <em>I </em>didn¡¯t know where my body was. The intense pain from my leg enveloped my mind. I knew it would be possible for something like that to happen when I agreed to the n ¨C my Health was so low that just about any serious impact could break a bone ¨C but the feeling of nails in my muscle andva in my marrow was not something I had quite understood beforehand.


    I located my hand and put it up against him, gritting my teeth as my body shifted and caused another spike of pain to shoot through my leg. My palm pressed firmly against his head, I cast Ray of Frost.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 54 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 29 Faerie Champion with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 526.


    With my hand already touching my target, there was no beam ¨C just ayer of rime that rapidly spread across his face and a sudden drop of temperature in the surface I was touching. My newly-Ranked-up Spell lowered his Dexterity even more, and I could both see and feel his iling movements slow.


    I shot Aankin again and again, each Ray dealing the maximum 54 damage it could deal due to the perfect aim that came with point-nk range, and each one causing him to yell and try to get me off him again and again. And, of course, since we were outside the walls of the vige, there was no Queene here to interfere.


    Eventually, once my Mana dropped all the way down to 270, Aankin managed to draw his knife from its sheath, which was my cue to head out. My Health was, in fact, at 5, so it definitely wouldn¡¯t be a good idea to stick around when my enemy had a weapon in his hand.


    I quickly untangled my body from his, once again fighting the urge to scream in pain as I dragged my limp leg out from under Aankin¡¯srge body. Once I got away from him, I got a notification.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 204 damage and drained 206 Stamina over the course of 12.6 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    59.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 211.


    And as I got to my feet ¨C or foot, really, my broken leg not allowing me to put any weight on my left foot ¨C I got another notification.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 29 Faerie Champion.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 116 damage and drained 93 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    With all the damage added up, I¡¯d done close to a thousand damage to Aankin. Just how much Health did he have? I re-cast Crippling Chill, bringing my Mana solidly below 200, and looked over to thankfully see Erani and the Nymph arriving on the battlefield, ready to fight. I was much too low on Health and Mana to continue on my own.


    An Explosive Firebolt sted the Stamina-drained, Dexterity-sapped Champion away, smacking him against the wooden palisade. And then the Nymph got ahold of him,shing over and over at the man cornered against the wall, the whip cutting into his skin now that his Health was too low to protect him from the high-speed strikes. I almost felt bad for him.


    But then Aankin made a sudden movement, batting away the whip as he finally seemed to get over his confusion, and stumbling to a standing position. He shook his long hair out of his face, which revealed arge grin.


    ¡°Finally! A true challenge!¡± He mmed his fist into his hand. ¡°I haven¡¯t felt like this in <em>decades</em>! Let¡¯s go!¡±


    Yeah, nevermind. I didn¡¯t feel bad for him.


    He sprinted forward, somehow invigorated after taking so much punishment, and mmed a fist into the off-guard Nymph, sending it stumbling back and falling to the ground a few paces away. Erani shot a Firebolt at him at the same time that I shot off a Ray of Frost, but he ducked and dodged them both. He adjusted his grip on his knife and took a wild swipe at Erani, but she blocked with an arm, the de ncing off the glowing matrix of Angelic Shield that protected her.


    I shot twice more with Ray of Frost as Aankin was thrown off-bnce by the unexpected wall preventing him from hitting her, and these rays hit, renewing the Dexterity draining effect and slowing him down to a more manageable level.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 48 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 29 Faerie Champion with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 109.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 52 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 29 Faerie Champion with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 85.


    He must¡¯ve had some sort of Talent or ability that raised his Stats when he was at low Health. Berserkers had Talents like that, and even Swordsmen had paths they could go down to get those types of effects, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise that a monster could get one, too. But, if that was the case, then it must¡¯ve meant he was close to death, too. And with Venomous Grasp causing the double-Stamina-draining effect, there was no way he could keep up with this frantic melee fighting style, either.


    Erani backed away, taking advantage of his stun from the two Spells impacting him, and shot off an Explosive Firebolt of her own. It punched Aankin away, sending him tumbling back to the ground, and as he tried to get back up, slowed by the multiple curses and low pool of Stamina, she shot him again. And again, and again, using the same method to keep him constantly stunned and off his feet that she¡¯d used on the Anacaps all those days ago.


    It wouldn¡¯t have worked on him at the beginning of the fight ¨C his Health pool would be toorge to allow him to be thrown around like that, and his Stamina would be high enough to allow him to move away before the next Firebolt hit him ¨C but now he was finally weak enough for it to work. After many echoing booms and ground-shaking explosions, I finally got the notification I was waiting for.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 29 Faerie Champion.


    You have earned 377 XP. Your XP is 633.


    Threshold reached. 600 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 11.


    Due to achieving Level 11 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Strength, 1 Endurance, 1 Conjuration, and 1 Intelligence.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 11.


    Intelligence threshold reached. 12 Intelligence.


    Your Intelligence information rank has increased.


    Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -When choosing Spells, you may now see the Spell Schools of the Spells that will be offered to you the next time you get to choose one of them if you pick any given option.


    I took a breath as I looked over the Level-up notification ¨C and subsequent Intelligence threshold notification ¨C presented to me. But before I had time to celebrate, I heard a creaking sound as the gigantic wooden gate began to open. Someone must¡¯ve been turning the wheel from the inside after hearing the many sounds of our battle with Aankin.


    We¡¯dpleted step one of our n ¨C kill the guard. Here came the hard part.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 4.


    I walked up to the opening gate, arms held out wide as if asking for apuse as I approached the many citizens staring at me from within. I tried to hide my intense pain and exhaustion, and the fact that I was limping on a broken leg.


    ¡°Hi there,¡± I announced with a fake confident smile. ¡°We just killed your Champion.¡±

 Chapter 58: Dryad

    Chapter 58: Dryad


    I stood in front of the newly-opened gate leading into the Faerie vige, facing the diverse crowd of citizens within, staring at me. None of them attacked ¨C at least not immediately ¨C but they didn¡¯t do much else, either. I wasn¡¯t even sure if they could understand thenguage I was speaking. At the very least, they seemed intimidated enough by our show of power that we were safe for now.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to speak to your Queene,¡± I said, and pointed to the pce. ¡°In there.¡±


    The Faeries all looked sideways at each other without responding. Of course, some of them couldn¡¯t speak at all, but even the ones with mouths kept them shut. I took that as permission, and marched forward, nked by Erani, who was helping me walk on my broken leg, and the Nymph, who had its whip out in preparation for another fight.


    ¡°We mean none of you any harm,¡± Erani said as we moved through the crowd which parted before us. ¡°We just want to talk.¡±


    I suspected the words rang empty to the crowd that was looking at the corpse behind us. But they obviously respected and feared us more than they hated us, and they allowed us through. That was part of the n; Aankin coulde back, and the Faeries knew that. In their eyes, we hadn¡¯t actually <em>killed </em>anyone ¨C just proven we could beat their Champion in a fight.


    But who knew if the Queene would be as forgiving.


    We passed through the vige, walking the all-too-familiar route from the gate to the pce, as I saw the same reactions from mypanions. Erani looked in wonder at the magical lights, the Nymph flinched at the sight of a Slime, and so on.


    Despite the fact that I was doing my best to mitigate the difort in my leg by basically hopping along on one foot, leaning hard on Erani, my forehead still ended up covered in sweat from the pain radiating throughout my shin by the time we got to the huge pce doors. I took a breath, preparing myself to enter.


    Then, I realized that the doors were closed. And I looked over next to them, at the manual hand-crank that Aankin normally operated to open them. We usually would¡¯ve proven our strength at the entrance to the vige, and he¡¯d escort us here and open these doors himself. But now, we had to open them. And it would be just as hard as it¡¯d been in the past to open the palisade doors. And my leg was broken.


    ¡°You said she was in here, right?¡± Erani asked. ¡°How are we getting through?¡±


    ¡°Gods dammit,¡± I sighed. ¡°Ipletely forgot about this.¡±


    ¡°You forgot?¡± She turned to look at me, taking care to continue supporting me so I wouldn¡¯t fall to the ground. ¡°How could you forget about two gigantic doors blocking our way into literally the one building here that we actually need to enter?¡±


    ¡°Aankin normally opened it,¡± I said. ¡°Didn¡¯t cross my mind that <em>we¡¯d</em> have to do it this time.¡±


    Erani pursed her lips. ¡°You said they want us to prove our power, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Got an idea?¡±


    ¡°Maybe. Step back with me.¡±


    Erani guided me backwards, pulling the Nymph along with her, away from the doors that were at least twice as tall as I was. The small crowd that had gathered around us backed up too, obviously cautious of what we were nning.


    Then, Erani held out her hand, and shot off a barrage of Firebolts.


    Deafening explosions filled the silent air, the ground shook with each st, and, most importantly, the fiery detonationspletely destroyed the gate, splintering the wood and metal into thousands of pieces. I was showered in shrapnel, as was everyone else nearby.


    And then, once the smoke cleared, I looked up and saw no more doors. Through the walls was a self-made passage into the pce, and through the passage was the familiar face of the Faerie Queene. She looked remarkably unsurprised at the sudden explosions; the only sign in her face that she had just seen something unusual was a pair of quizzically raised eyebrows and a slight smirk.


    We walked in, careful not to burn ourselves on any of the smoldering rubble as we stepped through the hole.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 3.


    I tried to control my breathing. If we messed up and I¡¯d misunderstood their culture, that was it for me. No more retries.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ve certainly made an entrance for yourselves,¡± the Queene said in her booming voice as we approached.


    ¡°We wanted to get your attention,¡± I forced a confident smile once again through my pain and worry. ¡°I hope we haven¡¯t insulted you.¡±


    ¡°Not at all. You¡¯ve proven yourself quite worthy of an audience, at the very least. What you want from us is another matter, though, so enlighten me.¡±


    ¡°We want a Tribute. From you to our Nymph.¡±


    ¡°...Hm. I¡¯ll have you know that I¡¯ve worked hard for my Levels, and giving one away so that your Nymph can be more powerful is quite the cost. Perhaps there is something else you could receive in the Tribute¡¯s stead?¡±


    ¡°Unless you have a way to cure magically-inflicted poison, no,¡± I said. ¡°We need a Tribute. We would be willing topensate you for your trouble, however.¡±


    ¡°Well, before we begin truly discussing a trade deal, I must have you prove your str¨C¡±


    ¡°Prove our strength? How will you do that? Have us fight your Champion? I believe we¡¯ve already fully established our strength in that regard.¡±


    The Queene set her jaw, a slight smile on her face. ¡°It is still necessary for you to¨C¡±


    ¡°I refuse. I¡¯ve already proven my strength to you, and I¡¯m not keen on doing so again. So my offer is that you give our Nymph a Tribute, and we¡¯ll do a favor for you, as long as it¡¯s within our power.¡±


    The Queene stared at me for a moment, and then that moment turned into a few seconds, and then those few seconds turned into a full minute of her looking through me.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 2.


    I tried to keep my face steady and to keep myself from resorting to begging on my knees. No weakness, I reminded myself. I could feel Erani ncing over at me, her faith that I could pull us through with pure bullshittery obviously wavering.


    And then, cutting through the silent air of the vige, I heard a stomping from outside, quickly approaching the building. The Queene didn¡¯t look away from me, so I didn¡¯t look away from her, trying my best to beat the impromptu staring contest she was apparently putting me under. But then, a massive explosion rang out as one of the walls of the pce burst open. Those things were apparently not very sturdy, considering how many times they¡¯d been destroyed.


    Standing in the newly-formed hole in the wall was a Faerie I didn¡¯t recognize. It was a humanoid with a muscr body, sort of like Aankin¡¯s but still different, standing proudly with a grin on his face. He stepped into therge room.


    ¡°That was a good fight, Humans!¡± The Faerie said. I had a suspicion I knew who it was, now. ¡°I am interested in a rematch.¡±


    The Queene finally broke eye contact with me, looking over at the newly-reborn guest. ¡°Ah, Aankin the Stalwart. You¡¯ve already chosen a new body? That normally takes longer.¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t wait, your majesty,¡± he bowed. ¡°If the Humans left before I chose, I may have never been able to fight them again.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps a rematch would be on the table after we have received the Tribute,¡± I said as patiently as I could.


    ¡°Your majesty, I humbly request and advise that you give the Nymph Tribute,¡± Aankin bowed.


    ¡°You just want me to do that because you want to fight them again,¡± the Queene rolled her eyes.


    ¡°It would also be beneficial to build positive rtions with individuals capable of beating me, would it not?¡± He asked.


    The Queene looked at me for another moment.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 1.


    No more time. I walked toward her massive form, feeling utterly dwarfed by her body and trying not to limp on my leg as I approached. She just watched me curiously. Then, once I was near her, I held out my hand to shake.


    ¡°Take it or leave it, Queene. Right now.¡±


    She took a breath, looking at me. ¡°...Oh, fine. I¡¯ve got plenty of Levels, anyway.¡±


    The Queene ced her hand onto mine, although it would be more appropriate to say that she hovered her hand in the air while I moved mine up so that we were touching, and we shook. I instinctively cast Noxious Grasp to calm myself when I touched her, but she just chuckled and winked at me at sight of the damage.


    You have struck Level 81 Faerie Queene for 10 damage and drained 10 Stamina over the course of 0.6 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    2.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 131.


    I tried not to show a facial reaction to the sight of her Level as I stepped back from her. She looked over to the Nymph, who was still standing with Erani, eyeing the different Faeries in the room warily, and spoke something in the Nymph¡¯snguage. It looked at the Queene, obviously surprised that someone had finally spoken words that it could understand.


    The Nymph walked forward and ced its hand on the Queene¡¯s gigantic head. I hadn¡¯t personally seen a Tribute happen before, but I¡¯d read up on monsters in the library enough that I knew this was generally how it went.


    The Queene¡¯s head lit up in a soft glow that transferred to the Nymph, quickly enveloping it in the white light that seemed to get absorbed into its eyes. And then it suddenly got a pained expression on its face as its body began to morph.


    At first, it was only slight changes; its hair grew longer, going from the messy ear-length mop it had at first to a much cleaner set of locks that passed beneath its shoulders, and its skin shifted to a much smoother, tamer green than the deep-forest color it had before. Its whip changed, the thorns growing longer and sharper, and the whip itself growing in length as well, in addition to decreasing in thickness so as to create a razor-thin wire that would be dangerous to touch even without the needles covering it.


    But then,rger changes began cropping up. It grimaced and copsed to the floor and I noticed it get taller ¨C only a bit at first, enough to bring its head up to my shoulders, but then it grew even faster, its spine and legs cracking and expanding until it was at least as tall as me, maybe even taller. Its body¡¯s shape shifted, too, bing more distinctly feminine than the more genderless form of a Nymph.


    After a few seconds, it perfectly resembled the drawings I¡¯d seen of Dryads in the monster manuals I¡¯d read in the past, with the long brown hair, light green skin, and body resembling a Human woman. In fact, most of the manuals explicitly said that Dryads were female monsters, counterparts to the more masculine Naiads, which were guardians of thekes and seas.


    The newly-formed Dryad stood from the floor and looked at me with a shocked expression on her face. I could tell that she was just then starting to piece together that Erani and I were trying to get this Tribute for her ever since we got to the vige. Up until then, she must¡¯ve had no idea why we were here.


    She also seemed to piece together the reason for us working so hard to turn her into a Dryad, and walked over to me, guiding me to lie down on the floor and cing her hand on the original stab wound where the Banestinger had pierced my leg when it poisoned me. The hole was a mix of skin tinted an unnatural purple and green, red insides, and a yellowish pus that seeped out whenever the Dryad touched it.


    Despite the mess of the wound that even I didn¡¯t like looking at for too long, the Dryad fearlessly put her hands over it, pressing gently, and closed her eyes, focusing in what I could tell was a simr way I always had to focus in order to cast a Spell I¡¯d just learned.


    After a moment, her hands glowed a brilliant green and I could feel my body repairing itself. Not just the venom, either. While my veins seemed to clear up, pain I didn¡¯t even know I was still feeling left my body. All sorts of injuries closed across ¨C and under ¨C my skin. The fractured bone in my leg painlessly shifted and reconnected with itself, the various minor cuts and scrapes covering my skin closed up, and I could even feel the ribs that I¡¯d fractured all those days ago ¨C and that I thought had healed by now ¨C finish repairing themselves into perfection, as though they¡¯d never been touched.


    You have been touched by the grace of nature. All Status Afflictions have been removed. 50 Health restored.


    Your ribs are no longer fractured. You are no longer envenomed. Your leg is no longer broken.


    Your Health is 51.


    Everything felt better. It was as if hundreds of thousands of nails, needles, and other nasties I¡¯d been living with inside of me for weeks had been simultaneously and instantly removed, leaving nothing but a better body.


    I was finally cured. I would¡¯ve copsed to the floor in relief had I not already been lying down. Trying to calm myself, I took a breath. I was safe.


    ¡°...So, rematch. Are you ready for it now, or¨C¡±


    ¡°Gonna have to wait a bit on that one,¡± I interrupted Aankin.


    ¡°Actually, I had another favor in mind that you could do for us in payment,¡± the Faerie Queene said with a smile.


    ¡°Oh? Why didn¡¯t you mention it before?¡± I got to my feet reluctantly, wishing I could¡¯ve stayed lying down like that for a good couple weeks.


    ¡°You never said I needed to tell you what I¡¯d want you to do,¡± she shrugged, the movement shaking the entire building.


    ¡°Well, what is it? We¡¯ll help out if we can.¡±


    ¡°There are some Human soldiersing our way ¨C a couple dozen of them. Take care of them for me, and you¡¯re free of your debt. Oh, and feel free to be extra brutal with them. I believe they¡¯re from that nearby city that disrespected us, and those Humans could learn a lesson or two in humility.¡±


    ¡°Wait, soldiers? Coming this way?¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes. I¡¯m not sure why they¡¯reing for us after so long of nothing, but they¡¯re obviously geared for war. Must¡®ve decided they couldn¡¯t live without our goods, after all.¡±


    I met Erani¡¯s eyes. Humansing over here now? The timing was too perfect. They weren¡¯ting after the Faeries, they wereing after us. They must¡¯ve tracked us somehow from the massacre the Nymph did in the woods while we were on our way here.


    If they knew the previous troop they¡¯d sent out had been killed that badly, they¡¯d almost certainly send out a much stronger battalion for us. And by the sounds of it, they did; the Queene had said there were dozens of soldiersing our way.


    But we now had something they didn¡¯t know about. Dryads weren¡¯t just good for healing, after all. Anything with a Tribute from something as strong as a Faerie Queene was bound to be much, much more powerful than a normal Nymph.


    And I was interested in testing out that power.

 Chapter 59: Skirmish

    Chapter 59: Skirmish


    ¡°Where are the soldiersing from?¡± Erani asked the Faerie Queene.


    ¡°Near the entrance. They¡¯ll be here in a few minutes. We have some spies currently tailing them.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so the spies will be helping us in thebat?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely not. I hired you for help, and I¡¯ll be getting my value on that.¡±


    I set my jaw, trying not to say anything at that. She was <em>technically</em> right that we agreed to do what we could to help, but the Queene refusing to assist us when it waspletely possible for her to do so¡­ it just left a bad taste in my mouth.


    But, I agreed to the deal, so I¡¯d carry it out.


    ¡°Show us the way,¡± I said.


    Erani, the Dryad, and I all stood together on the top of the wooden palisade, prepared to attack at any sight of the enemy soldiers. It was dark in thete hour, though, and our only light came from the soft glow of the blue and purple magical mites that dimly lit the vige, so it was difficult to see.


    We waited for some time, looking out into the treeline from our vantage point to try and locate any sort of movement. Minutes passed, and I began to suspect that they weren¡¯ting. By the time half an hour had passed, I was getting truly antsy. And once the hour mark had been reached, I¡¯d gotten to the limit of my patience. Was the Queene¡¯s intel wrong? Maybe they just saw some soldiers on a routine patrol and assumed they wereing to attack. The Faeries obviously didn¡¯t hold a very high opinion of these people, so it would make sense if they just assumed the city wasing for them.


    I looked back behind me, down to the ground below in the vige. Aankin was down there doing stretches and routine exercises, getting used to his new body. ¡°Can you go talk to the Queene and ask if she¡¯s gotten any new information on the soldiers and what they¡¯re doing? They should¡¯ve shown up by now if they were attacking.¡±


    He muttered something about being an errand-boy, but still turned and did so, walking back to the damaged pce to speak with the Queene.


    By the time he got back, another few minutes had passed. I¡¯d seen some more wisps of movement out in the treeline, but it was all too far away and too dark to tell if it was a person or animal.


    ¡°Okay, so,¡± Aankin said as he walked back up to us, reading words off a piece of magically-inscribed parchment, ¡°she said that¡­ where was it¡­ yes, here. They are currently building a ballista about a hundred paces away, and have been for half an hour. They¡¯ll be done in a couple minutes. Oh, they also have explosive munitions.¡±


    I looked at him. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us before?!¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Didn¡¯t ask, I guess.¡±


    I shook my head as I hurried to scale my way down the wooden walls, mentally cursing those damned Faeries. Probably just another ¡®test of strength¡¯ to see if I could survive getting a bomb getting shot through me.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, we need to get to them before they finish,¡± I said to Erani, who helped visuallymunicate to the Dryad that we needed to go. The Faerie Queene, despite being fully capable ofmunicating with the Dryad, had outright refused to do so for our sake.


    Wended on the ground from our climb down the walls and started sprinting through the woods, heading to the ce I had seen those flickers of movement before.


    We crashed through trees and bushes, with me and my newly-rejuvenated body leading the charge, searching for the soldiers. I was acutely aware of the Dryad running with us, and what she¡¯d likely do once she found our enemies. But I didn¡¯t really have a choice. Sure, I could technically refuse to fight and pull the Dryad away, but not only would that most likely lead to the insanely high-Level Faerie Queene killing me, but she¡¯d probably just order someone else to go and kill these Humans. Their fates were effectively sealed.


    And, at some point, I just had to ept that some Humans would die by my hand. There were plenty of people trying to kill me, and the main way I could stop them from doing so would be to kill them first. Simple survival.


    A colder, more calcting part of my mind considered how much of a shame it was that you couldn¡¯t get any XP from killing members of your own species; if I was going to be killing Humans, I¡¯d at least want to be rewarded for it. But I pushed those thoughts from my head. It would <em>always</em> be a shame to see people die ¨C people who really just wanted things to go back to the way they were before the Demons attacked. The Demons were my foe here, and they¡¯d be the ones I¡¯d be smiling at when I killed them.


    After a few more moments of running, we leapt through the treeline into a clearing full of armored soldiers. The Dryad had a glint in her eye that told me she would not be hesitating here. I resolved to allow her to do most of the fighting here; even if I was healed of the venom and my injuries, my Health was still low, and I wasn¡¯t about to jump into the fray while in my current state.


    The group of soldiers in the clearing had just finished assembling their siege weapon as we arrived, the gigantic, swivel-mounted crossbow loaded with an explosive payload. There were, as the Queene had said, at least thirty of them, all wearing leather armor branded with the familiar logo of their city and wielding various weapons on their backs and waists. They must¡¯ve been sent out right when the city got word of the first squad being killed.


    I knew that they were just doing their jobs, but I was just surviving. We were two groups with opposing goals, and I intended to achieve mine. Right as we crashed into the clearing, I held out my hand and shot the three closest enemies with Rays of Frost.


    You have struck Level 6 Human Swordsman for 46 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 6 Human Swordsman with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 622.


    You have struck Level 7 Human Berserker for 47 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 7 Human Berserker with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 599.


    You have struck Level 5 Human Wizard for 44 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 5 Human Wizard with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 575.


    Immediately, Spells from the Magic-Types, arrows and bolts from the Ranged-Types, and a charging horde of Melee-Types came speeding toward us. The white lights of Erani¡¯s Angelic Shield shed to my left, deflecting any damage that came her way. And to my right, the Dryad used her signature whip to cut through the arrows and push back the Melee-Types that got too close, while she utilized her quick reflexes to dodge the Spells that would¡¯ve managed to connect with her.


    I, on the other hand, didn¡¯t have as many defensive options.


    You have been shot with magically-hardened stone. 21 damage.


    Your Health is 36.


    You have been pierced by an arrow. 17 damage.


    Your Health is 19.


    Even with my rtive cover behind trees and bushes, a stone managed to find my head, and an arrow grazed my shoulder.


    I ducked beneath a Swordsman¡¯s swing ¨C I at least knew how <em>they</em> fought, having trained for years against a much more talented mentor. But still, my Health had fallen right back into the danger-zone, and I still didn¡¯t have any uses of Time Loop to fall back on. I took a step back and held a hand out as if to cast a Spell at the young man in front of me, who instantly ducked back and raised his buckler to block. But no Spell came out of my hand.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 15.5 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    35.4 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 21.


    I¡¯d faked him out, buying myself some much-needed time to heal back up with Regenerate. I fought back the urge tough ¨C pretending to cast a Spell was one of the oldest tricks Magic-Types had at their disposal.


    Once the soldier realized what was happening, seeing my wounds close, he grunted and charged again. A swipe to the side, and I stepped back, easily dodging the amateur strike. Then, in his follow-through, I stepped close to him and grabbed his arm, yanking him forward so that I was too close for him to use his sword effectively, and activating Noxious Grasp.


    He screamed in pain and frantically pulled back, wrenching his arm from my grasp ¨C I had a Strength Stat higher than an Unssed person¡¯s thanks to Recursive Growth, but any Melee-Type sser with a couple Levels under their belt would still easily beat me in a fair contest of Strength.


    But that didn¡¯t mean it had to be fair.


    The moment he tried to pull free from my grip, I cast Crippling Chill on him.


    You have cursed Level 6 Human Swordsman with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, he loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and his Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 519.


    Now, one thing to note about the Swordsman ss was its rtively all-rounder progression path. Every Level, a Swordsman would get 1 Strength, 1 Endurance, and 1 Dexterity ¨C along with the standard 3 Stat Points, of course.


    The way an individual would spend their Stat Points was, of course, up to them, but if there was anything I¡¯d learned from spending so much time around Erani, it was that there were normally only a few ways to make these types of choices that were considered ¡®optimal¡¯. And, for Swordsmen, the optimal way to spend Stat Points was generally seen as mostly Strength, some Endurance. I had personally nned on doing 2 in Strength, 1 in Endurance, with maybe one or two extra in Endurance as I saw fit.


    Those two Stats were just seen as the most important to the ss; Strength determined your damage, and Endurance kept you alive. Sure, Dexterity might have helped yound a couple more blows or dodge one here or there, but what did it matter if you could tank all that damage anyway, and dealt enough that you only needed to hit once to be effective?


    And so, most notably about that, almost no Swordsmen put any extra Stat Points into Dexterity. As a Level 6 Swordsman, this man would¡¯ve gotten 7 total points in the Stat ¨C one from Level 0, and 6 more from his subsequent Level-ups ¨C putting him at 17 total. And,bined with the Ray of Frost I¡¯d shot him with when the fight had first started, I¡¯d drained away over 22 of the Stat.


    And so, the moment I cast Crippling Chill, the man copsed,pletely paralyzed until one of the two curses wore off. I shot him with another Ray of Frost to make sure that wouldn¡¯t happen anytime soon.


    I also let go of him, getting a notification that I¡¯d dealt somewhere around 30 damage with Noxious Grasp. Looking around the battlefield, I realized just how much work Erani and the Dryad could get done in such a short amount of time. With my build being much more geared toward dominating a fight against a single individual, I could take down my enemy without too much effort, sure, but with Erani¡¯s massive explosions and the Dryad¡¯s long-range whip, this was their prime environment.


    Erani was blowing up entire crowds of soldiers, forcing them to spend time on making sure they weren¡¯t grouped up, rather than on attacking us. She was to thank for the fact that I hadn¡¯t had to deal with any more projectile attacks ever since the initial barrage. And the Dryad was even more effective, tearing through anyone and anything that got in her way.


    I watched as she flung her whip in a wide arc at three people running at her. One of them managed to leap back just in time for the swipe to miss, but the other two had their legs cut clean off by the razor wire, blood spewing across the ground as they fell down, the soldiers screaming in pain at their sudden dismemberment.


    A woman with a spear ran up and tried to stab her in the back while she wasn¡¯t looking, but, before the soldier could react, the Dryad spun around with her whip, decapitating her enemy.


    She turned to look behind herself once again, this time at the massive ballista that¡¯d been constructed before we¡¯d arrived. One of the soldiers had managed to run over and man it, loading in an explosive bolt and readying it to fire directly at her. She was too far away for her whip to reach, and apparently had no options for ranges past that, so it took a ready stance, waiting for the massive, tree-trunk sized bolt to fire.


    With a loud <em>thunk</em>, the ballista bolt left itsuncher, flying at high speed directly toward the Dryad. She bent backward, allowing the bolt to just barely fly over her, and then, as it was away behind her, she turned around andshed her whip out with it, wrapping her weapon around the explosive ballista bolt, turning, and flinging it back to itsuncher.


    The bolt collided with the ballista and the person manning it, and the resulting explosion rocked the ground around us, causing the battle toe to a screeching halt. The five or six remaining soldiers saw how much their numbers had been thinned ¨C and how ours hadn¡¯t changed at all ¨C looked at each other, and ran, retreating back into the forest they came from.


    I watched them run. With my pitifully-low Stamina from having used Regenerate so much, I sure as hells couldn¡¯t chase them. Erani¡¯s Dexterity of 10 probably couldn¡¯t keep up with the soldiers, and the Dryad wasn¡¯t chasing them either ¨C though for what reasons, I didn¡¯t know. She could have just not wanted to kill a retreating enemy. Hells, I wasn¡¯t sure if I¡¯d have wanted to even if I could; it was one thing to fight for your life, and another to kill someone fleeing for theirs.


    I took a breath and looked at my twopanions. Whatever the reason, a few of them got away, and would definitely be informing the city that we were out here. We could probably expect some more serious reinforcements to arrive soon.

 Chapter 60: So Long, Goodbye

    Chapter 60: So Long, Goodbye


    Erani and I went back to the Faerie vige, taking the Dryad with us, to inform them of the job we¡¯dpleted. I didn¡¯t mention that the Dryad was the one that did most of the work.


    ¡°Mm. Good,¡± the Faerie Queene said. ¡°Feel free to stay a while. I¡¯m sure Aankin the Stalwart is still itching for a rematch, after all.¡±


    We were back in the pce, which was very, <em>very</em> slowly being repaired by a crowd of Slimes. I had no idea why the Queene would use them as construction workers ¨C it must have taken months to get anything done. Honestly, she probably just found it funny.


    Aankin was also in the room with us, still doing his workouts to get used to his new body. I didn¡¯t know how he expected to perform if we <em>did</em> do a rematch ¨C he was apparently so unsteady in his new form that he felt like he needed to train constantly just to get back to his old level of power.


    ¡°Is he even ready to fight right now?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine within the month,¡± Aankin said as he dropped to the floor and began doing pushups. ¡°Those Champion Vessels <em>try</em> to get their bodies into top shape before I possess them, but there¡¯s always a bit more tuning that can be done.¡±


    I looked back at Erani. We¡¯d had good luck fighting against thest two squads of human soldiers that the city had sent out, but who knew when they¡¯d send in a group we couldn¡¯t beat? I was worried about sticking around for another hour, much less an entire month. And with neither Erani nor I earning any XP from killing our fellow Humans, there was no reason to stay here fighting the infinite waves. Besides, they were probably just stalling us until they could send in the truly powerful Infernal Commanders ¨C <em>those</em> we couldn¡¯t beat for sure.


    ¡°We actually need to be leaving,¡± I said. I didn¡¯t mention anything about the Demons hunting us down, of course ¨C if they knew that we were the ones who drew the soldiers to them in the first ce, the Queene would surely not be satisfied with our ¡®payment¡¯ being to solve a problem that we created. And I wasn¡¯t too worried about them, with the Queene¡¯s incredible Level. ¡°Looking to head to a neighboring Empire. I don¡¯t suppose you could offer any help during our travels?¡±


    ¡°You would suppose correctly,¡± she said. ¡°I have no current interest in aiding or following you. But doe back someday. I¡¯m sure Aankin would enjoy thepany.¡±


    I nodded. Maybe one day, when we weren¡¯t being hunted, I could get Aankin that rematch. But not now. For now, we had to leave them behind.


    Erani yawned as we left the Faerie vige. It was past midnight, so we were all pretty tired. Hells, from my perspective with Time Loop fucking with my inner clock, it¡¯d been midnight for over three hours, so I was especially so. But we couldn¡¯t rest yet. With the city knowing where we were, they¡¯d no doubt scour the entire nearby area once they realized we¡¯d left.


    We walked through the pitch-ck forest as the moon moved across the dark sky. About an hour had passed, and we were all exhausted. Even the Dryad looked tired, despite getting an entire new body to y with. Erani and I still practiced our Spells as we walked, though, hand-in-hand so that my Noxious Grasp would trigger her Angelic Shield.


    ¡°How¡¯re the headaches going?¡± I asked her as we went. ¡°Still refusing to die down?¡±


    ¡°A bit better,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s more that I''ve gotten used to it than that they¡¯ve stoppedpletely. But it does feel a little less intense.¡±


    I nodded. At this point, I was aware that my situation with Noxious Grasp seemed different from anyone else¡¯s. I seemed to have formed some sort of dependency on the Spell, at this point. I suspected it had something to do with me relying on it to upy my mind when I was in so much physical pain from dehydration, back when I had first gotten my ss. But I also knew that I¡¯d at least gotten to the point where I could cast my other Spells without much difort, so hopefully that aspect of the practice could be replicated with Erani. It was obviously just taking a while.


    ¡°I really wish this would just hurry up,¡± she continued. ¡°I knew it would be bad, and I <em>do</em> feel used to it, but it still kind of sucks.¡±


    ¡°Well, one of the things that helped me a lot was once I started casting Noxious Grasp in my sleep. I¡¯m not an expert, but I feel like the eight-hour break your mind gets from casting every night resets a bit of your progress getting used to the sensation, since it goes so long without it.¡±


    ¡°Right, but how do I cast in my sleep? It¡¯s a Passive, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to, even if I had control over what I cast when I was unconscious.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re exactly right that it¡¯s Passive. So, as long as something triggered it while you were asleep, it¡¯d get cast automatically without you ever having to do anything.¡±


    ¡°...Okay, I guess. What are you suggesting?¡±


    ¡°If I already cast Noxious Grasp in my sleep, then it¡¯s totally possible for us to rig it so that you cast Angelic Shield in your sleep, too.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but that would mean¡­¡±


    ¡°I think we¡¯re well past getting embarrassed about sleeping in the same bed,¡± Iughed, pulling her closer by the hand. ¡°Besides, it¡¯s a functional thing. For practice.¡±


    I could feel her fingers shift between mine. ¡°...Right. For practice.¡±


    We walked in silence for another minute.


    ¡°Listen,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to ask you. What exactly are we?¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± I suddenly felt a lot more ufortable. These types of serious ¨C definitive conversations ¨C weren¡¯t my thing. ¡°Not really sure. Allies?¡±


    Erani gave me a look. She was obviously wanting a bit more from me than that.


    ¡°Allies with benefits?¡±


    That got a chuckle from her. But she still seemed serious. ¡°You know I¡¯m not asking for a joke. Besides, I don¡¯t think we¡¯re actually at that ¡®benefits¡¯ part. It¡¯s just, y¡¯know. We¡¯ve been doing some more romance-adjacent stuff. And I¡¯m not really sure what you mean by it all.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Yeah, sorry. I won¡¯t deny that I have feelings for you ¨C I¡¯ll put that out in the open. But I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll agree that we can¡¯t really be focusing on that. We¡¯re running from the entire Underworld. So I don¡¯t even know how to respond. In a primary sense, in my mind, you¡¯re someone who helps me stay alive. Everything elsees behind that.¡±


    ¡°I guess I agree that we have priorities, but, well, I can¡¯t just ignore my own emotions. I can¡¯t really leave this stuff unsaid.¡±


    ¡°Well, what do you want to say, then?¡±


    ¡°I, I don¡¯t know,¡± she blinked, then took a breath, seeming to try and collect her thoughts. ¡°I understand our situation ¨C I agree that it¡¯s not like we can go out on dates and get to know each other like that. But I also¡­ want some sort of acknowledgement of us, as an item. I mean, we¡¯re going to be sleeping together for the gods¡¯ sake. I don¡¯t want to be sitting around guessing at intentions.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sorry. I know I was sort of the one who initiated this, back before all this Demon shit started. ¡­And I guess the Demon shit is my fault, too,¡± Iughed and shook my head. ¡°But I¡¯m just sort of a single-minded person. I take things one at a time, most important to least important. So, pretty much everything except for survival left my mind the moment I realized what was happening. Sorry for leaving you hanging like that.¡±


    ¡°No, no, that¡¯s okay. I just¡­ wanted to get this out in the open. I really don¡¯t like not having any clue what¡¯s happening next. Thanks for talking with me.¡±


    I could tell she was still a bit disappointed by my somewhat nonmittal answer, but we¡¯d have to leave it at that for now. I waspletely exhausted, and I was sure Erani was, too. We needed to sleep. By that time, we just had to take the risk of being found; we wouldn¡¯t be able to continue either way.


    We walked a bit further until we found a decent clearing and set up camp there, going through the process that¡¯d be routine by that point ¨C find t ground, remove rocks and sticks that¡¯d poke us in our sleep, set up a basic shelter in case it rained during the night.


    The Dryad, of course, didn¡¯t do any of this. I¡¯d learned over the course of our journey that Nymphs could sleep pretty much anywhere in the wilderness, and that seemed to be true after evolution, as well. She snuggled up on top of arge rock, totally ignoring the sharp juts she was lying on top of.


    Yeah, I was pretty jealous.


    Erani and I got ready to sleep like normal, except now we were lying right next to each other instead of apart like we usually did. The physical contact between us made me feel a bit awkward, especially right after our previous discussion. We had our bodies pressed together to ensure that any movement either of us made in our sleep wouldn¡¯t remove the required contact between us.


    I could see the Dryad¡¯s glowing eyes through the dark night. She apparently wasn¡¯t quite tired enough to sleep, since she was still looking around. Her bright white eyes stared at me and Erani curiously ¨C she was probably wondering what happened to change the way we slept.


    ¡°What do you think her ns are?¡± I asked.


    ¡°What?¡± Erani responded sleepily, facing away from me as wey down.


    ¡°The Dryad. I mean, what¡¯s this like from her perspective? A group of monsterses and attacks her home, a couple of random humanse in and save her, she tags along for some time, and now they just actively worked to get her a Tribute and evolve her. She doesn¡¯t know where we¡¯re going, why the Infernals attacked, or who we are in rtion to all this. I just can¡¯t imagine what being so out of the loop would feel like. I have no idea if she¡¯s gonna stick around, leave the moment she thinks things are safe, or attack us at any moment.¡±


    Erani yawned. ¡°Honestly, I kind of feel like that sometimes.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°How do you think it feels when you suddenlye back from the future, knowing all of this extra stuff while I know none of it? It was jarring back when you only came back from a couple minutes ahead, but now you¡¯reing in and informing me of an entire hour¡¯s worth of events. Hells, you technically had to fill me in on two hours¡¯ worth, since you came back two separate times.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right.¡±


    ¡°I mean, sometimes youe back and basically tell me ¡®we¡¯re fighting these people you didn¡¯t even know existed,e with me,¡¯ and I¡¯m immediately dragged into some shit, just having to trust that you know what you¡¯re talking about. That¡¯s bad enough. But other times, when you have the time to exin to me <em>exactly</em> what happened, it¡¯s even worse. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s really possible for me to express how strange it feels to hear you recap events I didn¡¯t even know happened, while you exin what I did during those events, and I know that I <em>would</em> have done those things. It¡¯s like you¡¯re reading my mind.¡±


    ¡°Huh, I never really thought of it like that.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s even worse when you tell me I did something, and I <em>don¡¯t</em> think I¡¯d have done it. It¡¯s like a mini-crisis of identity. Do I just not know myself well enough? Did I experience something in that hour that radically changed the way I make decisions? And now I just won¡¯t experience that potentially life-changing thing? Am I doomed to be a fundamentally iplete person, now that I won¡¯t go through whatever thing happened? It¡¯s¡­ a really weird string of thoughts to explore.¡±


    ¡°...Yeah¡± I said after a moment. I remembered her mentioning that type of stuff before, during moments when I told her I had to use Time Loop, and she talked about feeling like she was about to essentially die. ¡°I guess I¡¯m the odd one out here, since I¡¯m the only one who actually has all the information.¡±


    ¡°Yep. I still feel a bit bad for the Dryad, though. Maybe one day we could learn how to speak hernguage so we can thank her for her help in saving you.¡±


    ¡°Maybe one day,¡± I nodded.


    A couple minutes passed, and, from her breathing, I could tell that Erani had already dozed off. I was having a bit more trouble, though, after the terrifying experience of being poisoned. I tried to calm my racing mind through meditation, essentially putting my mind through the same steps I took to be able to ess my Status.


    After a few minutes of that, I finally felt a bit less panicked. Subconsciously, I automatically opened up my Status into view.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    <strong>15</strong>


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>11</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>25</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>66</strong>/<strong>700</strong>


    Dexterity:


    <strong>13</strong>


    Health:


    <strong>41</strong>/<strong>250</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.093</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>58</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>47</strong>/<strong>117</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.768</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>13</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>645</strong>/<strong>645</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>12.39</strong>


    <strong>Stat Points:</strong>


    <strong>6</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Gravity Well <strong>6</strong> - XP <strong>2</strong>/<strong>66</strong>


    <strong>Regenerate</strong>


    Trailzer


    Ray of Frost <strong>6</strong> - XP <strong>5</strong>/<strong>66</strong>


    Recursive Growth


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP <strong>98</strong>/355


    Time Loop <strong>11</strong>


    +<strong>Extended Loop</strong>


    Noxious Grasp 10 - XP <strong>24</strong>/461


    +Venomous Grasp


    I blinked, looking at all of the things that had changed since thest time I¡¯d seen it. And where did those Stat Pointse from? Wait, I thought. I¡¯d Leveled up! Back when I fought and killed Aankin ¨C well, not really killed ¨C I¡¯d gotten enough XP to get to Level 11! In all the chaos of trying to get myself cured, I¡¯dpletely forgotten. 11 wasn¡¯t a huge milestone or anything, but the extra Stats were always wanted.


    But still, that only ounted for 3 of them. I had 6. Had I¡­ not assigned the Stat Points from my previous Level, either? I wanted to dig my face into my hands. I must¡¯ve been so preupied with the venom that I¡¯dpletely forgotten. I could¡¯ve put them into Endurance and bought myself some time. It wouldn¡¯t have made a big difference ¨C getting points in Endurance wouldn¡¯t increase my current Health, only my maximum ¨C but the extra Health/Minute would¡¯ve been nice.


    At this point, though, I didn¡¯t need the extra Endurance. Regenerate offered quite a bit of extra Health as a buffer in case things ever went wrong, and I wasn¡¯t going to make any stupid mistakes because I was in withdrawal from Noxious Grasp, anymore. With it directly increasing my main method of dealing damage, Conjuration still seemed like my best option. I went ahead and assigned the Points.


    You have used 6 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 64.


    After that, my Mana/Minute had risen up to 13.47, and my maximum Mana was 705. I was well on my way to 1000 Mana!


    Despite the danger we were in, I actually felt a bit happy, finally d to stop worrying about the poison. Things were finally looking up. And it wasn¡¯t like being with Erani was making things any worse.


    So I went to sleep, hopeful that the day toe wouldn''t be as bad as this one had been.

 Chapter 61: Welcome to Hell. Cut Out the Weak Link.

    Chapter 61: Wee to Hell. Cut Out the Weak Link.


    A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. On top of his desk was a miniature illusion of the Kingdom of Koinkar. It had all provinces, territories, borders, roads, notable monster locations, and just about any other piece of information that the Devil might¡¯ve wanted to know. It had been meticulously put together by the squads of Diviners assigned to him, since the Humans had essentially taken over for the Diviners¡¯ jobs.


    When the Devil and King Koinkar had their discussion about the details of their agreement, what they decided was that the Humans would use their own Divination magic-users to track An Nota, which left the Demonic Diviners free. So, the Devil asked them to craft this. It was certainly useful, but after seeing the performance of the Humans as ¡®allies¡¯, he regretted having them do so.


    The Humans had apparently found An Nota, sent in a squad of ¡®elites¡¯ to kill him, and they returned empty-handed. He remembered who was on that squad ¨C the royal guard woman who was hostile to him, Cami, was one of them. He was less than confident that she didn¡¯t have something to do with returning with no exnation as to why they hadn¡¯t caught him.


    But that wasn¡¯t all. After that failed mission, the Humans located him once again, and sent in a bulk-squad of soldiers from a nearby city to kill him, and they were all mysteriously ughtered. And the squad sent in after <em>that</em> was almostpletely wiped out, too.


    It was obvious that, despite Koinkar¡¯s reassurances that his men were ¡®the best of the best¡¯, the Devil could not rely on the Humans. They hadn¡¯t even notified the Demons that they¡¯d found An Nota until the second squad of soldiers had been killed. <em>That</em> was infuriating. Why wouldn¡¯t they tell the Demons that the main target had been found? Infernals were constantly on standby to be sent in the moment he was located, and, had the Humans said something, they would¡¯ve been there in moments.


    The more the Devil thought about it, the angrier he got. He had already spent so much of his valuable time trying to create this mutually beneficial rtionship with the Human leadership, and apparently that entire connection was useless. If the Humans were going to act like this, they weren¡¯t worth working with at all. At least, not as equals.


    ¡°So, Xhag¡¯duul? What do you n on doing?¡±


    The Devil blinked and looked back at the other person in the room with him. ¡°Ah, expression of apology. Wasn¡¯t listening. What¡¯d you want?¡±


    The Devil¡¯s superior red at him from across the desk. She was wearing the same smooth ck clothes that were uniform for all Devils, except hers were much neater than the Devils. Compared to hers, his were old and wrinkled fromck of proper care. He was too busy to take the time to clean them.


    ¡°You will refer to me by my full name when apologizing, Xhag¡¯duul,¡± she said in a low growl. ¡°And do so formally. Do not forget your manners.¡±


    The Devil fought back a frustrated sigh. He brought a finger up to his mouth and bit down, filling his mouth with the familiar taste of blood. His fingers were covered in scars by now, the habit obviously having grown out of control, but at the point he was now, some simple bodily harm was the least of his worries. ¡°Formal expression of apology, Superior Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki.¡±


    ¡°Good. And listen to me, this time. I hope you do not need to be reminded of your ce.¡±


    The Devil bit the inside of his lip. ¡°Yes, superior Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki.¡±


    ¡°Now, what I said to you was that An Nota has been atrge for many Overworld days now. Your current strategy is clearly not working. What changes to your n are you going to make?¡±


    The Devil looked at his superior. Seriously? That¡¯s what this meeting was about? She just wanted him to exin what he was doing to her? All this would aplish would be to waste his time. Why couldn¡¯t she just let him work? He¡¯d be able to get this stress over with much more quickly if he was allowed to do his job without these constant interruptions.


    ¡°Well,¡± he said, ¡°I have recently made contact with the Human leader of the Koinkar Kingdom, and I convinced him to call a cease fire with our troops. On top of that, he has lent many human soldiers to our cause. I believe that this will greatly speed up the¨C¡±


    ¡°Wait. Koinkar Kingdom? What is that?¡±


    He fought the urge to roll his eyes. She really didn¡¯t know the location An Nota was in? And she was trying to make judgment calls on what the best course of action would be? How out-of-touch could she be? ¡°It is the Human-controlled territory in which An Nota is located.¡±


    ¡°Hm. And you got them to stop attacking our units?¡±


    ¡°Well, the kingdom-controlled soldiers have stopped, yes. Some adventurers are still causing us problems, but the vast majority of¨C¡±


    ¡°Adventurers?¡±


    The Devil was having a hard time keeping himself from audibly sighing. ¡°ssed Humans that operate outside of the strict legal system. They usually do odd jobs, or go outside walled areas to cull the nearby monster poption in order to increase their strength and keep the area safe. Some of them are still hunting Demon forces, despite the ceasefire.¡±


    ¡°So you couldn¡¯t even get the Humans to stop attacking you,¡± she sighed in anger. ¡°Do you understand how much this is costing us?¡±


    The Devil red at his superior. The absolute fucking moron had no idea how much work he doing. She had no right to spit all over his efforts. He didn¡¯t say anything, though.


    ¡°You obviously need to be putting more time into this,¡± she said, absentmindedly picking at her nails. ¡°An Nota has not yet been captured, despite the ample resources you have been provided.¡±


    ¡°Superior,¡± the Devil begged, ¡°I¡¯ve been putting all the time I have into the capture of An Nota. It might take a bit longer, then I will show results.¡±


    ¡°You should have shown us results within the first minutes of this operation. You have given us nothing but failure time and time again. I maintain that you need to put more effort into this case.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have any more time I canmit!¡± he said, bordering on shouting. ¡°Every waking moment I have, I spend arranging units, writing requests, directing the Infernal Commanders, I can¡¯t do any more.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s superior sighed, obviously unimpressed with his pleads. ¡°Then perhaps it is not time that you need, but motivation. How about this: you¡¯re demoted. Starting now. And more demotions wille if you do not catch An Nota within a timely manner.¡±


    The Devil leapt from his seat. ¡°Superior, no. Please. I¡¯ll¨C¡±


    ¡°This is not up for discussion.¡±


    He fought to control his breathing. ¡°So, I¡¯m losing a syble?¡±


    The Devil¡¯s superior tilted her head at him. ¡°Oh. Perhaps you do not understand. You are not being demoted once.¡± She pointed out the door, into the room where the Devil¡¯s subordinates worked. ¡°You are out there, now. One of the office drones.¡±


    He stumbled back, feeling his chest tighten. ¡°That¡¯s¨C¡±


    ¡°You are being demoted fourteen times. Your name is no longer Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep. Your name is now Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook. I will no longer be calling you Xhag¡¯duul, I will be calling you Xhag.¡±


    The Devil couldn¡¯t believe the words he was hearing.


    ¡°I will find someone to promote and rece you.¡±


    ¡°I-Is that person going to take over for me on the An Nota case?¡±


    ¡°Oh, absolutely not. You will still be solely in charge of that. If you want your old position back, kill An Nota.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s heart was beating so hard, he couldn¡¯t feel anything else. ¡°Please. You can¡¯t do this. I¨C just give me more time. I promise¨C¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re done speaking about this, Xhag. I expect you to be fully moved out of your office within the next eight and a half minutes. Goodbye.¡±


    The Devil didn¡¯t have a moment to get even one more word in before his superior stepped out of his office, mming the door shut behind her. Well, not <em>his</em> office ¨C <em>the</em> office. The office that wasn¡¯t his anymore.


    The Devil simply stood in the room, staring at the door in shock.


    By the time eight and a half minutes had passed, he was still frozen in the exact same spot, staring at the same door when it opened again. A Gargoyle walked in ¨C the Devil¡¯s new boss, apparently. It was one of the office workers that used to be below him.


    ¡°Expression of greeting, Xhag,¡± it said in its gravelly voice. This wasn¡¯t right. It didn¡¯t get to call him that. ¡°I heard about your demotion. I got a new name, too ¨C Plindakin¡¯porbindondimoni¡¯aasiindorkaanpondindindodondi¡¯paponossin. Twenty-four sybles! Same number as you have ¨C er, used to have. You¡¯ll have my old desk, down in the back. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to find it.¡±


    ¡°Greeting,¡± the Devil muttered. He definitely wasn¡¯t supposed to be speaking to a superior like that, but he couldn¡¯t muster the energy. ¡°Guess I¡¯ll get going.¡±


    The Gargoyle looked around itself at the room as the Devil moved to leave. Long-forgotten papers scattered the floor, and droplets of blue blood stained the table from when the Devil would bite his fingers too hard. ¡°Lord below, you <em>really</em> messed this ce up, huh? I¡¯ll have to call in a cleaner to fix it up. Uh, Xhag, do you know how to call¨C¡±


    The Gargoyle was cut off by the Devil leaving the office and closing the door behind himself.


    He looked out at the room in front of him, desks for the office drones packed together, each worker with stacks of papers surrounding them. He couldn¡¯t do that. He couldn¡¯t just sit at a desk and copy low-level documents, or write up supply requests. That was not his ce. He couldn¡¯t do it.


    No, he was still on the An Nota case. He still had to do that. Not only would he need to work on this monotonous bullshit, he <em>also</em> had to single-handedly run an invasion in the Overworld. Oh, <em>and</em> manage diplomacy with the Humans. Of fucking course.


    He bit down on his index finger, applying pressure until he felt the familiar sensation of blood seeping from his skin onto his tongue. He shook with rage, the calming habit obviously not working in this case. Those damned superiors, they pin all of this responsibility onto him, totally overwork him, and then get upset when he can¡¯t do his job properly.


    It wasn¡¯t only the superiors, either. Those fucking Humans. Ipetent fucking species. Could they not do anything right? That king¡¯s job was to catch one man. <em>One</em><em>fucking person</em>, and he couldn¡¯t do it. Apparently this An Nota was so powerful that he could just ughter entire squads of soldiers on a whim. And that other squad? Those ¡®elite soldiers¡¯? Nothing. Couldn¡¯t find him.


    Who was it that led that squad? That ¡®Cami¡¯ woman? She¡¯d been against working with the Demons to begin with. And now she conveniently happens to lead the only squad that doesn¡¯t find An Nota? The Divinations had pointed to that exact location, and somehow they missed him. No, there was foul y involved, no doubt about it. Whether it was just that woman, or it was the entire squad, they¡¯d betrayed him.


    And the king? How¡¯d those Humans have the time to send out multiple squads of soldiers when they¡¯d found him near the city, but not to tell the Demons that they¡¯d found him? No, something wasn¡¯t right with the Humans. It was their fault, not the Devil¡¯s. How could he have ever trusted them to do a satisfactory job?


    The Devil thought back to the conversation with his superior. What had she said? She¡¯d said that he needed to change something about his strategy. Thinking about it now, the Devil agreed. There was one weak link here, and it wasn¡¯t in the Underworld.


    Gazing across therge room that housed the office drones, the Devil spotted the desk that was now his, shoved between the desks of a couple Ember Mites. He scowled. His new office job could wait. Right now, he needed to have a word with the Humans.

 Chapter 62: Welcome to Hell. Learn Your Place.

    Chapter 62: Wee to Hell. Learn Your ce.


    A Devil walked through the streets of a loud, bustling city. He was being escorted through, of course, by the same crowd of weapon-wielding Human guards that¡¯d ushered him through before.


    This time, though, it made a bit more sense that he¡¯d be assigned such a massive guard. He wasn¡¯t in the weak body he¡¯d been in before. This time, he¡¯d made sure to find a Projector Demon that could more efficiently transfer his power. He technically didn¡¯t have the authority to strongarm his way into that anymore ¨C many Projector Demons would actually rank <em>above</em> him now ¨C but his demotion was recent enough that word hadn¡¯t been spread around yet. Definitely against the rules, but fuck that. He needed to do something. They¡¯d get over it.


    He was much more powerful than he was before, but still not atplete capacity. Where his old vessel transferred about 4% of his power, this one transferred about 40%. Still, that would be more than enough for what he wanted to do here. Sure, he wasn¡¯t quite as powerful as he should¡¯ve been, but he wasn¡¯t too worried. Devils were known for their cunning, but they were still incredibly proficient inbat, with unnaturally powerful arms and speedy reflexes ¨C they were put in charge of the other Demons for a reason, after all. And that wasn¡¯t even to mention their magic.


    Still, the Devil was frustrated with the treatment he was getting. The Humans were supposed to be allied with the Demons, weren¡¯t they? He should¡¯ve been weed into the king¡¯s chamber, not threatened the moment he appeared.


    Whatever. Perhaps it was just in the nature of Humans to be afraid.


    Truthfully, they could¡¯ve also noticed his demeanor, and that was what put them on-guard. The Devil was <em>not</em> in a good mood. These Humans were the reason for his demotion, and he was here to make them aware of his dissatisfaction with their performance. So perhaps the amount of hostility shown to him waspletely appropriate ¨C after all, he was showing twice as much back.


    Once he and the Humans escorting him reached the pathetic castle that held the sniveling king, the guards stopped, one of them holding a hand out to the Devil. ¡°Wait here while King Koinkar finishes his current meeting. We will notify you when¨C¡±


    ¡°No. We¡¯re speaking now,¡± the Devil shoved the guard out of the way, making use of his new body. As a Devil, he stood head-and-shoulders taller than most of the people around him.


    Another guard stepped forward, spear pointed at the Devil. ¡°You may not enter. If you do not stop now, we will be forced to attack.¡±


    ¡°If you fucking touch me, the Demons will be forced to resume the assault on your cities. Want to single-handedly cause the deaths of thousands of innocents? Try me.¡± The Devil threw open the castle doors and stormed inside.


    It seemed like the king was in the middle of a meeting with some other nobles. They all sat around a long table, with the king on his throne at the head of it. The nobles were all dressed in fancy clothes, all sorts of vibrant dyes covering them and their hair put up into exotic styles. They looked like they hadn¡¯t suffered a day in their lives.


    ¡°I understand casualties were high,¡± one of the nobles was saying, ¡°but I don¡¯t see why we must acquiesce¨C¡±


    ¡°Koinkar!¡± The Devil shouted. ¡°You and I need to talk. Right now.¡±


    ¡°D-Demon,¡± the king struggled to his feet, his frail body barely supporting him. ¡°This is hardly the time! Guards, seize¨C¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± the Devil shook his head. ¡°We have some things that need to be discussed immediately.¡±


    He looked over and saw that, as they¡¯d been before, the royal guard was standing off to the side of the room. Each of them was wearing their signature silver-and-blue armor, with that damned woman ¨C Cami ¨C standing at the front. There was no way she didn¡¯t have something to do with An Nota escaping their grasp.


    ¡°This is exactly what I¡¯ve been talking about!¡± The same noble that was speaking before stood up. He had a bushy mustache that wiggled whenever he spoke. ¡°We cannot allow these Demons to bully us into submission!¡±


    ¡°Rangonlin, quiet down!¡± The king half-croaked, half-shouted. ¡°And would someone kick this Demon out?¡±


    Many other voices rose up as well, nobles yelling at the guards, guards yelling at the Demon, and generally everyone shouting simultaneously.


    <em>SLAM!</em>


    Everyone fell silent, staring at the Devil who had just mmed his hand into the table, cracking it beneath his fist.


    ¡°You Humans have failed to uphold your end of our deal,¡± his voice echoed across the room. ¡°And you clearly need to be shown your ce.¡±


    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± Koinkar said. ¡°We have used Divination to find your fugitive, and sent out soldiers to try and kill him. Just because they weren¡¯t sessful doesn¡¯t mean we didn¡¯t do what you asked.¡±


    ¡°If you failed, it means you weren¡¯t trying hard enough,¡± the Devil scowled.


    ¡°You were not invited here, Demon!¡± Cami finally spoke up. The Devil could tell she¡¯d been wanting to for some time now. ¡°Leave now, and take your threats with you.¡±


    ¡°Oh, the gant woman speaks,¡± the Devil said. ¡°Say, you ran into An Nota yourself, didn¡¯t you? Mind telling me how it was that an entire squad of the kingdom¡¯s elite managed to let a single person escape?¡±


    Cami nced at the king, hesitating to respond.


    ¡°Go ahead, Cami,¡± the king said to her. ¡°Exin to the Demon what you told me. Maybe that will calm its anger.¡±


    She looked back at the Devil. ¡°When we arrived at the location where the Divinations detected Nota, we couldn¡¯t find him. We searched for some time, but he was nowhere to be found.¡±


    ¡°Nowhere to be found, hm?¡± The Devil walked toward her until he was standing an arm¡¯s-length away. ¡°So, the Divination was wrong, then?¡±


    ¡°I do not know that. But we couldn¡¯t find him.¡±


    ¡°Hm. So you just couldn¡¯t find him. How unfortunate.¡± He looked back to the king. ¡°Hear that, Koinkar? All¡¯s well, just an honest mistake! Nobody has faced any sort of serious repercussions for this, after all.¡±


    ¡°Demon, please,¡± the king said, ¡°if you would just listen¨C¡±


    ¡°Oh wait!¡± The Devil interrupted. ¡°It¡¯s not that nobody¡¯s faced any repercussions, it¡¯s that no <em>Humans</em> have faced any repercussions. Us Demons sure have. Would you consider that fair, Koinkar?¡±


    ¡°That is hardly¨C¡±


    ¡°Would you consider it fair?¡±


    The king just stared at the Devil.


    ¡°How about you, Cami?¡± The Devil turned to the soldier in front of him. ¡°Would <em>you</em> consider it fair? That I have to suffer for your mistakes?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I absolutely would.¡± She had rage in her forced-calm voice. ¡°You caused the Humans to suffer because you allowed your fugitive to escape, and now the Humans have caused you to suffer in turn.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± the Devilughed, ¡°she¡¯s smart! So snappy. Makes me wonder even more how she let a kid escape from her, especially when she¡¯s being backed up by an entire entourage of subordinates just as capable as her.¡±


    ¡°And what exactly are you implying with that, Demon?¡± she spat.


    ¡°Demon, please,¡± the king took a shaky step forward, putting one atrophied leg in front of another. ¡°I am sure there is a reasonable exnation for her failure.¡±


    ¡°Oh, there <em>is </em>a perfectly reasonable exnation!¡± The Devil was shaking in anger, now. ¡°She let him go! She found him, and <em>could</em> have killed him, but didn¡¯t. The only thing unreasonable about this is that she thought I wouldn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Vile fiend!¡± Cami shouted at him, putting a hand on the spear on her back. ¡°If you do not cease your baseless usations and leave immediately, I will be forced to strike you down!¡±


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯ll strike me down? Okay. Let¡¯s fight.¡± The Devil drew his fist back and, before Cami could react, threw a full-force punch.


    You have struck Level 27 Human Spearman for 3.72k damage using your fist.


    You have in Level 27 Human Spearman.


    The mutted body that was once Cami flew back, mming into the back wall with a wet st. The entire room shook from the impact. Her head waspletely separated from her body, and it rolled across the ground, tapping into the Devil¡¯s foot.


    The entire room stared in shock.


    ¡°Oh, look! You¡¯re dead! You are fucking dead!¡± the Devil shouted at the corpse. ¡°Great fucking idea you had, huh? Let the fugitive go, save the life of some random person, and you lose your own in return. Real fucking smart! You fucked me over, you fucked yourself over. Nobody wins, moron!¡± The Devil snapped his head back to the king and shouted at him, ¡°Koinkar! Did you know she let An Nota go?¡±


    He hastily shook his head. ¡°No, no, that would have been entirely against orders. I would¨C¡±


    The Devil stopped listening, and looked back at the three remaining royal guardsmen who stared at him in fear. ¡°Did any of you know? Were you in on this plot to let him escape?¡±


    They all shook their heads.


    ¡°No,¡± one of them with a sword and shield said ¨C Ragavan, Cami had called him before. ¡°We had no idea that¨C¡±


    You have struck Level 23 Human Swordsman for 3.19k damage using your fist.


    You have in Level 23 Human Swordsman.


    The Devil withdrew his bloody fist from the corpse of Ragavan. ¡°Did any of you know?! Do <em>not</em> lie to me.¡±


    The remaining two stood frozen, looking at him in silence for a moment. They were both wearing full-te armor that concealed their faces, but the Devil could smell the fearing from them. One of them had her hand on a massive battleaxe strapped to her back, but she didn¡¯t draw it. She¡¯d die if she did, and the Devil¡¯s expression made sure she knew it. After a moment, the other ¨C a woman with a bow on her back ¨C spoke, bowing her head. ¡°Yes, we knew. We were there when she told us to withdraw and let him go. I tried to convince her not to, but she was in charge. Please forgive us.¡±


    The Devil stared at her for a few more seconds, snarl etched on his face as he considered whether or not to kill these two remaining guards. Eventually, he huffed a breath from his mouth and turned away from them. He¡¯d gotten most of the anger out of his system, at this point.


    ¡°Koinkar,¡± he said to the king. ¡°What methods of torture does your kingdom implement?¡±


    The king blinked. ¡°Uh, our main technique to interrogate prisoners is by tearing limbs from the body and then reattaching them using healing magic. But there is also¨C¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s fine. I want you to do that to these two guards for, say, a week. That should be enough to teach them their ce without killing them.¡±


    The Devil heard a gasp escape the mouth of one of the two remaining royal guards ¨C the battleaxe woman. He wasn¡¯t sure what they were so afraid of. A week of torture was nothing inparison to losing their lives.


    One of the previously-silent nobles leapt to his feet. ¡°You do not get to order King Koinkar around as though he is your puppet! Our kingdom is mighty, and you Demons are but a temporary scourge¨C¡±


    ¡°One more word and I kill you, too.¡±


    The noble fell quiet.


    ¡°I don¡¯t get to order Koinkar around, huh? Who says? One of you gonna stop me? I just killed the second- and third-strongest people in the room, moron. And the first is me. I quite literally <em>do</em> get to order you guys around. That¡¯s how power works.¡± He sighed and started walking up to the king. ¡°Stupid fucking lesser beings. It¡¯s no surprise you couldn¡¯t catch An Nota, you¡¯re allpletely braindead. What have you done ¨C <em>specifically</em> ¨C to catch him?¡±


    Koinkar cast a fearful eye as the Devil approached, and answered, ¡°Now, listen. We tried our best. I set out a sizable bounty for the cities to catch Nota. Any of them whose soldiers aplished this capture would be afforded a massive sum. Just because they failed does not mean I did not instate an appropriate incentive¨C¡±


    ¡°You did a <em>bounty</em>? A fucking bounty,¡± the Devil brought his palms to his face. ¡°What do you think that incentivizes them to do?! If they tell anyone else whenever they find An Nota, that just lowers <em>their </em>chances of getting the bounty, because the Infernals wille in and kill him before the city¡¯s soldiers can. Do you even think for two seconds before you act? You need to incentivize for An Nota to die<em>, </em>not for them to be the specific ones to kill him.¡±


    ¡°And how would you say we do that?¡± The king demanded, obviously defensive after being insulted so much. ¡°It¡¯s not as easy as you seem to think it is!¡±


    ¡°Take all the mayors¡¯ families hostage and only give them back when An Nota dies. There¡¯s some incentive. Or threaten to take away their political positions if An Nota isn¡¯t killed in a certain amount of time. Fuck, you could just give a life-changing sum to <em>all</em> cities when An Nota dies, not just the one that killed him.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have the resources to spend on that kind of thing!¡±


    ¡°You have a throne made of <em>solid gold</em>,¡± the Devil pointed behind the king. ¡°Sell it! Sell all of your possessions! Sell your entire kingdom¡¯s food supply, let the citizens starve, fuck if I care! This is the most important thing you could <em>ever</em> spend your resources on.¡± The Devil took a shaky breath, trying to restrain himself from killing the king on the spot. ¡°You do notck resources. Youck incentive.¡±


    ¡°I assure you we have incentive enough¨C¡±


    ¡°No, you obviously do not.¡± The Devil nced around the room. Guards had rushed in from themotion, but weren¡¯t taking any obvious moves ¨C they were probably too scared for their lives to do anything. Most of the nobles were still frozen around the table, though it seemed some of them had fled. ¡°How about this: you obviously care about your kingdom ¨C I mean, you¡¯ve artificially extended your life quite a bit just so you can rule it for longer. So, maybe you¡¯ll work a bit harder if we take some of it away from you.¡±


    Koinkar¡¯s frail face twisted in anger. ¡°No. You cannot do that. I have worked with you for now, but I will not hesitate to dere war if you try to steal ournd.¡±


    ¡°No, no. I will not be stealing yournd. I will be destroying it.¡±


    ¡°Pointless destruction?! That is your answer?¡±


    ¡°Not pointless. You still know An Nota¡¯s general location, yes?¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    ¡°Perfect. So we know the area we should destroy.¡±


    ¡°I-I do not agree to this! Find some other way to catch him.¡±


    ¡°Y¡¯know, it¡¯s insane to me that you think you still have a choice,¡± the Devilughed. ¡°We¡¯re going scorched earth on that entire area. The fugitive will either die in the chaos, or be chased out into a predictable location where we can have Infernals lined up to kill him.¡±


    The king seemed to finally stand down from his defiance. ¡°If Nota dies, you¡¯ll leave us alone? You¡¯ll leave the Overworld?¡±


    ¡°dly.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Destroy the area and get out of my kingdom.¡±


    The Devil grinned. ¡°Good. Let¡¯s get to work, Koinkar. We have a city to burn.¡±

 Chapter 63: Welcome to Hell. What the Fuck is with this Guy?

    Chapter 63: Wee to Hell. What the Fuck is with this Guy?


    A Devil walked with some Humans in a dirty, overgrown forest. The Humans were obviously unhappy to be traveling with a Demon ¨C especially <em>that</em> one. They walked with a wide berth around the Devil, and he could see them constantly ring sideways at him.


    The Devil hardly cared about their hostility, though. He was much more focused on his environment. Specifically, he was focused on the mud in the ground that sshed onto his feet, the leaves and branches on the trees that thwipped into his face, the noisy calls and sounds of various animals in the forest, and the general chaos that was the wilderness.


    How fucking disgusting, he thought. Why was there so much living stuff out here? The trees moved, the animals were bothersome, couldn¡¯t everything just stay still? And stop being so wet? Really, he was doing the Humans a favor in burning this ce to the ground. At least then it wouldn¡¯t be so gross.


    He really didn¡¯t want to be out here in the Overworld, but after the fiasco that had happened with the Humans before, the Devil had no trust that they¡¯d pull this off without his direct supervision. Of course, this wasn¡¯t the only group working on the current n, but it was one of the more important ones, and there was only one of the Devil.


    The group¡¯s job was simple: start a forest fire. To do this, they¡¯d use some specialty incendiary bombs that the kingdom had on-hand.


    Now, was itpletely necessary for him toe alongside them to do this? No. And he knew that. Really, a big part of himing along was that it almost felt nice out here, in the Overworld. Not because the realm itself was pleasant ¨C really, did it <em>have</em> to be this wet out here? ¨C but instead because of thepany he was there with.


    These dumb, pathetic Humans were the perfect punching bags he needed to relieve some stress. He just couldn¡¯t go back to the Underworld now. Losing his personal office, going out and working with the fucking Gargoyles and Ember Mites, it would kill him to do that. Out here, at least he held a semnce of power. Sure, that power was held over a few pathetic Humans, but he just needed to boss someone around and get it out of his system before going back to the soul-crushing abyss that was his new job in the Underworld.


    ¡°Really,¡± he muttered to himself as he walked alongside the soldiers in the forest, ¡°what kind of stupid fucking superior pins an impossible amount of responsibility on someone, then punishes them for not being able to keep up? Doesn¡¯t that show the <em>superior¡¯s</em> ipetence at managing their underlings, and not the ipetence of the underling themself? I mean, what a fucking¨C¡±


    ¡°Sir?¡± a soldier interrupted him. ¡°Are you saying something to me?¡±


    He scowled over at the voice. It wasing from a familiar suit of armor ¨C one of those two royal guards that he spared the lives of. He¡¯d made sure both of them came along with him on this little expedition ¨C he wouldn¡¯t have them fleeing the kingdom while he was gone to avoid their punishment. They were getting that week of torture, he¡¯d make sure of it.


    As for which of the two was speaking right now, he had no idea. He couldn¡¯t really keep track of who was who here ¨C this one was the one with the bow on her back, but her name escaped him.


    ¡°No,¡± he eventually said to her. ¡°I¡¯m not talking to you. I would never voluntarily speak to you.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    The Devil just sighed and rolled his eyes. Fucking Humans. This one¡¯s name was Asmo, he remembered ¨C she was the one who admitted their wrongdoings to him. He disliked her a bit less than the others, since she seemed to at least know her ce. He didn¡¯t care if she actually liked him or not, only that she at least recognized that it was no use struggling against him and the Demons. Seemed she was the only one around with somemon sense.


    ¡°You¡¯re sure these will work?¡± the Devil asked her after a moment.


    ¡°Yes, sir, they will. They¡¯ve been specially made to spread fire.¡±


    ¡°What about the other group?¡±


    ¡°Sir? What about them?¡±


    ¡°Okay, yeah, stop calling me ¡®sir¡¯. That shit¡¯s annoying.¡± The Devil sighed.


    Humans had the strangest conventions for talking to their superiors. ¡®Sir¡¯? What the fuck did that mean? If she wanted to respect him, she should call him by his name. But he could never expect someone as stupid as a Human to be able to remember his name. That was what was so nice about being around them ¨C he knew he was so much better than them all that he didn¡¯t even have to try and keep up appearances around them. No matter what, he¡¯d <em>always</em> be better than the Humans.


    ¡°Anyway, to answer your question,¡± the Devil continued, ¡°The other group¡¯s going to be in charge of directly confronting An Nota and making sure he doesn¡¯t make it out of here alive. He¡¯s got someone with him that uses fire magic. So, the other group won¡¯t be using the <em>highly explosive</em> incendiary bombs, will they?¡±


    ¡°No, sir, they won¡¯t. Their bombs have been enchanted to resist fire and other forms of tampering. We normally use them to deal with Dragons, but they should work just fine here, too.¡±


    The Devil nodded, looked away, and kept walking. He¡¯d make sure the Humans didn¡¯t fuck this n up, too.


    Before long, the group got to the first nting spot. They¡¯d set off explosions in a half-circle around the area An Nota was suspected to be in, effectively funneling him into an ambush that the second group was in the middle of setting up.


    They had to be careful about how far away they set off the explosions, though ¨C if the fugitive heard them go off and fled too soon, he could get through gaps in the fires before theypletely took over. So they took great care to set them off a good deal away from where they suspected him to be. It was the middle of the night, so he should have been asleep, anyway.


    The Devil watched the soldiers nt the circr gray explosive device norger than his head. Human ingenuity was certainly interesting ¨C how they fit something so powerful into something so small, he didn¡¯t know ¨C but he knew it to be nothing more than a curiosity. Who needed craftiness when you had power? The Devil didn¡¯t participate in the nting process, of course. He was there to supervise and step in if anything went wrong. So he just watched.


    The bombs themselves were metal spheres, and seemed to be magically operated and activated. Contained within the spheres was an explosive powder, and etched onto the inner walls were ignition Enchantments that, when Mana was poured into them, would go on a short timer before activating, causing an explosion.


    It really was a creative way to effectively give the ability to create fire to those who didn¡¯t naturally have it. This would be sphemous to the Demons, of course ¨C if a race of Demons couldn¡¯t naturally do something, it was because they weren¡¯t meant to do it. Going against nature would only end in disaster. But it seemed to work well enough for the Humans.


    Once it was set and armed, the group fled, eager to get away from the soon-to-explode device. The Devil took more of a leisurely stroll away from the bomb since he knew such a small st wouldn¡¯t be able to harm him.


    About thirty secondster, a massive explosion rocked the forest, and the Devil found himself surrounded by fire. As a Devil, he wasn¡¯t bothered by fire, of course, but it was still a bit startling.


    Once they ensured the explosion had gone off, the group moved forward to the next nting spot. They were on a time limit, now; the fire would be constantly spreading, and they needed to get all of the bombs down before An Nota became aware of the danger.


    The Devil went along with the group. It seemed like they were trying to move quickly, but to the Devil, it just felt so slow. Part of him regretteding along and supervising these people. It was just so <em>boring</em>. But then, maybe boring could be good. Taking a ¡®break¡¯ as the Humans called it. A period of not working. At first, the entire concept seemedpletely ridiculous. But now he sort of understood.


    At least, for beings as stupid and ipetent as Humans, it made sense that they¡¯d need to rest their bodies, so it made sense that they¡¯d need to do that. The Devil would never <em>need</em> to take a break. But he still felt the beneficial effects of it. Just walking along and doing nothing. It almost felt¡­ nice.


    After about an hour, they got to the next spot. They nted and detonated the second bomb as the Devil watched, setting fire to another patch of forest. The st echoed throughout the wilds, scattering birds and other animals into the dark night.


    And then they went off to the third spot. There were about a dozen of the bombs in total, forming a circle around An Nota¡¯s location, so it would take a while.


    During their hurried journey to area three, though, the Devil noticed a rustling in the nearby woods. He narrowed his eyes at the strange sound. It could¡¯ve just been the wind or a small animal ¨C he still wasn¡¯t very ustomed to what it was like out here ¨C but he couldn¡¯t shake the thought that it was something else.


    He looked over at the battleaxe-wielding woman ¨C Ripley T ¨C that was next to him. ¡°Do you hear that?¡±


    She scowled at him. ¡°Hear wha¨C¡±


    A being crashed through the treeline, mming a de into one of the Human soldiers and knocking him to the ground. The figure stood tall, raising his knife-wielding fists in preparation for a fight and facing the entire squadron.


    ¡°I am Aankin the Stalwart, and you will <em>not</em> destroy our home!¡± he shouted. The figure was tall and muscr, and looked Human-like. The Devil would¡¯ve thought he was a Human, in fact, if it weren¡¯t for the being¡¯s four eyes staring at him.


    The Devil stood and looked at the thing that just killed the soldier, then at the Humans surrounding it, staring at it in shock.


    ¡°...What the fuck is with this guy?¡± he asked.


    Three of the Human soldiers drew spears and rushed forward, but the ¡®Aankin¡¯ thing ducked beneath their simultaneous stabs, then leapt over at one of them, stabbing his knife into the soldier¡¯s throat and pushing them to the ground to bleed out. Another took a swipe at its back, but he reached over his shoulder and caught their spear, flexing its hand to break the wooden pole in half, then he fully spun around to punch the soldier hard across the face, sending them tumbling back.


    Ripley T and Asmo began drawing their weapons, but the Devil held out his hands to stop them.


    ¡°No, no,¡± he said, ¡°stay here. I wanna watch.¡±


    The scene of the Humans¡¯ ughter was pretty amusing. The Devil was technically on the Humans¡¯ side, but it was always entertaining to see them squashed ¨C especially after all the frustration their species had caused him.


    After a few Humans had died, the Devil looked back and saw the fire from their bombs creeping up on them. He sighed, supposing that this little diversion had gone on long enough. He didn¡¯t want the mission to bepromised just because he¡¯d gotten bored, after all. No matter how funny it was to see those little Humans explode into blood and guts.


    ¡°Hey, buddy,¡± the Devil walked forward, ¡°let¡¯s cool it. Go ahead and skedaddle.¡±


    <em>Crunch</em>. Aankin stomped a foot through one of the Humans¡¯ heads and looked over at the Devil. ¡°Ah, another challenger! Tell me, why do you destroy the forest? Perhaps we may depart on amicable terms if you remedy your ze and promise to never return.¡±


    ¡°Uh, no,¡± the Devilughed. ¡°I think I¡¯ll just kill you instead.¡±


    Aankin smiled at the challenge ¨C strange, the Devil thought. He was used to people cowering in fear. No matter, really. He stepped forward and Aankin charged, swinging his knife in a wild swipe across the Devil¡¯s torso. The Devil stepped back, the knife cut through nothing but air, and the Devil threw a swing at Aankin¡¯s head.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 2.81k damage using your fist.


    You have in Level 29 Faerie Champion.


    The Devil huffed a breath, straightening his mildly ruffled clothes back out. There was a speck of blood on his left pant leg. He pursed his lips ¨C he¡¯d have to get that cleaned outter.


    ¡°Okay,¡± the Devil announced, ¡°keep moving.¡±


    It took a moment for the Humans to start marching again, but eventually he led them off in the direction they¡¯d been heading before, the soldiers squelching over the corpses they left behind. Nobody said anything, obviously stunned into silence at the Devil¡¯s show of power. Though, he could hear some muffled sobs that the other soldiers tried to shush after he nced in their direction. That was more like it, he grinned.


    Another half-hourter, and another detonated bomb behind them, the soldiers and the Devil were on their way to the next nting site. But once again, the Devil began to hear another rustling sound out in the trees. This time, a few of the soldiers seemed to hear it too, ncing around and looking for the source of the noise.


    But before anyone could do anything, a being crashed through the trees, yet again attacking the Humans in his entrance with the tear of a knife. He looked simr to that Aankin one from before, with his solid build and four eyes, but he was still different enough that he was obviously not the same person.


    ¡°I am Aankin the Stalwart, and you will not kill me so easily!¡± he said.


    ¡­Clearly the Devil was mistaken.


    ¡°How did you survive?¡± The Devil took a step forward, eyeing Aankin curiously. He¡¯d seen the butchered corpse of this thing from before. No way he could have lived through that naturally.


    Aankin chuckled. ¡°You clearly do not understand my might!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, of course I don¡¯t understand, dumbass. That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking y¨C¡±


    ¡°You surprised me before, but now we will fight on fair scales!¡± Aankin lunged at the Devil, swinging his knife. The Devil bent backward to dodge, falling back a step to support himself. A stab at his gut, and he stepped back once again. Another swing downward, and the Devil recognized the overextension. Aankin was disabled for a moment too long, still caught in the follow-through of his attack, and the Devil threw out a quick strike at his head.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 3.25k damage using your fist.


    You have in Level 29 Faerie Champion.


    The Devil frowned down at the reddened corpse. Still Level 29, still a Faerie Champion. Seemed like he really was the same monster.


    ¡°Cut off his head,¡± he ordered the nearest soldier. He wasn¡¯t sure how Aankin came back, but he didn¡¯t want another distraction like that again.


    Half an hourter, another bomb had been detonated, and the Devil was ncing around suspiciously. It¡¯d taken about that long before Aankin had reappeared the previous time, and if he wasing back, it¡¯d be around now.


    And, just on schedule, the trees rustled and a figure burst from them. Once again, the figure was somewhat simr to the Aankins of the past, but not quite the same. He had different height, hair, and skin tone. But, despite those differences¡­


    ¡°I am Aankin the Stalwart, and you will cease your destruction of our home!¡±


    This time, Aankin seemed to have a target. He rushed at one of the soldiers near the back, stabbing his knife straight through the man¡¯s throat. A sack on the soldier¡¯s back fell to the ground, metal balls rolling to the ground.


    The bombs, the Devil realized. Aankin had targeted the soldier tasked with holding the explosives! The Faerie clenched his fists, raising them up to m down on the bombs.


    The Devil scowled. It was one thing to kill a few Humans, but he would not allow this Aankin to ruin his mission. He rushed forward, but he was a bit too slow, and Aankin¡¯s fists crashed into one of the metal balls, crunching it and bursting one of the sides open, the explosive powder within spilling out, and the magical sigils inscribing it bing useless.


    Just as Aankin broke one of the explosives, though, the Devil arrived, and mmed a fist through the Faerie¡¯s skull.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 2.98k damage using your fist.


    You have in Level 29 Faerie Champion.


    The Devil frowned, looking down at the dead enemy. He¡¯d broken one of the bombs. It wasn¡¯t like that¡¯d fully prevent them frompleting their mission, of course ¨C they¡¯d brought extras ¨C but it was annoying. And it seemed like, somehow, this thing coulde back from the dead. So Aankin would likely be able to destroy more, if they gave him enough time.


    ¡°Where did hee from?¡± he asked.


    None of the soldiers answered, instead solemnly looking down at the dead Human. Right, the Devil remembered. Humans seemed to get severely distressed if they saw another Human die. So strange.


    He looked around, and found the nearest Human near him. He grabbed the soldier¡¯s arm and squeezed.


    <em>Snap</em>.


    You have struck Level 7 Human Swordsman for 71 damage using your fist.


    The soldier fell to the ground, clutching her broken arm and screaming in pain. The Devil rolled his eyes.


    ¡°Do I have your attention now?¡± He asked.


    The soldier just groaned, trying to push herself back to her feet.


    ¡°I asked you a question. Tell me where Aankin came from.¡±


    She didn¡¯t seem to hear him. He rolled his eyes and reached down to grab her other arm.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Ripley T, that Berserker girl from the royal guard, grabbed his wrist. ¡°You said you wouldn¡¯t kill any of the Humans. We had an agreement.¡± She looked over at the other soldiers and called out, ¡°Do we have anyone left who knows healing Spells? Someone help her.¡±


    The Devil chuckled. ¡°And what, exactly, will you do if I break that agreement?¡±


    She stared into his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll kill every soldier here, then kill myself. You can have fun doing this on your own.¡±


    The Devil clenched his jaw. Did this fucking Human seriously just threaten him? But then, she was pretty high-Level. She probably <em>could</em> kill most of the Humans here before he could kill her first.


    He scowled. ¡°...Just tell me where Aankin came from.¡±


    She pointed without looking away from him, off in a direction in the forest. ¡°Over there.¡±


    ¡°He came from that way every other time too, right?¡±


    She nodded slowly, frown not melting away from her face.


    ¡°Good. I¡¯ll go solve the problem that <em>you</em> can¡¯t seem to figure out. You go ahead and finish setting this forest ame.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Go.¡±


    The Devil scoffed and left. It was good that he was going to go and kill something, because he <em>really</em> needed to let some anger out.

 Chapter 64: Welcome to Hell. Nice Place you got Here.

    Chapter 64: Wee to Hell. Nice ce you got Here.


    A Devil dashed through the trees of a dense, dark forest. The nighttime light made it difficult to see, but he was still able to weave through the trees and obstacles scattered throughout the hillyndscape. He sprinted through, eager to find that ce Aankin kepting back from. He wasing from the same direction each time, so if the Devil just followed that same trajectory backwards, he¡¯d find the ce.


    Part of him was annoyed that this dumbass was interfering with his ns, and the other part was furious that he had to go out of his way to <em>protect</em> those Humans after that Ripley T woman threatened him to his face. The main thing those two parts of him agreed on was that he was angry. In his mood, he was eager to kill anything, not just Aankin.


    And that wasn¡¯t to mention the demotion he¡¯d recently suffered. He had to admit that he¡¯d thrown a bit of a temper tantrum about that, killing so many of the royal guards back in the throne room and acting so aggressively toward the king, but it¡¯d all worked out in the end. Well, mostly. He sure would¡¯ve liked to have some more powerful soldiers working on this job ¨C then he wouldn¡¯t have had to be chasing after this Aankin thing in the first ce. He could¡¯ve just sed them after him.


    But here he was, facing the consequences of his own actions.


    Truthfully, he knew of many Demons that would seriously disapprove of him going out like this to fight Aankin. Just killing the intruder when he came to attack them was one thing, but now the Devil was actively seeking out a fight. As a Devil, he wasn¡¯t supposed to be a fighter ¨C that wasn¡¯t what his race was meant for. So for him to go out and seek out a fight like this, it was borderline sphemy.


    But he wouldn¡¯t think so. In a way, he was still technically fulfilling his management duties of the An Nota case ¨C just using a more hands-on approach. Besides, those stuck-up Demons that were above him didn¡¯t know shit about his job, anyway. Who were they to judge his method of getting things done? If it aplished the goal, it aplished the goal. He was beginning to think that some of the rules and regtions put in ce may not have been totally necessary.


    His thoughts were interrupted by a branch thwipping him in the face. Stupid trees, he thought. Stupid nature, stupid Overworld, stupid fucking demotion. Stupid superiors dumping an entire divison¡¯s worth of work onto a single Demon and expecting him to do it. Stupid underlings unable to pull their own weight. And stupid fucking Humans, making his already stressful job infinitely harder.


    With hate in his heart and a scowl on his face, the Devil sprinted through the forest, ncing around for any sight of where Aankin might have beening from. But as he was searching for Aankin, he found something just as interesting. He stopped in front of a set of imprints in the ground. Three pairs in total, for three people walking through the forest.


    The Demons had long since collected all information they could find on An Nota, and that included his footprints. They knew his foot size, his shoes, and his stride length. And, looking down at these prints now, the Devil recognized them immediately. An Nota and his twopanions had been here. And, judging by the direction they were headed, they¡¯d been going in the exact direction the Devil had been ¨C toward Aankin.


    The Devil grinned. Not only would this help lead him to his Faerie opponent, but it was also an interesting addition of context. Just what was An Nota doing over there? The Devil continued forward, now following the sets of footprints to his destination.


    Within minutes, he found something ¨C something that seemed exactly like he was looking for. A circr wooden palisade cropped up through the treeline and the Devil slowed to a stop. In front was a closed gate, guarded by nobody. In the dark night, he could see multicolored lightsing from inside the walls ¨C blues and purples illuminated the area.


    He walked up, examining the ce from the outside. He didn¡¯t hear anyone moving around or saying anything, so whoever dwelled inside must not have known he was there. That¡¯d change soon.


    He approached the log gates. There seemed to be a hand-crank that he could turn to open them. He rolled his eyes ¨C who would ever need to use <em>that</em>? Rearing back, he closed his fist, and then struck. A devastating boom shook thend and the gates flew apart, scattering splinters everywhere.


    The entire area bustled into motion, the sudden sound apparently waking up all the sleeping residents. There were primitive tents and huts dotting the pathetic vige, out of which gross-looking monsters stumbled, blinking wearily and looking for whatever caused the explosion.


    The Devil just rolled his eyes and shoved his way through. The diverse group of monsters quickly realized that he was the intruder, but they couldn¡¯t really do anything about it. They certainly <em>tried</em> ¨C they shouted at him in somenguage he didn¡¯t understand, and when he didn¡¯t react to that, tried to poke at him with spears and other toys, but he just kept walking.


    He made such a scene on purpose. Whoever Aankin was, he clearly cared about his ¡®home.¡¯ And if he lived here, there was no way he¡¯d let this go without appearing to at least see what happened. There was a big pce-looking thing in the middle of the vige ¨C maybe the Devil would go and check that ce out to see if Aankin was hiding there.


    But as he made his way over there, there was a stomping sounding from the distance. He stopped and listened to the familiar sound.


    ¡°Oh?¡± the Devil asked. ¡°Come to see me again?¡±


    Aankin ran from a side-alley into the main street, ring at the Devil. At least ¨C the Devil assumed it was Aankin. He looked like a different person, once again, but still had those same base features. He was panting, obviously having sprinted here.


    ¡°Leave here, Demon!¡± Aankin shouted. ¡°This is yourst warning. I do not care if it takes my body dying a hundred times. I, Aankin the Stalwart, will strike you down!¡±


    ¡°Hm. So, you don¡¯t consider it to be <em>you</em> dying, but rather your body,¡± the Devil muttered to himself. ¡°And you got here pretty quickly, so you were probably already here when I broke in. Ist killed you, when, fifteen minutes ago? So if you ¡®regenerated¡¯ immediately, you¡¯d have already taken off into the forest to attack the bomb group again. But you were still here. Which means you already knew I wasing here ¨C no, you¡¯d have intercepted me in the forest. Maybe it takes you that much time toe back? It takes you about fifteen minutes? And why¨C¡±


    The Devil was interrupted by the swing of a knife from Aankin, who had run up and attacked in a fury. The Devil leaned back to avoid it, and, when Aankin swung again in a follow-up attack, he raised his arm to block the blow.


    ¡°Man, you are <em>eager</em>. Think you¡¯re gonna wear me down?¡± The Devil grabbed Aankin¡¯s wrist and yanked him closer, grabbed his skull between his fingers, and mmed it against his knee.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 3.71k damage using your leg.


    You have in Level 29 Faerie Champion.


    The Devil kicked the corpse away from him, looking around at the fearful throng of Faeries surrounding him. They backed away.


    ¡°Now, where are you gonnae from this time?¡± he mused.


    The Devil moved through the town, checking inside the various huts and tents for any sign of Aankin or how he might have beening back. The people in the vige had long since fled away from him, so most rooms he checked werepletely empty. He slowly made his way toward that pce in the middle of the vige, too. Aankin hadn¡¯te from that direction before, so the Devil didn¡¯t think he came from there, but it was possible that Aankin had taken a deliberate detour to throw the Devil off.


    As he searched, he heard the familiar footfalls of Aankin, and turned around to see the Faerie leaping toward him, another knife in hand. He dodged the strike, drew back his fist, and struck.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 3.06k damage using your fist.


    You have in Level 29 Faerie Champion.


    ¡°Huh, so you came from that way again. About ten or fifteen minutes again, too.¡± He looked in the direction that Aankin hade from that time and the time before, and headed off, listening carefully for any more suspicious sounds. So far, Aankin was the only one that¡¯d made any serious effort at killing the Devil, but who knew what else might have resided in here? Ideally, Aankin would be the strongest being in the whole vige, but he had to be on-guard, just in case that was false.


    Another ten minutes into his search, he finally found a building that looked a bit different from the others. This one was more decorated, like a ce of worship, and it was located more closely to the pce than most of the other buildings. There were paintings lining the outer walls of this one, each depicting people fighting against each other, against animals, and even against nature ¨C there were a few pictures of a person punching a boulder in half or kicking a tree down. It was muchrger, too, taking up enough space to fit half a dozen of the normal buildings in its ce.


    The Devil opened this door. Inside was even weirder than the other buildings. Instead of the normally deserted interiors that he was used to, he found a mass of people that all looked suspiciously like the bodies Aankin always came in. They were all sitting on the wide, empty floor with their eyes closed, seemingly in some sort of meditative state. The room was packed, too; there were easily over a hundred of these motionless people in it. None of them reacted to his noisy entrance.


    He looked over the group of people, brows furrowed. Was this rted to Aankin¡¯s ability to regenerate? As he watched, though, one of the men seemed to stir. He was closer to the front, so the Devil could get a good look at the previously-still man twitch. His eyes flicked around beneath his eyelids, and his hands randomly sped and unsped. His breathing quickened, and then his eyes suddenly opened with a spasm of movement.


    The being took a deep breath, not yet noticing the Devil watching him. ¡°Ugh, I hate going through that so soon after I¡¯ve done it already.¡±


    It looked like Aankin, acted like Aankin, and now the Devil could hear it sounded like Aankin. He smirked. ¡°Hey bud. Nice ce you got here.¡±


    Aankin¡¯s head snapped over at him, eyes wide. ¡°Wha¨C you¨C¡± He nced at the bodies surrounding him, and without further ado, charged at the Devil with a raging war-cry. He was obviously eager to chase the Devil away.


    The Devil ran to meet him and Aankin raised his fist to m it into the Devil. The Devil raised his fist at the same time, though, and mmed it into Aankin¡¯s.


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 997 damage using your fist.


    The Devil destroyed Aankin¡¯s entire fist and arm, but the Faerie still survived. Blood sttered across the room, sprinkling across the faces of the still-unconscious others.


    ¡°So, these are your other bodies, huh?¡± the Devil asked. ¡°This is how you kepting back?¡±


    ¡°Fuck. You. Asshole.¡± Aankin clutched his mutted arm, breathing heavily.


    ¡°Interesting choice ofst words,¡± the Devil chuckled. ¡°If I kill the rest of these bodies, you¡¯re gone for good, right?¡±


    Aankin just stared at the Devil.


    ¡°Well, I suppose you won¡¯t answer me whether I¡¯m right or wrong, will you? No matter. I¡¯ll just have to find out the old-fashioned way.¡±


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 4.11k damage using your fist.


    You have in Level 29 Faerie Champion.


    The Devil took a breath and looked around the room. If he wanted to kill Aankin for good, all he had to do was kill all of these things, presumably.


    He reared back and hit one of the bodies.


    You have struck Level 11 Champion Vessel for 4.11k damage using your fist.


    You have in Level 11 Champion Vessel.


    It flew back,pletely destroyed by his strike. Still, none of the others seemed to react. He looked across the wide room, packed full with the creatures. It would take some effort to kill them all, especially if he didn¡¯t want Aankin toe back. And he <em>was</em> going to kill that nuisance.


    ¡°Well, time to get to work.¡±

 Chapter 65: Welcome to Hell. Now Leave.

    Chapter 65: Wee to Hell. Now Leave.


    A Devil walked across some corpses in a big, bloody room.


    You have in Level 9 Champion Vessel.


    You have in Level 14 Champion Vessel.


    You have in Level 6 Champion Vessel.


    He¡¯d killed at least a hundred of the Champion Vessels at this point, and it was really starting to get tiring. There were only a couple dozen left, but still. He was so exhausted that it¡¯d started taking him two hits to kill them, instead of one. And that definitely didn¡¯t speed things up.


    You have in Level 12 Champion Vessel.


    You have in Level 8 Champion Vessel.


    Just as he was getting to thest few bodies to kill, one of them that was across therge room began to stir.


    ¡°Ugh,¡± he groaned and walked over to the body, but before he got there, Aankin had awoken, getting to his feet with a gasp of breath and fluttering of his eyes.


    He looked around the room at the carnage that surrounded him. It wasn¡¯t like the Devil didn¡¯t understand Aankin¡¯s surprise at the scene. The entire room had practically been painted red by the blood of the bodies he¡¯d killed, and the corpses of them scattered across the floor, broken little things bent in too many ces.


    ¡°You¨C you really did it,¡± Aankin said, staring at the Devil in horror.


    ¡°I mean, yeah, of course I did it. Did you think I was lying? Fucking idiot,¡± he rolled his eyes.


    ¡°Please, let me live. I¡¯ll serve you. You have proven yourself above me. I¡¯ll dly serve you. Please.¡±


    ¡°Oh, wow, I get to have you serve me now? The guy who¡¯s so fucking weak I can kill him fifteen times over? Lucky me!¡± The Devil smashed his fist into another of the Champion Vessels.


    You have struck Level 11 Champion Vessel for 3.80k damage using your fist.


    You have in Level 11 Champion Vessel.


    Aankin¡¯s face flushed white.


    ¡°Y¡¯know, I may just let you live, actually,¡± the Devil said after remembering something. ¡°Just give me some info.¡±


    ¡°Yes, of course. Anything.¡±


    ¡°Did you get anyoneing through here named An Nota?¡±


    Aankin blinked. ¡°Um, yes. We did.¡±


    ¡°Great. Tell me why.¡±


    ¡°...He wanted a Tribute for his Nymph. After she became a Dryad, she healed him of some sort of mdy. Th-that is all I know.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± the Devil took a breath. Then, he crunched another Champion Vessel beneath his heel.


    You have struck Level 10 Champion Vessel for 3.55k damage using your foot.


    You have in Level 10 Champion Vessel.


    That left no more Vessels in the room. Aankin was thest one. If he died, he¡¯d be dead for good. His breathing quickened in what the Devil recognized as the primal fear one felt when confronted with powerlessness.


    ¡°Are you <em>sure</em> you don¡¯t know anything else?¡± the Devil asked. ¡°Because I¡¯d really like to know a bit more.¡±


    ¡°Uh, he¨C he departed out in that direction,¡± Aankin pointed.


    ¡°I already know that, dipshit. Anything else that he said about where he was going? We know the direction, but not the destination.¡±


    ¡°An empire! He said they were going to a neighboring empire. Didn¡¯t say which.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± the Devil mused. It was useful, if Aankin was telling the truth. He¡¯d have to consult his maps and try to figure out where An Nota was heading. Maybe they could set up an ambush or blockade. ¡°Still, though. I really do not like how much you <em>don¡¯t</em> know here.¡±


    ¡°Please, please. I¡¯ll do anything.¡±


    ¡°Tell you what. Is there anyone who might know more about all this?¡± the Devil asked. ¡°Point me in their direction, and I¡¯ll leave you here.¡±


    ¡°The Queene. She¡¯s in the pce, in the center of the vige. She spoke with them more, so you can talk with her.¡± Aankin had a strange look in his eye when he said that, like he knew something the Devil didn¡¯t. The Devil didn¡¯t care, though. Probably just thankfulness for what he assumed was mercy on the Devil¡¯s part.


    ¡°Gratitude,¡± the Devil nodded and walked toward Aankin.


    ¡°So, you¡¯ll let me live?¡±


    ¡°Uh, I didn¡¯t say that, moron. I said I¡¯d leave you here.¡±


    ¡°What does that¨C¡±


    You have struck Level 29 Faerie Champion for 4.33k damage using your fist.


    You have in Level 29 Faerie Champion.


    ¡°Goodbye, dumbass!¡± the Devil shouted behind himself as he left Aankin¡¯s corpse in the room. He opened the door and stepped outside, taking a breath of air from a ce that wasn¡¯t full of blood. ¡°Okay, Queene. Let¡¯s see what you know.¡±


    The Devil stood in front of the massive double doors to the pce. He hadn¡¯t seen any citizens on his way there ¨C they¡¯d probably all hidden off somewhere ¨C so it was a rtively peaceful walk. Especially peaceful now that the pest was gone.


    Hopefully the Devil could get some more useful information out of this ¡®Queene¡¯ character. Ideally, she¡¯d be honest about what she knew. Well, most people got pretty honest once their lives were on the line.


    The Devil shrugged and pushed open the doors. As he walked into the pce, he was greeted with a different sight than he¡¯d expected. When he heard ¡®Faerie Queene¡¯ he thought of a little girl with wings. Not¡­ that.


    The Queeneid her gigantic body down on the floor, covering up almost the entire back wall of the room. Even in her prone position, her head was so massive that she still looked down on him. She bore her eyes into him without any sort of surprise. Rather, she just looked incredulous.


    ¡°So?¡± her voice boomed across the room, making the Devil jump. ¡°You blow up my forest, break into my vige, and destroy my Champion ¨C killing him for good. What are you getting my attention for?¡±


    The Devil shook his head, trying to rid himself of his shock. She was different from what he¡¯d expected, but he was adaptable. ¡°Hello. I¨C¡±


    ¡°Normally,¡± the Queene interrupted, ¡°I think I would let you speak. You¡¯ve proven yourself to be at least somewhat notable, so you probably have something of note that I might want to hear. So I would normally be interested in hearing you out. Not this time, though. At least, not for now. I think that you would highly benefit from hearing what <em>I</em> have to say first, actually. You see, I just don¡¯t think you know what¡¯s happening right now. I don¡¯t think you know who you¡¯re talking to, or where you are. I think you¡¯re remarkably ignorant, currently. And ignorance is weakness. So, perhaps you could allow me to enlighten you.¡±


    The Devil squinted. ¡°Listen. I don¡¯t think <em>you</em> know who <em>I</em>¨C¡±


    ¡°Ooh, I don¡¯t know who you are, do I? That¡¯s an incredibly interesting statement. Maybe I <em>should </em>let you speak, just because it sounds so entertaining to do so. But, no. I¡¯m not currently interested in wasting my time, I don¡¯t think.¡±


    The Devil set his jaw. Was she bluffing? ¡°What¨C¡±


    ¡°I know that your name is Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep,¡± she said with perfect pronunciation. Then she grinned a cruel smile. ¡°Or, wait, no. I think I was slightly mistaken. That <em>was</em> you name, wasn¡¯t it, Xhag¡¯duul?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you fucking¨C¡±


    ¡°I believe that your name is <em>currently</em> Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook. Ah, so short! I¡¯d almost call it cute, if it wasn¡¯t so ugly.¡±


    ¡°Listen,¡± the Devil raised his voice. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you know my name, and I don¡¯t really give a shit. Very impressive, I guess. Nice party trick. Now, I think you¡¯ll find this pertinent. There¡¯s something you have. And it¡¯s the one reason why I have not fucking killed you yet. And I want you to give it to me. I want you to tell me everything you know about An Nota and hispanions, or¨C¡±


    ¡°Do you want me to? Or are you ordering me? Or maybe you need me to? Or perhaps pleading? Xhag¡¯duul, I¡¯d like you to be a bit more clear. Because, to me, it seems like you¡¯re trying to threaten me. And, quite frankly, I¡¯d like to know whether that¡¯s truly your intention, because I¡¯d like to know how hard tough.¡±


    He stared at her.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you understand the predicament you¡¯ve put yourself in. Now, I wouldn¡¯t call myself angry because you¡¯ve wronged me, or because you¡¯ve killed my Champion. Annoyed? Yes. But not angry. No, truthfully, I respect the strength it takes to do that. And, specifically, it is that strength you showed me today that is, how did you put it? Ah, yes, it is the one reason why I have not fucking killed you yet.¡¯¡±


    The Devil frowned. He obviously hadn¡¯t gotten through to her. No matter, just a simple situation of putting someone in their ce. ¡°Seems we disagree about who has the power here. Would you like to fight? Maybe prove yourself?¡±


    ¡°No, not particrly, but if you insist.¡± The Queene¡¯s eyes shed.


    You have been inflicted with Arcane Blight.


    For the next 8 years, you gain the following effects:


    Your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity have been reduced by 81.


    You lose 81 Mana every minute.


    You lose 810 Health every hour.


    You are in extreme pain.


    The Devil gasped and fell to the floor, hands clenching and fingernails digging into his palms. He could barely feel that, though, over the sensation of agony that wracked over his entire self.


    He¡¯d often heard people describe sensations of abstract pain as though it ¡®felt like¡¯ something was happening to them. Something felt like getting stabbed a million times, or like your eyes were filled with magma. This was not that. This pain did not ¡®feel like¡¯ anything. It felt like the part of his mind that controlled pain was being electrocuted. That was what it felt like. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less. It felt like suffering.


    He screamed in pain as ck tears leaked from his eyes. His strength had left him, he could barely move, and his mind wracked him with misery.


    ¡°Hm,¡± the Queene mused through his wails. ¡°Looks like I win. You put up a good fight, though. Most people just die instantly. Not that you¡¯d <em>actually</em> die, of course. You¡¯ve got a body down in the Underworld too, right?¡±


    He didn¡¯t respond. He could barely deciphernguage, at this point.


    ¡°Hm, you¡¯re less talkative now, I notice. It¡¯s much nicer. Unfortunately, I do want to finish this conversation with you, so I¡¯ll allow you to speak once again.¡± Shezily waved a hand.


    The Arcane Blight has been lifted. You no longer suffer from the effects of Arcane Blight.


    The Devil sat on the floor, panting in exhaustion and fear. He looked up at the Queene. ¡°What do you want from me?¡±


    ¡°Mm. What <em>do</em> I want? Interesting question. I think I¡¯d be willing to settle for you calling off this little invasion of yours. I suspect it has something to do with this An Nota person you¡¯re so keen on knowing about?¡±


    He got to his feet and brushed the dirt from his clothes. If she called off the curse, she was obviously open to discussion. He just had to be careful. ¡°I am not the one in charge of whether or not we try to catch An Nota, so I do not know if the Demons can call off the invasion.¡±


    ¡°Then put me in contact with someone who <em>is</em> in charge of that. I can discuss it with them.¡±


    The Devil shuddered at what she must have meant by ¡®discuss.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m afraid that may be difficult for me. I¨C¡±


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re afraid already? I strike fear into your heart? How ttering,¡± she grinned.


    He grit his teeth. ¡°It will be difficult for me to do that. I was demoted, so I cannot call meetings with my superiors ¨C not the ones that matter ¨C directly anymore. I¡¯d have to wait for them to schedule a meeting with me, or I¡¯d have to send in a request. I¡¯d take quite a while.¡±


    ¡°Then do that.¡±


    ¡°There is no guarantee that it¡¯ll be possible, much less one of timing¨C¡±


    ¡°Then how about I set a time limit? If I continue to see Demons destroying my forest by the end of, say, two weeks, I will personally find and kill you. And it will be <em>much</em> worse than what you just experienced.¡±


    The Devil took a breath. He had no idea if she was bluffing. Could she reallye to the Underworld and kill him? Would she do it, even if she could? He hated himself foring here. Why couldn¡¯t he have just left after killing Aankin. Or, for fuck¡¯s sake, he could have just fought Aankin off whenever he attacked the soldiers. Would it have been so hard to do that? But no, he just had toe picking around where he didn¡¯t belong.


    This was the second time that those bastard higher-ups had screwed him. First, they demoted him. And now, they wouldn¡¯t let him just cut his losses and pull out of the Overworld. And he knew they wouldn¡¯t let him just leave. What would they care that the Queene was threatening his life? They¡¯d more than proven him to be disposable.


    ¡°Threats like that may not be necessary,¡± the Devil said. ¡°I can personally promise you that your forest will no longere under harm by the Demons after this operation. And¨C¡±


    ¡°How would I ever trust your promises if you cannot back them up with strength? Your word is as useless as your body.¡± She gave a weighty sigh, her lungs blowing wind throughout the room. ¡°I have said what I have to say to you, and you seem to have nothing of substance to say in return. So I believe our business is done here. I will send you away.¡±


    ¡°Yes, thank you,¡± the Devil bowed, eager to remove himself from her presence. He backed up to the double doors behind him. ¡°I will leave immediately.¡±


    ¡°No, no. You will not remove yourself,¡± she said.


    The Devil froze, confused. Hadn¡¯t she just told him to leave?


    The Queene nted a hand down on the floor in front of her, shaking the building, then ced another hand down. Then, she pushed herself up. Her head and body crashed through the ceiling above her as she got to her feet, and the entire building broke apart, her feet knocking over support beams and punching through walls.


    The Devil was left stunned by her massive figure. It was very different to look at her when she was standing,pared to when prone. Her head blocked out the moon from his perspective, a silver halo forming around her head.


    The Queene bent down and reached a hand toward the Devil, who yelped in surprise and scurried away from her grasp. Amused, she quickly caught him and sped her hand around his body, lifting him off the ground. Trying to shake himself from her grasp, the Devil looked down to the ground far, far below him. He could see the tops of the trees out in a wide expanse around him ¨C a perspective he¡¯d only ever seen in bird¡¯s-eye perspective illusions down in the Underworld.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± she brought him closer to her face. ¡°I will simply put you back with your Human friends. No harm done. Or, well, the only harm done will be to your body.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by¨C¡±


    The Devil was cut off by a sudden whipping of him through the air. The Queene pulled her hand back ¨C him along with it ¨C and he realized what was about to happen. He braced himself for an impact. The Queene reared back fully and said, ¡°Bye, Xhag¡¯duul. Don¡¯te back.¡±


    She threw him.


    The Devil soared through the air at breakneck speeds as he quickly left the form of the Queene behind him, zipping toward a far off spot in the trees. He screamed as the wind¡¯s speed felt like it threatened to tear off his skin. The trees and ground got closer and closer and closer until¨C


    <em>CRASH</em>.


    The Devil was in a crater. His body felt broken and folded against itself in the hole he¡¯d bored through the dirt. The trees around him had shaken from the impact.


    ¡°Fuck,¡± the Devil groaned.


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± another voice said.


    He looked up, blinking wearily, and saw that he had been thrown directly into the bomb squad he¡¯de from. The soldiers stared down at him.


    He shakily got to his feet, trying not to wince in pain as he did. ¡°I got rid of the Aankin problem. Now c¡¯mon and finish nting these bombs. We¡¯re under a new time limit, and we are going to fucking kill An Nota.¡±

 Chapter 66: Fireflight

    Chapter 66: Fireflight


    After a full night¡¯s sleep, Erani, the Dryad, and I all woke up to the sun rising fully into the sky, finally casting illumination around us. Hells, it was probably already past noon. It felt like it¡¯d been much too long since I¡¯dst seen the world cast in light, which was technically correct, since I¡¯d spent an extra two hours in midnight using Time Loop the day before.


    I stretched and sat up from my position lying with Erani. We¡¯d spent the night sleeping next to each other so she could practice her Angelic Shield, and it seemed like it¡¯d worked. At least, it seemed like we¡¯d sustained contact throughout the night. I knew I¡¯d been casting Noxious Grasp while I slept ¨C its Spell XP had risen from 24 to 89 since I checked the previous night ¨C so it should¡¯ve triggered her Spell, too.


    ¡°How¡¯d you sleep?¡± Erani yawned as she sat up next to me.


    ¡°Fine enough,¡± I said. ¡°So did it work? Angelic Shield?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right,¡± she rubbed her eyes, obviously still trying to pull herself out of her sleepy stupor. ¡°Looks like it did. Getting close to Rank 10, at this point.¡±


    ¡°And at that point, all we have left is getting you a Spell Crystal. Holy, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. No idea where we¡¯d actually find one, though. Our only real option would be sneaking into a town, and I don¡¯t think that¡¯d be a good idea.¡±


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t work to put one of the free Spell Ranks thate every second Level for your ss into Angelic Shield, would it?¡±


    ¡°No, the Spell Ranks are only ¡®free¡¯ in terms of XP. The tenth will always need a Crystal.¡±


    ¡°Damn. What Level are you at this point, anyway?¡±


    ¡°I got to 12 recently. Put the Rank into Firebolt, as usual. It¡¯s not close to Rank 20, but once I get there I¡¯ll need two Spell Crystals to get its Upgrade. Cost goes up each time.¡±


    ¡°Hm, so we¡¯d need a Spell Crystal for both of them, huh. We¡¯re getting close to Kingdom¡¯s Edge, and settlements aren¡¯tmon out here ¨C much less ones that are stocked up on valuables like Spell Crystals.¡±


    ¡°Wait, we¡¯re already close?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Iughed. ¡°Did you forget where we were going, or something?¡±


    ¡°No, no, I guess I just got lost in the stupor of travel that I forgot we were actually trying to end up somewhere. Yeah, we have been going for about a week now, haven¡¯t we?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Mountains shoulde into view soon.¡±


    She breathed. ¡°Finally. Hard part¡¯s almost over then, I guess.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I¨C wait,¡± I looked around the area. ¡°Where¡¯s the Dryad?¡±


    Erani blinked, turning around to search. ¡°I don¡¯t know. She was just here, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I thought.¡±


    We walked around the nearby area, searching for her. With her green, vine-covered skin, she had a bit of natural camouge that made her difficult to see even when she was standing right next to me. But, now I realized just how effective it truly was. I found myself searching around random trees and piles of leaves, thinking they were her when they really just resembled her natural look.


    ¡°Find her?¡± Erani said, looking around on the other side of our makeshift campsite.


    ¡°No. Do you think she¨C¡±


    I was interrupted by the Dryad suddenly bursting through the trees, sprinting as fast as she could with her arms full of something. I stared at her as she passed through and across the other side of our campsite. It was¡­ animals? In her arms, I could barely make it out, but it looked like she had her arms full of animals ¨C a Wood Spirit, a Rabbit, and maybe one other.


    ¡°What the fuck?¡± I said as I looked at Erani. The Dryad was already long gone, having passed through into the forest on the other side of our site.


    ¡°Was that¨C¡±


    ¡°Yeah. What¡¯s going on?¡± I looked over in the direction she came from. At first, I didn¡¯t see anything interesting ¨C some trees, bushes, grass, a couple hills off in the distance ¨C but then I noticed something else. Over the horizon, the sky looked strange. A mix of gray in the air and orangeing from the tops of the far-off trees. It was like¡­


    ¡°Fuck! Forest fire!¡± Erani shouted, looking at the same sight I was staring at.


    I looked back in the direction the Dryad had fled into. There was fireing from everywhere ¨C almost in a perfect semicircle around us ¨C but in that direction, there was none. Was the Dryad saving those animals? She¡¯d seen the fire, or sensed distress from the nearby monsters, and run off to take them to safety?


    ¡°We need to go,¡± Erani grabbed my hand and ran off.


    We headed in the same direction the Dryad had gone. The way the semi-circle of me was shaped, we only really had one option of where we <em>could</em> go ¨C anywhere else and we¡¯d either be headed straight into the fire, or skirting close enough to the edge that it could easily spread into that area by the time we got there.


    As we sprinted through the forest, I began to see many other animals and monsters fleeing for their lives, as well. Even the normally hostile onespletely ignored us, seeming to understand the dire situation ¨C if they attacked us, they¡¯d only dy their flight from the mes ¨C not to mention they could get seriously wounded and doom themselves to be consumed by the inferno. A Wood Wraith bounded through the forest past us, whimpering in fear of the approaching heat. A pack of three Anacaps swung through the branches above, their long, spindly legs stabbing into tree trunks and flinging them far forward.


    I nced through the forest as we ran, and soon spotted the Dryad, who¡¯d stopped to help a Day Owl that had gotten its foot stuck in a fallen log. She got it free as we passed, and it flew off. She looked over at us and said something frantically in her ownnguage, forgetting that neither of us had any idea what she was saying. But she seemed to remember halfway through and stopped, twisting her brow in frustration.


    I watched her pure-white eyes nce around, trying to figure out how to portray what she wanted to tell us. Eventually, she seemed to settle on hand gestures, waving wildly to try andmunicate something I couldn¡¯t understand. She kept pointing to the fire, then to me, then to the fire, and back at me. Was she trying to tell me that the fire would kill me if I stayed here? I knew that already.


    Whatever, I shook my head. I¡¯d just woken up, and was suddenly fleeing from a forest fire. Now wasn¡¯t the time to be deciphering impromptu signnguage. I took off running again ¨C every moment spent stationary was another moment the fire crept closer.


    ¡°We need to go,¡± I said to Erani, who was looking at the Dryad with her brows furrowed. ¡°We can figure that outter.¡±


    She hesitantly nodded, and we ran off, shortly followed by the Dryad, who also seemed to figure out that her efforts were fruitless.


    As we weaved through the trees and leapt over rocks and fallen branches, I looked around us at the distant fire. It wasn¡¯t incredibly close at the time, but I knew how quickly forest fires could spread. In no time, the ground we stood on would be charred and lifeless. The semicircle it formed around us was closing in, forcing us forward.


    I was very d to have two things during our flight: a Dryad that seemed to know the forest like the back of her hand, and a set of physical Stats that were higher than an Unssed¡¯s would be. Every point in Dexterity helped a great deal to keep my legs limber and helped me find my footing any time I stumbled over a root, Strength helped me make longer strides and push off the ground even harder, and, of course, my rtively exceptional Endurance kept me from tiring out as quickly as I should¡¯ve. All of thatbined with the Dryad¡¯s expert guidance helped us move more quickly than we ever would¡¯ve otherwise.


    She led us through the frantic forest, taking us across in winding directions, seemingly to get the best, clearest path possible. Though, some of those detours seemed to also have the purpose of allowing her to free a stuck animal or two. Whatever ¨C we were moving faster now than if we didn¡¯t have her, so she could have a few moments to do what she felt she needed to do.


    Erani was a huge help, as well. asionally, we¡¯de across a huge fallen tree that blocked the way, and she¡¯d just hold out a hand and blow it to pieces with an Explosive Firebolt. It seemed like the Dryad didn¡¯t know the <em>whole</em> forest, then ¨C if a tree fell recently enough, she probably hadn¡¯t seen it yet ¨C but it could¡¯ve also been that the Dryad was taking Erani¡¯s Firebolt into ount when finding our path.


    But then the Dryad suddenly stopped, and Erani grabbed onto the back of my shirt to keep me from continuing forward.


    ¡°Shit,¡± Erani cursed as I blinked and got my bearings. We were standing in front of a chasm, one that ran at least ten paces wide, and was so long I couldn¡¯t see either side. The ravine split the ground before us, leaving a deep line in-between. It wasn¡¯t so deep that we¡¯d get too hurt if we fell in, but the walls were steep enough that we wouldn¡¯t be able to get back out.


    I nced around, trying to figure out how we could get across. I didn¡¯t like the ¡®run in one direction along the edge and hope we find the end before the fire finds us¡¯ n, but I wasn¡¯t seeing many other options.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± I asked Erani, who looked just as lost as I was. We looked to the Dryad, who was busy at work, rushing across the ground and grabbing things to carry with her. At first, I was hopeful she had an idea to get us across, but then I realized what she was doing. With a great toss, she lobbed a small rabbit to the other side of the ravine. Then, she scrambled over to help a Wood Wraith across.


    ¡°Seems like she doesn¡¯t have any ideas to save us, either,¡± Erani said. ¡°Or, if she does, she can¡¯t tell us what they are.¡±


    I took a breath, trying to calm my nerves and assess the situation. The chasm was obviously much too wide to jump across, and it didn¡¯t seem like we could swing across with a vine or anything else like that. The Dryad wasn¡¯t strong enough to throw people as big as us across, either ¨C plus, it¡¯d still leave her stranded on the other side. We needed a way to get all three of us across, preferably as quickly as possible.


    There were trees all around us, but none of them had branches long enough to let us climb across, either. And the branches that did approach being long enough got much too skinny for them to support our weight, anyway. Besides, many of the trees were dried up and dying; it looked like a bit of extra force would knock them to the ground.


    I blinked. Could that work? No, surely not. If it didn¡¯t it¡¯d fuck us over, big time. But¡­


    I looked behind myself, back at the smoke rising from the distant burning trees. Forest fires moved fast ¨C depending on how windy it was, they could even move faster than we could run. If the fire caught up to us, even if we made it across in time, it could take us over even as we ran away from it. We needed to move as soon as possible, and that meant not spending an houring up with the perfect idea of how to get across a hole. Sometimes, you just had to use the first thing that came to mind.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I pulled Erani over, ¡°I have a n. Grab the Dryad, too ¨C we¡¯ll need all the people we can get.¡±

 Chapter 67: Collapse

    Chapter 67: Copse


    Erani and I climbed up the oldest, most brittle-looking tree I could find. This was all part of our n to get across the wide ravine that split the earth in front of us, preventing us from escaping the forest fire that slowly encroached at our backs. We weren¡¯t going to jump from it ¨C even as high up as we were, we wouldn¡¯t be able to get enough distance on a straight leap ¨C but getting as far up the tree was still a key part of the n.


    I¡¯d already exined the n to Erani, but she still wasn¡¯t incredibly optimistic about the future results of my idea.


    ¡°This is insane,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re all going to die. Or break our legs, then burn to death.¡±


    I straddled a branch and reached down my hand to help her up to the next one. ¡°Well, we can¡¯t really afford to be picky, now, can we?¡±


    She just shook her head and we made our way up to the next branch. As we climbed, I looked up at the Dryad, who had long since gotten to the top of the tree and was looking down at us, kicking her legs as she waited. She didn¡¯t know what we were doing, of course, but seemed receptive to Erani¡¯s mimed request to climb up the tree with us. She just bounded straight up to the top once she understood what Erani was asking. Sometimes I <em>really</em> envied her dexterity.


    Minutes passed as we slowly climbed up to the top of the tree. With my new vantage point, I could clearly see the surrounding fire creeping toward us, the time limit on my n ticking steadily down. The n technically could¡¯ve worked with us lower down, but it wouldn¡¯t work as well, and I wanted the best odds I could get on this. Eventually, we made it up, and the fire was closer than ever.


    ¡°You ready?¡± I asked Erani as she, the Dryad, and I all sat at the top of the half-dead tree. We were straddled with out legs around one of the sturdier-looking branches that was attached to the trunk


    ¡°Absolutely not,¡± Erani said.


    Iughed and nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    And then I activated Gravity Well, targeting all three of us.


    At Rank 6, it increased gravity by a crushing 45%, and I gasped from the sudden pressure that crashed down on me. Erani had a simr reaction, and the Dryad ¨C who had no idea what wasing ¨C almost fell off the tree entirely. But we held on, and then enacted step two of the n ¨C possibly the dumbest step of them all.


    ¡°Pull!¡± I shouted, and we all leaned back, away from the trunk of the tree. The Dryad, thankfully, just copied what Erani and I were doing. She seemed to understand that we had a n. With thebined weights of all three of us, each of which had been increased by almost an additional half, I began to hear the brittle tree crack.


    We¡¯d tried to push it down the old-fashioned way, but with no tools to get the job done and a <em>very</em> limited timetable, we had to resort to this. It could¡¯ve technically been possible for Erani to blow a tree down with a Firebolt and we could cross that, but we didn¡¯t really have any way of controlling how it fell, and so it would¡¯ve likely taken quite a bit of trial and error ¨C and thus, time. We would¡¯ve chopped one down with the Dryad¡¯s whip, but neither Erani nor I knew how to use it like she did, and the Dryad herself didn¡¯t really seem to get what we were asking her to do when we tried getting her to help us.


    What we <em>had</em> done, though, was use her whip to at least saw a gash in the tree¡¯s trunk. We couldn¡¯tsh out with it like she could, but with a bit of effort and teamwork between me and Erani, we¡¯d pushed and pulled to create a sizable cut in the wood facing the ravine. It¡¯d taken a while to even get that much, though, so we knew we wouldn¡¯t be able to get the whole thing down in time purely with cutting.


    And that was where this n had been born.


    Another crack interrupted my thoughts, and this time I could feel the entire tree shift under our weights. With our leverageing from the very top of the tree, even our rtively small collective weight could be enough to sway it. And when it was boosted by my Spell, it seemed to be getting the job done. Another crack. This time it was an even bigger shift. Ano¨C


    ¡°Fuck!¡± I screamed as the entire tree came down from under us. I hurriedly shut off Gravity Well as I felt aplete weightlessness under me, the tree that was once supporting me now tipping down to the ground. I could barely process the screams of Erani and the wide eyes of the Dryad before I crashed into the ground.


    You have been crushed. 51 damage.


    Your Health is 59.


    I coughed and opened my eyes.


    ¡°An!¡± Erani yelled. She was knelt by my side, trying to lift something off my chest. It was a branch, one from the tree we¡¯d felled. I looked around. It had fallen well, and created a bridge across the ravine. We¡¯dnded on the other side anyway, of course, so it wasn¡¯t like a bridge was necessary for us to get back to the ce we¡¯d just worked so hard to get away from, but I watched as a flood of animals ran across the newly-formed connection, fleeing to safety. So at least we¡¯d saved them ¨C that¡¯d probably make the Dryad happy.


    I grunted and tried to help Erani lift the branch from my chest. It was heavy, though, still being attached to the entire tree itself, and I couldn¡¯t get it.


    ¡°Fuck,¡± I groaned. The pain in my chest from the branchnding on me was not helping my efforts, to say the least. I watched as the Dryad ran over from the side, having only just then gotten up, herself. Seeing the predicament, she reached for her whip and drew it out, the sharp thorns shining in the sunlight. I felt a pang of fear when I saw her grab her spiny weapon ¨C was she just going to put me out of my misery here, to avoid me feeling the pain of burning to death? I struggled harder to get out from under the branch, and she drew her whip back¨C


    Andshed down, severing the tree branch from the trunk. The branch fell to the dirt with a <em>thunk</em>. I sighed. She was just helping me get out.


    Erani rolled the branch off my chest and helped me up. Btedly, I realized I had the Regenerate Talent, now, and could use my Stamina to help recover my Health. I activated it right away.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 15.5 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    35.4 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 74.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s get moving,¡± Erani said. ¡°We don¡¯t have much time.¡±


    We ran off, further into the forest and away from the fire, just barely outpacing its quick spread. I nced behind me to see that the mes had gotten close enough for the smoke to actually be in view behind us. The ck wall overtook the ce we¡¯d just been, covering the trunk we¡¯d worked so hard to fell and certainly suffocating any animals that were still stuck on that side of the ravine. Soon enough, it¡¯d all be charred to a husk anyway. I worked to run even faster than I had been before.


    Regenerate wore off, leaving me at 75 Health ¨C still below what I had without a ss. I had enough Stamina to activate Regenerate one more time, and did so without hesitation. As important as Stamina was, I didn¡¯t want to get blindsided by some frenzied monster out of nowhere and die in one hit.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 15.5 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    35.4 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 38.


    We kept running as it took effect, eventually raising my Health to 90, which, while low, was much better than before. And with the major roadblock that was the ravine out of the way, we slowly increased our distance from the wall of fire. We didn¡¯t slow our pace, though, continuing through the forest and gasping for breath in the thick smoke, we all pushed ourselves to the limits.


    We moved for hours upon hours with me continuing to activate Regenerate whenever I got enough Stamina, and the quickly-setting sun soon moved the time to night. When I looked behind us, I could see the soft glow of the distant fire, slowly growing more and more intense. Ironically, our life-and-death flight from the ze quickly grew boring, bing more of a test of constitution than a high-stakes, fast-paced race through the wilderness.


    We took brief breaks to catch and eat things in moments when we felt we couldn¡¯t continue any longer without sustenance. Whenever we found an animal that was severely wounded and had no possibility of truly escaping and living on its own anymore, I¡¯d kill it and we¡¯d eat that. I mainly did this because it was easier and faster to finish off a wounded animal than fight down one at full strength, but I also didn¡¯t want to upset the Dryad ¨C I had a feeling she wouldn¡¯t appreciate me going around and killing the same things she was doing so much trying to help.


    Eventually, enough time passed that Time Loop once again came back to me. I¡¯d already used it that day because of the Faerie vige, having waited until midnight for it to refresh back then, too, so it was good to finally have it back. It put me slightly at ease ¨C now, even if we were overtaken by the fire, I¡¯d still be able to go back a few hours with the two uses of it and make things right.


    We continued through the night. Eventually, the fire could burn itself out and we wouldn¡¯t have to worry about it anymore. As long as we didn¡¯t run into any major roadblocks, it was possible we¡¯d be home free.


    But then, we reached a clearing.


    And I realized we quite literally couldn¡¯t go on.


    In the middle of the clearing was a blockade. Tents formed a long line across the seemingly-endless field. And throughout the barricade of tents were scattered ballistas and cannons, all aimed toward our side of the forest.


    And, of course, manning this machinery, were Demons. Infernals stomped through the campsite with their ugly, angry faces, staring off into the treeline in obvious search. And what made me even more furious was that the Demons weren¡¯t alone. Standing among them were Humans. Regr Humans. Soldiers andmon-folk. Colluding with the Underworld to man the blockade and ready the siege weapons.


    It was obvious who they were here for. And, judging by the positioning of this blockade, and the positioning of the wildfire behind us, it was obvious how they knew we¡¯d cross through this exact ce. I looked over at the Dryad, who was staring at the Humans and Demons alike with an expression of pure rage and malice. I remembered what she¡¯d been trying to tell me before, back when we¡¯d first noticed the fire.


    She¡¯d pointed to me, then the fire, back and forth between us. Now, it was obvious. She was trying to tell me that the fire and I were connected. She knew it was unnatural. She¡¯d probably figured out based on the timing of it, or the shape, or the nature of its spread. She was a guardian of the forest ¨C of course she¡¯d know an authentic fire when she saw one. I sighed, frustrated with myself for brushing her off in my panic. It would¡¯ve been very helpful to know that we would be running right into a trap.


    But here we found ourselves. Hundreds of Demons and soldiers in front of us, armed with weapons and explosives, and a wild ze behind us, forcing us ever forward into the hands of those very enemies.


    We werepletely and totally fucked.

 Arlans Fully-Expanded Character Sheet (Not a Chapter)

    An''s Fully-Expanded Character Sheet (Not a Chapter)


    This is An''s fully-expanded character sheet with updated Spell, Talent, and Title descriptions, as of thetest chapter:


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    15


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    11


    Endurance:


    25


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    66/700


    Dexterity:


    13


    Health:


    <strong>250</strong>/250


    Health/Minute:


    0.093


    Conjuration:


    <strong>64</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>38</strong>/117


    Stamina/Minute:


    0.768


    Intelligence:


    13


    Mana:


    <strong>705</strong>/<strong>705</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>13.47</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Gravity Well 6 - XP <strong>4</strong>/66


    Regenerate


    Trailzer


    Ray of Frost 6 - XP 5/66


    Recursive Growth


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP 98/355


    Time Loop 11


    +Extended Loop


    Noxious Grasp 10 - XP <strong>209</strong>/461


    +Venomous Grasp


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Gravity Well Rank <strong>6</strong>


    School: Arcane


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: <strong>11.8</strong> Mana/Second per Being Affected


    ¡ª


    While active, increase gravitational pull by <strong>45</strong>% for any number of beings within 30 paces of you.


    Regenerate


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 20 Stamina, plus twenty minutes worth of Stamina regeneration. <em>(Currently </em><strong><em>35.36</em></strong><em> Stamina)</em>


    ¡ª


    Greatly increase your body¡¯s recovery speed, at the cost of your Stamina. When activated, your Health/Minute is multiplied by 1,000 for 10 seconds, then returns to normal.


    Trailzer


    <em>You are the only person in the world with your ss, and as such, cannot rely on the findings of others to make your decisions. Instead, you must forge your own path.</em>


    If you do not already have it, you gain ess to the Intelligence Stat. It will improve the information given to you by the System regarding your ss and what might be of it in the future.


    Whenever you Level up, gain 1 Intelligence


    Ray of Frost Rank <strong>6</strong>


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>23.2</strong> Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a beam of icy energy from your hands, traveling up to 25 paces and dealing up to <strong>53.6</strong> damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being. Upon being hit, targets are cursed with Frostbite for 5 seconds. While they are frostbitten, their Dexterity score is lowered by <strong>6.7</strong>.


    Recursive Growth


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Whenever your Level increases, you gain <strong>4</strong> additional Stat increases, chosen at random.


    This Talent improves every tenth Level you reach, incrementing the number of random Stat increases you gain each Level by 2.


    Crippling Chill Rank <strong>9</strong>


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>56.2</strong> Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a being within 40 paces of you. It bes coated in frost for the next 15 seconds. For as long as it is coated in frost, it loses <strong>7.76</strong> Health and <strong>6.21</strong> Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by <strong>15.5</strong>.


    Time Loop ¨C Rank <strong>11</strong>


    <strong>+Extended Loop</strong>


    Type: Activated


    Go up to <strong>1 hour and 30 minutes</strong> back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other Talent cooldowns ¨C as well as the rest of the world ¨C but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.


    This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.


    This Talent may only be activated <strong>twice </strong>per day.


    Noxious Grasp Rank <strong>10</strong>


    <strong>+Venomous Grasp</strong>


    School: <strong>Curse</strong>, Poison


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: <strong>4.7</strong> Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    While active, any being you are physically touching loses <strong>16.2</strong> Health and <strong>8.15</strong> Stamina per second.


    <strong>Noxious Grasp Festers beings it damages. While they are Festered, beings lose double Stamina from all sources. The Fester remains for 5 seconds after you stop contact with the being.</strong>

 Chapter 68: Halt

    Chapter 68: Halt


    Erani, the Dryad and I stood at the edge of the clearing, the blockade of tents and soldiers in front of us, and fire behind. They were so well-manned that it was incredibly unlikely we¡¯d get through undetected, and they were well-equipped enough that I doubted we could just charge through.


    ¡°Shit¡­¡± I muttered, ncing around to try and find <em>some</em> way through this. Unfortunately, this situation wasn¡¯t like the ravine with the tree before; there were no clever solutions. Only an imprable wall in front of us, and an unstoppable force of nature pushing us into it.


    ¡°Think we could go around?¡± Erani whispered to me.


    ¡°Doubt it,¡± I shook my head. ¡°Look to the sides ¨C it goes on further than I can even see. And I doubt that, if they went through all this effort, they¡¯d make it short enough for us to just walk around.¡±


    The Dryad seemed simrly frozen with indecision. What could we even do?


    Before I could decide on anything, though, I heard a distant st, and then saw a projectile hurtling toward us. The huge metal sphere came from a nearby cannon, its operator yelling to get the attention of the others. We¡¯d been spotted.


    ¡°Duck!¡± I shouted and leapt aside to the ground. Erani and the Dryad seemed to understand, too, dodging out of the way just in time. A st shook the ground and deafened my ears as the bomb impacted a tree behind us, creating a massive explosion to rival Erani¡¯s Firebolts. Apparently, their ammunition was explosive.


    ¡°Shit, run!¡± Erani shouted and sprinted out into the clearing. She was right. We¡¯d been spotted, and now there was little to do but rush forward and try our best to get through. The Infernals and Human soldiers quickly drew their weapons upon spotting us, preparing for a fight. We were still about a hundred paces away from them, but we were quickly closing the distance.


    Humans from the back drew their shortbows and notched their arrows as the Infernals turned their ballistae and prepared them to fire. We were still out of range for any of my Spells to reach them, so I simply had to prepare myself to take the fire head-on.


    In an instant, they all shot. Arrows sped toward us, ballista boltsunched forward, and bombs shot from cannons. I ducked beneath an arrow, and shot another with a Ray of Frost, the magic disintegrating the wood before it could reach me, but the cloud of projectiles was too thick, and I couldn¡¯t dodge all of them. An arrow stuck itself into my stomach, and another grazed my cheek.


    You have been stabbed by a point. 62 damage.


    Your Health is 188.


    You have been sliced by a point. 12 damage.


    Your Health is 176.


    I wheezed from the pain. It seemed like my high pool of Health helped keep the wounds from damaging my body too much, with the arrow that struck my stomach not actually impaling me. Instead, it just pushed into my skin, and bounced off. Still, it hurt like the hells regardless, and I wasn¡¯t confident in my now-lowered Health pool¡¯s ability to brush off a hit like that again.


    Erani, with her lower Dexterity and fewer options to fight back against the arrows, couldn¡¯t prevent them from hitting her. So instead, she stood still and let them, and the pointed steel tips of the arrows simply nced off her skin, the glowing wires of Angelic Shield repelling the projectiles.


    Before I could get my bearings after the barrage of arrows, the ballista shots and bombs came. I ducked as a gigantic bolt flew right over where my chest had been and looked up to see the explosion of Erani casting a Firebolt at one of the approaching bombs. It didn¡¯t detonate the bomb midair ¨C they must¡¯ve been Enchanted against fire ¨C but it still did push the bomb back, where itnded safely in the field in front of us.


    The Firebolt¡¯s st flung away many of the other projectiles that threatened to hit us, too, leaving me with a brief moment of much-needed sce before the next wave of shots.


    We continued sprinting forward, slowly closing the distance between us and the barricade. My furthest-reaching Spell, Crippling Chill, had a range of 40 paces. We were still around 80, maybe 75 paces away, though, so it was still effectively useless. It was times like these that I wished I had some better movement options. But it was okay ¨C we¡¯d proven that we could survive their long-range attacks, so all we had to do was keep approaching, and eventually we could get in range to start doing some damage.


    But just as I thought that, as our enemies were reloading, a group of Infernals stepped out of their campsite, looking at us with angry eyes. I noticed they had an essory that most Infernals didn¡¯t have, too. Normally, Infernals were naked ¨C they didn¡¯t wear anything on their humanoid bodies ¨C but these Infernals each had a shining bronze ring on their finger. It was clearly magical, but what did it do?


    Before I had time to figure that out, they charged. Our enemies clearly didn¡¯t want to give us the time to get within our effective range to their heavy weaponry. The Dryad surged forward at the sight of the approaching squad of Infernals, far surpassing me and Erani in speed. She had a look of rage on her face that told me to be worried for the Demons, not her.


    She lunged through the tall grass and quickly closed the distance between herself and her enemies as Erani and I moved forward to support her. As we charged against the Infernals, though, I noticed them grinning, like they knew something we didn¡¯t.


    Just as the Dryad got within about 50 paces of the line of tents and weapons ¨C and only a few paces from the Infernals ¨C something happened. She stepped on the ground and pushed off to leap up at them, but just as her foot impacted the dirt, an explosion came from right under her, shaking the earth and sting her backward. She tumbled through the tall grass and came to a stop near us.


    I slowed to a halt, trying to see what¡¯d blown her up. Nobody had shot a bomb at her or cast a Spell ¨C I would¡¯ve noticed that. It was like the explosion hade from under the ground.


    I blinked and looked down. Could it have been¡­?


    ¡°Erani, stop,¡± I said. ¡°I think they have explosives nted in the ground.¡±


    She halted and nced around. ¡°Fuck, you may be right.¡±


    Another barrage of projectilesunched just as the Dryad began getting to her feet. I shot a couple more arrows with Ray of Frost, and backed away as a bomb impacted the ground. The Infernals continued approaching, and this time I wasn¡¯t sure how to handle them.


    How were they not triggering the explosives? If they were weight-triggered, the Infernals were obviously much heavier than her, so they should have blown themselves up many times by now. I didn¡¯t know if I could approach, or if I needed to fall back. Was where I was standing even safe?


    Regardless, I could at least fight from a range. Right when the Infernals entered my effective radius, I cast Crippling Chill on each of them. There were six in all, which was a hefty drain on my Mana, but by now, my Conjuration could handle it.


    You have cursed Level 27 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 579.


    You have cursed Level 22 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 523.


    You have cursed Level 24 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 467.


    You have cursed Level 28 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 411.


    You have cursed Level 21 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 354.


    You have cursed Level 25 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 298.


    With the cursesid on the Infernals, they immediately stumbled and slowed from the Dexterity drain. However, even though they stumbled, they were noticeably less affected by the Spell than the other times I¡¯d cast it on their type. Even the Level 21 Infernal ¨C rtively low for its species ¨C was much less disoriented and slowed than the higher-Leveled Infernals I¡¯d fought before. They very quickly recovered from my Spells and continued their charge.


    I looked at the notifications. It¡¯d drained them the exact same amount of Dexterity as it should have ¨C if they had something that lessened that drain, it would¡¯ve told me ¨C so what was going on?


    I feltpletely unprepared. The Dryad was still nursing her wounds from being blown up. She hadn¡¯t been severely crippled, but the burns from the fire, cuts from the shrapnel, and bruises from the fall were obviously more than trivial. I was left having effectively wasted over 300 Mana on something that clearly wasn¡¯t as effective as I¡¯d anticipated it to be, and we still had no idea what¡¯d blown up the Dryad.


    I wished I could¡¯ve directly asked her what had happened. She¡¯d probably seen whatever it was that¡¯d exploded when it happened, but she had no way to convey to us what it was.


    The Infernals drew closer, and the crowds of ranged support in the back prepared their weapons once again. Fuck it, I thought. We wouldn¡¯t get anywhere if I refused to move forward. Our goal was to get on the other side of this wall of soldiers, and currently, we were making no progress.


    At the very least, I could try my best to take out ¨C or at least temporarily upy ¨C these Infernals.


    ¡°I¡¯m moving forward,¡± I told Erani. ¡°Support me from the back.¡±


    She nodded.


    I charged at the group of Demons, who seemed excited to finally get a chance to kill me. I resolved to make them regret their excitement, at least a little bit. When I got close enough, I shot one of them with a Ray of Frost.


    You have struck Level 21 Infernal for 49 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 21 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 275.


    I shot the lowest-Level one intentionally ¨C I nned to pick them off one by one, focusing on each Infernal until it died, then moving to the next. I¡¯d start with the weakest.


    The six Demons surged toward me, and I tried my best to stagger them back with Rays of Frost so that they wouldn¡¯t all get to me at once. This didn¡¯t work too well ¨C the damage from the Spell wasn¡¯t high enough to give them pause on its own, and the Dexterity debuff still wasn¡¯t doing much to them for some reason. Whatever it was that made them resistant to it, it worked on all Spells, not just Crippling Chill.


    I rushed up to the Level 21 Infernal, who looked eager to get a shot at killing me. It lifted his hands, preparing to m them down on my body, but just as it moved to attack, I slid across the ground and between its legs. Then, before it could turn around, I leapt to my feet and up onto its back, activating Noxious Grasp the moment my skin touched its.


    It roared in pain and irritation as the Spell sapped its Health and the curse of Venomous Grasp took hold, draining its Stamina. The other Infernals approached once they saw me clinging onto theirrade, ready to tear me off. I held out one hand to shoot off a couple Rays of Frost, trying to fend them off for as long as possible, but it didn¡¯t dy them long. Soon enough, I was forced to jump off to avoid them.


    You have struck Level 21 Infernal for 139 damage and drained 140 Stamina over the course of 8.6 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    40.4 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 186.


    I rolled across the ground, getting to my feet and facing off against the six Infernals snarling at me. My back was to the barricade, so I could see Erani helping the Dryad to her feet. She looked up and saw me with the six Infernals rushing toward me, and lifted a hand to shoot off Explosive Firebolt.


    Three balls of meunched out and impacted the Infernals¡¯ backs, causing the hit Demons to stumble under the weight of the st. In fact, the three that were hit did more than stumble ¨C they flew forward and fellpletely t on the ground.


    I blinked, surprised. That was way more of an effect than what I normally saw when they were hit. Normally, they¡¯d just stumble and look a bit irritated, but now it was simr to when she shot a Firebolt at the smaller, lighter animals that we¡¯d sometimes fight ¨C they were punched to the ground, as though their body offered much less resistance than normal.


    Before I could ponder on this irregrity, though, I felt a sharp pain in my back and stumbled forward at the force of something hitting me.


    You have been stabbed by a point. 49 damage.


    Your Health is 127.


    I turned and saw a barrage of arrows flying toward me from the soldiers. One of them had pierced right into my shoulder.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± I quickly ducked and avoided one aimed straight for my head, then looked back at the Infernals, three of which had approached and were preparing to attack. I leapt forward, rolling across the ground and snapping the arrow shaft that was still stuck in my back in the process.


    You have irritated an open wound. 15 damage.


    Your Health is 112.


    I got to my feet and shot a few Rays of Frost at the closest Infernal, which, if I¡¯d been tracking them correctly, was the Level 21 one. My Mana fell to 93 and I dealt something like 200 damage to it, which seemed to be enough to injure it and slow it down. I heard an explosion behind me, and turned around again to see the next barrage of projectiles ¨C this time the cannon-shot bombs and the ballista bolts ¨C flying toward me.


    The bombs soared over my head and toward Erani and the Dryad. I didn¡¯t dare look back to see how they fared ¨C I¡¯d just have to trust that they¡¯d make it out. As for the half-dozen ballista bolts, those seemed to be all aimed at me specifically. I took a step back, wary of the Demons behind me, and just as the bolts were all about to collide with me, I leapt up to jump over them.


    One of the bolts caught my foot, though, tripping me mid-air and flipping me around so that I crashed into the ground head-first. Another damage notification informed me that my Health was now in the 30s. But then I heard the gory sound of impalement and turned around to a grisly ¨C but fortunate ¨C sight.


    The Level 21 Infernal had been standing in just the wrong ce, and caught two of the ballista bolts to its chest. They¡¯d sunken halfway through before wedging themselves to a stop, poking through its back and causing the Infernal to spurt blood from both its front and back, through both of the newly-created in its upper body.


    It groaned and breathed raggedy breaths, falling to its knees, as the other Infernals stopped to look at it in shock. Sensing my opportunity, I aimed my hand and shot off a couple more Rays of Frost straight at the near-dead Infernal.


    You have struck Level 21 Infernal for 49 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 21 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 70.


    You have struck Level 21 Infernal for 49 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 21 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 47.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 21 Infernal.


    You have earned 282 XP. Your XP is 348.


    I took a breath. With my Mana so low, I wouldn¡¯t be able to handle these five remaining Infernals, much less the entire blockade of soldiers. And I still wasn¡¯t even sure how to get to them if I <em>could</em> fight them off. I had no idea what had blown up the Dryad when she¡¯d tried to cross over the clearing to get to them, or how to avoid it happening to me.


    I backed away from the approaching Infernals as I looked back at Erani, who was still working on getting the injured Dryad to her feet. Were <em>any</em> of us in shape to fight past these enemies? I felt like it was time to cut my losses and activate Time Loop.


    And I almost did, right then.


    But then I had an idea.


    If I epted this timeline as doomed, then there was no reason to get a bit more information out of it before I went back. It¡¯d suck, sure, but being dead because I didn¡¯t know enough would probably suck more. So, y¡¯know, lesser of two evils.


    I backed away from the Infernals more, and more, then turned around and broke into a full sprint toward the soldiers in the barricade. My enemies manning the ballistae and cannons looked at each other, obviously surprised and cautious at my sudden decision to charge at them, but mostly just looked excitedly at me, like they were anticipating a victory. Of course they¡¯d expect a victory, though. I was running straight into their trap.


    I looked down as I ran, trying to peer through the tall grass and find whatever it was that had blown the Dryad up. I searched the dirt for the answer, until¨C


    <em>nk</em>.


    I stepped on a small metal te. About a second after I put my full weight on it, I felt the Enchantment inside activate, and¨C


    You have been blown up. 208 damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have died.


    Well, now I knew what was causing those explosions.

 Chapter 69: Infiltration

    Chapter 69: Infiltration


    I awoke in the in-between ce and shivered. Well, not really shivered ¨C still didn¡¯t have a body in here.


    I knew what I was up against, now I just had to surpass it. I woulde back to a raging forest fire, run from it, and arrive at the line of soldiers that were prepared to block my path.


    I considered trying to go around them, but rejected the idea after a moment¡¯s consideration. I¡¯d seen no end to that blockade the time before, and would only be wasting precious time by taking the detour. There was no reason to believe they¡¯d set it up so that we could just walk around. Why would they? Considering the man-made forest fire and copious amounts of explosives, they were obviously willing to expend massive effort on killing me.


    Besides, at least in the area we¡¯d fought before, I had precious information about what was waiting for me. If I went to a different area in an attempt to find a way around them, what if the types of enemies changed, as well? They could be using different weapons, or on a differentndscape that I had less information about.


    I only had two more tries at this, and I couldn¡¯t waste one on taking a chance that relied on the Demons only setting up the blockade in a random, small section ofnd for no reason. I had to get as much information about this specific area as I could ¨C that would give me my best chance of winning.


    I felt myself beginning to be ejected from the dark space, and hurriedly chose a time to go back to ¨C one hour and thirty minutes ago. Back before we¡¯d even known about the blockade.


    And then I was back, fleeing through the forest next to Erani and the Dryad. I shuddered, breathing heavily and ncing around. The exhaustion from our constant running flooded back into me ¨C even if I was just there for a moment, the sce not having a body provided me was well-appreciated when I was this tired. And, of course,ing back after dying was always a bit disorienting, to say the least.


    I took a breath, pausing to collect my thoughts and calm my nerves. I knew who we were fighting, and what tricks they could pull. They had the advantage in numbers and firepower, but I had the advantage in information.


    ¡­Well, they undoubtedly knew most of what I could do at this point, actually, so it was more like I¡¯d finally evened the ying field in terms of information, and was outmatched in most other ways. But still, I at least had a simple goal toplete. All we had to do was walk forward a couple hundred paces. <em>They</em> had to kill someone who could travel through time.


    Erani looked over at me. She¡¯d walked a bit ahead of me, since I¡¯d stopped to try and figure things out.


    ¡°What is it?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Time Loop,¡± I said, feeling a bit bad for alerting her like this, especially after we¡¯d just resolved my poison crisis. ¡°There¡¯s a blockade ahead of us. Demons.¡±


    Her eyes instantly sharpened. ¡°How close?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got about an hour and a half of travel before we get there. So not too near.¡±


    ¡°But we¡¯ll have to get through them? What ended up going wrong?¡±


    I exined what exactly had happened as we continued on.


    ¡°Landmines, huh?¡± Erani sighed once I was done exining. We¡¯d continued our familiar trek through the forest by now, the Dryad having no idea of whatid ahead of us.


    ¡°Yeah. That seemed to be what they¡¯d done. No idea how many there are, but I¡¯m gonna assume it¡¯s a lot.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the n, then?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Get past them, I guess.¡±


    Sheughed nervously. ¡°Not much of a n.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, I¡¯m not sure what else we could do. There are too many Demons to beat them all in fairbat, not to mention all the Human soldiers. Even if we don¡¯t count the reinforcements that¡¯ll being from the other sections of their encampment once the fighting starts, there are dozens of them in that one area. I literally don¡¯t have the Mana to beat them, and I doubt you do, either. And the Dryad¡¯ll run out of Stamina eventually.¡±


    She pursed her lips, obviously thinking the situation over and trying to figure something out, herself. ¡°And you¡¯re sure the Demons that fought you out there weren''t triggering the mines at all? They weren¡¯t just avoiding stepping on them? Because we could try luring them into the field and pushing them onto the explosives to blow them up.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure the things just weren¡¯t activating from them. I didn¡¯t see any of the Infernals looking down as they crossed the minefield, at least. And they didn¡¯t seem incredibly cautious about it. They could¡¯ve been remotely detonated, honestly. Maybe they just had someone activating them manually when we got close to the mines. Could¡¯ve also been those rings I mentioned before ¨C I never figured out exactly what they do.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯d make sense, I guess. Not sure how they¡¯d know when you stepped on one of them, though. The mines were small and hidden in the grass, right? As for the rings, who knows. It could be an exemption Enchantment, or something, but that seems a bit too expensive to pull off, even for them.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m really not sure.¡±


    We continued through the forest, discussing possible strategies to try and get through the blockade ahead of us, until we eventually arrived at the clearing. We stopped short of revealing ourselves, keeping concealed in the trees.


    ¡°Holy shit,¡± Erani muttered when she saw the encampment ahead of us. ¡°You weren¡¯t joking. That¡¯s a lot of soldiers.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it certainly is.¡± I looked behind us. The smoke was still approaching, closer now than it was before. We had time, but not much.


    ¡°Still think the n¡¯ll work?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not that I think it¡¯ll work, it¡¯s more like I think everything else won¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s confidence-building,¡± she muttered.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°would you rather I build your confidence or tell the truth?¡±


    ¡°Preferably, you could do both.¡±


    ¡°Not happening,¡± I grinned. ¡°Now get ready to go. This n hinges on you, remember.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I remember all too well. That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking you to build my confidence in it.¡±


    ¡°I believe in you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not very confidence-building, and also probably not truthful.¡±


    ¡°Yes to both,¡± Iughed. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡±


    We both sprinted forward into the clearing, followed shortly by the Dryad, who seemed surprised at our sudden charge. She quickly caught up to us with her superior speed, though. The soldiers in the lined-up encampment soon noticed our charge and prepared to attack, the Humans drawing their bows and the Infernals manning the cannons and ballistae.


    By the time we were about seventy paces from the barricade, they unleashed their fire. I ducked and weaved between arrows while still sprinting forward at full speed. Erani blew away the cannon fire with a couple Explosive Firebolts. And the Dryad gracefully leapt over a speeding ballista shot, leaving it to impale a tree behind us.


    While the soldiers reloaded their fire, the six Infernals left the encampment to block our approach. They had been the main thing preventing us from getting any closer the time before, keeping us upied while the soldiers in the back continued to shower us with projectiles, and keeping us too distracted to safely navigate the minefield they¡¯did out before themselves. Not to mention, six Infernals were an incredibly daunting set of foes to fight in the first ce.


    But this time, we had a n to get past them. Once we passed the fifty pace mark, where I¡¯d noticed thendmines cropping up before, Erani and I began scanning the ground, keeping an eye out for any metal tes.


    Now that we knew they were out there, it wasn¡¯t too difficult to avoid them ¨C at least, it wasn¡¯t difficult to avoid them when the Infernals were out of reach and the soldiers were reloading. Whenever I spotted a shine in the grass, I simply averted my course, or stepped off to the side to keep myself from touching it. I had to pull the Dryad out of the way of stepping on them asionally, but she seemed to get the idea of what we were avoiding after a couple times, and began keeping an eye out, herself.


    It seemed like the devices weren¡¯t remotely triggered, considering how long I¡¯d been around them without them going off. Instead, it looked like my initial suspicion of them being triggered by contact was correct. How the Infernals avoided triggering them, I still wasn¡¯t sure. But my suspicion that it had something to do with the rings on their fingers was growing stronger by the moment. Maybe it was as Erani had said, a simple exemption Enchantment? I didn¡¯t know much about that type of magic, but I knew that some rm Enchantments could be bypassed by having certain Enchanted items that specially designated the owners as exceptions to their triggers.


    But that wasn¡¯t something to worry about now. Our six opponents approached and prepared to engage. We didn¡¯t n on granting their wish, though.


    ¡°You¡¯re <em>sure</em> this is safe?¡± Erani asked me as we ran.


    ¡°I saw the damage numbers myself. I should be fine. And I¡¯ve got you to keep me safe, remember?.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s the operative word ¡®should¡¯ there that worries me.¡±


    ¡°Well, you know what they say ¨C action is the enemy of anxiety. So let¡¯s stop thinking and just do it!¡± I held out a hand to block the Dryad from moving forward, which seemed to get the idea across to her that I¡¯d be going ahead without her.


    And then I rushed forward, straight into the crowd of Infernals. Grinning, they stepped toward me,pletely surrounding me on all sides the moment I got within reach. Before any of them could attack, however, I nced down onest time. I spotted a nearbyndmine sitting a few paces in front of me. It was between one of the Infernals¡¯ legs. Now that I¡¯d found it, though, I didn¡¯t avoid it.


    ¡°Now!¡± I yelled back to Erani as I leapt forward and stomped directly on the thin metal te.


    The magic within activated, gathering Mana from the surrounding air. I knew from experience that these things took about a second to go off after you triggered them, so I instantly dove ahead and to the ground, now behind the group of Infernals that were left standing around a bomb about to go off.


    Erani, upon hearing my call,unched off an Explosive Firebolt, aimed at thendmine. Or, really, it was aimed slightly ahead of thendmine, so it would impact the ground between me and it. Just as I hit the ground, Erani¡¯s Firebolt impacted and sted thendmine further away from me, straight into the middle of the group of Infernals.


    And then, a second had passed, and it exploded.


    The detonation shook the ground and sted back all of the Infernals in the fiery inferno. Five of the six stumbled backward andnded on their butts, and the sixth wasunched all the way off its feet, bouncing to the ground a dozen paces away. I¡¯d noticed that Erani¡¯s Firebolt had pushed them away an extra distance in the previous timeline, so logic would dictate thesendmines would, as well. Seemed my bet was on point.


    In the Infernals¡¯ disorientation, Erani was now free to run ahead, and she dragged the Dryad with her. We¡¯d cleared the path to the main blockade, now, but we hadn¡¯t won ¨C not by a long shot. Not only would we have to fight our way through the line of tents and soldiers, we¡¯d also have to get through the minefield. Sure, the Infernals were dealt with for now, but the rest of the soldiers still very much had their weapons, and moving through the field while dodging the barrages of arrows and other projectiles was more than deadly enough.


    Erani arrived and stood next me as I readied myself to charge forward. But just as I did, I heard a noise behind me. ncing behind myself, I saw as the Dryad jumped up onto one of the Infernals¡¯ backs, and then leapt off,unching herself up and ahead of me and Erani.


    And then, I felt a tug on my ankle. I looked down to see that the Dryad¡¯s whip had been wrapped around my foot ¨C and Erani¡¯s, too. The spikes seemed like they¡¯d been retracted into the vine ¨C when the fuck was the Dryad able to do that?


    With a sudden yank, she flung her hand forward, pulling the whip ¨C and thus, us ¨C with her. Sheunched us through the air with the momentum she¡¯d gotten from her leap, as well as a fuckton of manual strength, and I found myself screaming and tumbling through the sky, no idea which way was up. There were apparently a lot more differences between Nymphs and Dryads than I¡¯d originally thought.


    But just as I was reflecting on my ignorance, I hit the ground, mming into the hard dirt and rolling to a stop.


    You have been mmed against something. 24 damage.


    Your Health is 226.


    But I didn¡¯t sit still. The moment I found which way was down, I scrambled to my feet and raised my hand, shooting off Rays of Frost at basically anything nearby that looked capable of movement. We were in the middle of the encampment, soldiers on every side and Infernals bearing down on us. Green tents peppered the surrounding area.


    Damage notifications flooded my view as the already-panicked back-liners were hit with Spell after Spell, and eventually my Mana dropped down to 473. Erani stood soon after, and I watched the familiar white lines of Angelic Shield¡¯s protection fade away while she shot off Explosive Firebolts of her own at Humans and Demons alike, prioritizing those that manned the expensive, fragile-looking cannons and ballistas. It seemed like they were Enchanted with some basic protection Spells to keep them from breaking too easily, but that didn¡¯t mean they were indestructible..


    The Dryadnded gracefully between us as Erani and I shot off our many Spells at the surrounding soldiers. I appreciated the help getting across the minefield, but I also probably would¡¯ve preferred some forewarning.


    Not that she could give us any, though, I sighed to myself.


    With the nearby soldiers disoriented or maimed by our attacks and our position in the enemy lines rtively secure, I prepared to take off and flee into the other side of the forest, getting away from the barricade and the fire and finally being home-free. But just as I began to move, I looked down and realized. There were stillndmines surrounding us.


    Those bastards had filled their own base with explosives!


    I nced around, trying to figure out the best path forward. Soldiers surrounded us, Infernals were getting to their feet, burning rubble from Erani¡¯s Firebolts blocked any straight shots out of the camp, and the rest of the ground was covered in those damned metal tes. How did they even move around in here?


    I nced at the nearby soldiers who were still recovering from our attacks. They all had those rings on their fingers. It had to be that ¨C any remaining doubt about my theory had been washed away, at this point. Those rings, in one way or another, made them exempt to the triggering mechanism of the mines. How else would they have avoided blowing themselves up?


    The soldiers had begun to regroup at this point, the Humans taking up their bows and pointing them at us, and the Infernals taking point, approaching us cautiously. There had to be at least fifty enemies, all with their full attention trained on us.


    ¡°Did your n go past the ¡®getting into the enemy base¡¯ point, by any chance?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°No, not really,¡± I said. ¡°Thought I¡¯d figure it out on the way in. Didn¡¯t think we¡¯d get here so fast.¡±


    ¡°Well your preparation is really showing itself off.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± I took a breath, preparing for a fight. ¡°I¡¯m making another n as we speak.¡±


    ¡°Ah, another n. Those have historically worked out so well for us.¡±


    I grinned. ¡°This one will. We¡¯re getting out of here, and that¡¯s a promise.¡±


    <em>Okay</em>, I thought. <em>Let¡¯s do this</em>.

 Chapter 70: Don’t Mine If I Do

    Chapter 70: Don¡¯t Mine If I Do


    We were surrounded by armed soldiers, standing in the middle of the mine-covered camp of the enemy. Nearest to us were a handful of Infernals, looking bloodthirsty as ever, and further away were the bow-wielding Humans aiming straight at me. And, of course, by our feet were the countless metal mines, ready to explode the moment our feet touched them. Our enemies somehow weren¡¯t triggering them, something I suspected was rted to the copper rings they all wore.


    One of the Humans shot, and the arrow soared toward me with a blue magical force surrounding it ¡ª they probably used a Martial Art, or an Enchanted bow. I ducked down just before the arrow pierced my head, and ran forward.


    Then all the hells broke loose. The Infernals charged, and the rest of the Humans loosed their arrows. Four Infernals seemed specifically intent on attacking me, and so I decided to enact my n on them.


    I scanned the ground for the nearest mine. This was either a great idea, or total suicide. I stomped on it, starting the one second timer until it exploded, then I let my foot slip off and used my toes to flick the thin te of Enchanted metal up into the air. And then, I spun around and kicked it.


    It shot straight at the Infernals and exploded almost immediately after. It didn¡¯t quite have the time to get to them before blowing up, so its st didn¡¯t hurt them much. However, it did blow up near another mine, and its explosion set off a chain reaction, blowing up that mine, and another that was near that one. The string of detonations rocked the ground and sent the Infernals stumbling back.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Iughed, excited and relieved that my n didn¡¯t kill me.


    You have been stabbed by a point. 29 damage.


    Your Health is 197.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± I winced at the arrow that¡¯d been shot straight into my shoulder. I turned around to see two more arrows flying for my head. I quickly shot a Ray of Frost at each, but one of my rays missed, and the arrow it was aimed at continued forward and cut my cheek.


    You have been sliced by a point. 14 damage.


    Your Health is 183.


    ¡°Shit,¡± I stumbled back, still taking care to avoid identally stepping on andmine. I could hear the sound of explosions and fightinging behind me from Erani and the Dryad, no doubt fighting their own battles, but I didn¡¯t have the freedom to help ¨C or even look. One of the Infernals that hadn¡¯t been hit by my explosion stepped up and swung at me. Its footnded right on one of thendmines as it did, but the device obviously didn¡¯t go off. I stepped back to avoid the hit, and had to avert my step from hitting another of the explosives, almost causing me to fall to the ground because of the awkward movement.


    I frowned in frustration. It was so unfair that they could just ignore those. That was the whole point of them putting them here, sure, but that didn¡¯t mean I had to like it. It seemed insanely risky, anyway. Sure, they wouldn¡¯t identally set them off by themselves, but, as had already been shown, they were so close together that they could set off chain reactions when activated and set off even more of the mines. It didn¡¯t look like Erani¡¯s Firebolts set them off ¨C they were probably specially designed to only go off from their own explosions. But still, that just seemed even more reckless. What if there was a massive explosion that blew this whole ce up?


    But, well, I guessed that if that happened, it¡¯d probably kill me, too. And that was their goal, wasn¡¯t it? The Demons were no doubt willing to kill as many people as necessary to get rid of me.


    The Infernal swung again, but because of the mines surrounding me, there wasn¡¯t any way for me to step out of the way. Instead, I put up my arms to try and parry the blow. Surprisingly, that seemed to work better than I¡¯d expected it to, and the Infernal¡¯s attack was repelled as though it was half as strong as it should¡¯ve been.


    I shot off a few Rays of Frost at the Infernal to distract it as I carefully backed my way through the mine-covered area.


    You have struck Level 23 Infernal for 48 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 23 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 404.


    You have struck Level 23 Infernal for 50 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 23 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 381.


    You have struck Level 23 Infernal for 51 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 23 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.7.


    23.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 357.


    I was trying to get to the edge of their camp. The moment I got out of the camp and the minefield, I¡¯d be able to flee at full speed and get away without worrying about the explosives or the fire. The problem was getting there. I was only about fifteen paces away from being free, but those were fifteen long paces. I stepped through, asionally ducking or shooting a Ray of Frost to avoid an arrow, and also trying to move fast enough to keep out of the Infernal¡¯s reach.


    I was making good progress, until I looked over and saw a Human soldier sprinting at me, sword drawn. I dodged another swing by the Infernal and shot another Ray of Frost at the Demon, bringing my Mana down to 288.


    Then, the soldier stepped up to me, once again ignoring the mines littering the ground, and swung his sword diagonally down so it would cut across my chest. I couldn¡¯t step back to dodge ¨C not without looking away to make sure I¡¯d be stepping in a safe ce ¨C so I once again had to resort to raising my arm to parry the strike.


    You have been sliced by a de. 34 damage.


    Your Health is 149.


    The sword cut into my arm, but the angle kept it from going in too deep. Still, my Health was getting low enough that it wasn¡¯t protecting me from hits as much anymore, and I could tell that another hit like that could do some serious damage. I managed to keep the de from hitting anything vital, though, so in the short-term, I was okay.


    I stole a nce at the ground to check if it was safe to step back. It seemed clear for a pace or two, so I moved back to get some distance from my two attackers as I clutched the wound on my arm. My shoulder still hurt from the arrow that was stabbed into it, too.


    The soldier took another swing at me, grunting with effort, but with the little bit of space I¡¯d bought myself, I could just barely maneuver around it. I cast Crippling Chill on him as I dodged the de, hoping to trip him up in the middle of his attack.


    You have cursed Level 9 Human Swordsman with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, he loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and his Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 298.


    But he, like the Infernals, seemed rtively unfazed by the Spell. He definitely moved a bit slower and seemed a bit less coordinated, but normally I saw people tripping over the weight of their bodies the moment the Spell hit them. Sure, he was a Level 9 Melee ss, so his Dexterity would be pretty decent, but it should have been enough of an impact to much more noticeably impair him.


    So I resorted to taking another careful step back and shooting him with a Ray of Frost, lowering his Dexterity even more and covering his dominant shoulder with ayer of frost. With the extra debuff, even with whatever was helping resist it, he was obviously feeling the effects of his sapped Dexterity. As he struggled to lift his sword back up, I stepped forward and punched him across the face


    You have struck Level 9 Human Swordsman for 15 damage using your Fist.


    But then, the Infernal I¡¯d been trying to keep away from caught back up to me, now that I¡¯d focused my magic on the soldier. Before I could do anything else to the man, the Demon stepped up and swung its massive fist down at me, forcing me away. It swung again with a grunt, and I was forced back even further. I didn¡¯t have much room until I was in danger of stepping on another mine.


    ¡°Shit,¡± I muttered and nced around the battlefield, looking for help. The Dryad was fighting with the Archers, zipping between them and making use of both her speed to dodge their shots, and her close-ranged fighting style to disrupt them any time they started to organize themselves. Judging by the dismembered bodies and buckets of blood that covered the surrounding ground, she was winning.


    But she was too far away at this point to help me. Instead of sticking with us in our goal to get to the other side of the camp and escape into the forest, she¡¯d gone off hunting down the enemies throughout the entire camp. Hells, she probably didn¡¯t even know what our goal was here. She might¡¯ve thought that Erani and I really were here to kill everyst Demon and Human in the entire blockade.


    Erani, on the other hand, was much closer. She was hunkered down behind a broken-down ballista, using it for cover from a group of Archers that the Dryad hadn¡¯t yet killed. She was holding back a few Infernals and Swordsmen from attacking her using her Explosive Firebolt, which seemed incredibly effective at sting them back whenever they got too close.


    I ducked under another attack by the Infernal as the soldier got back to his feet. Soon enough, I¡¯d have to face off against both, and I wasn¡¯t confident in my ability to do that when I couldn¡¯t even move around without looking directly downward.


    ¡°Erani!¡± I shouted back at her. She looked over and saw my predicament. I ducked down and hoped she saw what I wanted. Momentster, I was proved to have hoped correctly, and a Firebolt mmed into the Infernal, blowing it back and sending it tumbling over itself.


    I immediately lunged at the soldier, tackling him to the ground and activating Noxious Grasp. He yelped in surprise and pain when I toggled the Spell on, and he fought to throw me off. He had a higher Strength Stat than me for sure, but mine wasn¡¯t abysmally low ¨C it¡¯d been increased to 15 by the random Stat increases I¡¯d gained from Recursive Growth ¨C so I could still put up a fight. And with his still-lowered Dexterity, the quick drain of Stamina from Noxious Grasp and Crippling Chill, and Venomous Grasp doubling it all, he was growing weaker and weaker by the second.


    As we fought, he managed to wrestle one of his hands from my grasp and punched me in the face with a gauntleted fist.


    You have been hit with a fist. 22 damage.


    Your Health is 127.


    Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 9 Human Swordsman.


    You have struck Level 9 Human Swordsman for 116 damage and drained 124 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.


    It also seemed like Crippling Chill¡¯s fifteen seconds were up. I noticed the Stamina drain on the Spell was much higher than expected ¨C it was normally smaller than damage, notrger ¨C but then I remembered that, for some of the Spell¡¯s time, the soldier had been infected with Venomous Grasp, which doubled Stamina drain. So it¡¯d increased Crippling Chill¡¯s effectiveness for that time, too.


    Still, despite his lower Stamina, my opponent got a new light in his eyes now that the Dexterity debuff was no more. It was like a massive weight had just been lifted off of him. He swung at me again with renewed ferocity, but I managed to move my head out of the way at thest moment to avoid being hit. I needed to end this soon.


    I pulled back and wrapped a hand around his face, palm touching his nose and eye, and cast Ray of Frost some number of times that I didn¡¯t bother counting. The beams shot straight into his face, dealing a perfect 53 damage each time. He screamed in pain as his face was covered in ice from the repeated impacts of the Spell in the exact same spot. He may have had the Stamina to punch at me another time, but he obviously didn¡¯t have enough to fight me off entirely.


    After thest ray, he stopped moving, and I got a notification.


    You have struck Level 9 Human Swordsman for 180 damage and drained 181 Stamina over the course of 11.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    52.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 63.


    You have in Level 9 Human Swordsman.


    Due to killing a member of your own species, you have earned 0 XP.


    I sighed. I didn¡¯t like killing my fellow man. I didn¡¯t know his circumstances, whether he truly hated me or if he was being forced into this by the kingdom, whether he was fighting to protect a family, nothing. But it had to be done. When he attacked me, we entered an agreement that we were going to try and kill each other. He knew it was possible he would die. I didn¡¯t like killing people, but if they forfeited that right to safety by attacking me, I would do what I had to.


    I nced over. The Infernal that Erani had blown up was getting back to its feet. I¡¯d have to hurry. I¡¯d killed that man instead of just fleeing from him for a specific reason, and I hoped it would pay off. Examining the corpse¡¯s hand, I saw it had what I needed. So, I slipped the bronze ring off his finger, and then hurriedly stuffed it onto mine. It didn¡¯t fit perfectly, but it didn¡¯t need to in order to take effect.


    You are now using Enchanted Item: Ring of Buoyancy


    You have the following effects:


    While wearing this ring, your weight is decreased by 70%.


    I immediately felt the Enchantment¡¯s effects. My entire body was lighter. I could move more easily, my feet dug less into the ground, and I generally felt less dragged down by the world around me. No wonder these guys didn¡¯t react as much to my Dexterity-debuffing effects ¨C that would pretty much only cancel out the effects of the ring. Right now I felt incredibly agile and like it would be trivial to move from one ce to another, so if my Dexterity got lowered, it¡¯d probably just feel like it was back to normal.


    And it was also no wonder why they kept getting blown back so far from Erani¡¯s Firebolts. If they weighed so much less, they¡¯d obviously be much more susceptible to the force of explosions.


    But that still left the question of why they didn¡¯t activate the mines. There wasn¡¯t anything on here about not triggering Enchantments on other items, which would have been said if it had been the case. If the mines triggered on contact, how were they avoiding getting blown up whenever they stepped on them?


    ¡­Unless they weren¡¯t triggered on contact at all. I looked down at the corpse of the man next to me.


    Sorry buddy, I thought. Your body¡¯s being involuntarily donated to scientific experimentation.


    I grabbed the body and lifted it up into my arms, the action slightly easier due to the weight of my own body being so much less. Then I turned to face the Infernal, which had gotten to its feet by now and begun charging at me. I took a step forward, right up to a mine thaty between us, and dropped the body. Then I turned and ran.


    About a secondter, just as predicted, the mine blew up, throwing the Infernal back, and me off my feet and into the air. That proved that, even if it didn¡¯t explicitly say anything about it, these rings were what prevented them from triggering those mines. And it also proved that they were the reason they were so affected by explosions, as I found myself thrown much further back than I should have been. My semi-weightless body flipped through the air and tumbled uncontrobly into the ground, and I found myself mming into multiple of those Enchanted explosives along the way.


    I braced myself, but nothing happened. No explosions. So I was immune now, too. And I was pretty sure I knew how, at that point. The mines weren¡¯t contact-triggered, they were weight-triggered. And they seemed to be tuned so that they would only trigger upon being pushed on by the weight of a person at normal gravity, not someone with the rings.


    But now that I was wearing a ring, I could walk freely across the mines. It was time to finally get out of here.

 Chapter 71: Opportunity

    Chapter 71: Opportunity


    I stood in the middle of the bloody battlefield that was the enemy¡¯s barricade camp. It was our barrier to getting away from the wildfire that was slowly approaching, and absolutely crawling with Infernals, Human soldiers, and most importantly, weight-triggered explosives. Those thin metal tes had been scattered from end to end of the camp, and, if I stepped on any of them, they¡¯d explode and kill me.


    Except now, they wouldn¡¯t. I¡¯d looted an Enchanted ring from one of the soldiers I¡¯d killed, and it reduced my weight by 70%. Now, I could step on the mines all I liked. Still, that was only one of the obstacles here.


    I ducked under a massive swinging fist.


    The other obstacles would be the enemies themselves. The Infernal that had run up to me after seeing my fight with the others stomped and roared as I scrambled away from it. I was getting low on Health, at a threatening 127, and my Mana was also incredibly drained, at 63. Winning a fight against an Infernal in my current state was pretty much impossible. But I didn¡¯t have to win, I just had to escape.


    I nced beside me. Erani wasn¡¯t too far away, and was currently running away from a couple of Swordsman-ssed soldiers. She vaulted over some rubble and turned around, shooting off a Firebolt and sting them back and to the ground.


    ¡°Mana?¡± I shouted across the battlefield at her.


    She looked back at me. ¡°Not much!¡±


    She nced at the ground and adjusted her footing, seeming to make sure she wasn¡¯t stepping on one of the Enchanted metal tes. I needed to get her one of those rings so we could get out of here. The Dryad was pretty far off at this point, and it¡¯d be difficult tomunicate to her to put one on, but she seemed to be doing just fine without a ring, honestly. When we took off, she could just notice and follow.


    There were no dead soldiers in our immediate vicinity that we could take one from, so we¡¯d just have to make one. I looked over at the duo of soldiers she¡¯d just hit back with her Firebolt. They were already getting back to their feet, but seemed damaged enough.


    The sound of stomping behind me grew louder as the chasing Infernal caught up. I leapt to the side just in time to dodge a mad swipe, and then ran straight for the two Swordsmen. I wasn¡¯t so insane as to think I could take both of them on in my state, but someone else could. They got to their feet and raised their des preparing to fight me as the Infernal stomped in pursuit, ready to catch me between the two fronts of attack.


    The Infernal was hot on my heels, rearing back for a strike, and ahead were the two Swordsmen readying attacks of their own. But just before I ran into the soldiers¡¯ des, I put as much strength into my legs as I could, and leapt up. The Enchanted ring lowering my weight allowed me to jump much higher than normal, and I soared straight over the heads of the two wide-eyed men,nding on the ground behind them. The Infernal couldn¡¯t stop its arm mid-swing, and it crashed into its allies, flinging them away. Thanks to the same property of their rings, they tumbled across the ground, flying into what looked like a supply tent.


    But the Infernal was still right behind me, and it hadn¡¯t been slowed much. But as I ran, I realized something. If these mines were triggered by my natural weight, and the rings only decreased weight by 70%, that meant the Infernals, which were much bigger than me, must¡¯ve been just barely toeing the weight limit, even with the rings on. So, if that was the case¡­


    I activated Gravity Well, targeting the pursuing Infernal. Normally, given the abysmal state of my current Mana, wasting the limited supply on a costly Spell like that would¡¯ve been a terrible idea. But with our unique circumstances, it was uniquely effective.


    The moment I toggled the Spell on, I heard the Infernal¡¯s footstepse to a screeching halt as it no doubt struggled to avoid stepping on the explosives littering the area. Once the Infernal stopped, I toggled the Spell off to save Mana, and it instantly charged at me again, and so I switched the Spell back on. I kept toggling it off and on in half-second intervals to make sure the Infernal could never move freely.


    But still, my Mana couldn¡¯tst for long.


    ¡°Erani!¡± I called over, and pointed at the two soldiers. ¡°Grab a ring from one of them!¡±


    She seemed to understand, and sprinted to the tent they crashed into while I backed away from the Infernal. I¡¯d need to buy myself more time with Gravity Well, so I had to let it off for now, and only use it when absolutely necessary. The Infernal immediately charged and swung, but I managed to sidestep and back away safely. Normally, it¡¯d be much harder to avoid its strikes, but the ring gave me a much freer range of movement and I didn¡¯t struggle too much with the Infernal¡¯s attacks.


    Of course, that¡¯d onlyst until another of our scattered enemies decided to join the foray, so I needed Erani to hurry. I nced over, and saw that she seemed to be having trouble approaching the soldiers. They were lying in the wreckage of the tent they crashed into, but Erani seemed unable to climb into that wreckage for some reason. She kept trying to step into the mess of canvas and wood, but withdrawing after failing to find a ce to stand. Was there something there preventing her from cing her feet down?


    I looked more closely, still taking care to dodge the Infernal¡¯s wide swings, and saw the problem. Apparently, that tent was a storage depot. A storage depot for more explosives. Mines absolutely covered the ground and wreckage ¨C I could see more steel tes than grass in that entire area. There was no way Erani could get through without triggering at least one of them. And even if she did trigger one and manage to get out of <em>its</em> st radius in time, the chain reaction made by the hundreds of explosives in that area would probably decimate this entire section of the blockade. Everyone would die, us included.


    I grit my teeth. Seemed like I¡¯d have to retrieve it.


    ¡°Cover me from the Infernal!¡± I yelled and ran to the tent where Erani was.


    She turned and faced the Demon as I arrived at the crashed tent with the unconscious men lying on the canvas. The explosive tes really were everywhere. A st came from behind from one of Erani¡¯s Firebolts impacting against the Infernal.


    ¡°Only a couple shots left,¡± she said back to me.


    I hurriedly climbed into the wreckage and waded toward the soldiers lying inside. Even with the reduced gravity, it was difficult to get through. I tripped over loose canvas and broken tent poles, and, even if I wasn¡¯t triggering them, the hundreds of mines got in the way, too.


    Eventually, though, I got to the two unconscious soldiers, bending over and grabbing the hand of the closest one ¨C a woman with messy hair spilling from her helmet. I lifted her up and began tugging the ring off her finger. It was slightly too small, it seemed, and I had a bit of trouble getting it off. But as I pulled, her eyes fluttered open. She looked around, confused, before locking her eyes onto me. She sputtered in shock and hurriedly reached for a knife on her side.


    But before she could swing it at me, I grabbed the ring on her finger and let go of her hand, so I was only holding onto her by the bronze. Then, I lifted my foot up and stomped down on her chest. She coughed in pain and was shoved down as I held tightly onto the ring. With that force, she fell and the ring popped off. She tumbled to the ground, narrowly missing a nearby mine. Now that she no longer had the ring, she¡¯d trigger them if she put too much of her weight on any.


    I kicked the piles of nearby explosive tes around her as she got to her feet, creating a thick circle of deadly traps that she couldn¡¯t get through.


    ¡°Step on any, and you die,¡± I said. ¡°Wait for someone else toe by and let you out. Don¡¯t kill yourself trying to stop me.¡±


    I heard another explosion as Erani shot at the Infernal another time. I turned and went over to her, where she was standing guard and protecting me.


    She looked over. ¡°You get it? What do the rings do, anyway?¡±


    ¡°Lower your weight,¡± I said as I grabbed her hand and slipped the ring over her finger. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t trigger the mines anymore.¡±


    ¡°Oh, thank the gods. Those things almost killed me half a dozen times by now.¡±


    I nced around at our surroundings. The battle that¡¯d proceeded thus far had cleared out most of our enemies. The Dryad had done the majority of that work, I suspected. She was off in the distance, still running through the camp and bringing the hells to earth for her poor enemies.


    Must¡¯ve been nostalgic for the Demons, I thought.


    But there were still plenty of Infernals and Humans near us, recovering from the various scuffles we¡¯d had with them. And the Dryad was only covering us from one side. From the other, reinforcements were still arriving. I could see a few such reinforcements approaching now ¨C a squad of yet more Infernals. Seemed like at least ten of them.


    ¡°C¡¯mon. Now that we can move around, we need to get out,¡± I said.


    Erani nodded. The camp itself was only about twenty paces across, with the minefield extending about fifty paces further in either direction. So, now that the mines weren¡¯t a problem anymore, we didn¡¯t actually have much in between us and freedom. Just a short distance, and we were out.


    I grabbed Erani¡¯s hand and pulled her along with me, heading for the forest.


    ¡°What about the Dryad?¡± she asked.


    ¡°She¡¯ll figure out that we¡¯re leaving. No real way to tell her.¡±


    Erani looked over at the distant Dryad, off fighting against the Humans and Demons that technically had nothing against her. Her only crime was allying with me. If she knew that the reason they were fighting her was because of me, would she be angry? Try to kill me?


    I supposed I couldn¡¯t worry about that, for now. The squad of Infernals continued in their approach toward us, and there were even more that were approaching even closer.


    We ran, bounding freely across the field and toward the forest¡¯s edge. With the help of the rings we wore, we could move much faster, and outpaced the chasing Infernals. And Erani used herst few Firebolts to st back anything that got too close, using their own rings against them.


    I eyed the depot of explosives as we ran. There were even more of those tents scattered throughout the camp. If I could get one to explode from a distance, I could take out this entire camp. We wouldn¡¯t have to worry about pursuers, or anything. And the XP gain would be massive. But I couldn¡¯t figure out a way to do that.


    Erani¡¯s explosions wouldn¡¯t trigger them ¨C I¡¯d already seen that. It seemed like they were specially enchanted to only trigger by weight, or by the explosions of other mines. So the only way to start a chain reaction like that would be to get something heavy to drop on them. And if we were close enough to drop something heavy, we were close enough to die in the following explosion.


    Of course, there was the possibility of Gravity Well. But now that our enemies were alert to our presence, there¡¯d be no way they¡¯d stray so close to those depots that I could use it to force them to set it off. And even if I could, everyone was so spread out now that it¡¯d barely even do anything.


    But I couldn¡¯t stop thinking about the amount of XP that woulde from this. And the devastation of the enemy forces. Dozens of Infernals would die in the explosion, maybe more. We could push away the enemy from immediately pursuing us, we¡¯d dissuade the Humans from working with the Demons because of the catastrophic failure, we¡¯d get rid of a decent chunk of enemy forces.


    And, of course, l¡¯d probably get enough XP to get to my next Level if I could somehow pull it off. At Level 12, I¡¯d get a new Spell Choice, increase my Soft Cap¡­ Hells, maybe the XP would even be enough to push me all the way to 13, too.


    The only way to do this right would be to go back using Time Loop ¨C myst usage of the day. If I fucked it up, I¡¯d be dead for good. But then, where was the guarantee that we¡¯d survive if we ran now?


    I looked back as we retreated from our enemies. They knew how to find us ¨C obviously they did, if they could pull this shit off. And even if we escaped now, what was the guarantee they wouldn¡¯t just do it again? I couldn¡¯t fight off a force like this every day ¨C hells, my Health was so low, I¡¯d barely be able to survive a fight with anything. Our enemies were upping their game, and we needed to as well.


    We were close to freedom from this damned blockade and the fire behind us. In fact, we¡¯d pretty much gotten it already. But with the information I¡¯d gotten here, maybe I could get something a bit better than a sessful retreat. It¡¯d cost myst use of Time Loop for the day, but if I didn¡¯t do this now, I¡¯d most likely end up using it up on escaping our pursuing forces a couple hours in the future. And when that happened, even if I ended up escaping, I¡¯d find myself just as weak and powerlesspared to our enemies as I always had been.


    But here, I was looking at a massive opportunity. Use my safety now, and I¡¯ll end up not having to even need it in the future.


    If I yed my cards right, I could demolish the enemy forces and get myself a couple Levels along the way. I¡¯d have to do this once more, but this time I had a n. This time I knew exactly how I could win. There were no more variables. The extra Levels, the demolition of our enemies ¨C this would be a huge blow to them.


    Winning a war starts with winning a single battle. And I was about to get myself on that victory streak.


    I activated Time Loop.

 Chapter 72: Explosive Growth

    Chapter 72: Explosive Growth


    Erani, the Dryad, and I stood at the edge of the forest, looking over the campsite that was our target. I watched the storage depot that was full of explosives, trying to find a time when the most Infernals were nearby. If I blew the whole thing up, it¡¯d certainly hurt everyone within a wide radius, but it most likely wouldn¡¯t kill any Infernals that weren¡¯t close by. I knew from experience just how much damage those things could sponge up.


    From activating Time Loop, my Health and Mana were reset ¨C that much was needed for this n to go off smoothly. I needed Mana to get the explosion to go off, and Health to survive it. Ideally, I¡¯d be far enough away to prevent myself from taking the bulk of the damage, but I still needed as much of a shield as possible. Gravity Well¡¯s range was okay, but not far enough to totally avoid the damage.


    Erani, when I first exined it to her, was disapproving. Not that I med her. It probably didn¡¯t sound good to say ¡®we escaped, but then I went back to do it again because I want XP.¡¯ But I truly felt like it was the only way to survive in the future. We were simply outmatched as-is, and I needed to even things out between us and our enemies.


    Truthfully, my main worry didn¡¯t actually have anything to do with the n itself. It was the fact that I was trying to be stealthy while I had Dryad right next to me. I was sure she had the capacity to stay hidden, but I wasn¡¯t too confident in my ability to convey that to her. How was I supposed to tell her that the way we were dealing with these enemies was not going to be the same as how we killed the other enemies?


    Thankfully, Erani agreed to help keep her back if anything seemed like it would go wrong. I trusted her ability to do so ¨C out of the two of us, the Dryad seemed to get along with Erani more. I wasn¡¯t quite sure why, though. Must¡¯ve been a difference between our personalities. I knew the Dryad could read emotions, so maybe she just liked what she read from Erani more?


    ¡°How are we going to know when you¡¯re done and it¡¯s safe toe out?¡± Erani asked me as we looked ahead.


    ¡°You¡¯ll know when the entire ce blows up,¡± I said without looking over. I was focusing on crafting my n.


    My first step would be actually getting close enough to the depot without being spotted. I wished I could just use Erani and the Dryad as a distraction, but if they tried to pull attention away from that area, they¡¯d also be pulling our targets away from the st¡¯s source ¨C making this entire thing pointless.


    But there were still methods to do what I needed to do.


    I needed to stop stalling. The fire was creeping up behind us, however slowly, and this wouldn¡¯t be any easier if I waited longer.


    ¡°Going out,¡± I said.


    Erani just pursed her lips and nodded.


    I got down to the ground, lying prone so my belly was on the dirt, and began slowly crawling into the tall grass in front of me. The field was thick enough that it should¡¯ve hidden me well enough, as long as I didn¡¯t make any sudden movements or make much noise.


    Within a few seconds, I was fully into the vegetation, and could no longer see around myself. I continued crawling in a straight line, navigating using my general sense of direction. It was itchy and ufortable to be in such a position for so long, but I shook off any desires to stand up and get a nice stretch in, and kept moving.


    Minutes passed as I continued to make my snail¡¯s pace through the field of grass, wriggling my way through. Enough time passed that I began to worry I¡¯d somehow gotten myself turned around in my blind crawl. But soon enough, I finally made it to a new milestone ¨C the minefield.


    There were a total of about one hundred paces between my starting point of the treeline, and the mine depot. Fifty of those paces were made up of in field, and another fifty were of this explosive-ridden ground. All I needed to do was get within thirty paces of the depot. So, if I¡¯d gotten to the mines, I only needed to go twenty further.


    Of course, this second half would be much more dangerous to traverse than the first. I didn¡¯t have that Enchanted ring anymore ¨C I¡¯d left that in the previous timeline ¨C so I was vulnerable to blowing myself up again. Fun.


    But I wasn¡¯t being chased or anything, so I just had to take things slowly and I¡¯d get through. I kept moving, gradually pushing through the grass and revealing bits more of the path ahead of me. Anytime I saw the signature shine of those Enchanted tes of metal, I veered away and took a wide arc around it. Didn¡¯t want any idents happening.


    As I got closer and closer to the camp, my nerves got worse and worse. I was only getting easier to spot as I neared the guards. And the longer I took, slowly weaving through the mine-ridden ground, the higher the chances. But I calmed myself and reminded myself to stick to the n. Nervousness would just make me sloppy.


    I had no real way to gauge my distance from the depot ¨C not without popping up for a look, which would¡¯ve been a terrible idea ¨C so I had to estimate. Once I felt like I¡¯d gone at least twenty paces into the minefield, I stopped and took a breath. I¡¯d gotten within thirty paces of my target. Next, I had to clear the mines out of this area. That¡¯d be a bit harder than moving in a straight line.


    The reason I had to do this was out of safety. I was about to create a massive explosion. It seemed like these mines weren¡¯t triggered by other random detonations, but they <em>were</em> triggered by each other¡¯s. So, if I was about to blow up an entire depot¡¯s worth, I definitely wouldn¡¯t want any extra lying around me. So I spent the next few minutes gently kicking and pushing all the metal I could see as far away from my ¡®home base¡¯ as I could, while also moving as little as I could, so I didn¡¯t get caught.


    With that, I was finally in position and ready to begin what I deemed the ¡®action phase.¡¯ It was named that because things were going to get a bit hectic.


    The reason for that was simple: I was gonna leave cover. I had to. For this n to work, I would need line-of-sight on that depot, and there was simply no real way to do that while staying hidden from sight and also keeping close. Unfortunately, I¡¯d just have to deal with it, and do everything quickly once people noticed me.


    There was one more thing making me hesitate. I was eager to get rid of these Demon bastards. But the Humans¡­ Sure, some of them were probably perfectly sympathetic with the Demons. But others weren¡¯t. They could¡¯ve had their lives threatened ¨C or the lives of their families. Some of them didn¡¯t want to be here.


    But then, neither did I. It was us against them, no matter the reason. Either I died or they died. And I sure as hells wasn¡¯t going to let it be me.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I whispered to myself. ¡°We¡¯re doing this. And, go.¡±


    I popped up from the grass, my head peeking above as I quickly scanned the area for my target. I¡¯d slightly overshot my distance,nding closer to twenty-five paces from the depot than thirty, but overshooting was fine. As long as I was within range.


    It didn¡¯t take long before our enemies saw me. Humans manning the siege weapons shouted to each other and began hurriedly loading ammunition into their ballistas and cannons, and the Infernals saw me and grouped up, preparing to move forward as the front-liners. I kept an eye on the Infernals. All I needed was for one of them to make a single, fatal w.


    One of the Infernals manning a ballista put a hand on the release handle, gripping it and readying itself to release the massive bolt flying in my direction. But just as I saw its arm flex to pull andunch it, the weapon exploded.


    I nced back to see Erani behind me, hands up after she shot a Firebolt at that ballista. She¡¯d bought me a couple seconds, but she couldn¡¯t take down everyone who wanted to shoot something my way ¨C especially once the archers loosed their barrages of arrows.


    But I just needed one of the Infernals to take a single wrong step. I kept my eyes on that depot. They were scrambling about, but none had passed by it yet. Damned Demons and their dumb luck.


    But after a couple seconds, one of them looked me in the eyes, punched its fist into its palm with a sadistic grin on its inhuman face, and took a step forward.


    Right where I needed it to be.


    Its foot headed down toward a mine that was lying directly next to the depot. Before its foot fell on the te of metal, I cast Gravity Well on the Infernal. I watched its eyes widen as it suddenly fell forward at a much faster pace. 45% faster, to be exact.


    These mines worked on weight, and the bronze rings reduced the weight of the guards enough so that they wouldn¡¯t trigger the mines. However, they still needed the mines to trigger from <em>me</em>. With the rings only reducing weight by 70%, those massive Infernals had to be skirting the line pretty closely. So, even though Gravity Well didn¡¯t increase their weight back to its original value, for an Infernal, it was certainly enough to pass that trigger point for the mines.


    Its foot impacted the Enchanted sheet of metal, hard. And I saw it look around in a panic for exactly one second. After that one second, I wentpletely blind and deaf.


    You have been blown up. 138 damage.


    Your Health is 152.


    The shockwave felt like it had to have been felt around the entire world. I was sted back by the massive explosion, my vision spinning as I tumbled through the air. My ears rang from the deafening noise that came with the shockwave.


    And then, of course, there were the notifications.


    System notifications tapped straight into the mind, rying information directly into the consciousness of a person. I¡¯d heard about notification sickness before ¨C being so overwhelmed by such a huge amount of System information being pumped into the mind at the same time, that it caused physical pain and disorientation ¨C but I¡¯d never experienced it. Until now, that is.


    You have struck Level 21 Infernal for 1056 damage using Explosion.


    You have struck Level 7 Human Archer for 377 damage using Explosion.


    You have struck Level 9 Human Swordsman for 849 damage using Explosion.


    You have struck Level 24 Infernal for 751 damage using Explosion.


    You have struck Level 27 Infernal for 913 damage using Explosion.


    You have struck Level 8 Human Archer for 235 damage using Explosion.


    You have struck Level 25 Infernal for 601 damage using Explosion.


    You have struck Level 10 Human Archer for 318 damage using Explosion.


    You have struck Level 7 Human Swordsman for 922 damage using Explosion.


    You have struck Level 26 Infernal for 360 damage using Explosion.


    I received easily over a hundred damage notifications, detailing who I damaged, what Level they were, and how much damage was dealt. All of this within a fraction of a second. And, of course, all of this at the same time that I, myself, was flying through the air from the explosion that damaged them.


    By the time I finished tumbling through the same grass I¡¯d just spent the past quarter hour crawling my way across, the damage notifications stopped, too. But that wasn¡¯t everything the System wanted to tell me, of course.


    You have in Level 9 Human Swordsman.


    Due to killing a member of your own species, you have earned 0 XP.


    You have in Level 21 Infernal.


    You have earned 421 XP. Your XP is 769.


    You have in Level 6 Human Archer.


    Due to killing a member of your own species, you have earned 0 XP.


    You have in Level 10 Human Archer.


    Due to killing a member of your own species, you have earned 0 XP.


    You have in Level 8 Human Swordsman.


    Due to killing a member of your own species, you have earned 0 XP.


    You have in Level 23 Infernal.


    You have earned 463 XP. Your XP is 1232.


    The kill notifications were, of course, less plentiful than the damage notifications. Most of them were made up of Human kills that didn¡¯t give any XP, too.


    But even with only a handful of Infernal kills, my XP rose astronomically. I needed 700 XP to get to Level 12. After the first Infernal killed, I¡¯d already reached that goal. Next, I¡¯d need 800 for Level 13. I felt the information beam into my skull that yes, that too had been achieved. After that, I¡¯d need 900 for 14. At first, I thought I might get halfway there. Maybe I¡¯d end up with only a hundred more needed XP, and it¡¯d be a cakewalk to get to Level 14. But, as the kill notifications were dying down, I felt thest bit of XP trickle in to reach that goal, too.


    After thest Infernal kill, I was left at Level 14, with an extra 341 XP left to go toward the 1000 needed for Level 15.


    All of that happened in an instant. The same instant that I rolled to a stop at the ground. I opened my eyes to see vomit on the ground in front of my mouth. Evidently, all that information had been too much for my stomach to handle. That, or maybe it was the rolling from the explosion. Probably both. But despite the disgust and pain, I couldn¡¯t help but smile. Three more notifications rolled in ¨C the three I was waiting for.


    Threshold reached. 700 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 12.


    Due to achieving Level 12 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 2 Endurance, 1 Dexterity, and 1 Conjuration.


    -Soft Cap has increased to Rank 7.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 12.


    -You may choose a Spell to learn.


    Threshold reached. 800 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 13.


    Due to achieving Level 13 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Strength, 2 Conjuration, and 1 Intelligence.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 13.


    Threshold reached. 900 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 14.


    Due to achieving Level 14 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Endurance, 1 Dexterity, 1 Conjuration, and 1 Intelligence.


    -Soft Cap has increased to Rank 8.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 14.


    My Soft Cap increased two separate times, Time Loop Ranked up three times, and, of course, the Stats. I didn¡¯t have the capacity of mind to count it all, but three Levels worth of Stats, plus the Stat Points, <em>plus</em> the 12 random Stats from Recursive Growth¡­ it was a lot. A huge amount. I could physically feel myself growing more powerful, literally. The Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, all of iting in so suddenly made me feel materially stronger. The Endurance helped with the pain, too, which was nice.


    And, on top of all that, I got another Spell Choice. One more tool to add to my arsenal. I couldn¡¯t wait to see what my options would be. And, now that I was at Level 14, my next step would be Leveling to 15 ¨C something that would get me a new Talent <em>and</em> another Spell to add on top of the one I already got.


    But then, I felt another notificatione in. That was strange ¨C it felt different from all the others. It wasn¡¯t a damage notification, not a kill, not even a Level up. I tried to calm myself down and focus on the information the System was telling me.


    Feat of excellence performed. You have gained 3 or more Levels over the course of a single minute.


    You have gained the Devastator Title.


    I mentally stared at what I was being told. A Title? A fucking Title?!


    Most people didn¡¯t get a single Title over the course of their entire lives, but apparently, I now had two. Sure, the Trailzer one wasn¡¯t really through any achievement of my own, but this ¨C I¡¯d actually earned it. I couldn¡¯t focus enough on pulling up the full description of what the Title did, though, what with the massive explosion I¡¯d just survived and the insane headache from the notification sickness. For now, I needed to focus on getting out of here alive. If I died, this would all be for nothing ¨C I had no more uses of Time Loop left, after all.


    I heard myself groan and cough ¨C something I wasn¡¯t even aware I was doing. My mind was so upied by the System¡¯s information overload that it seemed I¡¯d somewhat blocked out my surroundings. But, with the barrage of notifications over, I was slowly recovering.


    ¡°¨CAn!¡± I heard a voice. Something hoisted me to my feet. I blinked wearily and saw Erani looking at me with worried eyes. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Mmpgh,¡± I replied. Okay, maybe I wasn¡¯t recovering as much as I thought I was.


    ¡°We need to go. Now.¡± She lifted my arm around her shoulder, supporting me in my unsteady stance, and turned me to face the camp we¡¯d need to go through to get to the other side of the forest.


    Or, rather, what was left of the camp.


    It waspletely decimated. Wreckage. Actually, wreckage wasn¡¯t even an urate descriptor. A better word would be ¡®crater.¡¯ There was nothing left behind after the explosion but a massive hole in the ground. ckened dirt smoldered. Dry grass burned. There were no signs of life.


    I looked over to see the Dryad kneeling by the edge of the crater. She was doing something, but my blurry eyes couldn¡¯t make it out as we approached. The battle wasn¡¯t won just yet, so I needed to focus up. We may have destroyed that section of camp, but the blockade was long, and we¡¯d certainly made enough of amotion to get the attention of the soldiers further down in the line of tents and weapons. They¡¯d be on their way, and we needed to flee. Fast. No time for dys.


    Erani led me through the wreckage left behind by the explosion. There weren¡¯t even any recognizable bodies left behind. Just a massive hole in the ground with some suspicious piles of ck. As we passed the Dryad on the edge of the crater, Erani grabbed her shoulder and lifted her up, urging her along with a gesture. I could see, now that we were closer, that she was kneeling by the crater in order to try and put out the various small fires lining the edge of the explosion site.


    But, at Erani¡¯s request, she stood and came along, ncing back only once to look at the destruction left behind.


    As I began to hear the distant shouts of soldiers approaching the st site, we passed through the treeline and into the forest. We¡¯d finally made it through. And, despite my battered state, I was happier than ever with the results.


    Three Levels. <em>Three</em> fucking Levels. And on top of that, a new Title.


    It was time to look through everything I¡¯d just gotten.

 Chapter 73: Tasty Titles

    Chapter 73: Tasty Titles


    Erani helped me through the forest for about an hour before we had to take a break. I was burned, battered, burdened by notification sickness, and couldn¡¯t walk on my own. Erani was in no shape to support my entire weight for that long, either.


    Once we were a good distance away and sure we hadn¡¯t been followed, we sat down. The moment I was no longer wrapped around Erani¡¯s shoulder, she copsed on the ground. I didn¡¯t realize just how exhausted she obviously was, and felt bad for burdening her so much. But I was just as tired, so Iy on the dirt, rubbing my eyes in an unsessful attempt to remedy my headache. It reminded me of that stress I used to feel from my rigorous practice with Noxious Grasp ¨C back when I¡¯d first been lost in the woods.


    The Dryad seemed to understand that we were taking a break, and sat down next to us. She closed her eyes, seeming to meditate in a simr way Erani or I would in order to manage our Level-ups. It was strange ¨C I¡¯d never seen her do that before.


    But now wasn¡¯t the time to ponder what our monster ally was doing. I had Level-ups of my own to manage, and I was excited to see what I got. First, I opened up my Status.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    <strong>16</strong>


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>14</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>31</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>341</strong>/<strong>1k</strong>


    Dexterity:


    <strong>15</strong>


    Health:


    <strong>24</strong>/<strong>310</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.1122</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>74</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>93</strong>/<strong>139</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.93</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>18</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>830</strong>/<strong>830</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>16.02</strong>


    <strong>Stat Points:</strong>


    <strong>9</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>[Spell Choice Avable]</strong>


    Regenerate


    <strong>Devastator</strong>


    Gravity Well 6 - XP <strong>4</strong>/66


    Recursive Growth


    Trailzer


    Ray of Frost 6 - XP <strong>11</strong>/66


    Time Loop <strong>14</strong>


    +Extended Loop


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP <strong>101</strong>/355


    Noxious Grasp 10 - XP <strong>98</strong>/461


    +Venomous Grasp


    Just about everything had increased ¨C and by a lot. My Mana/Minute was at 16, making it quicker than ever to get Spell XP. My Health/Minute had finally surpassed 0.1, so I was officially gaining a point of Health every ten minutes ¨C still incredibly slow, but much better than before. My Stamina/Minute was approaching 1, which would make my Regenerate Talent much more efficient. And, of course, my maximum Health, Stamina, and Mana had all increased by quite a bit, too. That milestone of 1000 Mana was approaching more quickly than ever.


    In addition to all that, my Intelligence had also passed 16. I¡¯d noticed that my Intelligence Information Ranks increased at every 4 points of Intelligence, so I must¡¯ve gotten something and missed it in the flood of other notifications.


    Intelligence threshold reached. 16 Intelligence.


    Your Intelligence information rank has increased.


    Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -Trailzer Title has begun collecting data on holder. All future thoughts, decisions, actions, emotions, and movements will be logged.


    -Logged data will be used as Intelligence Information Rank increases further.


    I read through this notification once, then again.


    ¡­What?


    It definitely wasn¡¯t the same as the other Intelligence Information Ranks I¡¯d gotten in the past. Those all had a definitive, noticeable effect, telling me what I may be offered in the future depending on my choices. But this¡­


    What did it mean by ¡®collecting data¡¯? Thoughts, decisions, actions ¨C how would it keep track of them? Could I see the log it was keeping?


    I tried to coerce the System to pull open this ¡®log¡¯ of my thoughts, but couldn¡¯t. Seemed like that wasn¡¯t for my eyes. But would it really include everything? I knew the System had ess to my mind ¨C how else would I be controlling it ¨C but it felt a bit intrusive for it to so explicitly say it could read my thoughts.


    And what was it even doing with them? Presumably, for now, it was just keeping track. But it said that in the future, the data would be ¡®used¡¯. Used how? How could it even help me by knowing what I thought? I also knew what I was thinking. It wasn¡¯t like it could give me any extra info in that regard. I was incredibly intrigued to see what may happen with this Title in the future.


    For now, it effectively did nothing. But I was suddenly extremely conscious of what I thought. What if I felt the wrong emotion and suddenly changed how this ¡®log¡¯ thought of me? Was there someone out there reading through this log to determine if I was worthy of some great weapon in the future? Or maybe it was keeping track for somepletely different reason.


    Either way, I couldn¡¯t really do anything about it, for now. Without any knowledge of how the log would be used, I wasn¡¯t even sure how I could change my behavior to make sure I was being logged in the way I wanted. Did I want to seem kind and righteous? Powerful and ruthless? Or maybe it didn¡¯t matter.


    I tried to mentally move on to the realm of Spells, Talents, and Titles. There were a few big improvements. Of course, there was the notable Spell Choice and Devastator Title shing out at me, but Time Loop ranking up as much as it did was also a big deal.


    Previously, it would only take me back by an hour and a half. But now, thanks to Extended Loop, that had doubled ¨C I could go back 3 hours per use. With two uses per day being allotted to me, that meant that, while everyone else lived in twenty-four hour days, I suddenly found myself living through thirty hours before a day had passed.


    I suspected my sleep schedule would suffer ¨C even if my body only experienced the regr-length days, my mind didn¡¯t. It already felt strange adding on an extra couple hours, and now that had doubled. I¡¯d just have to get used to it.


    But that was a worry for another time. For now, I wanted to get straight to the meat of my gains. First was my Devastator Title. After that weirdness with Trailzer, part of me was a bit nervous to see what this one did, but I ignored that feeling and looked over its description.


    Devastator


    <em>You have taken a risk and killed enough enemies that, in a single minute, you have gained three or more Levels. For many, gambles like that cost them their lives. For you, it paid off. Greed is good.</em>


    All enemies you contribute to killing provide 25% more XP.


    ¡­That was good. Incredibly so. With this Title, the rate I Leveled would be increased an intense amount. And it wasn¡¯t just me. The Title didn¡¯t say that <em>I</em> earned 25% more XP, it said that the monsters I contributed to killing provided 25% more XP to <em>everyone</em>. So, if Erani and I killed a monster together, we¡¯d both earn the extra XP. This Title would help my allies just as much as it helped me.


    And help it did. 25% more XP may have been small in the short term, but after some time, it could be equal to an extra Level or two, and only increased more and more as time went on. And, of course, in my situation, every point of XP was incredibly valuable.


    I¡¯d never heard of this Title, but that wasn¡¯t surprising, really. There were thousands of documented Titles ¨C enough to fit in entire dictionaries of the things that filled the shelves of libraries ¨C and more were discovered every year. People theorized there were millions of them, some for general achievements, and some for much more specific, niche things.


    I was sure that a Title like this had been found before ¨C getting three Levels at once was umon, of course, but this probably wasn¡¯t the first ever time something like that had happened. Especially whenpared to other Titles that existed. There were things like a Title for learning a Spell of every single Spell School, or one for single-handedly killing one million monsters in your lifetime. Those had been discovered by people who literally dedicated their lives toward aplishing those goals, just to see if there was a Title for doing it. So I was sure that <em>someone</em> had gotten a few Levels at once before.


    But getting the Title was still incredible. An extra 25% XP, forever. I could practically <em>feel</em> the power crackling at my fingertips.


    And, speaking of power at my fingertips, I still had a Spell Choice to go through. This was one of the biggest benefits of Leveling, I¡¯d noticed. While learning a new Spell wasn¡¯t technically a strict numerical increase to my power like getting Stats was, the additional options were just as ¨C if not more ¨C important. A single new Spell could mean the difference between a sure victory and a swift defeat.


    So, with thoughts of maximizing this new boost in power as much as I could in my mind, I opened my Spell Choice and looked over the options.


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Ethereal Armor


    School: Arcane, Summoning


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 150 Mana


    ¡ª


    You summon one of two sets of magical armor ¨C Dark te or Light te. You may dismiss it at any time. It will be automatically dismissed after 60 minutes.


    While wearing Dark te, you cannot take more than 50% of your maximum Health in damage in a single second <em>(155 damage)</em>. Preventing damage this way breaks the te, making it unusable for 60 seconds.


    While wearing Light te, your other spells cost 10% less, though still gain Spell XP as though they weren¡¯t discounted.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Ember Gale - School: Fire </em>


    <em>Expedite - School: Alteration</em>


    <em>Heartstone - School: Alteration, Summoning</em>


    Abrupt Decay


    School: Nature


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 75 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a being you are touching. If it has less than 300 Health, it dies.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Damnation - School: Demonic</em>


    <em>Mana Seism - School: Arcane</em>


    <em>Contaminated Bond - School: Curse, Nature</em>


    Stasis


    School: Curse, Arcane


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 280 Mana


    ¡ª


    Freeze time for a single being that you are touching for 10 seconds. The being cannot move, think, or otherwise perceive the outside world for the duration, and its body cannot be forcibly moved or damaged.


    Reduce the duration of this spell by 1 second for each 10 Endurance the entity has. A being with 100 Endurance ispletely unaffected.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Chain of Vapor - School: Aqueous,</em><em>Arcane</em>


    <em>Killing Wave - School: Arcane</em>


    <em>Luminous Bonds - School: Curse, Divine</em>


    I could tell by now that my options were aimed toward higher-Leveled individuals. Between Ethereal Armor and Stasis, these options cost quite a bit. Even Abrupt Decay was up there, at 75 Mana. Compared to my first few Spell Choices, their costs were enormous. Even Gravity Well¡¯s 10 per second was pretty up there. But with their high Mana costs came high power, too.


    Ethereal Armor was flexible, essentially allowing me to choose between better survivability against high-damage attacks, or cheaper Spells ¨C provided I was willing to pay its up-front cost of 150 Mana. Abrupt Decay was interesting. It would let me deal 300 damage to anything I was touching for the rtively miniscule cost of 75 Mana, but only if that damage would kill them. Otherwise, it¡¯d do nothing. And Stasis could freeze someone in time for up to 10 seconds ¨C a great effect paired with a suitably great cost.


    But, of course, I¡¯d have to choose the best from among them.


    I just had no idea which one that was.

 Chapter 74: Magic & Monsters

    Chapter 74: Magic & Monsters


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Ethereal Armor


    School: Arcane, Summoning


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 150 Mana


    ¡ª


    You summon one of two sets of magical armor ¨C Dark te or Light te. You may dismiss it at any time. It will be automatically dismissed after 60 minutes.


    While wearing Dark te, you cannot take more than 50% of your maximum Health in damage in a single second <em>(155 damage)</em>. Preventing damage this way breaks the te, making it unusable for 60 seconds.


    While wearing Light te, your other spells cost 10% less, though still gain Spell XP as though they weren¡¯t discounted.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Ember Gale - School: Fire </em>


    <em>Expedite - School: Alteration</em>


    <em>Heartstone - School: Alteration, Summoning</em>


    Abrupt Decay


    School: Nature


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 75 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a being you are touching. If it has less than 300 Health, it dies.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Damnation - School: Demonic</em>


    <em>Mana Seism - School: Arcane</em>


    <em>Contaminated Bond - School: Curse, Nature</em>


    Stasis


    School: Curse, Arcane


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 280 Mana


    ¡ª


    Freeze time for a single being that you are touching for 10 seconds. The being cannot move, think, or otherwise perceive the outside world for the duration, and its body cannot be forcibly moved or damaged.


    Reduce the duration of this spell by 1 second for each 10 Endurance the entity has. A being with 100 Endurance ispletely unaffected.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Chain of Vapor - School: Aqueous,</em><em>Arcane</em>


    <em>Killing Wave - School: Arcane</em>


    <em>Luminous Bonds - School: Curse, Divine</em>


    I looked over the three Spells being offered to me, trying to decide on which would help the most.


    Out of the three, it was difficult to choose a best option. Stasis¡¯s shy effect drew my eyes immediately, of course. Who wouldn¡¯t want the ability topletely freeze someone in time for 10 seconds? Presumably longer, if Ranking the Spell up also increased its effect length. Even if I couldn¡¯t damage them while they were frozen, I could very easily turn the tide of battle purely through positioning in that time.


    If I was up against a melee-focused enemy, I could get plenty far away with ten free seconds. They couldn¡¯t even perceive the world around them, so I could even freeze them, and then go off and hide somewhere before they came back. It sounded incredibly useful. Of course, it needed contact, so it wouldn¡¯t be as good against ranged enemies, but that didn¡¯t mean it was totally useless.


    However, thatst use made me wary of it. If I was up against someone with a decent bit of Endurance, the Spell¡¯s effect would be shortened ordingly. Even if it was used against me, with my rtively low Endurance Stat, I¡¯d still cut off thirty percent of its length right there. How much Endurance did the Infernals have? If it was above 100, the Spell would do nothing to them.


    Still, it was a great option to have, and, of course, I couldn¡¯t forget the fact that its length could increase with Rank-ups, making it much more effective against those high-Endurance targets.


    Ethereal Armor was also interesting. Immediately, I recognized the usefulness of the Dark te. Especially in my circumstances, I could face death at any moment. It¡¯d happened multiple times now that I¡¯d beenpletely surprised by an attack that dealt my entire Health¡¯s worth of damage in a single instant. And, with Dark te, it¡¯d at least take two hits to kill me like that.


    Even if that didn¡¯t save my life, the extra time it bought could allow me to gather a bit more information about my situation and seed in the next timeline. It really synergized quite perfectly with Time Loop. And, of course, it was also useful in the middle ofbat, too.


    Light te was a bit less intuitive. I¡¯d spend 150 Mana to get a 10% discount on Spells for an hour. But, in reality, it¡¯d be difficult to actually profit Mana off that deal. Even if I spent the entire rest of my Mana after summoning the Light te, I¡¯d only save 75 Mana ¨C half what I spent. So I wouldn¡¯t actually be ¡®saving¡¯ any Mana at all.


    The only way to actually save Mana using Light te would be to also spend all the Mana I regenerated during the entire hour it was summoned. If I had 830 when I summoned it, spent all my remaining Mana, and then continued to spend all my Mana for the entire hour afterward, I¡¯d end up saving 182 Mana. Minus the Mana I spent on the Spell itself, I¡¯d have saved 32 Mana. Not much reward for so much work.


    The only other way Light te could end up benefiting me in its current state would be if I cast it, regenerated my Mana like normal, and <em>then</em> got into a fight with full Mana, plus with Light te equipped. That would end up effectively allowing me to enter the fight with 10% extra Mana.


    But then, it was alsopletely possible for me to cast Light te and instantly find myself in a fight, and thus enter the fight with <em>less</em> Mana. So it was a bit risky to use. Still, as the Spell Ranked up and I got more Mana as I Leveled, Light te would be more and more viable. But for the immediate future, I couldn¡¯t see myself having too much of a use for the Spell outside of Dark te. So that was important to note.


    Still, it wasn¡¯t like Dark te was bad. Any time I felt like I was in danger, I could just put on the Dark te and instantly be immune to one-shots. Hells, thinking back a bit, I could¡¯ve gotten through that barricade from before by donning the Dark te, stepping right on the depot of mines myself, and kill everything nearby while only taking half of my Health in damage, myself. Moments like that made the Spell seem very attractive to me.


    Abrupt Decay seemed good, too. Killing anyone with less than 300 Health in a single instant was unbelievably good. It could make any encounter with a lower-Level opponent as trivial as touching them. And, of course, if they had too much Health, all I had to do was hit them with my other Spells until they were within that threshold. It wouldn¡¯t be too great on Infernals, sure, but even in that previous fight at the barricade it would¡¯ve been good. I could have used it on the Human soldiers ¨C especially the Archers, who would¡¯ve had less Health than any of the others.


    ¡­Though, I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to use the Spell on people. The name ¨C Abrupt Decay ¨C made me envision something that wouldn¡¯t be¡­ pleasant to see another person go through. Not that I could really afford to be making decisions based on what I thought was gross. My situation was a bit too dire for that.


    Still, I was aware that there were other downsides of the Spell. The main thing I noticed was that there was, of course, no actual way to tell someone else¡¯s exact Health. The only method would be trial and error. Sure, when the Spell worked, it would be a very efficient source of damage, but if I was even a single point off in my estimation, it¡¯d be 75 Manapletely wasted. That, especially if it happened multiple times during a fight, could mean the difference between life and death.


    But, then again, it worked uniquely well with Time Loop. Sure, I wouldn¡¯t know how much Health they had the <em>first</em> time in a fight, but as long as I made an effort to remember how much damage an enemy took when I fought them, if I went back to do it again, I could use that knowledge to know how far they were from 300.


    But all that mental stress from trying to calcte and memorize Health totals could make me perform worse in fights. Argh, it was just too hard to decide.


    ¡°Hey, Erani, you mind helping me choose a Spell?¡± I asked, keeping my eyes closed so as to not break my mediation.


    ¡°Yeah, what¡¯s up?¡± I heard her respond.


    Once I was done reading the choices out to her, I heard her hum in thought.


    ¡°Yeah, those are weird, alright,¡± she said. ¡°Spells normally get moreplex as you get into the higher Levels. So it makes sense. Which are you thinking?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not really sure. Stasis seems good, but maybe a bit conditional ¨C especially for its cost. Abrupt Decay is super efficient, but it¡¯s also a bit conditional. And Ethereal Armor seems interesting, but, well¡­¡±


    ¡°Conditional?¡± Sheughed. ¡°Yeah, I mean, you have your main arsenal by now, right? You¡¯ve figured out the basic way you fight, and probably aren¡¯t looking for a dramatic change to it. So you¡¯d probably want to take something that enhances the style that¡¯s already there with some pin-point usefulness, rather than something that¡¯s just generically good like Ray of Frost. That¡¯s what the experts say, at least. So normally, at this Level, you¡¯d want to find a Spell that shores up on a weakness, rather than a Spell that does something you¡¯re already good at.¡±


    ¡°Huh, yeah. That makes sense. I guess in that case, Abrupt Decay doesn¡¯t seem as good as I thought. Especially if I¡¯m in a position where I can physically touch them, Noxious Grasp already does its job. Sure, it¡¯s not quite as efficient in certain situations, but I guess I shouldn¡¯t just take a bunch of effects that all do the same thing.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s something that us Sorcerers have to watch out for a lot. Since we don¡¯t get many Spells, we have to constantly make sure that the ones we take aren¡¯t redundant.¡±


    ¡°Right. With the other two, though, I don¡¯t really see them being redundant with my other effects. I mean, other than Ethereal Armor¡¯s Dark te. It protects me just like Regenerate does, I guess.


    ¡°Well, they both protect you in different ways. I¡¯d say they¡¯re even synergistic. The Dark te helps you survive any hits that would kill you instantly, and then Regenerate brings you back above that halfway threshold so that you aren¡¯t quite so close to death afterward. Once the Dark tees back online in a minute, Regenerate can help you survive another hit worth half your Health. If you didn¡¯t heal, you¡¯d just die anyway.¡±


    ¡°I guess that makes sense.¡±


    ¡°Besides, you also have the Light te aspect of it, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but what¡¯s that even supposed to do? I did the math, and it won¡¯t really save me much Mana, when factoring in that it takes 150 to summon in the first ce.¡±


    ¡°Well, first off, that discount¡¯ll probably get better as the Spell Ranks up, so I imagine you¡¯ll start saving a good bit once you get into the double digits of Spell Ranks. Second, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s supposed to be used in fights. If anything, you¡¯d get the best use from Light te out of anyone around.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°I think the key phrase you¡¯re forgetting in Light te¡¯s description is that you ¡®still gain Spell XP as though the Spells weren¡¯t discounted.¡¯ So, if you profit a hundred Mana, that¡¯s one extra Spell XP gained, totally for free.¡±


    ¡°...Huh. You¡¯re right.¡±


    ¡°So I¡¯d say Ethereal Armor has two main facets of usefulness. Light te for the more long-term practice angle, and Dark te for short-term protection.¡±


    ¡°And I guess the extra Spell XP will only get better as I Rank Ethereal Armor, too,¡± I said. Then I shook my head, trying to get back on track. ¡°Well, still. We need topare it to Stasis. What do you think about it?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t done much research on meleebat, so I couldn¡¯t tell you how helpful an effect like that would be. You¡¯re the fighter, right? Seems like it might be useful, might not be. Depends on yourbat style.¡±


    ¡°Well, I guess I¡¯d say I also don¡¯t know how to feel about it. I¡¯ve only got 800 Mana. So, spending 280 on a single ten-second Spell is¡­ dubious. It could certainly be used to get a positional advantage on someone, or to run away from something chasing us, but¡­¡±


    ¡°...But if they''re strong enough that we¡¯re running away, they¡¯re probably strong enough to shrug off the effect.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s what I keeping back to. Seems like it¡¯d be absolutely phenomenal in a one-on-one match of even strength, but I feel like I already do just fine in those. With Crippling Chill, Ray of Frost, and Gravity Well, I can normally limit someone¡¯s mobility just fine without freezing them in time. It seems great, but, well, redundant.¡±


    ¡°Right, that makes sense.¡±


    ¡°I kind of want to take it anyway, though. You said Spells are dependent on previous choices, right? So if I turn down Stasis here, wouldn¡¯t that mean I won¡¯t get more time-rted Spells in the future? I¡¯m kind of a time mage. Feels silly to turn down a time Spell when I see one.¡±


    ¡°Not particrly. The Spells you¡¯re offered are based on your previous Spell Choices, but it doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ll only ever get Spells that do the same thing as the ones you¡¯ve already taken. They¡¯ll just synergize with your previous choices in some way. So, by turning down Stasis, you aren¡¯t telling the System that you don¡¯t want any time-rted Spells, you¡¯re telling the System that you don¡¯t want Spells that, for example, prevent you from damaging your opponents. Or Spells that only work based on touch. It¡¯s not really a single choice that¡¯ll influence the System like that on a broad scale, but more a series of choices. It wouldn¡¯t stop offering time Spells to you just because you turned a single one down.¡±


    ¡°Huh, alright.¡±


    ¡°So what do you think?¡±


    ¡°I think that settles it.¡±


    I went ahead and chose my Spell.


    You have learned the Spell Ethereal Armor.


    <em>Your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Ember Gale - School: Fire </em>


    <em>Expedite - School: Alteration</em>


    <em>Heartstone - School: Alteration, Summoning</em>


    And while I was at it, I assigned my Stat Points. I was tempted to put some in other Stats like Endurance, but with Ethereal Armor, Conjuration was looking more attractive than ever. Dark te helped shore up my problem with asionally getting killed in a single hit during a surprise attack, so Endurance wasn¡¯t quite as integral, and with Light te, every point I put into Conjuration tranted to even more Spell XP. So I put my Stat Points into Conjuration. All 9 of them.


    You have used 9 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 83.


    And with that, I opened my eyes, blinking at the morning light. Erani was half-sitting, half-lying against a nearby tree, obviously getting some rest. And the Dryad was still meditating with her eyes closed. I wondered what she was doing.


    ¡°Well, I guess I should go ahead and get to Ranking my Spells,¡± I said. ¡°I got two more Soft Cap levels, plus the new Spell, of course.¡±


    But just as I was about to try out Ethereal Armor, the Dryad¡¯s eyes shot open.


    And I heard a voice in my head.


    <em>¡°Can you hear me?¡± </em>it said. <em>¡°You two. Can you hear me?¡±</em>


    The Dryad looked back and forth between me and Erani, as if awaiting a response.

 Chapter 75: A Conversation

    Chapter 75: A Conversation


    The voice echoed through my head.<em> ¡°Can you hear me?¡±</em> it had said. Or, not really. It was more of a feeling. Like an abstract concept that I happened to recognize as having the same meaning as the words ¡°can you hear me¡±.


    ¡°What the fuck,¡± I stood and looked around. When I didn¡¯t see anything, I nced over at Erani. ¡°Did you hear that?¡±


    She nodded, standing scanning the area as well. ¡°Who was that?¡±


    <em>T</em>he voice spoke again.<em> ¡°Me who is speaking. Sitting in front of you.¡±</em>


    I looked in front of me. It was the Dryad, sitting there and staring at us with a certain intensity in her pure-white eyes.


    ¡°Are you the one doing that?¡± I asked her.


    <em>¡°Cannot understand yournguage,¡±</em> the voice echoed in my mind.<em> ¡°Speak to me using mind. Not hole in your face.¡±</em>


    I stared at her, wide-eyed.


    ¡°Holy shit,¡± Erani muttered. ¡°She can talk to us. Why¡¯d she wait so long?¡±


    The Dryad just looked at us expectantly.


    ¡°Right,¡± I blinked. ¡°We need to talk to her in our minds. How do we do that?¡±


    ¡°Fuck if I know.¡±


    I pursed my lips, trying to will my words to the Dryad. I was trying to say ¡°can you hear me?¡± but it didn¡¯t seem to be working. I also wasn¡¯t sure how I could trante my thoughts intomunication, in the first ce. The Dryad wasn¡¯t speaking in words, per se, but rather in abstract concepts that carried the same meaning as those words. It was weird, and I wasn¡¯t totally sure how she was doing that.


    The way she spoke was strange, too. Even if I had to trante themunication she was sending out back into words, the way things weremunicated was just¡­ odd. Like that term ¡®hole in your face¡¯ was a literal trantion for what she said. Did she not know what a mouth was? How did she not have a concept for a mouth when she literally had one?


    <em>¡°The bad guys not near. Safe to close eyes.¡±</em>


    ¡®The bad guys¡¯? She must¡¯ve been talking about the Demons. I closed my eyes like she said, trying to enter into a simr type of meditative state I had to go into to make changes to my Status. But no matter how much I mentally searched around my head, I couldn¡¯t find any one ¡®thing¡¯ that could allow me to telepathically pass messages to another person.


    Normally it¡¯d be easy to use a System-granted ability, but it seemed it was different when it came to things that didn¡¯te from <em>your</em> Status, but rather someone else''s. Not to mention that it was a monster¡¯s ability I was trying to use.


    The Dryad seemed to sense my struggle. I felt the voice again, saying <em>¡°Contact me through passage opened by my speech.¡±</em>


    ¡­Huh.


    ¡°You¡¯re hearing all this?¡± I asked Erani.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°Telling you how to talk to her, too?¡±


    ¡°Think it¡¯s safe? Not sure I trust random instructions being beamed into my mind.¡±


    ¡°I guess we have no idea. I don¡¯t see why she would betray us after all this time, though. Seems trustworthy enough.¡±


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s no danger posed if I can never figure it out,¡± Iughed and focused inward again, trying to find this ¡®passage¡¯ the Dryad was talking about.


    <em>¡°Walk to my words,¡±</em> the voice spoke again. I couldn¡¯t exactly do that physically, so it had to be a mental thing. I could tell she was getting a bit antsy by our inability to talk back.


    When the voice spoke into me, though, I did notice something. Like a tiny hole in my mind that hadn¡¯t been there before ¨C the message wasing through it. I mentally examined it, feeling simr to the way I always did whenever I tried casting a new Spell. Poking and prodding around with my Mana sense, I tried my best to figure it out. The ¡®hole¡¯ was clearly magical and seemed to slowly close off a few seconds after I received a message through it.


    Just as the hole was closing this time, I made an effort to squeeze my consciousness inside. The hole widened easily with my effort, bing muchrger than it had ever been before. Instead of a tiny pinprick that I could barely sense through, it was now a hallway I could freely walk across, connecting me to something ¨C or someone ¨C else.


    Finally, I tried saying something. I didn¡¯t say it verbally, of course. I also didn¡¯t <em>think</em> it like I would anything else. It wasn¡¯t me just imagining an internal monologue that approximated speech, it was more like I willed a concept through the ¡®hallway¡¯, an abstract thing torn straight from my mind and put into the hole. I did it like the way the voice had spoken to me ¨C not withnguage, but with direct mental contact.


    <em>¡°Can you hear me?¡±</em> I said.


    <em>¡°Yay!¡±</em> The voice responded. Or maybe it was ¡®hooray¡¯? Or ¡®yippee¡¯? Anyway, it was obviously some sort of expression of excitement. Seemed like my message got through.


    <em>¡°Um, you are the Dryad, right? Not something else?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What is ¡®Dryad¡¯? The person sitting in front of you is me.¡±</em>


    I opened my eyes, making an effort to keep the mental connection present as I did. It seemed like it was much easier to keep open than it was to open it up in the first ce. The Dryad was still sitting on the ground, staring up at me. I willed another thought through the connection. <em>¡°Uh¡­ pat yourself on the head.¡±</em>


    It tilted its head to the side. <em>¡°Why?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°To prove it¡¯s you. If I¡¯m really speaking to the Dryad, she¡¯ll be able to hear me, and will pat herself on the head.¡±</em>


    Hesitantly, the Dryad raised her hand and ced it on her head. She looked at me and I got another message, <em>¡°Like that?¡±</em>


    ¡°Holy shit, it¡¯s really her,¡± I muttered aloud.


    ¡°Wait, are you talking to her?¡± Erani turned to me. ¡°I still can¡¯t figure this shit out.¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Just, it¡¯s like, there¡¯s this hole in your head¨C¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a hole in my head?¡± Erani reached up and rubbed her forehead, rmed.


    ¡°No, no,¡± I reassured her. I was still thrown off by this whole thing. The Dryad could fucking <em>talk</em>?! ¡°Not a hole in your head. A passage in your mind. A little ce that the voice ising through. If you find it and open it up a bit more, you can send your own thoughts back through.¡±


    <em>¡°You are guiding your lover in how to contact me?¡± </em>The Dryad¡¯s voice passed into my head again, startling me.


    <em>¡°Uh, yeah, I guess. Just trying to figure things out. Also, we¡¯re not really officially ¡®lovers¡¯¨C¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yay! Please hurry.¡±</em>


    ¡°Hey, I think I got it,¡± Erani interrupted my mentalmunication. I looked over to see her brows furrowed over closed eyes. ¡°It¡¯s like a pit in the floor of my mind that I can drop a message through.¡±


    There was a silence and the Dryad looked over to Erani, seemingly responding to whatever it was that Erani said. It didn¡¯t seem I could hear what they were saying to each other, in the same way Erani couldn¡¯t hear me when I spoke to the Dryad.


    <em>¡°Your lover has contacted me!¡±</em> I received from the Dryad after a moment.


    <em>¡°Uh, yeah, seems like it. You can just call us by our names, though.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Do not know your names. What I call you?¡±</em>


    Oh, right. I¡¯d forgotten she wouldn¡¯t know that.<em> ¡°Well, my name is¡­¡±</em>


    I stopped. How could I say my name through this form ofmunication? Names couldn¡¯t really be broken down into concepts ¨C the entire point of them was that they were arbitrary sounds we made and assigned to each person. Effectively, the meaning of my name was just¡­ me. It was circr.


    <em>¡°...What¡¯s your name? I¡¯m not really sure how to say mine.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I am¨C¡±</em> what followed was something that couldn¡¯t really be tranted to mynguage ¨C or anynguage, I suspected. It was more of an image than a sound. A tree ¨C a small one ¨C sprouting out of a hard boulder. It was covered in nicks and wounds that it was in the process of healing from, but seemed to be vibrantly growing nheless. Surrounding it was a field of wild, long grass, striped green and blue, but in the distance, the grass was beginning to turn a dark, shadowy ck.


    <em>¡°...Uh, yeah, I don¡¯t think I can pronounce that out loud,¡±</em> I said. <em>¡°I think we¡¯re just gonna have to stick with ¡®the Dryad¡¯.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Still do not know what ¡®Dryad¡¯ is.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Oh, it¡¯s your species. Like, I¡¯m a Human, and you¡¯re a Dryad.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...You are a you and I am a me?¡±</em>


    Yeah, there was clearly some sort ofmunication error going on between us. <em>¡°We¡¯ll get back to the name thing. For now, back on topic. You can talk to us? Since when?!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Communication just made avable to me. A ¡®Level up¡¯ happened. New power. Communication.¡±</em>


    It was hard to decipher exactly what the Dryad was saying ¨C not only was the trantion difficult, but she generally seemed to think in a strange way. Still, I could get a basic understanding of what she meant. She¡¯d apparently Leveled up, and as a Dryad, got the option to take a new ability tomunicate telepathically with people.


    <em>¡°Why are bad guys attacking?¡±</em> Another message came from her.


    <em>¡°Oh, uh¡­ let me talk to, um, the other Human.¡±</em> I still didn¡¯t know how to say out names through thatmunication method, so I had to speak without saying them.


    ¡°Hey, Erani,¡± I said aloud. The Dryad still couldn¡¯t understand our actual speech, so we could talk privately. ¡°Are you talking with her right now?¡±


    She jumped at my voice, startled out of the stupor of the telepathy. After she recovered, she said, ¡°Yeah, I am.¡±


    ¡°What have you said to her?¡±


    The Dryad looked back and forth between us. She looked a bit suspicious, but she¡¯d just have to deal with it. We didn¡¯t know much about her, despite our travels together, so I wanted to be safe with what we said.


    ¡°Nothing much. Just introductions, basically,¡± she said. ¡°Still trying to figure out how to say stuff.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°She just asked me why the Demons have been invading the Overworld. Should I tell her the truth?¡±


    ¡°Ah. Yeah, that¡¯s a hard one.¡± Erani nced at the Dryad, who was eyeing us warily. ¡°I¡¯m thinking yes?¡±


    ¡°I mean, we could always say we have no idea.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but if she ever finds out, she¡¯ll know we were deliberately hiding something from her. That¡¯s much more likely to make her hostile than us saying up front that they¡¯re here because they¡¯re hunting you. It¡¯s not like you¡¯ve done anything wrong, anyway.¡±


    ¡°But that¡¯s only if we get caught. If we don¡¯t let her know we lied, we¡¯re in the clear. If we tell the truth here, we could very well still catch a whip to the face. Not something I¡¯m very keen on happening.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯ll almost certainly find out. With her new ability, she could talk to anyone without us knowing ¨C maybe even the Demons. And when she does, knowing we lied to her will pretty much guarantee she¡¯ll attack. Or at least ditch us. If we tell her, we cane off as truthful, we can ensure she doesn¡¯t get the stream of lies and propaganda the Demons are probably spreading, and we can tell her in a controlled environment.¡±


    I pursed my lips, thinking. After a moment, I sighed. ¡°Yeah, I guess you¡¯re right.¡± I turned back to the Dryad, and braced myself for an attack. <em>¡°...To tell you the truth, they¡¯re here because they want to kill me. If I was gone, they¡¯d probably leave too. But I didn¡¯t do anything wrong or¨C¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, I know</em><em>that,¡±</em> the Dryad said. I could sense impatience in her tone.


    <em>¡°Oh,¡±</em> I blinked, surprised. <em>¡°...How¡¯d you find out?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Bad guys had bad emotionsing from them. Anger at you. Only you. Only reason they had anger at me because I in the way. Of getting to you.¡±</em>


    Ah, right, her empathy. She could sense the emotions of everyone near her. I hadn¡¯t thought it was that specific. Still, it didn¡¯t exin everything. <em>¡°Why¡¯d you stick with us, then? If you knew you were only being attacked because you were with me, wouldn¡¯t it make sense to just leave?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I am for protecting forest creatures. You live in forest. You are forest creature. Bad guys do not live in forest. Unnatural. Not forest creatures. Bad guys. You kill bad guys, so I help you kill bad guys. Even if you are mean person.¡±</em>


    I struggled for a moment to trante what exactly the Dryad was saying. I supposed it made sense; I¡¯d been out here for a while, and wasn¡¯t doing anything to harm the environment. At least, I¡¯d done nothingpared to the Demons¡¯ clearing out of all monster wildlife, burning down forests, and destroying habitats. So, if the Demons were the ¡®bad guys¡¯ ording to the Dryad, she wanted to help me take them down. I <em>would</em> be the one who¡¯d most want them dead, after all.


    One thing did stick out to me in her exnation, though. <em>¡°Why are you calling me mean?¡¯¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You have bad emotions, like bad guys. Anger at me. Fear at me. When you first met me, you nice. Wanted to help. Now you not. You think I am below you. You think I like other things you kill. Something to use. You do not want to kill me. But you would not save me if I dying like you did before. If save me would hurt you, you would not do it.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Um¡­ sorry.¡±</em> I wasn¡¯t sure what else to say. I had no idea her empathy was so strong. Even <em>I</em> wasn¡¯t fully aware that my perspective of her had shifted so much. I¡¯d been so focused on my own survival, maybe I¡¯d stopped thinking about how my actions affected her and could shape her life. Sure, I felt like I had a good reason for that ¨C I <em>was</em> pretty preupied with trying to survive ¨C but if she was helping me, I could probably spare some thoughts to make sure I at least showed some kindness to her.


    <em>¡°It is okay. You practice self-preservation. Like lots of forest creatures. Your people, lots are mean. And your lover is nice. So it is okay.¡±</em>


    Still a bit unsure of how I could respond to what the Dryad was saying to me, I went ahead and exined our conversation to Erani ¨C about how the Dryad had apparently known all along that the Demons were after me. Erani visibly rxed at that.


    I looked back at the Dryad and saw her ncing between us.


    <em>¡°So,¡±</em> she said, <em>¡°we are going where, this whole time?¡±</em>

 Chapter 76: Welcome to the Outlaws: Figuring Things Out

    Chapter 76: Wee to the Ouws: Figuring Things Out


    Erani walked through the greenery of a hot, humid forest. She, An, and the newlymunicative Dryad had recently gotten up from their brief rest and headed off once again, eager to get further away from the destroyed barricade. She was still reeling from the Dryad¡¯s sudden ability to speak. Or, not ¡®speak¡¯, really, but rather telepathize. To be able tomunicate with a previously-unknown creature was absolutely amazing, really.


    There was just one problem with thatmunication.


    <em>¡°So, how much Health do you have, exactly? Do you have any Talents? Or Martial Arts?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What is ¡®Health¡¯? What is ¡®Talents¡¯? What is ¡®Martial Arts¡¯?¡±</em>


    It seemed that, for the Dryad, her System was formatted differently than it was for a Human. Things had different names, were arranged in different ways, and some aspects seemed to be missing or reced altogether. This made it very difficult to figure out anything about her capabilities.


    She¡¯d gone through most of the different terms the System used, asking the Dryad about each to try and find some sort of baseline from which they could figure out the rest, but had no luck.


    Erani absent-mindedly opened up her own Status.


    Name:


    Erani Wos


    Age:


    23


    Strength:


    10


    ss:


    Sorcerer


    Level:


    13


    Endurance:


    10


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    222/900


    Dexterity:


    10


    Health:


    96/100


    Health/Minute:


    0.042


    Conjuration:


    78


    Stamina:


    <strong>56</strong>/60


    Stamina/Minute:


    0.36


    Mana:


    <strong>1169</strong>/1170


    Mana/Minute:


    14.04


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Angelic Shield 9 - XP <strong>87</strong>/355


    Primal Might


    Firebolt 14 (8) - XP 14/130


    +Explosive Firebolt


    Expanded Capacity


    She couldn¡¯t help but feel proud at the extreme growth that was shown on her Status window. Over the first three-and-a-half years she¡¯d had her ss, she got to Level 9. And now, she¡¯d grown by almost 50%, up to Level 13. Most people slowed down as they got higher in Level, but for her, things only seemed to be speeding up.


    Of course, that speed wasn¡¯t exactly random. And it wasn¡¯t free, either. The time she¡¯d spent on the run from Demons and out in the wilderness was a series of some of the hardest days of her life. And really, she didn¡¯t consider that struggle to be worth it in terms of the few extra Levels she¡¯d gained. At least, she would¡¯ve rather just done it the slow and easy way.


    But what had happened had happened, so now she¡¯d just have to roll with the punches. She still somewhatmented her picking of Angelic Shield. It was definitely the right choice ¨C she probably would¡¯ve died a few times without it ¨C but that didn¡¯t mean she was <em>happy</em> it was the right choice.


    Not only did Angelic Shield drop off in usefulness the moment you joined up with a party that contained a high-Endurance Melee-Type to protect you from the monsters, but giving up on the other two options for her second Spell ¨C Ray of Frost and Mana Geyser ¨C meant giving up on so many <em>other</em> options in the future.


    She could¡¯ve taken Ray of Frost, and then for her next Spell, taken Fire Covenant, and gone with Elemental Mastery for her Level 15 Talent. ssic elemental-School DPS build. She could¡¯ve gone for Mana Geyser into Essence Capture for a more support-oriented build. Hells, she could¡¯ve even gone with Mana Geyser and Flusterstorm. Sure, it wasn¡¯t like any of them were <em>objectively</em> better than what she had with Angelic Shield, but it would¡¯ve been nice to have options.


    It was also nice to have research, and Angelic Shield was the leastmon Level-10 pick, meaning it also had the least amount of research done into its future options. Not that she could even ess that research in her current circumstances.


    Still, it wasn¡¯t <em>totally</em> unbearable for her. An was a good motivator, with his borderline obsession with growing stronger. She still felt like he took it too far at points, but seeing him do something still made it a hell of a lot easier for her to convince herself to do it. The extensive Spell training, the killing of extra monsters for their XP, even the basic n of fleeing from the kingdom, she wasn¡¯t sure if she¡¯d have been able to push herself to do it all if she hadn¡¯t had someone else to help her along.


    And she supposed hispany was nice, as well.


    Speaking ofpany, she needed to get back to talking to the Dryad. She¡¯d gotten distracted. <em>¡°So, when you got ess to yourmunication, was it a choice between three options? Or did you get it without having to choose?¡±</em>


    There was a pause. <em>¡°Choose.¡±</em>


    Okay, Erani thought. So that meant it was either a Spell or a Talent. Or maybe some other thing was offered to Dryads as a choice that Humans didn¡¯t get. <em>¡°Do Dryads get this type of choice very often?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Unknown to me. Have been Dryad for short time.¡±</em>


    Ah, right, Erani thought. <em>¡°What about for Nymphs?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Have also been Nymph for short time.¡±</em>


    Wait, what? Nymphs weren¡¯t an evolution of anything ¨C they were born as Nymphs. <em>¡°What were you before you were a Nymph?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Not alive.¡±</em>


    Okay, so it was a trantion error. She just meant she hadn¡¯t been alive for much time. <em>¡°How long have you been alive?¡±</em>


    There was a new sensation sent to Erani¡¯s head ¨C not one she could immediately trante into words. It seemed to be the concept of passing time ¨C the sun and moon flying by overhead, seasons changing. It made sense that the Dryad would have tomunicate this in a more abstract way ¨C they probably didn¡¯t keep track of time in the same way Humans did.


    But, when she worked to figure out how long the Dryad meant with her message, Erani felt like she must¡¯ve gotten something wrong. If she¡¯d tranted that correctly¡­ no, that couldn¡¯t have been true. <em>¡°I¡¯m sorry, could you repeat that? How old are you?¡±</em>


    The same message came in again, and Erani pursed her lips incredulously. It seemed like the Dryad kept track of time in terms of the passing seasons, with each one that passed making her one season older. And the number she gave just felt¡­ wrong. <em>¡°So, then, what stage of life are you in, as your species?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I am child. I am nine seasons old.¡±</em>


    She was only a bit over two years old. Sure, maybe Nymphs matured more quickly than Humans, but it couldn¡¯t be <em>that</em> fast. Even the Dryad admitted she was only a child, by her species¡¯ standards. <em>¡°So, then, when we first met you, was the other Nymph with you¨C¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What is ¡®Nymph¡¯?¡±</em>


    Right. Pretty much anything with a name couldn¡¯t be tranted through the link between them. At least, it wouldn¡¯t retain any meaning if you tried. So Erani had to exin any named word she intended to use. It had proven quite difficult to do ¨C An had tried to exin a few definitions to the Dryad before, but quickly resigned himself to ¡®not being a teacher¡¯ and gave up. It was the first time she¡¯d actually seen him give up at something.


    Originally, Erani had assumed this difficulty in exining things was simply due to their method ofmunication ¨C things must have been getting garbled in trantion, or there was some difference in culture that made things not carry over properly ¨C but now she understood things a bit better. Maybe there were still some trantion errors, but she suspected the main problem was that they were exining things in the same way they would to an adult, rather than to a kid.


    This Dryad was obviously smarter than a Human two-year-old, but the age still put a good number of things in context. She¡¯d always seemed a bit childish, but it also exined why she would be so attached to Erani and An in the first ce. Wanting to stick around so she could help kill all the Demons was a pretty naive way of thinking to begin with, and Erani suspected that wasn¡¯t all of it. At her current age, the Dryad probably desperately needed some form ofpanionship in lieu of parents, and even if the Dryad didn¡¯t realize it, she was grasping for <em>someone</em> who could take care of her in some way.


    Maybe that was a stretch, but the poor thing had just lost her mom, for the Gods¡¯ sake. Erani was hit with a pang of guilt, even if she hadn¡¯t really done anything in particr.


    <em>¡°You are thinking about me?¡±</em> Erani was startled by a sudden message in her head. She looked over at the Dryad, who was staring at her expectantly. She¡¯d always known the Dryad had her empathy that could detect the emotions in other monsters, but it was still strange to see it at work.


    She¡¯d always assumed it didn¡¯t work on Humans ¨C or, at least, worked at a very diminished intensity ¨C since she never felt her own emotions changing from the two-way empathy. But it seemed like, even if it didn¡¯t work as much in the direction that affected her, it still worked just as well in the direction that affected the Dryad.


    <em>¡°Yes, I¡¯m thinking about you,¡±</em> Erani responded. <em>¡°Um, to answer your question about what ¡®Nymph¡¯ means, you know how I told you that what you are right now is a Dryad? What you were before you were a Dryad was a Nymph. When we went into the vige with the other people and the sludge monsters, where you learned to heal, that was when you stopped being a Nymph and started being a Dryad.¡±</em>


    Erani could feel a general aura of fear and disguste from the Dryad the moment she mentioned ¡®sludge monsters¡¯. It also made sense that the Dryad was so irrationally afraid of those. Even if she was obviously powerful, kids were scared of random things, sometimes.


    <em>¡°Okay,¡±</em> the Dryad responded. <em>¡°What you were asking?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Right,¡± </em>Erani got herself back on track.<em> ¡°I was asking whether that other Nymph that was with you when we first met ¨C the one who¡¯s¡­ gone, now ¨C she was your mother, right?¡±</em>


    There was a moment of silence, before the Dryad sent a saddened <em>¡°yes.¡±</em>


    Erani nodded somberly, before remembering that the Dryad didn¡¯t know what a nod meant. At least the Dryad would probably be able to sense her solemnity. <em>¡°I¡¯m sorry that happened. An and I will do our best to help you as much as we can. If you ever want to talk to anyone, or¨C¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Just want to kill bad guys.¡±</em>


    Erani blinked. <em>¡°Oh, sure. We can do that, too.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Will kill all bad guys. All of them.¡±</em>


    Erani took a breath and kept walking. They¡¯d just killed quite a few ¡®bad guys¡¯. Demons <em>and</em> Humans. Well, An had been the one to do most of the killing, but still. She just wanted to get out of here. She didn¡¯t want to kill a bunch of people.


    But Demons¡­


    One day, she thought. One day they could do that. Because she sure as hells wanted to see them dead, too.


    Erani¡¯s fully-expanded character sheet as of now:


    Name:


    Erani Wos


    Age:


    23


    Strength:


    10


    ss:


    Sorcerer


    Level:


    13


    Endurance:


    10


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    222/900


    Dexterity:


    10


    Health:


    96/100


    Health/Minute:


    0.042


    Conjuration:


    78


    Stamina:


    56/60


    Stamina/Minute:


    0.36


    Mana:


    1169/1170


    Mana/Minute:


    14.04


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Angelic Shield 9 - XP 87/355


    Primal Might


    Firebolt 14 (8) - XP 14/130


    +Explosive Firebolt


    Expanded Capacity


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Angelic Shield Rank 9


    School: Divine


    Type: Passive


    Cost: <strong>2.5</strong> Mana per 1 Damage Prevented


    ¡ª


    Automatically casts upon taking damage, spending <strong>2.5</strong> Mana to prevent each 1 point of damage. Attempting to prevent more than <strong>35.4</strong> damage this way in a single second breaks the shield, making this Spell unable to activate for <strong>23.2</strong> seconds.


    Primal Might


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    When a projectile Spell you fire would deal maximum damage due to having perfect uracy, it deals 50% more damage.


    Firebolt Rank 14


    +Explosive Firebolt


    School: Fire


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>53</strong> Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a small ball of fire that travels up to <strong>59.4</strong> paces, exploding when it collides with something. Deals up to <strong>148.5</strong> damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being.


    Firebolt explodes upon impact, damaging and knocking all beings within 5 paces, with severity depending on how close they are to the source of the explosion.


    Expanded Capacity


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Your Mana reserves be more plentiful. Maximum Mana is increased by 50%.

 Chapter 77: Welcome to the Kingdom: Hell

    Chapter 77: Wee to the Kingdom: Hell


    Ripley Tid on the floor of a cold, dark room. She was broken. Shattered. After the previous thirteen hours, how could she not be? She¡¯d been lying there for at least thirty minutes, motionless, just trying to forget everything that¡¯d happened.


    The previous day, that damned Demon had stormed into the Imperial Castle, killed Cami and Ragavan, and strong-armed the kingdom into fighting the Underworld¡¯s war. To set up some ambush and kill their oh-so-important fugitive.


    Ripley, however, never got to know how that ambush went. Because the Demon decided that she and her squad-mate Asmo needed to be punished for their ¡®insubordination¡¯. How one could even be insubordinate to a foreigner she had no clue, but the Demon clearly had enough power to throw around that he got his way.


    And Ripley had been lucky enough to be assigned a week of torture.


    A week.


    The Koinkar Kingdom had refined their methods of torture to a science. In their many conflicts over the past few hundred years, they captured many enemies and sessfully extracted valuable intel from a sizable percentage of them. A percentage that had only risen over the course of those years. And the reason for that constantly-increasing sess rate was because of the absolute agony they were capable of inflicting.


    The method involved three decent-Leveled ssers. Two Wizards, and one Cleric. First, the two Wizards would each use a special Spell named Telekinesis. This Spell allowed its user to move things with their mind. It was clunky and imprecise at first ¨C and could only move objects of a certain weight ¨C but with some practice and Spell Ranks, it could get much more powerful.


    One of the Wizards would push with pinpoint uracy along one of the victim¡¯s limbs ¨C say, for example, the victim¡¯s left arm. The Wizard would make cuts perforating a circle around the desired target. They would dig into the flesh with the force-emitting Spell, splitting skin and muscle alike, until they finally got into the bone. They would dig into the bone and weaken it, tunneling through and making holes all across, leaking the marrow from inside.


    And then, while the first Wizard destroyed the victim¡¯s arm, the other Wizard would use their own copy of Telekinesis to pull. Weak, first, but then stronger. Stronger, stronger, stronger, all while the targeted limb got weaker and weaker. Until, finally, it ripped.


    Once they¡¯d sessfully torn the victim¡¯s limb from their body, the Cleric would step in with that ss¡¯s signature Spell: Healing Hands. It would have to be at least Rank 10, which wasn¡¯t easy, but at that point, the Spell would gain an Upgrade that allowed it to reattach dismembered parts of the body, as long as they were taken off recently.


    So, with the Spell helping along, they would put the limb back and fix the wounds, setting everything as though the entire process had never happened.


    And then they¡¯d start again.


    Ripley T had always been tangentially aware of this process of torture, but never took the time to appreciate the intricacies of the process. For example, she never knew that ¨C due to the extreme restorative effects of Healing Hands, the internal mind would never be so damaged as to allow the victim to lose consciousness from the pain. Of course, the psychological effects still remained, but because the Spell restored the body, the physical brain would never be used to the effects of the pain. Every time felt like the first.


    She¡¯d had much time to appreciate these simple but effective enhancements to the method. She¡¯d had thirteen hours to appreciate them, in fact. Tears and sweat pooled beneath her heavily-breathing body, lying on the sterile stone floor of the cell she¡¯d been thrown into so she could sleep. Healing Hands wouldn¡¯t eliminate <em>that </em>need from a person, and they evidently didn¡¯t want her passing out and missing out on the next six days they had nned out for her, so they had to give her at least a few hours.


    It was around hour two of her nned four-hour rest that the door was flung open. Ripley raised her head, hair matted across her face and eyes, partially obscuring her vision, to see two figures standing at the door. One of them threw the other into the cell, and the haggard-looking person copsed to the ground.


    Ripley blinked and brushed the hair from her face to get a better look at her newpanion.


    It was Asmo.


    Slowly, Ripley crawled her way over to her half-conscious squad-mate.


    ¡°Asmo,¡± she groaned, her throat raw from the screaming she¡¯d done before. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    The body shifted, and Asmo¡¯s blonde hair shimmered from the dim torchlight. A rough groan escaped her throat.


    ¡°Please,¡± Ripley whispered, ncing over at the figure that¡¯d thrown her into the cell.


    He was still watching, hand on the metal cell door. His helmet obscured his face.


    ¡°You won¡¯t really do what that Demon said, right?¡± Ripley begged, her expression turning to one of pleading as she looked at him. ¡°You just did it the once to trick him, and you¡¯ll let us out soon?¡±


    He was just staring at her. Or maybe he wasn¡¯t ¨C she couldn¡¯t tell what he was looking at, with the helmet covering his eyes.


    ¡°If you put us back there, I¡¯ll find out who you are,¡± she threatened in a shaky voice. ¡°I¡¯ll fucking kill you. I¡¯ll find out where you live. I will.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Please, please give us another hour to rest. Half an hour, even. I can¡¯t go back to that.¡± Ripley gestured over to the still-motionless body of Asmo. ¡°She can¡¯t either. Nobody will know if you just give us a few extra minutes.¡±


    ¡°You know I can¡¯t do that,¡± A quiet voice echoed from the helmet. ¡°If they find out¡­ I have a family. The Demons, they¡¯ll¨C I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    The soldier turned away from the bars, and began to walk away.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m sorry,¡± Ripley sobbed after him. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have threatened you. I¡¯m sorry! I don¡¯t want to go back! Please!¡±


    But he was out of the room. The only two people left in the stone-walled cer were Ripley and Asmo.


    When the door echoed shut behind the helmeted man, Asmo stirred again, and this time she sat up, leaning her head against the wall. Her eyes were dead.


    They sat in silence for some time. The only sound filling the room was Asmo''s heavy breaths.


    ¡°What limb did they pick?¡± Ripley eventually asked.


    For a moment, there was silence. Then, Asmo finally responded. ¡°Left leg.¡±


    Ripley nodded. ¡°Left arm. How many times?¡±


    ¡°Forty-two.¡±


    ¡°Forty-one for me. One of the Wizards had to shit. It was a nice break.¡±


    Asmo just nodded at that. A few more minutes passed.


    ¡°I hear some of the torturers like to pick a different limb each time,¡± Ripley said. ¡°It takes longer to switch so much, so you get fewer procedures in total, but they say it hurts more each time. I think I¡¯d still want that, though. ¡®Least you don¡¯t have to go through it as much. What about you? You¡¯d want it the same, or different?¡±


    ¡°...Same.¡±


    Ripley nodded.


    A few more minutes passed in silence between the two.


    Eventually, Asmo spoke up this time. ¡°Lanney Strom fled the kingdom.¡±


    Ripley blinked. ¡°Fuck. Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I heard a pair of soldiers speaking about it on my way here.¡±


    ¡°Highest-Level sser in the whole kingdom, running off¡­¡± Ripley muttered. ¡°What about¨C¡±


    ¡°The rest of his squad fled, as well. In addition to a few other squads. As well as many high-Leveled adventurers.¡±


    ¡°What the fuck¡­ why?¡±


    ¡°Koinkar showed weakness. He does not have a n. He allowed himself to be pushed around and bullied by the Demons. Nobody would side with someone like that. And when some left, the others took it as a sign to leave, too. That is my guess.¡±


    ¡°But, if they¡¯re leaving, who¡¯s gonna fight off these Demons? I mean, we can¡¯t just let them run around and do what they want, right?¡±


    ¡°I do not believe¨C¡±


    ¡°Asmo, I can¡¯t keep doing this,¡± Ripley didn¡¯t wait for a response. Her muscled hands dug her fingers into her scalp, pulling her short hair. ¡°I can¡¯t. This can¡¯t¨C someone has toe and break us out. Or kill those Demons. Get rid of them. Get us out. If they¡¯re all leaving, what¨C when will we leave?¡±


    ¡°Six days.¡±


    Ripley just shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s¨C no. No. Please.¡±


    ¡°The Barinruth Empire has cut diplomatic ties with us, too,¡± Asmo continued. ¡°As have the Qarn Kingdom and their vassals. Trade has ceased between us and the rest of the world.¡±


    Ripley buried her face in her arms, eventually breaking out into sobs of despair. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t Koinkar just fight the Demons?¡±


    Asmo stayed silent.


    For a few more moments, the only sound that filled the room was Ripley¡¯s cries of despair.


    After some time of Ripley falling deeper and deeper into depression, Asmo spoke again. ¡°...It is possible that King Koinkar may be secretly trading with the other countries.¡±


    ¡°W-what?¡± Ripley raised her head.


    ¡°Perhaps Barinruth and Qarn only pretended to cut off diplomatic ties. To trick the Demons. The reason so many high-Level ssers fled was because Koinkar sold them to those countries. So that he could gather funds to hire onest massive army to push the Demons away.¡±


    Ripley¡¯s eyes brightened slightly at that. Yes, she thought. That could be it. She couldn¡¯t lose hope yet. Help was just around the corner. Give it some time, and reinforcements would arrive. A massive army to kill all the Demons and save everyone.


    Just a bit more time.


    Asmo sat on the floor in a cold, dark room. It¡¯d been approximately one hour since the guards hade and taken Ripley for her next session. This one would be twenty hours long. Asmo¡¯s session would start in an hour, too.


    She still felt guilty about pushing Ripley into despair with what she¡¯d told her about the soldiers fleeing and the other countries cutting off trade with Koinkar. She hadn¡¯t meant to make things worse, just to try and get Ripley¡¯s mind off of what was toe.


    She hoped what she¡¯d said at the end helped Ripley out a bit. It was false, of course. There was no reason to believe anyone wasing for them. By helping the Demons, Koinkar had shown himself to bepletely powerless. Nobody would ever want to help the kingdom after that. Why would they, if they knew the kingdom was too weak to offer anything in return? It was all risk, no reward.


    But if Asmo could at least make this time a bit better for Ripley, the lie would be worth it.


    For now, though, she just needed to rx her mind and try to get some sleep before her own next session. Her hope had already been broken. She just needed to survive this hell and pass the time until this was over.


    It was no use fighting the Demons here. She knew it, the kingdom knew it, and the neighboring countries knew it, too. Sure, it may be possible, but it was easier to just let them do what they needed to do so they¡¯d fuck off and nevere back.


    There was only one thing she could do to give her and Ripley the peaceful life they deserved. One that never involved this torture again. All they could do was give the Demons what they wanted.


    And once she was out of this, she¡¯d do it. She gripped her hand against the cold stone floor, already able to feel the sensation of the hard wooden bow in her hand as she loosed the string and the arrow flew straight through the man who started this all. And the only man who could stop it. She would stop this invasion. She would kill An Nota.

 Chapter 78: Welcome to Hell. Shut Up.

    Chapter 78: Wee to Hell. Shut Up.


    A Devil marched through the halls of a pathetic king¡¯s castle. He was absolutely furious ¨C <em>just</em> after he reprimanded them for failing to kill An Nota, they went and fucked it up again. Morons. He¡¯d even gone as far as to help them set up the n, came up with the idea for them, <em>and</em> went along with the Humans to protect them while they set the fire. And they fucking blew themselves up.


    Those stupid fucking Humans couldn¡¯t do anything. One person. That¡¯s who they were tasked with stopping. One fucking person. And even with the support of a portion of the Underworld¡¯s Infernal army, they still couldn¡¯t do it. He¡¯d asked about those bombs they were using. ¡®Tamper-proof¡¯, they¡¯d said. Sure, they didn¡¯t blow up from outside sources of fire, but that didn¡¯t make them tamper-proof. They should¡¯ve known that. Fucking idiots. That king evidently needed his position to be spelled out. He was <em>below</em> the Devil.


    The Human soldiers guarding the castle had long since learned their ce. When they saw the Devil marching through uninvited, all they did was avert their gaze. They probably didn¡¯t want to be turned into another corpse left in his wake. And he would¡¯ve done it, too, if they tried to stop him. Fuck, he might¡¯ve just killed one of them anyway. He needed to let off some steam.


    But he fought off the temptation. It¡¯d just make a mess. Instead, he marched up to the throne room¡¯s doors, and took his anger out on them. His fist mmed into the brittle wooden doors, breaking them apart. So cathartic. Wooden shrapnel scattered across the marble floor.


    Inside the room was a stunned-stupid Koinkar and a few greasy advisors that sat with him around a table. The king hastily got to his feet ¨C or, at least, as hastily as his frail body could move him.


    ¡°D-Demon,¡± he shouted in his constantly-hoarse voice. ¡°Why are you here?¡±


    ¡°Why am I here?¡± He marched straight toward the throne. ¡°Are you fucking braindead or something? You didn¡¯t uphold your end of our deal.¡±


    ¡°We allowed you to burn down our forest. What part of that was not up to our word?¡±


    ¡°The part where An Nota is still fucking alive.¡±


    The king just stared at the Devil.


    ¡°Listen,¡± the Devil continued, ¡°we¡¯ve basically had this conversation before. I walk in, I¡¯m pissed because you failed, I demand you do better. So I¡¯m honestly not even sure what I¡¯m supposed to say to you. Evidently, you are fucking incapable of getting it through your thick skull that this needs to be your top priority. My interests are your interests.¡±


    Once the Devil was finished speaking, the king nced over to one of his advisors and nodded her over. She stood and walked to the king while he sat back into his throne. Once he was settled, they began whispering to each other, apparently having a private meeting right in front of the party concerned. The Devil¡¯s scowl deepened as the seconds upon seconds of discussion ticked by.


    ¡°We feel,¡± the king croaked once they were finally done, ¡°that your attitude and demands are making it difficult to cooperate with the Demons. We have lent you what it is possible to lend you, and even more still. Burning a portion of ournd was more than enough help for us to give while receiving nopensation. If you¨C¡±


    ¡°Cooperation?!¡± the Devil interrupted,ughing incredulously. ¡°Is that what you think this is? You don¡¯t need to worry about your little patch of burntnd, I¡¯m threatening to burn down your entire kingdom! Holy fucking shit! Are you stupid, or something? You are <em>below</em> me. You <em>serve</em> me. We are not equals, we are not peers, we are not best fucking friends. I will grind you to dust beneath my <em>fucking heel</em> if you don¡¯t do everything in your power to kill this fucking kid.¡±


    ¡°That is hardly reasonable!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what¡¯s ¡®hardly reasonable¡¯, dumbass. You promise me that <em>you</em> can provide explosives and weapons to load the barricade with. You had it handled, apparently. You use these mines to fight back the Dragons from Kingdom¡¯s Edge, so what could An Nota possibly do? They¡¯re Enchanted against outside sources of fire. ¡®Tamper-proof¡¯, you call them.¡±


    ¡°I¨C¡±


    ¡°They got tampered with, didn¡¯t they?! And not just a bit. Tell me, just how many Levels do you think Alran Nota got from ughtering my troops using your equipment? How much harder is my job going to be because you¡¯re so fucking stupid and overconfident as to call a simple me repent a ¡®tamper-proof¡¯ design? Your moronic n isn¡¯t only costing us a sess <em>here</em>, it¡¯s making every single future operation we carry out harder, too. Your stupid fucking n, and your ipetent fucking soldiers you lent us, and your broken fucking equipment they used, all contributed to a total loss. And that¡¯s on you. So I¡¯d love to hear what you n to do to make it up to me.¡±


    The king waved another advisor over to him, who rushed to his side and began whispering in his ear.


    The Devil groaned and stomped his foot on the tile floor. The force of his strike cracked the tile and shook the room around him. ¡°Shut the fuck up! Get away from him!¡±


    The advisors looked fearfully at the Devil, who was now marching up to the kingzing in his cushioned throne. They backed away as the Devil got closer.


    ¡°I¡¯m asking <em>you</em>, Koinkar. Not theseckeys that you have sitting around to do all your thinking for you. What do you have to say for yourself?¡±


    Koinkar looked to his sides, where the advisors were long gone, having fled from the Devil¡¯s aggressive approach. He looked back at the Devil and stared him in the eyes. ¡°What do I have to say for myself? I say that this failure was just as much caused by your mistakes as it was mine. You were the one who proposed the idea of razing my kingdom to the ground. Not me. You have no right to speak to me as though I am some underling. I am the rightful ruler of this territory!¡±


    The Devil grinned in a way that made it obvious he wasn¡¯t smiling with happiness. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood and nodded along to the king¡¯s little speech. ¡°That¡¯s quite the defense. Really, I¡¯m impressed. You somehow managed to say the dumbest thing that¡¯s ever been uttered in this room. I swear to the lord below, you could take a chicken, cut off its head, and have a deaf girl listen to the gargling the blood makes as it spouts from the corpse¡¯s throat. And whatever gibberish she hears would <em>still</em> be more intelligent than what you just said. I need you to listen to me. You. Do. What. I. Say. Or you die.¡±


    The Devil looked back at the table where the advisors sat. They were still there, obviously afraid of making any sudden movements with him in the room. He reached out to them and snapped his fingers.


    You have cursed Unssed Human with Inferno. He has been set on fire.


    You have cursed Unssed Human with Inferno. She has been set on fire.


    You have cursed Unssed Human with Inferno. He has been set on fire.


    You have cursed Level 3 Swordsman with Inferno. He has been set on fire.


    You have cursed Unssed Human with Inferno. She has been set on fire.


    You have cursed Level 5 Wizard with Inferno. She has been set on fire.


    Every advisor at the table was set aze, and a cacophony of screams filled the room. Koinkar tensed when the Devil looked back at him. They both stayed silent as the advisors cried in pain and tried desperately to put out the fire. The Devil knew their efforts were hopeless, of course ¨C you couldn¡¯t put out magical fire using mundane methods ¨C but he liked listening to the struggle. Once the howls of agony died out and he got thest of his kill notifications, the Devil raised his eyebrows at the king.


    ¡°Oh, look at that. We¡¯re alone in the room together. Hey, what was it you said about this whole thing being my fault, and how I¡¯m such a failure? I¡¯d really love to hear more about that.¡±


    Koinkar shakily got to his feet, seemingly unfazed by the disy of power. ¡°You can barge in here uninvited. You can insult me. You can even kill my citizens. But if you think you can harass me into prostrating before your feet, into bing yourpdog, you will find I have more pride than you can break!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not interested in breaking your pride, old man,¡± the Devil stood against the king, getting within arms reach of him. ¡°I¡¯m sure that any you have is misguided, anyway. No, I¡¯m interested in getting results. And the fact is that you seem incapable of doing that. You are so fucking stupid and ipetent that I genuinely can¡¯t think of a use for you, other than the resources your kingdom has ess to. But even then, your soldiers are so weak that I can barely imagine they could do anything even if we put the entire kingdom¡¯s worth in a room with An Nota when he has his arms cut off! So I think you see the issue!¡±


    ¡°If you are so dissatisfied with the performance of my men, then why don¡¯t you go and kill this fugitive yourself? You seem so confident in your strength as to use it to solve every problem you have, why not use it here?¡±


    ¡°Oh, why not kill him myself? Why didn¡¯t I think of that?¡± the Devilughed and paced around the room, before storming back up to the king and mming his fist into the golden throne behind him. ¡°Maybe, it¡¯s because I¡¯m not a fucking <em>footsoldier</em>!¡±


    The king tensed and looked at the fist that crumpled the metal beside him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t get what you don¡¯t understand about this! Your bombs blew up in the hands of your own men, dumbass! That sort of feels like it¡¯s your fault.¡±


    ¡°You will get no more of my kingdom than what you¡¯ve already taken,¡± Koinkar growled through clenched teeth.


    ¡°Oh, I won¡¯t, will I?!¡± The Devil was shaking with anger, by now. He withdrew his fist from the throne, grabbed the king¡¯s arm, and ripped it clean off.


    You have struck Level 31 Human Pdin for 356 damage using your Hand.


    He tossed the limb aside while Koinkar gasped in pain from the dismemberment. The king was technically high-Level, but he was no good at fighting. The Devil had done his research on this ce, and he knew that this king Koinkar was the same man who founded the kingdom hundreds of years ago. He¡¯d stayed alive by dumping all of his Stat Points into Endurance and neglecting all else, which meant he had great survivability, but old age had still atrophied his muscles and dampened his reflexes.


    ¡°Oh, look! The hubristic king finally shut the fuck up!¡± the Devil shouted into Koinkar¡¯s face. ¡°Cat got your tongue, moron?! Or maybe a Demon,¡± he hurled his fist into the king¡¯s torso, ¡°has got,¡± he struck again, ¡°your arm!¡± He grabbed Koinkar¡¯s other arm ¨C his own hands covered in blood from ripping into the man¡¯s frail body ¨C twisted around, and flung him across the room.


    The king tumbled across the floor helplessly, coughing and groaning in pain and fear. He slowly reached out with his only hand, trying to pull his broken body to the exit thaty a couple dozen paces away from him. The Devil marched over with a scowl on his face, not bothering to count the damage he¡¯d done to Koinkar ¨C somewhere in the thousands.


    Once he got to the battered king, the Devil grabbed him by the cor and roughly lifted him up. Blood covered the floor and the clothes of both of them.


    ¡°You are a fucking insect,¡± the Devil growled. ¡°You are nothing. The only reason your entire kingdom is still standing is because of my own plentiful mercy.¡±


    ¡°Fuck. You.¡± Koinkar groaned.


    ¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± Spittle flew from the Devil¡¯s mouth across the king¡¯s face. ¡°You¡¯re pathetic!¡± He mmed the king into the tile floor, cracking it. ¡°You¡¯re insignificant!¡± He mmed again, and the <em>crunch</em> of bone told him that the king¡¯s face had broken against the marble. ¡°You¡¯re worthless!¡± He mmed again, and dug the king¡¯s body through the floor, and into the dirt. ¡°And most of all, you are pissing me the fuck off!¡± He turned and flung Koinkar into a wall with his full strength. The entire building rattled and blood sttered across the throne room.


    You have struck Level 31 Human Pdin for 4.11k damage using Bricks.


    You have in Level 31 Human Pdin.


    The king¡¯s corpse fell and impacted the floor. A wet <em>st</em> echoed through the room.


    ¡°Get up,¡± the Devil said to the corpse.


    It didn¡¯t move.


    ¡°Get <em>up</em>!¡± he yelled and held out a hand, then snapped his fingers.


    You have cursed corpse with Inferno. It has been set on fire.


    The scent of burning flesh emanated through the chamber. But the corpse didn¡¯t move. The Devil walked over and stood above the ming pile of flesh and clothing.


    ¡°Get up!¡± he screamed and stomped on the corpse. ¡°Get up, get up, get up, get up, get up!¡±


    The corpse was disfigured further by his muttion.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± he screamed at himself, rubbing his face with his hands. He was on the verge of tears in a mixture of anger, stress, and frustration with himself. ¡°Fuck, fuck, fuck! Fuck this shit!¡±


    The Devil paced through the room, his voice echoing across the empty walls. The only sound apanying him was the quiet burning of Koinkar¡¯s corpse behind him. He bit down on his finger, drawing blood, and kept biting down, harder and harder, until it snapped.


    You have been dismembered.


    The Devil¡¯s entire finger crunched off the knuckle in a burst of pain. He drew his hand back, the finger he just bit off still sitting in his mouth. He spat it out and stared down at his now four-digited hand.


    ¡°Fuck it,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s a temp vessel. I¡¯ll just get a new one next time Ie back.¡±


    He turned around, looked at the burnt corpse he¡¯d created, and sighed. That was an issue that couldn¡¯t be solved as easily.


    ¡°This is going to be so much fucking paperwork.¡±

 Chapter 79: Getting Closer

    Chapter 79: Getting Closer


    Erani, the Dryad, and I kept walking throughout the entire day, thankfully with no interruptions so far. Even though my Health had previously been at a precarious 24, with the help of Regenerate, by the time the sun set, it got all the way back up to full, at 310. Normally, it would¡¯ve taken all of today <em>and</em> tomorrow to even get close to that point, so I was very much enjoying the benefits of the Talent. Wounds closing, burns fading away, it even got to the point where I felt a bit guilty ridding myself of all my injuries while Erani and the Dryad had to suffer away as we walked.


    It turned out that the healing ability the Dryad got was only able to be activated once per week, which was worrying. I supposed it made sense ¨C 50 Health plus curing someone of all their wounds, poisons, and other afflictions was powerful, and the System liked to put restrictions on powerful abilities like those ¨C but I still wasn''t excited to hear about it.


    Oh, and, of course, there was the topic of the Dryad. We talked as we walked ¨C or, wemunicated telepathically ¨C and cleared a lot of thing up. First, she finally knew where we were actually going, now. And she even agreed toe along with us when we exined to her just how wide of a scale this invasion was happening on. It wasn¡¯t just the forest she inhabited, it was the entire kingdom. And there were many, many more enemies than we could kill.


    Once she understood the level of threat this forest faced, she agreed to leave it behind for now. Her reasoning was that she couldn¡¯t get stronger out here, constantly fighting for survival, so if she wanted toe back and defeat the Demons, she¡¯d first have to leave and get to the point where that was possible.


    In my opinion, it felt like she may have just been trying to rationalize a basic survival instinct with her desire to protect the forest. She wanted to leave because if she didn¡¯t, she would die. When I started suspecting that about her, though, she frowned at me and called me mean. I didn¡¯t even say anything about it, but apparently her emotional empathy could detect things that were even thatplex. Or maybe my incredulous expression gave it away.


    However, one of the main things I talked about was¡¯t with the Dryad. It was with Erani. Since the Dryad couldn¡¯t understand our Humannguage when speaking aloud, we could easily converse with each other without her knowing what we were saying. And, of course, there was no way for me to say something that both the Dryad and Erani would be able to understand. Any time I wanted to say something to Erani, I <em>had</em> to say it in ournguage.


    So, while we did have some regr conversation ¨C we were walking all day, after all ¨C we also heavily discussed the prospect of telling the Dryad about Minute Mage. She¡¯d been around us for a while, but she still had no idea I could go back in time. We ended uping to the conclusion that we¡¯d just tell her when it came up. It¡¯d be more and more apparent over our travels that, while she wasn¡¯t hostile, the Dryad disliked me as a person. She didn¡¯t ever make much effort for idle conversation with me, had called me mean more than a few times, and overall seemed to only tolerate my being here.


    Needless to say, telling someone who was obviously not quite fond of me about such a power could cause some tensions. So, ideally, saying something during a time where we also demonstrated its usefulness would probably go a long way in mitigating any aggression she may have felt.


    While we walked, I also practiced my Spells. I¡¯d increased my Soft Cap twice, from 6 to 8, so I was basically just going through each of them and Ranking them up to the new Cap. Ray of Frost got a nice upgrade, going from 53 damage to 59, and the Dexterity debuff also went from 6 to 7. Its Mana cost also increased, of course, from 23 to 24. Gravity Well also got a simr upgrade, with the gravity increase going from 45% to 55%, and its Mana Cost going from 11 to 12.


    The main upgrade, though, was Ethereal Armor. When I first cast it, I was surprised at the exact way the effect worked. I¡¯d initially assumed it¡¯d summon the armor directly on my body, already worn, but that wasn¡¯t the way it functioned. Instead, when I cast it, I was prompted to choose between Dark te or Light te ¨C I chose Light ¨C and then, once I made the choice, in a bright sh, a glowing set of armor dropped on the ground in front of me.


    I had to manually put it on, figuring out all the straps and pieces over an amount of time that I was a bit embarrassed to admit the length of. But, eventually, I had it all fastened onto my body. Thankfully, it was unnaturally lightweight, not even approaching the weight of actual metal te, or even something like chain mail. But it still felt strange to wear something that so thoroughly covered my body. The hard gauntlets especially messed with me. Still, it seemed like it was treated as an extension of my body, since Noxious Grasp still worked when I was wearing it.


    The armor had a constant glow, but once I put it on, I didn¡¯t notice the light that much. The helmet was open-faced, but I could still see the te in my peripheral vision, and it didn¡¯t seem too bad. But when I mentioned that to Erani, she said that she could barely see my expression because the armor was so bright.


    Luckily, it didn¡¯t seem to project that light too far into the forest, so we wouldn¡¯t need to worry about getting seen because of it.


    Looking back at the Spell¡¯s written effect, the fact that it just summoned the armor onto the ground made sense. The Spell never specified it¡¯d put the armor on me, and it was a Summoning Spell, not an Alteration Spell. Alteration made direct changes to a person, so if the Spell wasbeled so, it would¡¯ve put the armor directly on, making the change immediate. Summoning Spells, on the other hand, simply created things. Some of them summoned monsters to fight for you, and others summoned objects, like stone or water. This one seemed to summon Enchanted gear that would only work on the caster.


    That made it slightly worse than I¡¯d expected ¨C I couldn¡¯t, say, cast the Spell and choose Dark te right as a battle began to avoid a lethal hit. I¡¯d have to take the time beforehand to equip the armor. It was one of many times I bemoaned not being able to research my choices before having to make them. Still, the armor was still useful. I¡¯d just have to n ahead when using it.


    Anyway, I got Ethereal Armor all the way from Rank 0 to Rank 8 ¨C something that only took a couple casts, because of the ridiculous rate of Spell XP gain when working with Spells under ¡®normal¡¯ circumstances.


    And when I got Ethereal Armor to Rank 8, the changes were massive.


    It seemed that the way the Spell Ranked up was that the Dark te¡¯s downtime was decreased by 5%, and the Light te¡¯s discount got 5% better, too. The cost increased quite a bit too, of course, from 150 to 182 in total, but the rest of the increases more than made up for it.


    Dark te¡¯s increase was nice. After preventing damage, it used to be unusable for 60 seconds. Now, it was only offline for 40. I could see how nice it¡¯d be once it was only disabled for a couple seconds and I could use it multiple times in a fight alongside Regenerate. Still, the current change wasn¡¯t too big of a deal.


    But Light te¡¯s was much, much more severe. See, when the Spell Ranked up, the discount got 5% better. But how was that calcted?


    Well, it seemed like it treated the 10% discount like a decimal multiplier. So, if a Spell cost 100 Mana, the 10% discount meant that 100 Mana cost would be multiplied by 0.9, making the Spell now cost 90. However, when that discount got 5% better, what that really meant was that the multiplier was being multiplied by 0.95. So, once the Spell Ranked up once, it¡¯d go from multiplying a Spell by 0.9 to multiplying it by 0.855 ¨C a 14.5% discount. And that was just after one Rank.


    Once Ethereal Armor reached Rank 8, Light te was all the way up to a 40.4% discount. And I still got Spell XP at the normal rate when casting the discounted Spells, too.


    That was absolutely massive. The specific way the Spell Ranked made its progression <em>much</em> more effective than I¡¯d expected them to be. Really, I¡¯d gone from being excited about the sudden new prospects to being angry at the System for not telling me this. What if I¡¯d passed Ethereal Armor up without ever knowing the true power it¡¯d offered me? Had I already done that with other Spells, ignoring them because I had no idea what their Rank-ups held?


    It was just yet another moment that made me wish more than anything I could have a few books to look through about this stuff. Maybe my next Trailzer threshold would give me info about Ranks, who knew.


    Though, it seemed like Trailzer was going down some other kind of path with its benefits. After all, back when I¡¯d reached 16 Intelligence, it¡¯d given me this strange notification:


    Intelligence threshold reached. 16 Intelligence.


    Your Intelligence information rank has increased.


    Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -Trailzer Title has begun collecting data on holder. All future thoughts, decisions, actions, emotions, and movements will be logged.


    -Logged data will be used as Intelligence Information Rank increases further.


    I was at 18 Intelligence already, so it seemed like I wouldn¡¯t have to wait long to see what it meant when it said ¡®logged data will be used¡¯.


    I just hoped it didn¡¯t use it in a way that hurt me, or something.


    I shook the thought from my head. There was nothing I could do about that for now. Instead, I just needed to get back to what I¡¯d been working on. Which was, of course, practicing Noxious Grasp. With the discounted price from Light te, I earned Spell XP almost twice as quickly, and by the time the sun had set, I¡¯d gone from 98/461 Spell XP to Rank 11 to 266/461. I was really feeling just how expensive the Ranks got after 10. If it took this long just to get to 11, how long to get to 20?


    And, of course, just how sweet would the rewards be for doing so?


    As we walked, sun setting behind us, I began to notice the forest¡¯s look changing. The usual greenery was slowly turning a sickly yellow. Trees had more and more dead branches, the grass was thinner, and generally there was less and less vegetation. Instead of the vibrant brown dirt, the color of the ground turned into a dull gray.


    Really, everything around me just felt totally dead. I realized I hadn¡¯t seen a single animal in hours ¨C not even a corpse. What was going on here?


    But before I could even ask, I noticed something off in the distance. With the trees around us now dead andcking leaves, I could see much further than normal. And, off at the edge of my vision, there it was. A mountain. I could only see the very top of it, peeking out from above the brown tangle of tree branches, but there was only one thing it could be.


    Kingdom¡¯s Edge was finally in sight.


    Fight through there, and we¡¯d be free.

 Chapter 80: Wasteland

    Chapter 80: Wastnd


    Erani, the Dryad, and I walked through the dead, decolorized forest, gazing at Kingdom¡¯s Edge in the distance. The range of mountains barely broke through the treetops, but even with the little saw, I could tell we still had a long way to go. But our goal was finally in sight.


    Still, my mind was more consumed with my immediate surroundings. As we continued to walk forward, the forest changed even more dramatically. The ground was a gray, hard dirt with no grass sprouting up from it, and the trees continued to thin out and be more and more lifeless. This wasn¡¯t some small area, it seemed ¨C the entire forest had transformed as we continued to approach the mountain range.


    <em>¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±</em> I asked the Dryad as we walked. <em>¡°Do you know what it might be?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No,¡±</em> she said. <em>¡°I am not home. I do not know here. Something strange, killing nts. Hurting animals. Do not know if poison or something else.¡±</em>


    She bent down and examined the gray dirt more closely while I turned to Erani and repeated to her what I was told.


    ¡°You know anything about that?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re getting pretty close to Kingdom¡¯s Edge by now, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, probably gonna be at the base of the mountains within a few days. Why?¡±


    ¡°If we¡¯re close to Kingdom¡¯s Edge, then we¡¯re also approaching the wastnd.¡±


    ¡°The what?¡±


    ¡°The wastnd. It¡¯s the dead area that surrounds Kingdom¡¯s Edge. When the Dragons and other powerful monsters there fight, the shockwaves of their power go out and destroy the nearby environment. Powerful Spells and other abilities have totally devastated it. I mean, hells, you know why Kingdom¡¯s Edge is infested with Ghouls, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Few hundred years ago, right? I don¡¯t remember his name, but some super high-Level Wizard tried to clear out the entirety of the mountain range single-handedly. Cast some huge Spell to resurrect all the dead in the area and concript them to fight the monsters in the mountains, but he got killed pretty fast, and now the Ghouls are just wandering around and attacking everything on site.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Gisharth Wyndinlost. And the Spell didn¡¯t just resurrect the corpses as a one-time thing. Nobody knows his actual Spell path, so we have no idea what the effect exactly was, but whatever it was, it¡¯s a continuous effect. So, even to this day, anyone who dies on the cursed soil gets revived as a Ghoul. So we¡¯re probably on that cursed soil now, and that¡¯s why it¡¯s all gray and wilted.¡±


    I looked back down at the dirt, suddenly much more suspicious of it.


    ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any negative effects for as long as you¡¯re alive,¡± Eraniughed. ¡°Just promise me you won¡¯t die and eat my flesh.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I sighed sarcastically. ¡°Might get a certain craving. Who knows what¡¯lle over me. Why don¡¯t <em>you</em> promise to lightly season your arm, just in case?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll get right on that,¡± she rolled her eyes. ¡°Do stay on guard, though. If we¡¯re approaching Kingdom¡¯s Edge, we¡¯re bound to start seeing some shit we need to hide from.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said and ryed all that information back to the Dryad.


    <em>¡°So,¡±</em> she said when I was done, <em>¡°Human tried to destroy natural environment that was not harming anyone, did not seed in effort to destroy environment, left permanent scar because of failure. Am not surprised.¡±</em>


    Despite the content of her statement, I couldn''t help but feel proud of the Dryad. She was bing more and more linguistically talented as we talked ¨C though much of that was because of Erani¡¯s teaching and from me getting used to tranting what she was saying.


    <em>¡°Well, did you get any crazy Dryad powers that might be able to cleanse thend, or turn the undead back into normal people?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...No. If Dryad get those crazy powers, another Dryad would already have done it. Stop being stupid.¡±</em>


    Yeah, I was still working on figuring out a way to convey jokes over our telepathic connection. Or, it could''ve been that the Dryad knew exactly that I was trying to be humorous, and was just intentionally misunderstanding that as an excuse to insult me. I¡¯d have to ask Erani to try telling her a joke and see how she responded to that.


    But still, I <em>did</em> want to try and repair my rtionship with the Dryad, at least a bit. She seemed to like Erani well enough, which was good, but I still didn¡¯t want to do one little thing wrong and wake up without my head. Plus, I felt pretty shitty about what¡¯d happened.


    <em>¡°Uh, hey,¡±</em> I said, <em>¡°sorry about my attitude toward you the past few days. I can get kinda single-minded sometimes, and I ended up viewing you in a pretty unfair way. I¡¯ll do my best to keep that from happening in the future.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It is okay. You do not kill me. You are still one of the good Humans. Just a bad good Human.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Like, a medium Human?¡± </em>


    There was a pause, and then I got a new sensation from the Nymph. It wasn¡¯t words beingmunicated, but¡­ something else. It took me a moment to figure out what was happening, before I realized she wasughing. Well, not reallyughing, but the telepathic equivalent. I was a bit surprised ¨C <em>that</em> was how I finally got her tough? I was barely even trying.


    <em>¡°Clever! You clever! ¡®Medium Human¡¯, haha! Like middle of good and bad! Medium! Hahaha!¡±</em>


    ¡­Somehow, I felt like I didn¡¯t even get the joke that I made. It seemed like what I said ended up being much funnier in hernguage. Maybe it was some sort of y on words for her, or something. I was d to make a good impression on her, but also a bit worried that I apparently didn¡¯t even know what I was saying to her sometimes.


    ¡°Uh, hey, An?¡± Erani asked me, looking confused.


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Do you know what a ¡®medium Human¡¯ is? And why the Dryad is calling you one?¡±


    While we walked, I took a moment to cast Ethereal Armor and summon Dark te. In the past, I¡¯d thoroughly enjoyed the benefit of the Dryad¡¯s empathy calming the nearby wild monsters and keeping them from attacking us. But now we¡¯d have to worry about Ghouls, which weren¡¯t natural monsters ¨C they wouldn¡¯t be affected by her. So in this case, I¡¯d rather be safe than sorry, especially when I was still waiting on Time Loop to recharge.


    When I cast the Spell, the glowing Light te I previously had donned disappeared into sparkling mites of mist, and the new shadowy armor nked to the ground. This one, as opposed to the constantly-glowing Light te, seemed to absorb all light that came near it, making it even more difficult to put on than its counterpart. Since it absorbed all the light that hit it, I could barely see its parts and straps, let alone see the ces they were supposed to go. Still, I eventually figured it out.


    This set was slightly heavier than Light te, but stillpletely manageable. Its other main difference was that it just felt like it covered more. The joints were tighter, there was less cloth and more metal, and, most noticeably, it was closed-faced. A visor covered my entire head, obscuring my vision partially. It had wide enough holes for me to see, of course, but still, it was jarring to have something in front of my face at all times. I found myself reaching up to scratch an itch on my cheek, only to be stopped by steel multiple times.


    It was a shame that, by summoning a new type of armor, the previous type disappeared. It¡¯d have been nice to have multiple sets of armor lying around. We¡¯d tried it out and it seemed like Light te wouldn¡¯t work on anyone other than me ¨C Erani¡¯s hands passed right through it when she tried to grab it and put it on ¨C so it unfortunately wouldn¡¯t have worked to give Erani her own set either way. But even if it only worked on me, it would¡¯ve been nice to be able to have backups lying around in case I wanted to switch without paying any Mana.


    ¡°See, the Light te made you look like some holy knight,¡± Eranimented once I had it all on. ¡°But with that, I feel you look more like the Demons we¡¯re fighting than my ally. I can¡¯t even see your face!¡±


    ¡°Well, unless you want me to turn into a Ghoul and eat your deliciously-seasoned arm, you¡¯re gonna have to deal with it,¡± Iughed.


    We continued to walk for a bit as the sun continued to set in the sky. I kept myself equipped with Dark te, trusting my surroundings less and less as they just became more and more dead and gray. I didn¡¯t manage to make much more leeway with the Dryad, though ¨C it seemed a single sessful joke could only take me so far in her eyes.


    I was a bit surprised that I hadn¡¯t seen any Demons or soldiers around, at this point. Even if we¡¯d sessfully escaped from their barricade in the confusion, they still must¡¯ve been able to keep track of our general location and direction. So why hadn¡¯t we seen any of them? There must¡¯ve been something going on with them.


    Or they were nning something big.


    It began to get dark as I pondered the many exnations for the silence of our enemies, and once the sun had just finished setting, I noticed a sound. Ahead of us came this wet snarl and series of shambling footsteps. And, just as I signaled to Erani and the Dryad toe to a stop, the source of the sound showed itself.


    Stumbling out from behind a dead tree was a rotten corpse of a Human ¨C one which walked nheless. The bones in its leg werepletely visible, the flesh having fallen from it seemingly long ago, and the rest of its body was simrly in tatters. A few more simr-looking monsters shambled around corners with their eyes fixed on us.


    It was obvious what they were. Ghouls. And it seemed they could smell us.

 Chapter 81: A Ghoulish Foe

    Chapter 81: A Ghoulish Foe


    There were six Ghouls staring us down in the dead forest. The setting sun made it harder to see, but it wasn¡¯t totally dark yet. Their rotting flesh was peeled away to reveal tissue and bone, and their jaws hanging open to reveal a row of sharp teeth. Upon being transformed into a Ghoul, a body would go through a few modifications. Pointed teeth and long ws were some of the things that grew in.


    Instantly, my mind went to work. <em>¡°Dryad, move to the side and nk them when they charge. These monsters are dumb and fragile, but have some nasty effects if they hit you. I¡¯ll draw them forward, since I can operate at long and close ranges.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°These are the bad monsters? Made by bad Human?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay. Will help kill them.¡± </em>There was a pause in themunication. <em>¡°I ask your lover to shoot them before I attack. Will stun them. Watch out for explosion.¡±</em>


    I nodded, and the Ghouls charged. They snarled and scratched at the air as they sprinted toward us, seemingly dying to sink their teeth into something. The Dryad stepped to the side, blending in with the trees. The single-minded Ghouls didn¡¯t seem to notice.


    I stepped forward. ¡°Erani, keep back and snipe from behind. I¡¯ll keep them busy up here.¡±


    The moment the one in the front got close enough, it snarled and leapt at me, ws out, jaw unhinged, and eyes wild behind a mess of matted hair that covered its face. I stepped to the side and cast Crippling Chill to interrupt its attack.


    You have cursed Level 8 Ghoul with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 864.


    It stumbled past me and I raised my arm and pushed it further away, using Noxious Grasp to hit it for the split-second my skin was touching it. I had Venomous Grasp, so even a tiny amount of time with Noxious Grasp meant a minimum of 5 seconds consuming double Stamina. The Ghoul was sent spiraling to the ground from my light push ¨C they hit hard and were pretty fast, but couldn¡¯t take hits for shit. That was most of what I¡¯d heard about them.


    Two more rushed at me while the first attempted to climb back to its feet, and I stepped back to dodge their simultaneous swipes. Their ws barely missed my skin, and I lifted a hand and shot one of them with a few Rays of Frost, while I grabbed the other¡¯s arm and activated Noxious Grasp.


    Damage notifications flew through my mind for the Rays of Frost while I yanked the Ghoul I¡¯d grabbed toward me, trying to keep myself too close for its ws to be useful, but still far enough that it couldn¡¯t bite me. For Ghouls, the Stamina drain on my Spells would be especially useful. They had all had a low Endurance, and Endurance was the Stat that mainly increased maximum Stamina, so, especially with Venomous Grasp doubling all of the Stamina drain.


    I heard an explosion beside me and stole a nce over to see the Dryad diving into battle with the other three Ghouls. Her whipshed through their soft flesh and cut them to pieces ¨C not that it seemed like the Ghouls minded or even noticed, taking mindless swipes at the Dryad despite the damage.


    <em>¡°Are you struggling?¡± </em>She asked me as she fought, startling me with the sudden transmission in my head. <em>¡°I handle one more? One of yours?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Just make sure none of them sneak up behind me,¡±</em> I sent back.


    There was another explosion from one of Erani¡¯s Explosive Firebolts. She¡¯d aimed at the ground, this time, trying to only catch the Ghouls in the st and avoid hitting us. Specifically, she seemed to be destabilizing the two Ghouls that I¡¯d hit away, pushing them back to the ground before they could attack me.


    The Ghoul I was holding growled in anger ¨C or maybe just hunger. I¡¯d gripped both of its wrists in my hands and turned it so it was facing away from me, effectively disabling the two ways it could hurt me. And, over time, it¡¯d quickly lost the energy to struggle.


    But then, one of the other Ghouls ¨C the one I¡¯d shot with the Rays of Frost ¨C suddenly got to its feet and rushed at me. It seemed the five seconds of decreased Dexterity that Ray of Frost inflicted had worn off. I threw my held Ghoul to the side and stepped back to dodge a swipe by the charging Ghoul.


    You have struck Level 7 Ghoul for 144 damage and drained 145 Stamina over the course of 8.9 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    41.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 724.


    The Ghoul I threw away fell to the ground and stayed there, motionless. I looked back at the Ghoul whose strike I¡¯d just dodged and, while it was still in the follow-through of its attack, I quickly reached out to tap its arm, tagging it with Venomous Grasp.


    You have struck Level 11 Ghoul for 1.5 damage and drained 1.5 Stamina over the course of 0.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    0.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 724.


    This one was the only of my three that hadn¡¯t gotten its Stamina drained, so it was pretty much the only one that could move, at this point. That said, it¡¯d also taken the most damage out of any of them, so I decided to just try and focus on killing it instead of slowly draining its energy from a distance with Crippling Chill, which would probably be the safest y. I didn¡¯t know how often fights like these would ur while traveling through these wastnds, so I wanted to conserve what Mana I could.


    The most Mana-efficient method of dealing damage I had was Noxious Grasp, so I lunged forward and tackled the monster, sweeping it off its feet and into my arms. I tried to wrestle it into the same position I¡¯d had the one before ¨C grabbing the wrists to detain its ws, and attempting to spin it around to avoid its teeth. But as I was trying to maneuver the monster, one of its ws barely scratched against my wrist, drawing a dribble of blood.


    You have been scratched by ws. 2 damage.


    Your Health is 308.


    Your flesh has been necrotized. For the next 24 hours, your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are reduced by 2.


    ¡°Shit!¡± I cursed and pushed the Ghoul away, causing it to stumble to the ground. Seemed that, even though I was technically wearing armor with the Dark te, it didn¡¯t actually offer any protection aside from the explicit magic effects listed in the Spell. The Ghoul¡¯s ws just passed right through the seemingly-metal shell.


    You have struck Level 11 Ghoul for 56.7 damage and drained 57.1 Stamina over the course of 3.5 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    16.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 708.


    ¡°Fuck,¡± I rubbed my arm. I could feel my entire body ache, the pain radiating from the one tiny scrape.


    The Ghoul stepped forward again, apparently still having just enough Stamina to keep moving. Still, at this point, it was much more sluggish than it once was. That said, I didn¡¯t want to get another scratch on me ¨C those 2-Stat debuffs could add up quite a bit if I wasn¡¯t careful ¨C so I stayed back and shot it with a Ray of Frost.


    You have struck Level 11 Ghoul for 58 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 11 Ghoul with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.4.


    24.4 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 683.


    You have offered major contribution toward the ying of Level 11 Ghoul.


    You have earned 32 XP. Your XP is 373.


    That seemed to finally be enough to kill it. I nced around and saw that the three Ghouls the Dryad was fighting were already dead. She was sitting on one of their corpses, polishing the thorns on her whip.


    ¡°Show off,¡± I muttered. But still, I was d she was okay.


    The other two Ghouls I was fighting were still technically alive, but I didn¡¯t really consider thembatants, at that point. They were both so drained on Stamina that they couldn¡¯t even get to their feet, so they were just lying on the ground. I just walked over and stomped on both of their heads until they died. Not exactly a clean solution, but it got the job done.


    You have in Level 7 Ghoul.


    You have earned 31 XP. Your XP is 404.


    You have offered major contribution toward the ying of Level 8 Ghoul.


    You have earned 25 XP. Your XP is 429.


    It was a shame that Ghouls gave out so little XP. Sure, they weren¡¯t incredibly high-Level, butpared to even something like an Anacap, the XP reward was pitiful. But then, Ghouls were supposed to be pretty plentiful out here, so it was still possible I could get a Level out of them. I¡¯d just have to kill a lot.


    ¡°Everyone alright?¡± I asked both out loud and through my telepathic connection with the Dryad.


    <em>¡°Unhurt.¡±</em>


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good,¡± Erani looked at my scratched arm. ¡°You okay? Ghouls curse you when you get hit by them, right? How many Stats did it drain?¡±


    ¡°It was above tenth Level, so two from each. Shouldn¡¯t be too much of an issue, as long as I avoid getting hit in the future. Getting stuck with zero of any of my Stats for a day would pretty much be a death sentence. Got dealt basically no damage, though, so there¡¯s some upside.¡±


    It seemed like Dark te hadn¡¯t been of much use here in this fight. It needed something to do a massive amount of damage in a single hit to activate, and these Ghouls were more of a death-by-a-thousand-cuts type of monster. Still, since I had no more activations of Time Loop left, keeping it on just as insurance would probably be a good idea here. Out in an area where it was possible to see Dragons and Drakes, I didn¡¯t want to take my chances when I couldn¡¯t go back if I died.


    ¡°Well, we aren¡¯t even officially in the wastnd yet, so don¡¯t go getting low on Stats just yet. I¡¯ll be mad if wee all this way, only for you to get killed this close to the finish line.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± I rolled my eyes, ¡°if I die I¡¯ll be sure to offer you a very sincere apology.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just keep moving. We don¡¯t want to be here when even more Ghouls show up attracted to the sounds.¡±


    We resumed our journey through the continually-graying forest. Within an hour of travel, the forest got to the point where I didn¡¯t see a single leaf anymore ¨C on a tree or on the ground ¨C and the trees themselves seemed more like husks of what once was than real things that may have once been alive. The ground was crunchy, like everything was made of gravel, and we didn¡¯t see any more monsters. Well, other than Ghouls, of course.


    We saw them everywhere, constantly having to fight them off while we walked, to the point where I couldn¡¯t even regenerate my Mana. Even with almost 18 Mana/Minute, I was casting Rays of Frost and Crippling Chills faster than I could recover. I avoided using Noxious Grasp, since I didn¡¯t want to end up with even more lowered Stats from their attacks; I now knew that the ¡®te¡¯ armor I was wearing didn¡¯t actually do anything to protect against it.


    Yeah, the lowered Stats sucked. I¡¯d gotten used to having the little boost, and having it taken away was extremely ufortable. My strides felt too long and too short at the same time, I felt sore, my joints were tighter, and my skin felt like it¡¯d been sanded down to be a bit more sensitive. And, on top of all that, my maximum Health and Stamina were lower, too. Now, that didn¡¯t mean my current Health or Stamina had technically taken a hit ¨C my Health was actually at 308/290. What that meant was that it would effectively be unable to heal above that 290 point. So, by now, I <em>would</em> have naturally gone back up to 310, but since my maximum Health was below my current Health, I wasn¡¯t able to heal.


    I really wished I¡¯d known that going in. Even if it didn¡¯t change what my Spell Choice would¡¯ve been, it sure would¡¯ve changed how I¡¯d gone about that previous fight with the Ghouls. Even with this Intelligence Information thing giving me knowledge about my ss options, I was still falling into these little pitfalls that would be trivial to avoid if I¡¯d just had the opportunity to research my Spells beforehand. I really just wanted someone who knew about my Spell Choices, who I could ask whenever I had questions. But unless someone else magically got my ss, that wouldn¡¯t happen.


    By the time the hour passed, my Mana had slowly fallen to a precarious 300.


    Of course, I was also seeing some decent XP gains at the same time ¨C I was close to only being 400 away from the 1000 needed to Level up ¨C but I wasn¡¯t sure if I could keep doing this for long. I still didn¡¯t have Time Loop, so I was eagerly awaiting midnight to strike. Once it got to that time, I¡¯d feel a whole lot safer.


    The sun had set by now, and it was getting dark. Sure, midnight wasing, but our visibility was disappearing much more quickly. And with the abundance of the dead, gray trees that littered the area, the Ghouls had plenty of ces to hide and ambush us once we got close enough. The damn things seemed just smart enough to understand surprise attacks. Lucky us.


    But, just as I was beginning to consider suggesting we just turn back and head into safety so we could try this again the next day, I saw an end to the forest. The deadened trees stopped abruptly, like we¡¯d arrived at the edge of a crater.


    And, for all intents and purposes, we had.


    It was just a really, really big crater.


    Standing at the rim, I could see for what felt like forever across the endless, barren field. The ground was a gray dust and ash,pletely t if not for the asional hill or hole. And, of course, wandering the field were hundreds ¨C no, thousands ¨C of Ghouls. Shambling ceaselessly in no particr direction in search of anything they could kill.


    And across this seemingly-endless field, I could finally see it. Our way out. The threshold to freedom. The gates that could send us either to our deaths, or to a safe rest of our lives. The mountain range I¡¯d been searching for. Kingdom¡¯s Edge. The peaks touched the sky and the bases blocked the horizon, the valleys were taken over my yet more mountain behind them.


    But they were off in the distance. Right in front of me, we had one more obstacle before we reached our true goal. The field of death. The crater of nothingness. The barren gray.


    We¡¯d arrived at the wastnd.

 Chapter 82: Welcome to Hell. This is Your Last Shot.

    Chapter 82: Wee to Hell. This is Your Last Shot.


    A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. This room was not his office, however. Well, he didn¡¯t have an office at all, anymore. After his demotion, he was forced out and into thergemon room where the rest of the office grunts worked. To his sides were Gargoyles and Ember Mites ¨C the same ones that used to work <em>for </em>him.


    ¡°Hey, Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook, you mind handing me a new ink bottle? Mine¡¯s out,¡± said one of them ¨C a tiny Ember Mite named Inn¡¯innmannuupan¡¯tin¡¯tin¡¯tan¡¯tan¡¯tan.


    The Devil just nodded with a barely-hidden scowl on his face and handed one of his bottles. He shouldn¡¯t have been here. Sitting with the grunts and doing fucking <em>copying</em>. Looking at one document, and writing down exactly what it said on another. Nothing else. It was somehow both the most mind-numbing thing in the world, and the most stressful thing to have to do a lot of.


    A Gargoyle walked up to the Devil as he scribbled on a paper. ¡°Are you doing well, Xhag?¡±


    ¡°...Formal expression of greeting, Plindakin¡¯porbindondimoni¡¯aasiindorkaanpondindindodondi¡¯papossin,¡± the Devil said. This was who took over his job. This stupid fucking Gargoyle. Its race didn¡¯t even work in management! Fucking doomed to be ipetent. ¡°What can I help you with?¡±


    ¡°Well, er, just wanted to see how the copying work was going,¡± the Gargoyle said to him. The Devil could <em>feel</em> the diforting from it, so unnatural in this its new position. It wasn¡¯t meant to work in management, and it knew it. ¡°I know you¡¯re new to all this, but you¡¯re behind on your quota. I know I allowed you a 3.5% decrease, but you¡¯re, uh, still pretty far behind on it.¡±


    The Devil gritted his teeth. ¡°Got it.¡±


    ¡°Like, thousands of documents behind.¡±


    ¡°Mmhmm.¡±


    ¡°So, you know, if you could get on that.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°Also, I was wondering, how many verification levels do my proposals have to go through before they¡¯re instated? I feel like it¡¯s been forever since I sent in that request to expand the size of my office,¡± itughed.


    The Devil took a shaky breath, trying his best to contain his rage. ¡°Your requests need to go through thirteen levels of verification. <em>All</em> requests do. And I highly doubt you will get your office¡¯s size expanded, as it is entirely dependent on your personal rank. As all office sizes are. Now, I believe your job has nothing to do with talking to copiers, nor does it have anything to do with asking to get your office expanded. As does mine have nothing to do with informing you of those facts. So, I feel it would be beneficial for the both of us if you went back to your office and allowed me to continue with my work.¡±


    ¡°Oh, okay,¡± the Gargoyle said, apparently detecting none of the hostility in the Devil¡¯s voice. Then it looked down at the paper the Devil was writing on. ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re actually doing your copying, though. Looks like you¡¯re writing your own document. Not sure if that¡¯s part of your job, either.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± the Devil said through gritted teeth, ¡°it is not part of my copying job. As it turns out, I actually have multiple things I need to be working on right now. So, y¡¯know, if you could leave me to get busy with that¨C¡±


    ¡°What are you working on? Do the higher-ups have you doing stuff on top of your copying job? I haven¡¯t¨C¡±


    The Devil leapt up from his desk and shouted at the Gargoyle, ¡°Leave! Lord below, are you a fucking moron or something?! I have shit to do! Go do your fucking job, which, you seem to intent on reminding me, you took from me. I am fucking busy, Gargoyle. Get out.¡±


    The entire office stared at him, and the Gargoyle looked at him with a mix of fear and anger. Eventually, it swallowed. ¡°You will address me with my name. I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re upset, you will address me with my name.¡±


    The Devil stared into its eyes.


    ¡°Say it.¡±


    ¡°...Expression of apology, Plindakin¡¯porbindondimoni¡¯aasiindorkaanpondindindodondi¡¯papossin.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± it turned and walked back to its office. Before it closed the door behind itself, it turned back and looked back at the Devil. ¡°Work hard for me, Xhag.¡±


    The office got back to work, though most of the copiers near the Devil nced sideways at him before they got back to scratching their pens on paper.


    The Devil just stared down at his document. He was severely behind on his quota, sure, but not because he was ipetent, or anything. It was taking a bit of time for him to learn the ropes because he was too busy to put his full attention to this stupid task. Even now, he wasn¡¯t doing his copying work. He wasn¡¯t really working on killing An Nota, either. No, sitting on his desk was a half-done agricultural tradew for the Koinkar Kingdom.


    When he killed Koinkar out of rage and realized his mistake, he quickly moved to remedy the error. Luckily, due to his continued management of the An Nota case, he could still pull a few strings and conscript some additional forces to help patch it up. He couldn¡¯t get ess to any more military personnel to do what he¡¯d wanted to do and annex the country and establish martialw, but he could still do the next best thing. He got ess to a Subus that could change its form, had it impersonate Koinkar, and put it in power as a puppet leader of the kingdom.


    That said, the Subus¡¯s job wasn¡¯t to actually manage the kingdom; it wasn¡¯t nearly educated enough for that. Instead, that additional job had, of course, fallen to the Devil. So, for the past while, he¡¯d been reading reports of meetings that the ¡®king¡¯ had attended with the nobles of the kingdom.


    Apparently there had been protests going on. People were mad about the forest-burning, and their family members dying in the military, and the fact that the Demons were still upying the kingdom, and it was all being fed directly to the Devil. He was supposed to fix all of that.


    So he¡¯d gotten to work on it. Famines due to farnd being burnt? Strike a trade deal with a neighboring country. People dying because the burning pushed a bunch of wild monsters out of their territories, and into viges? Conscript more soldiers. People refusing to sign up into the military because of the mortality rates? Institute a draft. People protesting the draft? Institute an even stricter draft, and have the newly-drafted soldiers fight the protests.


    There were trade bans from other countries, a mass exodus of citizens fleeing to adjacentnds, and even an attempted fucking assassination. Somehow, not only had Koinkar ruined the Demons¡¯ ns while he was alive, but he¡¯d also managed topletely ruin his own kingdom, while he was at it.


    It was problem after problem after problem after problem after problem. And, of course, it was entirely the Devil¡¯s responsibility to solve every one of them, otherwise there would be a revolt, the people would fight against the Demons, they¡¯d refuse to help find An, and the Devil would not only lose out on their manpower, but he¡¯d have to assign some of his own to fight the revolt and keep them from harming the Demon army.


    He¡¯d been trying to get so much done that he¡¯d even learned how to write two separate things at the same time using both of his hands. He¡¯d work on reading and copying for his office job with one hand, and with the other, write out a script for the fake king to give out as a royal decree for the management of the kingdom. It may have only been about a day in the Overworld, but it¡¯d been many in the Underworld, and he¡¯d had time to practice.


    What he didn¡¯t have time for was actually doing anything rting to An Nota. How could he, when he was fighting a kingdom¡¯s popce trying to kick his forces out, and being threatened with yet another demotion if he couldn¡¯t keep up with his copying work? But he knew he¡¯d left this issue alone for far too long. Every second he gave to the fugitive without putting pressure on him was another second he could use to get stronger. Not to mention get closer to his destination.


    The Devil had finally figured out where it was An Nota had been heading all this time. Back when he¡¯d had his confrontation with the Faerie Queene, she¡¯d told him. Kingdom¡¯s Edge. If the man could get through that mountain range, he¡¯d escape to another fucking country, andpletely out of the Devil¡¯s grasp. He could barely convince the higher-ups to give him <em>this</em> many forces, much less double it for <em>another </em>army to stage <em>another</em> invasion. Plus, at this point, the countries of the Overworld must have heard of this Demon invasion, and had no doubt set up preparations for if the Underworld looked their way, next.


    If An Nota escaped to the Barinruth Empire, the Devil would have to stage an old-fashioned war between Koinkar and Barinruth, which would extend this conflict out even further, giving An Nota even more time. It would essentially mean failure, as far as the higher-ups were concerned. And the Devil knew very well that they would not tolerate failure from him.


    So he took a break from his two-handed-writing technique and just wrote a single proposal while pondering this problem. Part of him just wanted to forget about it and hoped An Nota would kill himself in the mountains. They were full of Dragons and other monsters way above the power level he knew that fugitive to be at, so it was likely he¡¯d just die there without the Devil having to do anything. Though, he didn¡¯t know how powerful the man was after blowing up the barricade. Fucking Humans. They just had to have that stupid capability of getting stronger with time. The more the Devil hit An Nota down, the easier it seemed for him to get back up.


    He needed to do something. Hit that kid down and <em>keep</em> him down. Maybe he could use the danger of Kingdom¡¯s Edge to his favor, though. This wasn¡¯t some forest. Every second An Nota spent in the area, he¡¯d get beaten down more and more. So, really, all the Devil had to do was dy him.


    Sure, there wasn¡¯t a fire to that fugitive¡¯s back anymore, but with the monsters infesting that area, a barricade could work. Not a shitty, rushed one, though. That glorified line of tents and half-baked explosives was obviously not good enough. No, with full control over the entire kingdom, he could make something much better. And with the tight mountain range focusing the fugitive into a single choke point, he could focus those efforts into a smaller, more effective wall.


    He looked down at the agriculture document he was writing, and crumpled it into a ball. The people could starve. They were going to kill this man, if it was thest thing they did. He began drawing up the ns. Conscript the Earth-focused Spellcasters and have them do construction. Have Hellions patrol the ground. Melee ssers man the fort. Ranged ssers in the towers. It would be impassable.


    He looked over at the neglected stacks of paper on his desk. Copy work waiting to be done. Yeah, fuck it. He wasn¡¯t doing that shit. If he killed An Nota, he could get his old job back. His old life back. He wouldn¡¯t have to deal with this bullshit. Fuck that fucking Gargoyle and its stupid twenty-four syble name.


    This was the Devil¡¯sst chance at killing An Nota. And he would make it count.

 Chapter 83: Wasted

    Chapter 83: Wasted


    Once we found the entrance to the wastnd, we decided to take a break before journeying in. The ce was so infested with Ghouls, we wouldn¡¯t be able to get a single quiet moment once we walked in there, so we backed away into the forest and found a decent spot for shelter as the night sky darkened. Since we¡¯d already cleared out the nearby area of Ghouls while walking through the first time, we didn¡¯t have to fight quite as many while getting ready to sleep.


    So we rested, each of us taking watch for a third of our break throughout the night, fighting off any straggler Ghouls that showed up.


    Once Erani woke me up for my turn on watch ¨C mine was thest ¨C I sat up and rubbed my eyes while shey down. I wasn¡¯t wearing my Ethereal Armor anymore since it wore off in my sleep, so I re-cast it, this time selecting Light te. It was past midnight, so Time Loop had refreshed by now, and I was feeling a lot safer. Plus, not only would Light te give me extra Spell XP, the discount also helped ensure I wouldn¡¯t run out of Mana while fighting off the Ghouls that wandered over to us.


    So I spent my few hours keeping the Ghouls away and practicing my Spells, my only real light in the dead foresting from the glowing armor covering my body.


    By the time the sun had risen and I woke up Erani and the Dryad, I¡¯d gotten a good bit of Spell XP for most of my Spells. The main gains, of course, went to Noxious Grasp, which had gone from 266 to 355. I needed a total of 461, so I was only about 100 away from finally Ranking up the damned thing. I didn¡¯t know how people <em>ever</em> got their Spells to Rank 20 and above.


    Well, I supposed it really wasn¡¯t taking very long at all. Pretty much anyone with a Spell at Rank 20 would be 40 years old, minimum. It took years upon years of practice to push it above the Soft Cap, or to get a high enough Level that the Soft Cap was that high in the first ce. So, really, I was just so used to being so ahead of schedule that, once something started taking a more reasonable amount of time, it <em>felt </em>like forever.


    Still, I needed it to Rank up soon. Really, I needed it to Rank up a few times soon. With my current Mana/Minute, it wasn¡¯t very possible, but pushing my Spells so far past where they should¡¯ve been was what¡¯d helped me survive all this time. A single Rank was only worth a bit of damage per second, but with multiple extra Spell Ranks, that extra damage could easily mean the difference between being able to kill something and not. And now that we were approaching Kingdom¡¯s Edge, I was about to face some enemies that¡¯d put my current Spell Ranks to shame.


    But I couldn¡¯t sit around for a few weeks and wait for myself to get stronger, so I¡¯d just have to push on. Leveling up would increase my Mana/Minute, so I¡¯d have to go with the good old fashioned solution of killing my way through my problems.


    Once we were all awake and it was bright out, we set off again, returning to the wastnd to resume our perilous trek. The wastnd began abruptly ¨C I could¡¯ve drawn a line in the ground separating the forest and the deste field. There were trees in the forest, but they suddenly stopped, as though there were a barrier preventing them from spreading any further. The ground of the wastnd was ash, instead of the hard gray dirt of the dead forest, and, most noticeably, the wastnd was sunken a good pace or two down into the ground,pared to the ground of the forest.


    There was only one way to get in, so we approached the edge and slid down into the field of dust. There were no Ghouls immediately nearby ¨C at least, not at a distance where they could smell us ¨C but once we started moving closer in we¡¯d inevitably have a conflict. In the bright light, I could see even better now, and the sheer number of Ghouls I saw was overwhelming.


    They didn¡¯t have great eyesight or hearing ¨C only smell ¨C so I wasn¡¯t too worried about theck of cover in the barren wastnd, but there were still other monsters that roamed around here.


    An earth-shaking roar echoed off from the mountain range.


    Ah, such as that one.


    Off in the distance, as we walked further into the wastnd, I saw a massive figure rise off one of the mountains, flying up into the air. The long, lizard-like body with the extensive, scaly wings. The ear-piercing scream of a roar that could be heard even when the beast only existed in the horizon. The st of fire the monster shot from its mouth that seemed to rival the entire forest fire I¡¯d experienced.


    A Dragon.


    Dragons were synonymous with overwhelming power. Something that Humans couldn¡¯t hope to rival. Hells, I¡¯d heard rumors that you could get a whole-ass Title just for the feat of killing one. And they were rumors for a reason ¨C a person ending the life of one of those things was so rare that it was basically impossible to actually verify what happened when you did.


    The Koinkar Kingdom had set up countermeasures in case a Dragon ever did attack them ¨C they had to, considering the fact that there was Dragon territory lying on their border ¨C but those countermeasures were more ¡®try to save as many lives as possible¡¯ than they were ¡®fight off the attacker¡¯.


    Sure, it might¡¯ve been possible if they mobilized the highest-Level ssers in the territory, outfitted them with gear made by the most talented Enchanters, and picked the battlefield so that the Dragon couldn¡¯t take advantage of its flight to corner its enemies in the cliffs. But even then, Dragons could work with each other too, and if one of them called in a couple buddies to take care of the Humans, there would be no way they¡¯d survive.


    There were two main things that allowed the Humans to live in spite of the constant threat of the Dragons. First, Dragons didn¡¯t really care about the existence of things outside their immediate surroundings. Sure, if Humans ever tried to build settlements in or near the wastnd, they¡¯d have to worry, but as long as we kept far away, the Dragons would ignore us, too. And second, they were somewhat predictable in terms of what they could do.


    Dragons had two main methods of attack: their body and their breath. They had ws and teeth and tail and feet that they could use to crush you, and if you were too far away for that, they¡¯d burn you to a crisp. But as long as you were prepared, you could manage to survive those attacks. A high Dexterity score could let you dodge its strikes, or you could use a shielding Spell or Talent to keep the damage low. And as for the fire, there were many different me-mitigating Enchantments that could keep you safe.


    Still, that was just the way one could avoid being killed by a Dragon ¨C there wasn¡¯t much that could actually let you kill one yourself. Even if you needed a few extra hits to take down, they were still incredibly maneuverable both on the ground and in the air, and their massive Health pools would make almost any attack a pinprick to their thick scales.


    So like I said before ¨C they were synonymous with overwhelming power. I¡¯d heard tales and read books and manuals on them, descriptions of specific Dragons and their individual names and personalities, even heard songsposed about different adventurer¡¯s meetings with the beasts of the mountains. No matter where you lived or how far away you were from the massive beasts, there was nobody alive that hadn¡¯t heard of them.


    The Dragon that rose from the mountains soared above the distant cliffs, roaring at something I couldn¡¯t see. Something down in the valley between the mountains had apparently angered it, and it swooped down, sting a massive breath of fire into the valley. Whatever was there had almost certainly beenid to waste. But, no. The Dragon swooped back around, making a second bombardment along the valley. What was down there was apparently pretty survivable.


    I turned to Erani. We¡¯d all stopped when we saw the Dragon in the distance. ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s keep moving.¡±


    As we walked, we had to fight off the Ghouls that approached us. Thankfully, it seemed they were more thinly spread further away from Kingdom¡¯s Edge, so we could avoid most of them and keep our Mana from going too low. Part of me wanted to just sit here and kill Ghouls for the XP all day, but I had no idea how close behind me the Demons were. The fact that we hadn¡¯t seen them at all since the fire made me quite suspicious of whatever they were nning. I just needed to get out of here. We were so close to leaving the kingdom, and I was eager to make that process as quick as possible.


    As we walked, the Dragon continued to attack whatever it was that was in the valley. It barraged the area with fire, and, when that didn¡¯t work, swooped down to strike with its massive ws. And when that <em>also</em> didn¡¯t work, it went back to fire. Just what was this thing doing?


    The one-sided battle went on for at least a couple hours as we slowly made our way through the wastnd. How did that thing have so much Stamina to keep fighting for so long? Well, most Dragons were incredibly high-Level, so it made sense, but it was still amazing to watch something fight for so long. It also made me even more curious about what it was fighting in the first ce.


    I was approaching Level 15, too. Getting there would mean a huge boost in power for me ¨C not only would it provide a Talent, but it would also give me a Spell. Coming right after the triple-Level-up from the barricade before, I felt like I was really beginning to hit my stride with Leveling. Maybe I was just getting lucky, or maybe Recursive Growth¡¯s value-over-time effect was beginning to truly pay off ¨C it¡¯d gotten me a total of 24 Stats so far, which was way above-rate.


    Either way, though, I was beginning to feel a bit confident. And the extra Level would help with my Mana/Minute, which was currently only barely able to keep up with the rate I was casting to kill the Ghouls.


    As we traversed, I also noticed something else ¨C other than the Ghouls ¨C lurking in the wastnd. For the most part, the field we walked through waspletely t. t, that is, except for a few unnatural holes and hills scattered throughout the field. And they weren¡¯t small; the ¡®holes¡¯ were more like miniature caves ¨C cavities that struck diagonally into the earth and were all wider than I was tall. The hills were mounds of dirt that looked strange and abrupt on the otherwise t terrain ¨C like random spots of e on a person¡¯s face. At first, I¡¯d assumed they were just the aftermath of some particrly strong monsters duking it out in the area, but then I noticed something weird about them.


    Down in the holes were red eyes.


    Something was living in them. I noticed that the hills all existed near the caverns, and they all looked pretty simr, so it was likely that they weren¡¯t the result of various battles ¨C they were the result of some monster digging them out and living in them, kicking dirt out to form the nearby hills. Sure, there were many scars on thendscape that looked nothing like these holes, but none of them housed these red eyes.


    ¡°Know what¡¯s in those caves?¡± I asked Erani while simultaneously messaging the Dryad.


    <em>¡°Only know my ownnds,¡± </em>the Dryad responded. <em>¡°Not others.¡±</em>


    ¡°No clue,¡± Erani said. ¡°I heard about the Ghouls and the wastnd because I was researching the Spell that caused it, but I didn¡¯t really look into the specific things that live here. Well, other than the more famous stuff in Kingdom¡¯s Edge itself.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I have no idea, either,¡± I nodded. I looked over to one of the holes, about a hundred paces away. Even that far, the single pair of glowing red eyes within shined brightly at me, staring with a murderous intent. Each and every cavern had a single pair of red eyes ¨C no more, no less. And they all seemed to be watching us. Seemed that whatever was within didn¡¯t have a taste for the undead.


    We stayed away from them.


    It was while we were making a wide arc around one of the mysterious caverns that our attention was pulled back to the Dragon that was still attacking whatever was in the valley. The flying beast swooped up, roaring louder than it ever had yet, and pped its wings, propelling it toward the wastnd. Toward us.


    Out of seeming frustration that it couldn¡¯t destroy the valley, it crashed itself into the dusty ground of the wastnd, killing hundreds of meandering Ghouls, and roared, stomping its four feet on the ground. It was still far from us, but closer than it had been before ¨C now, it was more than just a silhouette in the sky. Now, it was a massive motherfucking Dragon,rger than a house, standing across from us in the wastnd. It stomped over and over again, roaring and breathing fire at nothing in particr.


    We stopped in our approach, unsure of what to do. Sure, it didn¡¯t seem to see us, but it wasn¡¯t like I wanted to get <em>closer</em> to the damned thing.


    After a moment of stomping around, it pped its wings once again, and took to the skies. The scene it left behind was one ofplete destruction. The already-ashen ground waspletely scorched. Any Ghouls that were nearby had either been crushed, burnt, or split in two by the Dragon¡¯s razor-sharp talons. There were imprints left behind where the beast had stomped and mmed its tail into the ground. And, when it pped its wings to ascend into the air, the windstorm left behind scattered guts and flung ash into the air,pletely obscuring the area.


    The smoky sky covered the Dragon at first, but then it burst out, heading further into the wastnd ¨C further toward us. It swooped by the ground and let out a massive breath of fire ¨C once again, at nothing in particr ¨C and continued in its path near us.


    ¡°Shit, we need to get cover!¡± I said. It¡¯d burn us alive if we didn¡¯t get out of the way.


    I snapped my head around. The wastnd waspletely barren, with no trees for cover, not even a rock to hide behind. The only thing around was¡­


    ¡°Get in the cave!¡± I shouted, tugging Erani and the Dryad along with me as the Dragon drew closer, charging up another of its breath attacks. We leapt into the deep cavern, tumbling into the sloped ground and down, far beneath the earth.


    I listened as the Dragon unleashed its fire above us and continued on in its rampage, traveling far away from us. I let out a breath.


    Then, I looked behind me.


    A pair of red eyes stared down at me in the dark cave. Glowing, red orbs perring into me. And then, a growl escaped the thing they were attached to.


    And in a burst of speed, it attacked.

 Chapter 84: Trolled

    Chapter 84: Trolled


    The beast in the cave with us lunged at me while I leapt backwards to avoid the rabid bite. As it moved forward, toward me and toward the mouth of the cavern, natural light began falling on the monster that could previously only be identified by its pair of glowing red eyes.


    It had rough gray skin, and was at least twice as big as me. Its ugly, scrunched-up face with a big nose and permanent scowl looked down at me and growled as it bared its hands out, showing off the sharp ws that tipped its fingers. Its powerful legs walked forward, and its sharp fangs dripped with drool.


    I hurriedly did all that I could, casting Crippling Chill, Ray of Frost, and activating Gravity Well on the massive cave monster.


    You have cursed Level 24 Mountain Troll with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    33.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 887.


    You have struck Level 24 Mountain Troll for 55 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 24 Mountain Troll with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.4.


    14.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 872.


    With the Light te I was currently wearing, the Spells I cast were discounted by about 40%, leading to the much lower costs of my Spells that were disyed here. It¡¯d allow me to be much more liberal with my casting, to say the least.


    The monster ¨C a Mountain Troll, apparently ¨C roared and stumbled as all three effects hit it in unison. In total, it¡¯d lost about 23 Stamina and be 55% heavier at the same time, and that sudden toll obviously affected it. Still, it was far from immobile, and it quickly recovered.


    ¡°Get back!¡± I yelled at Erani, pushing her closer to the mouth of the cave as it stood back up and charged.


    The Mountain Troll quickly closed the gap between us, the ws on its meaty hands out and seemingly aimed at me. While it charged, I shut off Gravity Well, then instantly re-enabled it. The resulting fluctuation of gravity obviously confused the Troll, suddenly feeling lighter and then heavier right after, and it slowed a bit because of that confusion. I used the time that confusion bought to raise my hand and shoot off a few Rays of Frost, trying to keep my distance from the monster.


    Each impacted its head, dealing 52. then 56, then 58 damage, and lowering my Mana to 807. It flinched under the heavy fire of Spells and snarled at me, spittle flinging at my face.


    I¡¯d been practicing that Gravity Well technique to keep in my back pocket as ofte, and it really seemed to work. I¡¯d used it on myself to try and perfect my timing with it, and it really felt incredibly disorienting to have your weight yed with like that, especially when it was flicked on and off so quickly.


    That said, I also noticed myself building up a tolerance to it as I used it on myself more and more ¨C especially when I did it quickly ¨C so it wouldn¡¯t work on a single enemy forever. At least, not at its current Rank. Perhaps it¡¯d work even better in the future.


    But for now, I needed to deal with this Troll. It lunged at me yet again, and this time it got to me before I could slow it down. Even with the many curses and debuffs I¡¯d stacked on the monster, it was still incredibly quick.


    Itshed out with its meaty w-tipped hands. I twisted to dodge the first, and the second hand stopped suddenly ¨C the Dryad had thrown out her whip and wrapped the spikey wire around the Troll¡¯s wrist, using it to hold the monster back. I used the moment to rush in and tackle the beast, though by ¡®tackle¡¯ I really mean ¡®run into its torso¡¯, since it was so much taller and heavier than me. Still, with the debuffs continuing to weigh it down, I managed to push it back. All Noxious Grasp needed was contact, anyway.


    It roared the moment the Fester of Venomous Grasp took hold of it , instantly sapping away its Stamina at twice the normal rate. Since one of its arms was still bound up in the Dryad¡¯s whip of thorns, it used its only free hand to reach for me and try to swat me away. I tried to maneuver my way around to the other side of its body where it couldn¡¯t reach me, but it was surprisingly flexible, considering its bulky form, and managed to grab my arm and fling me away.


    You have struck Level 24 Mountain Troll for 66.4 damage and drained 66.8 Stamina over the course of 4.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    11.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 731.


    I tumbled across the stone ground of the cave and all the way out into the chasm¡¯s mouth, squinting at the sudden sun ¨C and at the fact that I¡¯d banged my head during the aforementioned tumble.


    You have been mmed against something. 32 damage.


    Your Health is 276.


    ¡°Fuck,¡± I muttered groggily, trying to stand myself up. Yeah, it definitely hurt. Judging by the sound of explosions and feeling of shaking earthing from inside the cave, it seemed like Erani had taken over in my stead.


    Something brushed up against my shoulder as I got to my feet. I looked behind me, confused, and saw¨C


    You have been bitten. 17 damage.


    Your Health is 259.


    Your flesh has been necrotized. For the next 24 hours, your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are reduced by 1.


    ¡°Shit!¡± I yelled and shoved away the Ghoul that¡¯d just chomped into my shoulder. Just like with the Dark te before, the Ghoul had been able to bite straight through the Light te as though it weren¡¯t even there. I held out my hand and hurriedly shot off Rays of Frost until the undead died.


    You have offered major contribution toward the ying of Level 8 Ghoul.


    You have earned 36 XP. Your XP is 827.


    I sighed. I hadn¡¯t expected there to be Ghouls¨C


    <em>Shit!</em>


    I dodged out of the way of a set of ws that tried to pierce my arm ¨C another Ghoul. I took a step back, cursing it with Crippling Chill and¨C


    You have been scratched by ws. 6 damage.


    Your Health is 253.


    Your flesh has been necrotized. For the next 24 hours, your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are reduced by 1.


    I turned around yet again, seeing yet another Ghoul that¡¯d snuck up on me and attacked, raking its ws against my back. I quickly nced around, and realized that I was absolutely surrounded. Ghouls were on every side of me, and all were approaching.


    Fuck, I thought. We¡¯d been in one ce for too long. The longer we lingered, the stronger our scent grew, and the more Ghouls woulde. And the smell of fresh blood from my wounds definitely didn¡¯t help.


    I spun around, ncing at the dozens of Ghouls and casting Crippling Chill on all the nearby ones, trying to make sure none of them could get to me. Luckily, a single Crippling Chill at its current Rank seemed to be enough to take care of most of them, with its Dexterity debuff and Stamina Drain, so once I hit any of them with it, they¡¯d almost immediately copse.


    ncing at my immediate surroundings, I felt like there were no more nearby that I missed. My Mana had fallen hugely ¨C down to 335 ¨C but even then, there were still more staggering toward me from further away. They weren¡¯t quite threats yet, though, so I got a moment to breathe.


    It was in that moment that I heard an explosion ¨C much nearer to me, this time ¨C and a grunt of pain. I looked over to the dark cave, and saw the glowing red eyes of the Mountain Troll snap up to stare at me.


    ¡°An!¡± I heard a gasp of a shoute from Erani.


    And at that exact moment, the Troll lunged from the cave. It snarled, spittle flying from its hinge-jawed mouth as it took a leap out of the chasm mouth and straight toward me. It was incredibly fast,ing right at me from a single bound, and I realized btedly that Crippling Chill had worn off the beast at some point. The notification must¡¯ve slipped past me in the mess of Crippling Chill notifications I¡¯d gotten when cursing the Ghouls.


    It stomped into the bright field of the wastnd, kicking up theyer of dust and ash covering the ground as it roared at me and charged. I renewed its curse of Crippling Chill and activated Gravity Well the moment it came into range.


    You have cursed Level 24 Mountain Troll with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    33.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 292.


    But even with the two curses pulling double duty, the Troll was just barely slowed, and I only managed to jump out of the way because it seemed to get confused about which of the many humanoid bodies standing around was me.


    It crashed into a few of the Ghouls that¡¯d copsed onto the ground from my Crippling Chills and killed a couple of them, ording to my Contribution notifications. Then, it turned, looked at me, and roared. This thing was fucking loud.


    Now that it was in direct sunlight, I could see the various wounds it¡¯d sustained from its fight in the cave with Erani and the Dryad. It was burnt, shed, stabbed, beaten, and seemed like it¡¯d been bashed against a wall a couple times. But it was still standing, and it looked pissed.


    ¡°An!¡± I could hear Erani running up from in the chasm, ¡°watch out for the¨C¡±


    She was interrupted by the loudest roar yet from the massive monster, and it charged at me yet again.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± I leapt out of the way, rolling across the ground and trying to stay away from the still ever-approaching ring of Ghouls. I held out a hand and shot off a few Rays of Frost as the Troll crashed through the line of undead, hitting it in the back and covering it in ayer of rime.


    You have struck Level 24 Mountain Troll for 53 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 24 Mountain Troll with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.4.


    14.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 256.


    You have struck Level 24 Mountain Troll for 50 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 24 Mountain Troll with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.4.


    14.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 241.


    You have struck Level 24 Mountain Troll for 57 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 24 Mountain Troll with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.4.


    14.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 227.


    It turned and roared yet again, obviously upset at its unsessful charge. I braced myself to dodge again, but this time it didn¡¯t run at me right away. Instead, its eyes suddenly shined an even brighter red than before ¨C I suspected I¡¯d be able to see its eyes from all the way across the wastnd at this point ¨C and seemed to gloss over with a magical sheen.


    And then, it seemed to disappear. Except, no ¨C it was just moving so fast, my eyes couldn¡¯t keep track of it. And then, it reappeared right in front of me, its wed hand already in the middle of a swing. Before I could even process what was happening, the fist hit me and sent me flying.


    You have been sliced by ws. 41 damage.


    Your Health is 212.


    You have been mmed into something. 18 damage.


    Your Health is 194.


    I rolled across the ashy ground of the wastnd, tumbling across the ground until finally settling to a stop.


    Yeah, that supernatural speed was no joke. It was such an intense boost that it more than canceled out the Dexterity-draining effects of Cripping Chill and Ray of Frost, and it didn¡¯t seem like Gravity Well would do much to the Mountain Troll in its current state, either. I¡¯d been hit so far away that Erani and the Dryad were well out of range to offer any immediate help, and my Mana and Health were both getting low. And now with the monster¡¯s extreme boost in speed, it was even stronger than before.


    The Mountain Troll turned to look at me, its eyes still shining that extra-bright red.


    The only question was, how could I beat it?

 Chapter 85: Worn Down

    Chapter 85: Worn Down


    I stumbled to my feet, ncing around in search of the Mountain Troll. When I got knocked back from the monster, I¡¯dnded far away ¨C off at the edge of the quickly-encroaching ring of Ghouls that surrounded us. I backed away from them while also trying to keep prepared for an attack from the Troll. It was standing across our little arena, and turned to face me. Its eyes had that magical sheen that told me it was still in its speed-enhanced state. Just how long would this shitst?


    It rushed at me again, seeming to disappear from my vision and reappear in front of me like it did before. I was prepared to dodge, but before I even had the opportunity to move, its fist mmed into me, punching me even further back and straight through the crowd of Ghouls behind me.


    You have been sliced by ws. 33 damage.


    Your Health is 161.


    I slid across the ground, narrowly missing the ws of some of the nearby Ghouls as I flew back, before finally settling to a stop. I was so far away from the cave mouth by now that Erani and the Dryad were just dots in the background, dwarfed by the quickly-approaching Mountain Troll. I hurriedly activated Regenerate ¨C my Health was getting pretty low, and it seemed like I¡¯d need it here.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 15.9 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    35.7 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 54.1.


    Wait ¨C why were the numbers there so low? I should¡¯ve gained a bit more Health than that.


    Then I remembered. I¡¯d been hit by Ghouls a few times now, and my Stats were lower. Which meant that my Health/Minute had decreased, and so Regenerate healed me for less.


    The Ghouls around me approached closer, but they weren¡¯t my main worry. The Troll was getting close, bounding toward me with its supernatural Dexterity. Part of me wanted to try shooting it with another few Ray of Frosts for the damage, but I knew that wouldn¡¯t work here. My Mana was at 229, and I could tell just by looking at it that a few more Rays of Frost wouldn¡¯t kill this beast. Erani and the Nymph were too far away to help, and the Troll would likely take this fight even further away, with its massive swings that sent me flying.


    But without my Mana-intensive methods of fighting, that left only one way: Noxious Grasp. It¡¯d been a while since I¡¯dst been forced to use that Spell exclusively to deal with a monster, and I wasn¡¯t looking forward to doing it again. But this time, I had a couple things working for me to make this fight go my way.


    The Troll appeared in front of me once more, but I¡¯d gotten at least slightly used to its blinding speed by now, and was already leaping back to dodge. It swung its fist out, and when it did, I activated Noxious Grasp and tapped the monster¡¯s meaty hand as it passed by in front of me.


    You have struck Level 24 Mountain Troll for 3.2 damage and drained 3.3 Stamina over the course of 0.2 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    0.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 160.


    By tagging the Troll with Noxious Grasp, the Fester of Venomous Grasp would take hold for 5 seconds. Of course, I didn¡¯t have Crippling Chill or anything active to artificially drain the monster¡¯s Stamina, but that didn¡¯t mean it wouldn¡¯t go down at all. Simply by fighting, its Stamina would slowly decrease, and with Venomous Grasp, it¡¯d decrease twice as fast. And that wasn¡¯t even considering the fact that, whatever that speed buff was, it probably cost Stamina to activate.


    I couldn¡¯t beat the Troll with raw power. That much was obvious. But maybe I could slowly tire it out. With my high Mana/Minute, I was getting an extra point to cast my Spells with almost every three seconds, and the Troll would only get weaker with time. The longer I could drag this fight on, the more my chances of winning would increase.


    The Troll stumbled from its missed attack, ring at me with an angry grunt. It seemed to be slowing down bit by bit as the moments went on, so it wasn¡¯t quite as true with its strikes as before. It lifted its leg and stomped straight at me, but I rolled to the side and barely dodged as the beast¡¯s foot mmed into the ground, shaking the ground and kicking up dust all around us.


    I coughed and tried to get back to my feet, but got caught by a backhand that sent me flying back once again.


    You have been mmed into something. 29 damage.


    Your Health is 132.


    I groaned. It fucking hurt, but at least I still had a good buffer of Health to protect me. Back when I was lower-Leveled, even a single hit like that would¡¯ve surely broken a bone. I once again stood back up, bleeding from the mouth.


    ¡°Won¡¯t back down,¡± I muttered to nobody in particr. ¡°I¡¯ll keep getting back up. You can¡¯t put me down.¡±


    The Mountain Troll responded with a deafening roar and yet another charge. Its fighting style wasn¡¯t exactly refined, but it more than made up for it with raw power. It mmed its fist down at me, but I backed away, managing to dodge and tag the monster with Venomous Grasp once again, refreshing the Fester. It reached out and tried to grab me, but I ducked under its massive hands just in time and lunged in to try and work against its range advantage.


    Once I was close enough, I reached out and grabbed its leg with a single hand, simply dragging my fingers along its thigh and keeping in contact while also trying to keep away from its sharp ws that were reaching for me. I ducked and weaved around its legs, keeping my eyes out for the Troll¡¯s rapid swings and attempted grabs aimed at me.


    I didn¡¯t get greedy, though, and after a few seconds and a few close calls, I let go and leapt back, out of its range.


    You have struck Level 24 Mountain Troll for 76.1 damage and drained 76.6 Stamina over the course of 4.7 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    13.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 96.


    It turned and took another swing at me, which I dodged. It seemed the Stamina drain was beginning to really slow the Troll down by now, and I could more easily dodge its strikes. Plus, its eyes were losing their magical sheen, so the supernatural speed was also wearing off.


    I took a breath. We were entering the home stretch. Just wear it down a bit more. It swung again at me, and I tried to back away again, but it seemed to be learning my fighting patterns as well as I was learning its, and it reached out a bit further to hit me. I just barely didn¡¯t get out of the way in time, and the monster¡¯s ws scratched along my stomach.


    You have been sliced by ws. 18 damage.


    Your Health is 114.


    Still, as it touched me I managed to get off a split-second of Noxious Grasp yet again, refreshing Venomous Grasp¡¯s Fester. Even when it was hitting me, it was still weakening itself.


    It swung again, and again, and again, and I kept ducking and weaving, only ducking in once every five seconds to refresh the Fester. Little by little, the Mountain Troll got more and more lethargic andzy with its movements, and I got more and more familiar with its patterns. I was in a state of absolute focus, feeling like I was truly seeing all future possibilities and reacting to each of them in perfect time without error.


    And I didn¡¯t have room for error, either. Even if the Troll was slowing down, that didn¡¯t mean it was easy to dodge its attacks. I rolled between its legs, bent over backwards to barely avoid the thing taking off my nose, and leapt straight over its lower swings that tried to swipe through my legs. Beads of sweat dotted my face and my legs felt like they¡¯d copse in on themselves any moment. Its Stamina was being drained faster than mine, sure, but that didn¡¯t mean I didn¡¯t feel any fatigue at all.


    Still, I wasn¡¯t taking damage, and that was what mattered. All I had to do was keep flowing through the swipes¨C


    You have been bitten. 20 damage.


    Your Health is 94.


    Your flesh has been necrotized. For the next 24 hours, your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are reduced by 2.


    Shit! I nced behind me and found a Ghoul that¡¯d snuck up and sunken its teeth into my shoulder. My entire body sunk, growing a bit weaker. I tried to yank myself away from the undead¡¯s clutches, but just as I did¨C


    You have been mmed into something. 36 damage.


    Your Health is 58.


    ¡°Fuck,¡± I groaned and stumbled back to my feet. Gods-damned Ghouls. Had to be fucking everywhere.


    The Mountain Troll rushed forward in yet another supernatural burst of speed. Looked like it was activating that ability one more time, putting in ast effort to take me out now that I was disoriented. But I wouldn¡¯t let it ¨C I still had onest trick I could pull, and now that it was throwing out thest of its resources, I¡¯d do the same.


    The moment it got within range, I cast onest Crippling Chill and Ray of Frost at the Troll.


    You have cursed Level 24 Mountain Troll with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    33.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 62.


    You have struck Level 24 Mountain Troll for 52 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 24 Mountain Troll with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.4.


    14.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 48.


    With its already low Stamina, the Dexterity debuffs really hit it hard. And the constant drain from Crippling Chill, taking away over 12 every single second after the Fester was taken into ount, only sealed its fate. With a start the beast stumbled over itself, not having expected to have so much taken away from it all at once. And with its hyperactive speed, it couldn¡¯t catch itself, falling face-first into the ashy ground and sliding to a stop in front of me.


    It wasn¡¯t dead, but it wasn¡¯t getting back up. Stamina must¡¯ve finally hit 0. I walked over and ced a hand on the unconscious body, activating Noxious Grasp once more. There was no reaction as I began to drain away thest of its Health.


    I also kept an eye out for nearby Ghouls. Finally, I could actually take a breather and look around myself. I plopped myself down on the Troll¡¯s unmoving arm while I waited for Noxious Grasp to do its thing, gasping for breath and resting my throbbing legs.


    My Health had fallen down to 58, my Stamina was low ¨C having fallen to 29 after so much exertion in the fight ¨C and my Stats had been severely lowered. Hells, my Dexterity was getting close to dropping below half of what it should¡¯ve been. In conclusion, I was beat the fuck up.


    ¡°An! You okay?!¡± A distant voice called out to me. I looked over to see Erani and the Dryad running over to me, pushing aside the Ghouls that attempted to attack them.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I breathed when they got to me. ¡°Just waiting for this damn thing to die.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not dead already?¡± Erani eyed the motionless body.


    ¡°Nope, just out of Stamina. Damn thing used up so much when it used that speed ability that it tired out before dying.¡±


    <em>¡°I sorry for not saying anything,¡±</em> I got a message from the Dryad. <em>¡°Hard to do when fighting.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It¡¯s okay,¡±</em> I said back. <em>¡°I was probably too busy to listen, anyway.¡±</em>


    It was then that I got a notification.


    You have struck Level 24 Mountain Troll for 262 damage and drained 264 Stamina over the course of 16.2 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    45.4 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 2.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 24 Mountain Troll.


    You have earned 353 XP. Your XP is 1252.


    Threshold reached. 1000 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 15.


    Due to achieving Level 15 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Strength, 2 Dexterity, and 1 Conjuration.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 15.


    -You may choose a Spell to learn.


    -You may choose a Talent to obtain.

 Chapter 86: Paths to Travel

    Chapter 86: Paths to Travel


    Threshold reached. 1000 XP.


    Your Level has increased to 15.


    Due to achieving Level 15 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Strength, 2 Dexterity, and 1 Conjuration.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 15.


    -You may choose a Spell to learn.


    -You may choose a Talent to obtain.


    I looked over my Level up when the notification came in, sitting on the now-dead Mountain Troll. Not the most bountiful trigger of Recursive Growth ¨C I typically wanted to see more Endurance and Conjuration than Strength and Dexterity ¨C but free Stats were free Stats.


    Besides, I really didn¡¯t care about that. I was much more interested in thosest two parts. A Spell <em>and</em> a Talent. This was a huge milestone for me.


    ¡°Just got to 13,¡± Erani said, apparently reading her own notification. ¡°Gonna get my Level 15 Talent soon.¡±


    ¡°I just got mine,¡± I grinned, hopping off the corpse of our foe. But I stumbled when I hit the ground, my legs crumpled beneath me, and I fell straight to the ground.


    ¡°Shit, are you alright?!¡± Erani rushed over to help me up.


    It was at that point I realized that my physical Stats were still severely drained from the Ghoul attacks. Well, that, and my Stamina was low from the intense fight. Even if my Stats weren¡¯t technically lower than an Unssed person¡¯s now, I¡¯d gotten so used to having the boost that losing it felt crippling.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m okay¡± I grumbled in response to Erani. ¡°Got hit by a few Ghouls. Stats are at minus six right now.¡±


    Her eyes widened at that. ¡°How much more until paralysis?¡±


    ¡°Recursive Growth helps a bit, so it¡¯s not too bad. Strength and Dexterity are at 11, so I can take a few more hits before they drop to 0.¡±


    Erani nced over as the Dryad attacked an approaching Ghoul with her whip, severing it in two. After a moment, she looked back at me. ¡°Dryad says she¡¯s getting pretty low on Stamina after that fight. Anyway, If you¡¯re at minus six, your Health¡¯s gotta have a pretty low maximum, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, 260. Though it¡¯ll take a bit to get up there. I dropped down to 58 in the fight.¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± she grimaced. ¡°Sorry I couldn¡¯t help more. That thing used its speed ability in the cave and got away from us. Seems like it was trying to iste and kill you beforeing back to us.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, luckily I put up more of a fight than it was anticipating,¡± I chuckled roughly. I really did feel pretty awful, with the low Health and Stamina, and my Stats being lower than I was used to. The physical injuries I¡¯d sustained definitely didn¡¯t help, either.


    The Dryad killed another Ghoul, severing its head from its body.


    ¡°How much longer can shest?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Probably not long. And I¡¯m pretty low on Mana, too. Are you thinking¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m considering Time Loop. Uh, sorry for telling you, I know it kinda makes you¡­¡±


    ¡°Feel existential dread? Yeah,¡± she chuckled darkly. ¡°I guess you¡¯ve dealt with this in the past.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, a couple times. You asked me not to tell you before using it in the future. So, uh, sorry. Again.¡±


    She breathed and shook her head slightly. ¡°I don¡¯t want to make you feel bad for using it. I mean, it makes sense that you¡¯d have to sometimes. Just¨C here, how about you just don¡¯t say anything. Decide whether you¡¯re going to use it on your own, and then use it if you¡¯re gonna use it, don¡¯t if you¡¯re not. That way I don¡¯t know. It¡¯ll make things a lot easier for me.¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s what you want,¡± I said hesitantly. I wasn¡¯t sure if that was the healthiest way to cope with things, but then, what would be? I had to admit that Time Loop was pretty philosophically terrifying to exist, and there wasn¡¯t really any way to deal with it other than just not using it. Which wasn¡¯t much of an option in our current situation.


    I sighed and looked over my Status, feelingpletely drained from the fight. My Stats were low, and so was my Health. Sure, I could restore it more quickly than normal with Regenerate, but even then, I was looking at a max Health that was 60 lower than it should¡¯ve been. Even if I¡¯d technically survived this fight, we¡¯d probably be overwhelmed by Ghouls in a few hours. Hells, if we ran into one of those Mountain Trolls again, we¡¯d die for sure.


    And when I nced around the surrounding wastnd, many, many pairs of red eyes stared back at me. Each of those were another Troll, waiting to strike. It seemed like they¡¯d only attack if we got close, but who knew when we¡¯d get unlucky, or not notice one, or ¨C gods forbid ¨C when that Dragon mighte back. I didn¡¯t like using Time Loop so early in the day, but keeping myself in this state for twenty-four hours may as well have been a death sentence.


    I really just needed to go back and avoid the fight altogether ¨C that thing was powerful enough that, no matter what, killing it would require me to take some heavy hits. Hits I couldn¡¯t afford to take. If we went back, we could just wait in the forest for the Dragon to do its thing, and <em>then</em> move into the wastnd and travel without ever having to dodge its breath. And I¡¯d still have another use, anyway.


    With mytest Level-up, Time Loop could take me back up to three and a half hours. Going back that far, I could easily arrive back when we were in the forest, before we¡¯d ever set foot in the wastnd. And from there, we could just watch safely and wait it out. Plus, we¡¯d still have enough time for me to manage my Level-up. Which, admittedly, I was a bit eager to do.


    I looked over at Erani, who was watching me with anticipation. I was pretty sure I¡¯de to a decision ¨C now I just had to go back. I felt bad doing it without saying anything, but that was what she wanted, so¡­


    And then I was back, standing in the forest and overlooking the gray ash of the wastnd. I¡¯d chosen the three-and-a-half-hours option in the in-between space, giving us the most time to make sure we were in a safe spot. Plus, getting the extra XP from killing Ghouls and practicing Spells would be nice.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Erani looked over at me. I¡¯d gotten good at masking the shudders that normally flooded my body whenever I came, but she¡¯d also gotten good at recognizing them. ¡°Time Loop?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Nothing huge. But we do need to stay here for a while. Couple hours from now, there¡¯s gonna be a Dragon that sweeps the area, and we need to take cover in the forest to keep safe. Also, we should keep an eye out for Mountain Trolls.¡±


    ¡°Keep an eye out for what?¡±


    I exined to her exactly what¡¯d happened as the Dryad watched us talk. We still hadn¡¯t told her about Time Loop, and I figured we may as well keep it that way for as long as telling her about it wasn¡¯t necessary. She already didn¡¯t like me ¨C no reason to give her a reason to distrust me any more.


    Once I was done exining things to her and we were in a safe ce, I sat down and turned to Erani. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m gonna go ahead and manage my Level-up.¡±


    ¡°Wait, you Leveled up?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. You did too, but, y¡¯know.¡±


    She rolled her eyes. ¡°<em>So</em> unfair that you get to keep it. I did half the work!¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m the one who remembers doing half the work. So, functionally, I was the one who did it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s definitely not how it works.¡±


    ¡°System agrees with me, so your argument is invalid,¡± I shrugged and smiled, then sat on the ground and closed my eyes to enter a meditative state. ¡°Keep an eye on our surroundings for me?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I heard her say.


    After about ten minutes, I got to the point of being able to make my choices. First, I wanted to see what Spells were offered to me.


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Ember Gale


    School: Fire


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 9 Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    A gust of wind blows arcane embers through the area. While active, all beings <em>(including yourself)</em> within 75 paces of you take 8 damage per second.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Wrath of God - School: Divine</em>


    <em>mebreak - School: Fire</em>


    <em>Elemental Appeal - School: Alteration, Arcane</em>


    Expedite


    School: Alteration


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 55 Mana


    ¡ª


    Increases the Dexterity of up to one being that you are touching by 20 for 30 seconds.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Wild Might - School: Alteration, Nature</em>


    <em>Defy Gravity - School: Arcane</em>


    <em>Sanguine Bond - School: Arcane, Curse</em>


    Heartstone


    School: Alteration, Summoning


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 480 Mana


    ¡ª


    Creates a Heartstone that crumbles to dust after six hours, or when destroyed. All beings within ten paces of the Heartstone be Heartful. When under the effects of Heartful, a being¡¯s Health/Minute, Stamina/Minute, and Mana/Minute are all increased by 100%. In addition, individuals that are Heartful be rested from sleep twice as quickly.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Brave the Elements - School: Alteration</em>


    <em>Inspirit - School: Alteration, Divine</em>


    <em>Bloodthirsty de - School: Curse, Summoning</em>


    Huh. Those were some interesting options. Ember Gale was solid damage per second in an absolutely massive radius, but would hurt me and my allies whenever I used it, and wasn¡¯t very good against single targets. Expedite was a very efficient Stat boost, but could only increase Dexterity, so it wasn¡¯t incredibly flexible. And Heartstone was a strange Spell that seemed to focus more on utility than anything else. At least, it didn¡¯t seem useful in the middle of a fight.


    Part of me wanted to start trying to figure out what to choose right away, but I still had more things to look over. Namely, my Talents. If I took a Spell and <em>then</em> looked at my Talent Choice, I could realize that I¡¯d made the wrong decision and want to change my mind. When I was hurting this badly for information, I needed to take whatever I could get.


    So I opened up my Talents and looked at them, too.


    Choose one Talent to obtain:


    Status Reconstruction


    Type: Activated


    ¡ª


    Set your Health, Stamina, and Mana to exactly what they were thirty seconds ago.


    This Talent may only be activated once per day.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Body Reconstruction</em>


    <em>Mind Reconstruction</em>


    <em>Spirit Reconstruction</em>


    Precognition


    Type: Activated


    ¡ª


    See a sh of the future. When activated, you will be shown what will happen over the course of the next ten minutes if you were to proceed with no information of the future.


    This Talent may only be activated once per day.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Retrograde</em>


    <em>Time Dtion</em>


    <em>Inverse Perception</em>


    Exponential Remation


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Time is warped around your Mana receptors, greatly increasing Mana/Minute the more Conjuration you have. For every point you have in Conjuration, your Mana/Minute is increased by 1%. This effect multiplies with itself. <em>(Currently multiplies Mana/Minute by 2.35)</em>


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Cumtive Catastrophe</em>


    <em>Spatial Flux</em>


    <em>Future Sight</em>


    Yeah, these options were even more difficult to choose from. Status Reconstruction could effectively double my Health, Stamina, <em>and</em> Mana, but only if I used it optimally. If, over the course of thirty seconds, I got hit for most of my Health, spent most of my Mana, and used up a bunch of my Stamina on something like Regenerate, only for me to get hit again, and then used that Talent, I¡¯d be back to full with my opponent still having spent all that energy on fighting me.


    Precognition was also fascinating. It was simr to Time Loop in that it¡¯d give me knowledge of what would happen in the future, but with this, I had to use it <em>before</em> those events transpired, not after. So, while in some situations it was effectively an extra use of the Talent, in others, it wasn¡¯t. It couldn¡¯t help at all against sneak attacks or anything else I wasn¡¯t expecting, for example. And, of course, it didn¡¯t give me any extra XP. But Time Loop was so powerful, even something that just approached its power could still have its uses.


    And then there was Exponential Remation. Currently, it¡¯d bring my Mana/Minute from 18 to 43. And, of course, it¡¯d only get better in the future ¨C every time I got another point in Conjuration, my Mana/Minute would increase by another 1%. But the real question was what I could use that Mana regeneration on. It wouldn¡¯t touch my maximum Mana at all, so it¡¯d be difficult to use the extra regeneration in the middle of a fight. But if I yed my cards right, like I did during the fight with the Mountain Troll, I could extend an encounter out long enough to regenerate enough Mana for multiple additional Spells.


    With the two choices looming in front of me, I had many paths ahead of me that could determine my future. Not only whether I¡¯d immediately survive Kingdom¡¯s Edge, but also my life afterward, and how I¡¯d get by in the new empire I was traveling to. With all the differentbinations, I could lead myself in many different directions.


    Now, I just had to pick the correct one.

 Chapter 87: Making the Choice

    Chapter 87: Making the Choice


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Ember Gale


    School: Fire


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 9 Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    A gust of wind blows arcane embers through the area. While active, all beings <em>(including yourself)</em> within 75 paces of you take 8 damage per second.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Wrath of God - School: Divine</em>


    <em>mebreak - School: Fire</em>


    <em>Elemental Appeal - School: Alteration, Arcane</em>


    Expedite


    School: Alteration


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 55 Mana


    ¡ª


    Increases the Dexterity of up to one being that you are touching by 20 for 30 seconds.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Wild Might - School: Alteration, Nature</em>


    <em>Defy Gravity - School: Arcane</em>


    <em>Sanguine Bond - School: Arcane, Curse</em>


    Heartstone


    School: Alteration, Summoning


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 480 Mana


    ¡ª


    Creates a Heartstone that crumbles to dust after six hours, or when destroyed. All beings within ten paces of the Heartstone be Heartful. When under the effects of Heartful, a being¡¯s Health/Minute, Stamina/Minute, and Mana/Minute are all increased by 100%. In addition, individuals that are Heartful be rested from sleep twice as quickly.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Brave the Elements - School: Alteration</em>


    <em>Inspirit - School: Alteration, Divine</em>


    <em>Bloodthirsty de - School: Curse, Summoning</em>


    To begin with my choices, I decided to pick a Spell. Honestly, they all looked powerful.


    I almost discounted Ember Gale as not useful because it¡¯d damage Erani and the Dryad, who both had pretty low Health, but then I remembered that Erani wouldn¡¯t be hit as hard from it as I thought. With Angelic Shield, she¡¯d be able to block the damage, and would really just be taking a hit to her Mana, which she had plenty of.


    There were other downsides to the Spell, though. It¡¯d be borderline useless in popted areas, since I could hit civilians, and it would also be pretty bad when I was facing single enemies. I mean, Ray of Frost dealt a bit over 2 damage for each 1 Mana spent, while this dealt less than 1 damage per Mana. Plus, it damaged me, too. Now, it could be insane value for Mana against a massive crowd of monsters, but it wouldn¡¯t do much outside of that.


    I thought back to the wastnd. With Ember Gale, I could easily kill off any Ghouls that came near us, and probably without spending so much Mana. And, of course, with the long range it could possibly get me a good amount of XP.


    So Ember Gale was solid in the short-term, but could fall off pretty hard once we were out of the wastnd and into more situations where its downsides were more apparent.


    Next up was Expedite. 55 Mana for 20 Dexterity was a good rate, whenpared to other Stat-boosting Spells. Thinking back to Bioshift, which I¡¯d been offered once before, that created a gap in Stats of 20 for the cost of 80 Mana. And Holy Strength, which I¡¯d been offered a long time ago, gave 5 Strength for 15 Mana, but for half the time Expedite offered. So Expedite gave me the best value for my Mana in that respect.


    However, it also offered the least amount of flexibility. Bioshift was costly, but it could also target any Stat I wanted. And Holy Strength only covered one Stat, but it could be used in smaller increments, allowing for much finer control of exactly how much I wanted to spend. So there was definitely some trade-off there for the efficiency of Stats for Mana.


    But I definitely preferred efficiency over flexibility here. If I spent, say, about 500 Mana on the Spell, I could give myself an extra 180 Dexterity for the next half-minute. Thinking back to my previous experiences, I could absolutely see the opportunity in that. With that much Dexterity, I could¡¯ve dashed through that blockade the Demons set up to trap us in the forest fire without a problem. Or flee from something like the Mountain Troll without ever having to fight it.


    And, of course, it could be used in non-extreme cases, as well. Just casting one or two stacks of the Spell active on me could mean a massive boost to my Dexterity in a fight ¨C and Spells like Noxious Grasp were useful when used in conjunction with a high Dexterity Stat. So Expedite was a solid contender here.


    And then there was Heartstone. That was a strange one. It looked like it was in that same category of ¡®object summoning¡¯ as Ethereal Armor was, but it served a totally different purpose. It looked like a great Spell to activate just before we went to sleep, that way we could rest for a shorter period of time while still rejuvenating ourselves just as much.


    Now, for me personally, it wouldn¡¯t have quite as much of an effect as it could. Specifically, one of its best aspects was that it could boost Health/Minute by 100% for such an extended period of time. Normally, it¡¯d take around 48 hours to fully regenerate your Health, and this Spell could cut that in half. But for me, Regenerate already cut that down by quite a bit. And Stamina and Mana would already be fully regenerated over the course of a full night¡¯s sleep, anyway. Still, it¡¯d be helpful for Erani and the Dryad, plus that double-speed sleeping effect sounded quite convenient.


    But still, just that function of the Spell wasn¡¯t the part that impressed me. I could already envision the upsides to just casting the Spell every six hours and keeping the stone in my pocket as we traveled, keeping us all in top shape. Using it while we slept would be nice, but really it¡¯d be great to help us recover after fights as we moved through the wastnd.


    Although, really, it didn¡¯t seem like Heartstone would be used to its full effect for us as just a group of three. With itsrge radius of effect, it could easily support a group of dozens ¨C if not hundreds ¨C of soldiers.


    Still, I could see its uses. Where Ember Gale was great now, but might taper offter, Heartstone was the opposite. It wouldn¡¯t be as useful now, but I could see myself doing something like selling uses of Heartstone to people who wanted it, once I was out of this Demon situation. The thing stuck around for six hours, and didn¡¯t say anything about needing to stay near me, so I could just make one and give it away for a price to an adventuring party that wanted to stay in peak condition during an expedition.


    I found myself in a familiar predicament, unsure of what Spell to take. And, of course, that uncertainty waspounded by the other choice I had to make. There were ninebinations of different Spells and Talents I could get for myself, and each one could potentially spell out my death, or set me up for life.


    So, I turned to the only person I trusted would put <em>more</em> thought into this than I ever could. ¡°Hey Erani, you mind helping me out with this choice?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I heard her say and sit down in front of me.


    I read out the Spells and their effects to her, then told her my general thoughts and opinions on each. When I told her what Heartstone did, I heard her perk up.


    ¡°Huh, I thought Heartstone¡¯s name sounded familiar, but now I definitely remember its effect. It¡¯s a Wizard Spell, up in the Level 10s if I remember correctly. In Carth there used to be a few inns that utilized its effects to help adventurers heal faster, or people who were particrly busy spend less time sleeping. As far as I remember, it isn¡¯t too umon to see.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Well, if it¡¯s not very rare, I guess it¡¯d be a bit more difficult to make money with it. Did people ever give one away for adventuring parties to use on an outing, or something?¡±


    ¡°Oh, no. Those Heartstones are massive ¨C they easily weigh fifty times more than a person. You cast the Spell and it just plops the thing down in the nearest empty location. From there, you can¡¯t really move it around. You¡¯d probably need to open an entire inn to actually make money with one.¡±


    I pursed my lips. Okay, so not quite as marily useful as I thought. And it didn¡¯t seem like I could stick it in my pocket and carry it around with me, either. So, really, it¡¯d only be useful for us now to keep active while we slept. And, for us specifically, the main thing that could actually be used in that aspect would be its effect of having us sleep twice as quickly. That¡¯d be nice, sure ¨C I could definitely see it keeping us out of danger asionally ¨C but was it really worth using an entire Spell Choice on? ¡°What about the other two? Thoughts on those?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Erani hummed, ¡°Ember Gale definitely has its uses if you¡¯re looking to go solo and clear out a hive of monsters, but I¡¯m not too sure about its flexibility. I mean, there really aren¡¯t too many times it could be useful. Plus, y¡¯know, I¡¯m not sure how I feel about catching us all on fire every time you want to activate the Spell.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, not too great in many situations. One of the main things I¡¯m thinking about is our immediate future, though. With the wastnd up ahead, I could see the Spell helping out quite a bit with the Ghouls. Plus, y¡¯know, the XP. Killing all those monsters, I¡¯d be sure to get an extra Level, at least.¡±


    ¡°Wait, there are those Mountain Troll things out there too though, right? The way you made it sound, wouldn¡¯t there be too many for you to safely use Ember Gale? Chances are, there¡¯d be at least one within such a big radius like 75 paces. And if you angered it, it¡¯d probably attack.¡±


    ¡°Well, shit. You¡¯re right. Hm. If it isn¡¯t useful here, it suddenly looks a lot worse.¡±


    Suddenly, Expedite was looking a lot better inparison to the other two.


    Whenparing Heartstone and Expedite, they at first seemed like they aplished twopletely different goals. Heartstone would let us rest way quicker and move further every day, decreasing the amount of time the Demons had to catch us, whereas Expedite helped within fights.


    But then, I thought about Expedite¡¯s potential as a travel booster. If I just used a single stack on me and Erani, I could double my Dexterity and triple hers for the duration. With the Dryad already more than capable of keeping up with that, we could probably travel much more quickly for as long as I kept it active. And since it was so efficient with its conversion of Mana to Dexterity, I¡¯d actually be able to keep it on for quite a while.


    Heartstone would give us an extra four hours to travel every day, moving us from sixteen waking hours to twenty. That was a 25% increase, certainly good. But if I could use Expedite to just move 25% faster while traveling, it¡¯d aplish the exact same goal, while <em>also</em> being able to be used in fights.


    I paused and thought for a moment. Specifically, I considered the method I¡¯d used to kill the Mountain Troll.


    With the build I¡¯d been making for myself, it seemed like the fighting style I leaned toward was one focused on one-on-onebat. I could overpower a single enemy that would normally be able to crush me through smart usage of Stat debuffs and Stamina drains.


    And, specifically, Noxious Grasp¡¯s Upgrade ¨C Venomous Grasp ¨C was a massive part of that strategy. By periodically tapping an enemy, then backing away out of their striking range, I could kill something with way more Health than me just by tiring it out. The main problem with that was just that, if the enemy was faster than I was, I couldn¡¯t get away to safety before tagging them with Venomous Grasp. Really, if an enemy was too fast, I couldn¡¯t utilize Noxious Grasp at all.


    But with Expedite, I suddenly had a method to close that gap with almost anything. Sure, it¡¯d cost me some Mana, but the range of options it offered me was well worth it. I could flee from just about anybat if it seemed like it¡¯d go poorly, I could rush straight over obstacles like ravines or rivers that I¡¯d normally have to spend time figuring out a way past, and I could easily outmaneuver enemies that I normally wouldn¡¯t dream of being faster than. Even a Level 20 Swordsman wouldn¡¯t even approach my Dexterity if I put a couple hundred Mana into the Spell.


    The main issue with it would be that it would cost me a ton of Mana to use to its fullest effect. I had close to 1000 Mana, but even that amount had its limits, as was shown in that fight with the Mountain Troll.


    But then, hadn¡¯t one of the reasons I¡¯d spent so much Mana in that fight in the first ce been that I wasn¡¯t fast enough? I¡¯d spent over 500 of my Mana just trying to deal with the Ghouls that kept ambushing me out in the open field of the wastnd, since my only way of dealing with them was the Mana-intensive Crippling Chill. But if I¡¯d just cast a couple Expedites, I could¡¯ve easily escaped from them without taking a single hit. In an indirect way, the Spell seemed to make up for my weakness againstrge crowds of enemies.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I finally said to Erani after thinking it over. ¡°I think I¡¯m leaning toward Expedite.¡±


    I didn¡¯t take the Spell just yet, though. First, I wanted to figure out what Talent I¡¯d choose.


    Choose one Talent to obtain:


    Status Reconstruction


    Type: Activated


    ¡ª


    Set your Health, Stamina, and Mana to exactly what they were thirty seconds ago.


    This Talent may only be activated once per day.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Body Reconstruction</em>


    <em>Mind Reconstruction</em>


    <em>Spirit Reconstruction</em>


    Precognition


    Type: Activated


    ¡ª


    See a sh of the future. When activated, you will be shown what will happen over the course of the next ten minutes if you were to proceed with no information of the future.


    This Talent may only be activated once per day.


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Retrograde</em>


    <em>Time Dtion</em>


    <em>Inverse Perception</em>


    Exponential Remation


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Time is warped around your Mana receptors, greatly increasing Mana/Minute the more Conjuration you have. For every point you have in Conjuration, your Mana/Minute is increased by 1%. This effect multiplies with itself. <em>(Currently multiplies Mana/Minute by 2.35)</em>


    <em>Intelligence information:</em>


    <em>If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Cumtive Catastrophe</em>


    <em>Spatial Flux</em>


    <em>Future Sight</em>


    Status Reconstruction was obviously useful in a fight. I could run in recklessly, spend all my Mana and not care about taking hits, and then right before I died, activate Status Reconstruction and get all my resources back. My main problem with it was the thirty-second time limit. Realistically, it could be difficult to effectively use those resources so quickly. Plus, if I got killed by an unexpected hit because of my low Health and I died before I could use it, I¡¯d waste that use of the Talent ¨C and a use of Time Loop.


    Precognition was an interesting spin on Time Loop, essentially providing me an extra, but limited, use of it. I wasn¡¯t sure how useful it¡¯d be in my current circumstances, though, since my main usage for Time Loop was to guard against sneak attacks ¨C which Precognition would effectively be useless against unless I got incredibly lucky.


    And then there was Exponential Remation. It wasn¡¯t too often you saw a Talent that only increased the regeneration of a resource, but not the maximum. But it made sense why this one had that limited functionality; it increased my Mana/Minute by an insane factor. Even by itself, multiplying something by 2.35 was a huge difference. It¡¯d take my Mana/Minute from 18.33 to 43.13. But since it was dependent on my current Conjuration value ¨C and not only that, but it also <em>multiplied</em> with itself ¨C it was that much better.


    In fact¡­


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 89.


    Right. Now it would multiply Conjuration by 2.42. So it¡¯d go from 18.87 to 45.75. Normally, increasing Conjuration by 3 would increase my Mana/Minute by about 0.5. But by taking that Talent, it¡¯d turn what would be a 0.5 increase in Mana/Minute into a 2.5 increase ¨C both because of the existing modifier, and because increasing Conjuration would increase the modifier, too. And, as I kept putting in more points, that ratio would only be more favorable.


    So its numbers were absolutely incredible. But I could also see why its numbers <em>had</em> to be that good. It was just difficult to utilize a high Mana/Minute rate effectively. Increasing maximum Mana had an obvious point to it. You have a higher max, you can go into a fight with more Mana. But unless your Mana/Minute was a truly absurd number, you probably wouldn¡¯t be able to see much of that regeneration within a fight.


    Sure, I could see my Mana/Minute double. But did going from fully regenerating my Mana in an hour to fully regenerating it in thirty minutes really matter?


    That was what someone else would think.


    What <em>I</em> thought was that I had the perfect use for that extra Mana/Minute.


    The Talent worked delightfully with my Mana-hungry fighting style. And with the method I¡¯d used to kill that Mountain Troll, it¡¯d be even better. If, say, I got my Mana/Minute up to 60 ¨C which wouldn¡¯t take long with that Talent ¨C that¡¯d mean I¡¯d get 1 Mana every second. And when my strategy was to drag fights out to be as long as possible, I could make good use of that extra regeneration. Suddenly, as long as I could keep an enemy from killing me, I¡¯d have an effectively infinite cap on how much damage I could do to it.


    Before, if I encountered a monster with, say, 100,000 Health, it would bepletely impossible to kill. But now, as long as I could keep it debuffed and survive long enough, I¡¯d always have more Mana to cast Spells with. And that was just with 60 Mana/Minute, something that woulde in my near future. Once I got to 120, 180, or even 300, I could start doing absurd things like having Noxious Grasp <em>constantly</em> active ¨C I¡¯d never have to shut it off. And those insane levels of Mana/Minute weren¡¯t even that imusible; because of the way the Talent exponentially increased my Mana regeneration, it would only ever get higher more quickly.


    And then, there was the interaction with Recursive Growth. As I got higher and higher in Level, Recursive Growth would give me more and more Stats, and thus, more and more Conjuration every Level. With that much Mana/Minute, I could Rank my Spells even faster, oust my opponents, and survive fights even when they were mere minutes apart.


    It was perfect.


    So I had my two choices. Expedite and Exponential Remation.


    You have learned the Spell Expedite.


    <em>Your next Spell options will be:</em>


    <em>Wild Might - School: Alteration, Nature</em>


    <em>Defy Gravity - School: Arcane</em>


    <em>Sanguine Bond - School: Arcane, Curse</em>


    You have obtained the Talent Exponential Remation.


    <em>Your next Talent options will be:</em>


    <em>Cumtive Catastrophe</em>


    <em>Spatial Flux</em>


    <em>Future Sight</em>


    And now, I just needed to test them out.

 Chapter 88: Welcome to the Outlaws: Getting Used to It

    Chapter 88: Wee to the Ouws: Getting Used to It


    Erani sat against a tree in the dead, gray forest. An had just picked his new Spell and Talent, and was trying to get used to the sensation of boosting his Dexterity by so much using Expedite. Especially with physical Stats, people tended to need some time to limate torge changes like that.


    With his new Talent ¨C Exponential Remation, he¡¯d said it was called ¨C the Ghouls were much less of a problem. He¡¯d apparently close to tripled his Mana/Minute, so he had more than enough to kill them and get used to his new Spell. That Talent was pretty ridiculous, she had to say. It made sense that it was so powerful for him ¨C he¡¯d been focusing on increasing his Conjuration all this time, after all ¨C but still. With that much Mana/Minute¡­ She shook her head. It¡¯d be interesting to see how his build turned out, that was for sure.


    They needed to wait in the forest for a while, anyway, since some Dragon was about to go and rampage around in the wastnd, so to stay safe they¡¯d have to stay away from there until it happened. Or, that was what An had said.


    He apparently didn¡¯t really know why it went through destroying the area, only that it was in a fight beforehand that didn¡¯t seem to go its way. He suspected it was having some anger-fueled rampage, but Erani wasn¡¯t sure about that. Maybe it¡¯d seen them, and went specifically to kill them. An had <em>said</em> it wasn¡¯t targeting anything specifically, but who knew for sure?


    Either way, they¡¯d need to stay back for a couple hours to keep safe. For the time being, Erani just sat and talked with the Dryad.


    <em>¡°So, you keep calling me ¡®one of the good Humans¡¯. Do you really think most Humans are bad?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes. Humans kill animals. Kill nature. Kill me. All for no reason. Horrible, selfish creatures. I hate Humans. I hate all Humans. You are okay, though.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, you didn¡¯t always feel that way, did you? Back when we first met, if you hated all Humans, you¡¯d have just killed me and An, right?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Have learned more about Humans since then. Got lucky with you, but other Humans are bad guys. Kill. Burn. Steal. Species is naturally selfish. Naturally ignorant. You are exception. Your lover is kind of exception.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, I think you might want to give Humans another chance. There are lots of Humans that are just like me. And the ones you¡¯ve seen don¡¯t want to fight us in the first ce, they¡¯ve been threatened into it by the Demons.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°If they threatened into be bad guys, they should die as good guys. Fight Demons and do not be bad to save life. Always fight bad guys.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What if their families are being threatened? Should they just let them die?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...Ah.¡±</em>


    It seemed like there were some differences in values between her and the Dryad. Erani suspected she wouldn¡¯t be able to do much to change them. Besides, at least for now, her having a mistrust of other Humans was pretty urate ¨C most of the Humans that they¡¯d see <em>would</em> be trying to kill them, after all. They¡¯d just have to have a talk about hostility once they got through Kingdom¡¯s Edge.


    Out in the distance, Erani heard a roar. An had said they should stay away from the edge of the wastnd, since the Dragon¡¯s movements were so erratic, so she wouldn¡¯t actually be able to <em>see</em> the Dragon¡¯s attack. But it seemed she¡¯d be able to hear it just fine.


    <em>¡°What is sound?¡±</em> The Dryad asked after the booming roar of the Dragon sounded out.


    <em>¡°Um, it was probably a Dragon,¡±</em> Erani exined.


    <em>¡°What is ¡®Dragon¡¯?¡±</em>


    While Erani described what Dragons were, she observed An dashing across her vision with his magically-enhanced Dexterity. He seemed to be getting the hang of it,pared to the stumbling and tripping she¡¯d watched only an hour before.


    ¡°So, how¡¯s it going?¡± She called out to him. It was surprisingly easy to talk aloud while also messaging the Dryad, once she¡¯d gotten a bit of practice. Because of the natures of the two types ofmunication ¨C one verbal and the other abstract and mental ¨C they didn¡¯t really get mixed up in her head.


    ¡°Better,¡± he breathed in response, smiling in excitement. He had this unmistakeable smile that he got whenever he acquired a new Spell or Talent, Erani had noticed. It was pretty cute. ¡°Once I feel confident with it, I can start casting it on you and you can test it out. I could also do the Dryad. That way we¡¯re all used to it and I can cast it on anyone when necessary.¡±


    She nodded and An turned to face another Ghoul that¡¯d found them, dashing off to take care of it. Erani couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit jealous of his ability to Level up so quickly. With Time Loop, not only could he kill a monster and then go back and keep the XP, but he could also afford to take more risks because of his many lives.


    To her, back when he¡¯d blown up the barricade, it felt like an out-of-nowhere stroke of luck. But she was sure that, from his perspective, it was a series of discoveries and fights that led to that one moment. It was bizarre to think about ¨C every day, he effectively lived a few extra hours that didn¡¯t exist.


    She nced back at the Dryad, who was in the process of using her finger to help a line of ants walk across a small hole in the ground. Was it really okay for them to keep An¡¯s Time Loop ability from her? As far as Erani was concerned, the Dryad was a part of their team ¨C at least for now. Even ignoring the fact that it could be useful to get her opinion on things, it just felt disrespectful to keep secrets from her.


    Suddenly, a message came through from the Dryad. <em>¡°What you hiding from me?¡±</em>


    Erani¡¯s eyes widened in surprise and she looked at the Dryad, who was staring up at her. <em>¡°Um, what do you mean?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You feeling guilty. About telling lies. What lies you telling?¡±</em>


    She blinked. <em>¡°I don¡¯t¨C I can¡¯t¨C um¡­¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It is okay. You think it dangerous to tell. Tell meter. When not dangerous to tell.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You¡¯re okay with that?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes. You want to tell me. Can¡¯t for some reason. Reason is probably good reason. I trust you.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Oh, well, okay. Thanks for trusting me. I¡¯ll do my best to tell you whenever I can. I just¡­ have to talk it over first.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay.¡±</em> The Dryad went back to helping ants across the hole.


    Erani sighed. She¡¯d have to ask An about telling the Dryad, at this point. She was close to already knowing, and it seemed like she was trustworthy, anyway. At the very least, it was worth another discussion.


    Erani turned to where An was. ¡°Hey, do you mind taking a break so we can talk about¡­¡±


    She blinked. Where was he? He¡¯d been over there just a moment ago, fighting that Ghoul. The Ghoul was dead, lying on the ground with Ray of Frost¡¯s signature icy coat covering it, but An himself was nowhere to be found.


    <em>¡°Dryad. Our partner is missing. Do you know where he could be? Are there any enemies in the area?¡±</em>


    The Dryad got up, ncing around cautiously. <em>¡°Do not know. Not enough animals around to listen their emotions. Do not see any bad guys. But could be near.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°C¡¯mon, we need to go find him.¡± </em>Erani started off in the direction of the Ghoul, peering through the dead trees and looking for him. The terrain of the wastnd-adjacent forest was rtively t ¨C at least, it was less hilly than the forests she knew ¨C but with the few hills that were aroundbined with the still-standing trees and boulders scattered around, she still didn¡¯t have perfect vision.


    Part of her wanted to shout out his name, but that would obviously be a mistake. If there really were enemies around that¡¯d captured him, all she¡¯d be doing would be giving away her position. But then, maybe he¡¯d just gotten lost?


    No, if he could, he¡¯d be shouting for help, himself. And if she couldn¡¯t hear him, then he wouldn¡¯t be able to hear her, either.


    She raised her hand, preparing to cast Firebolt at a moment¡¯s notice. It was times like these that made her d to have a protective option like Angelic Shield. If anything came out at her, she¡¯d be ready.


    But nothing did. It seemed like An had killed off most of the Ghouls in the area, taking advantage of his Dexterity-enhancing Spell, so the eerily-quiet forest did nothing to harm her as she cautiously made her way through.


    Thankfully, An¡¯s ughtering of the Ghouls also helped her track him. Due to the abundance of corpses, she could find one, move to the nearest vantage point on top of a rock or hill, and find the next, following the path that he¡¯d traveled.


    It only took a few minutes before Erani saw something moving. Her eyes widened when she saw what it was. It was a person, tied up with their hands behind their back, lying face-first on the ground. She couldn¡¯t technically see who it was because of the angle she was viewing from, but who else could it be?


    <em>¡°There!¡±</em> she mentally eximed to the Dryad, who was searching alongside her, and she rushed forward to free An from the strip of fabric binding his hands.


    But just as she arrived at the clearing, she realized something wasn¡¯t right. That wasn¡¯t An. It was someone else. Some soldier of the kingdom that¡¯d been tied up and left there. What was going on here?


    <em>¡°Trap,¡±</em> she said to the Dryad, slowly backing away and looking around for the forces that would inevitablye and surround her now that she was where they¡¯d lured her. <em>¡°Get away. If they attack me, nk them. Get behind me, and we¡¯ll pincer the forces in that specific area to create a hole I can get through. Then¨C¡±</em>


    ¡°Oh, hey,¡± a voice came. Erani looked over, hand raised and prepared to st off a barrage of Firebolts. And she almost did the moment she saw the figure of a person. But then she realized ¨C it was An,ing out from hiding behind a tree. He chuckled nervously. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot, please?¡±


    ¡°What the fuck is going on?¡± Erani demanded. Why was he out here? And who was that person tied up next to him?


    ¡°Uh, yeah, so, basically,¡± An cleared his throat, ¡°we have a prisoner now.¡±

 Arlans Fully-Expanded Character Sheet as of Chapter 67: (Not a Chapter)

    An''s Fully-Expanded Character Sheet as of Chapter 67: (Not a Chapter)


    This is An''s fully-expanded character sheet with updated Spell, Talent, and Title descriptions, as of thetest chapter:


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    15


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    11


    Endurance:


    25


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    66/700


    Dexterity:


    13


    Health:


    <strong>250</strong>/250


    Health/Minute:


    0.093


    Conjuration:


    <strong>64</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>38</strong>/117


    Stamina/Minute:


    0.768


    Intelligence:


    13


    Mana:


    <strong>705</strong>/<strong>705</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>13.47</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Gravity Well 6 - XP <strong>2</strong>/66


    Regenerate


    Trailzer


    Ray of Frost 6 - XP 5/66


    Recursive Growth


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP 98/355


    Time Loop 11


    +Extended Loop


    Noxious Grasp 10 - XP <strong>24</strong>/461


    +Venomous Grasp


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Gravity Well Rank <strong>6</strong>


    School: Arcane


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: <strong>11.8</strong> Mana/Second per Being Affected


    ¡ª


    While active, increase gravitational pull by <strong>45</strong>% for any number of beings within 30 paces of you.


    Regenerate


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 20 Stamina, plus twenty minutes worth of Stamina regeneration. <em>(Currently </em><strong><em>35.36</em></strong><em> Stamina)</em>


    ¡ª


    Greatly increase your body¡¯s recovery speed, at the cost of your Stamina. When activated, your Health/Minute is multiplied by 1,000 for 10 seconds, then returns to normal.


    Trailzer


    <em>You are the only person in the world with your ss, and as such, cannot rely on the findings of others to make your decisions. Instead, you must forge your own path.</em>


    If you do not already have it, you gain ess to the Intelligence Stat. It will improve the information given to you by the System regarding your ss and what might be of it in the future.


    Whenever you Level up, gain 1 Intelligence


    Ray of Frost Rank <strong>6</strong>


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>23.2</strong> Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a beam of icy energy from your hands, traveling up to 25 paces and dealing up to <strong>53.6</strong> damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being. Upon being hit, targets are cursed with Frostbite for 5 seconds. While they are frostbitten, their Dexterity score is lowered by <strong>6.7</strong>.


    Recursive Growth


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Whenever your Level increases, you gain <strong>4</strong> additional Stat increases, chosen at random.


    This Talent improves every tenth Level you reach, incrementing the number of random Stat increases you gain each Level by 2.


    Crippling Chill Rank <strong>9</strong>


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>56.2</strong> Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a being within 40 paces of you. It bes coated in frost for the next 15 seconds. For as long as it is coated in frost, it loses <strong>7.76</strong> Health and <strong>6.21</strong> Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by <strong>15.5</strong>.


    Time Loop ¨C Rank <strong>11</strong>


    <strong>+Extended Loop</strong>


    Type: Activated


    Go up to <strong>1 hour and 30 minutes</strong> back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other Talent cooldowns ¨C as well as the rest of the world ¨C but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.


    This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.


    This Talent may only be activated <strong>twice </strong>per day.


    Noxious Grasp Rank <strong>10</strong>


    <strong>+Venomous Grasp</strong>


    School: <strong>Curse</strong>, Poison


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: <strong>4.7</strong> Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    While active, any being you are physically touching loses <strong>16.2</strong> Health and <strong>8.15</strong> Stamina per second.


    <strong>Noxious Grasp Festers beings it damages. While they are Festered, beings lose double Stamina from all sources. The Fester remains for 5 seconds after you stop contact with the being.</strong>

 Arlans Fully-Expanded Character Sheet as of Chapter 87: (Not a Chapter)

    An''s Fully-Expanded Character Sheet as of Chapter 87: (Not a Chapter)


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    <strong>15 (17 - 2)</strong>


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>15</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>30 (32 - 2)</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>252</strong>/<strong>1.3k</strong>


    Dexterity:


    <strong>15 (17 - 2)</strong>


    Health:


    <strong>291</strong>/<strong>300</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.108</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>89</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>134</strong>/<strong>135</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>0.9</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>19</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>985</strong>/<strong>985</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>45.8</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>Expedite - XP 0/10</strong>


    <strong>Exponential Remation</strong>


    Devastator


    <strong>Ethereal Armor 8 - XP 29/130</strong>


    Regenerate


    Trailzer


    Gravity Well <strong>8</strong> - XP <strong>1</strong>/<strong>130</strong>


    Recursive Growth


    Ray of Frost <strong>8</strong> - XP <strong>51</strong>/<strong>130</strong>


    Time Loop <strong>15</strong>


    +Extended Loop


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP <strong>141</strong>/355


    Noxious Grasp 10 - XP <strong>356</strong>/461


    +Venomous Grasp


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Expedite Rank 0


    School: Alteration


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 55


    ¡ª


    Increases the Dexterity of up to one being that you are touching by 20 for 30 seconds.


    Exponential Remation


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Time is warped around your Mana receptors, greatly increasing Mana/Minute the more Conjuration you have. For every point you have in Conjuration, your Mana/Minute is increased by 1%. This effect multiplies with itself. <em>(Currently multiplies Mana/Minute by 2.42)</em>


    Devastator


    <em>You have taken a risk and killed enough enemies that, in a single minute, you have gained three or more Levels. For many, gambles like that cost them their lives. For you, it paid off. Greed is good.</em>


    All enemies you contribute to killing provide 25% more XP.


    Ethereal Armor Rank <strong>8</strong>


    School: Arcane, Summoning


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>182 </strong>Mana


    ¡ª


    You summon one of two sets of magical armor ¨C Dark te or Light te. You may dismiss it at any time. It will be automatically dismissed after 60 minutes.


    While wearing Dark te, you cannot take more than 50% of your maximum Health in damage in a single hit <em>(</em><strong><em>150</em></strong><em> damage)</em>. Preventing damage this way breaks the te, making it unusable for <strong>40</strong> seconds until it reconstructs itself.


    While wearing Light te, your other spells cost <strong>40.4</strong>% less, though still gain Spell XP as though they weren¡¯t discounted.


    Regenerate


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 20 Stamina, plus twenty minutes worth of Stamina regeneration. <em>(Currently </em><strong><em>38</em></strong><em> Stamina)</em>


    ¡ª


    Greatly increase your body¡¯s recovery speed, at the cost of your Stamina. When activated, your Health/Minute is multiplied by 1,000 for 10 seconds, then returns to normal.


    Trailzer


    <em>You are the only person in the world with your ss, and as such, cannot rely on the findings of others to make your decisions. Instead, you must forge your own path.</em>


    If you do not already have it, you gain ess to the Intelligence Stat. It will improve the information given to you by the System regarding your ss and what might be of it in the future.


    Whenever you Level up, gain 1 Intelligence


    Gravity Well Rank <strong>8</strong>


    School: Arcane


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: <strong>12.4</strong> Mana/Second per Being Affected


    ¡ª


    While active, increase gravitational pull by <strong>55</strong>% for any number of beings within 30 paces of you.


    Recursive Growth


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Whenever your Level increases, you gain 4 additional Stat increases, chosen at random.


    This Talent improves every tenth Level you reach, incrementing the number of random Stat increases you gain each Level by 2.


    Ray of Frost Rank <strong>8</strong>


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>24.4</strong> Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a beam of icy energy from your hands, traveling up to 25 paces and dealing up to <strong>59.1</strong> damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being. Upon being hit, targets are cursed with Frostbite for 5 seconds. While they are frostbitten, their Dexterity score is lowered by <strong>7.4</strong>.


    Time Loop ¨C Rank <strong>15</strong>


    +Extended Loop


    Type: Activated


    Go up to <strong>3 hours and 30 minutes</strong> back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other Talent cooldowns ¨C as well as the rest of the world ¨C but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.


    This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.


    This Talent may only be activated twice per day.


    Crippling Chill Rank 9


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 56.2 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a being within 40 paces of you. It bes coated in frost for the next 15 seconds. For as long as it is coated in frost, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    Noxious Grasp Rank 10


    +Venomous Grasp


    School: Curse, Poison


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 4.7 Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    While active, any being you are physically touching loses 16.2 Health and 8.15 Stamina per second.


    Noxious Grasp Festers beings it damages. While they are Festered, beings lose double Stamina from all sources. The Fester remains for 5 seconds after you stop contact with the being.

 Chapter 89: Move Quickly

    Chapter 89: Move Quickly


    I saw him while practicing Expedite.


    We were waiting in the dead forest for the Dragon to attack the wastnd like it¡¯d done before, so while Erani and the Dryad rested, I went ahead and worked on getting used to my new Spell. After I took it, Erani warned me that most people needed time to get used to such a massive modification of physical Stats happening in a single instant like Expedite provided, so I¡¯d have to gradually increase my tolerance before pulling anything <em>too</em> drastic.


    Even with the Spell¡¯s base 20 Dexterity boost, a single cast of it would more than double my value in the Stat for 30 seconds. That would absolutely be disorienting. However, it was still Rank 0, and my Soft Cap was up at Rank 8. So it was about to get a lot higher.


    I went ahead and cast the Spell on myself once to test it out.


    Threshold reached. Expedite XP has reached 10.


    Expedite Rank has increased to 1.


    Due to Expedite Rank reaching 1, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 55 to 56.4


    Dexterity Buff: From 20 to 21


    Buff Duration: From 30 to 31.5


    In an instant, my Dexterity skyrocketed from 15 to 35. My muscles felt more limber and flexible than they¡¯d ever been, my reflexes were supernaturally sharpened, and, most importantly, my body could move faster than seemed physically possible.


    I tried to raise my hand in front of my face, but massively overshot, and suddenly my arm was pointed straight up, hand way above where I wanted it to be. The Dexterity ¡®aiding¡¯ my movement ended up forcing my arm way further along than I¡¯d intended it to be. Could I even walk like this?


    Tentatively, I lifted my leg to try and take a step forward. With some difficulty, I managed to ce it in the right spot on the ground, which felt like an aplishment. For a Spell thatbeled its effect as a ¡®buff¡¯ it sure did feel crippling.


    After a couple more steps, the Spell¡¯s effect wore off, and I had to re-cast Expedite to refresh it. Slowly, bit by bit, I got more used to the effects of the heightened Dexterity. It was hard, since, as I continued to practice the Spell, its buff also grew stronger from Ranking up. But by the time about ten minutes had passed, I¡¯d gotten to the point of being able to walk without looking like I was an adventurer who¡¯d just hit it rich after a job and had spent way too much of my new fortune at the bars.


    And, of course, by that time, the Spell had reached the Soft Cap, too. The Rank 8 notification said this:


    Threshold reached. Expedite XP has reached 94.


    Expedite Rank has increased to 8.


    Due to Expedite Rank reaching 8, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 65.4 to 67


    Dexterity Buff: From 28.2 to 29.6


    Buff Duration: From 42.2 to 44.3


    About 50% Dexterity more than it¡¯d started out at, which was exciting to see. One of the other things that stood out to me was that Ranking the Spell didn¡¯t <em>just</em> increase its Dexterity Buff, it also increased the duration. It went fromsting only 30 seconds tosting close to 45.


    So, in that sense, it was actually getting <em>cheaper</em> to keep Expedite active over the course of an entire fight as the Spell Ranked up, despite its increasing cost. While the Cost went up by the typical 2.5% each Rank, the duration went up by 5%, meaning that keeping the Spell active for an extended period of time was bing easier and easier as I ranked it. Sure, a single activation of Expedite was still technically getting more expensive, but it was exciting to see that I may be able to have it active for entirebat encounters in the future.


    The prospect was also a bit worrying. I¡¯d only just gotten used to walking while operating under a single cast of the Spell, much less running or fighting, and <em>much</em> less doing all that while under multiple stacks of the Dexterity buff. I could easily get my Dexterity to over 100, but what did that matter if I couldn¡¯t even stand while it was up that high?


    When Erani had first told me about needing to get used to increasing my Stats so high, I¡¯d felt like it¡¯d just be a bit of training, feeling awkward, and then boom ¨C I¡¯ve got my super speed. I didn¡¯t think even <em>she</em> knew how difficult it would be to limate. But it seemed like it¡¯d be a lot harder than that.


    First, I just needed to get used to a single cast of Expedite. I could walk, now I needed to try running. With Exponential Recovery boosting my Mana/Minute, it was up to 45, meaning I could normally cast the Spell about every minute and a half. However, I had Light te on, meaning that cost was cut down by 40%. So, in reality, I could cast the Spell a bit more than once every minute. With a 45 second duration, it was almost always on, with only the asional ten-second break forcing me to rest. So the practice wasn¡¯t too slow-going.


    Of course, I¡¯d have to dy myself every now and then to kill Ghouls that wandered near us, but it wasn¡¯t anything my insanely high Mana/Minute couldn¡¯t handle. When I¡¯d used Time Loop, I¡¯d gone back to the early morning, but by this point the sun was rising, so I could still see the Ghouls from rtively far away. I just had to deal with the sun shining in my eyes whenever I looked in the wrong direction.


    Eventually, I worked up to being able tofortably jog, and then run, and then full-on sprint. The sensation was incredible once I got used to it ¨C my body responded perfectly to everymand I sent it, moving exactly where I wanted it to in a fraction of a second, no matter how impossible it would normally be.


    When I timed myself running from one tree to the next, with 15 Dexterity it¡¯d take me about ten seconds. After Expedite, with 45 in the Stat, it only took me about seven. Going by those numbers, if I cast the Spell on myself twice, that time could probably move down to about four or five seconds ¨C double my normal speed! Of course, I¡¯d have to train myself up to being able to use two stacks at once, but that time investment was nothingpared to such a massive boost.


    After I wasfortable running, I wanted to try one more test before moving to two stacked casts of Expedite. I nced around, looking for another Ghoul. There was one a bit further off, away from our camp, so I ran over to it. I got across the long distance to the monster more quickly than expected, thanks to my new Spell ¨C I was already loving the benefits of having boosted Dexterity ¨C and approached theparably slow monster.


    It was technically a bit risky to approach a hostile monster like this, but a single Ghoul was weak enough to not be much of a threat ¨C they were mainly difficult to deal with when inrge numbers or when they snuck up on you. So I stood in front of it and let it attack.


    I started basic, leaning backward and falling back on my feet as it took a swipe at me with its wed hand. Then it swung again, and I stepped back again. Ghouls were pretty stupid, so I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about it memorizing my dodging patterns and trying to fake me out, or anything. If I kept dodging the same way, it¡¯d keep attacking the same way.


    Once I mastered the basic stepping back, I tried raising my arm to deflect. Obviously, I had to avoid letting the Ghoul¡¯s ws scratch the arm I parried with, but with my extra speed and reflexes, that task was borderline trivial. And the more I practiced against the Ghoul, the easier it got to not only memorize its methods of attack, but also to move around in general.


    Eventually, once I wasfortable dodging with just one stack of Expedite, I killed off the Ghoul I was practicing with, and prepared to start using two. I¡¯d begin with just walking first, of course, and then move on from there in the same way I¡¯d just done. Hopefully, once I got used to three or four stacks, adding on one more every now and then wouldn¡¯t feel like as much of a shift, and I wouldn¡¯t have to practice as much before doing it.


    But, just as I prepared myself to cast two stacks of Expedite on myself, I saw a glimmer of movement to my left, away from our camp. I nced over, but didn¡¯t see anything. There weren¡¯t any animals out here, so close to the wastnd ¨C it was all Ghouls and ash. So, if something was moving, it was probably a Ghoul. Wouldn¡¯t be a good idea to let one of those sneak up on me. But where had it gone?


    I walked over, brows furrowed, while I examined the nearby area to try and find the stray monster. The shallowyer of ash was kicked up as I walked, my glowing white armor reflecting light off the tiny particles of dirt floating through the air.


    I thought I¡¯d seen that movement around here, behind this fallen tree, but when I looked behind it, nothing was there. Sure, Ghouls knew how to set up a basic sneak attack, but they weren¡¯t <em>that</em> good at hiding. There was no way one could have gotten from here to some other cepletely undetected.


    But¡­


    I looked at the ground. There were footprints in the ash. And these weren¡¯t the shambling footprints of dragging feet ¨C characteristic of the Ghouls. No, they were obviously Humanoid. And when I nced around nearby, I saw a dead Ghoul lying on the ground. It had an arrow in its back.


    Someone was here with me.


    I followed the footprints with my eyes, trying to see where this person went while also keeping a sharp eye out for any sudden movement nearby. The footprints came from one direction, stopped and shuffled around behind that log, turned and moved away, and then¡­ stopped. Right in the middle of the ashy barren, they just stopped.


    I slowly made my way toward that stopping point, hands out and ready to fire magic. Had they teleported away? Used a flight Spell? Hells, they could¡¯ve just climbed a tree, or something. Where had they¨C


    And then the person appeared in front of me.


    Invisibility! They¡¯d been using invisibility to stay hidden while standing in those exact footprints, and now they¡¯d reappeared. The man wore basic leather armor and had a bow strapped to his back, alongside a quiver of arrows on his side. His face looked terrified.


    Instantly, he stood and ran while I cast Crippling Chill on him.


    You have cursed Level 9 Ranger with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, he loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and his Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    33.5 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 952.


    Level 9 Ranger, huh. Rangers got Dexterity as their focus Stat, so unfortunately he wouldn¡¯t be as easy to paralyze as the other Humans I¡¯d fought had been. But the Crippling Chill still slowed him, and I could also hit him with a Ray of Frost. I raised my hand as he took off running, and I chased after him, using my newly-acquired Expedite to keep up with his Stat advantage. I kept it to just one boost from Expedite, though.


    I shot off my Ray of Frost directly at his head, but just as the beam should¡¯ve collided into his head, he shed and moved a pace over to the side. A short-range teleport? Even he seemed a bit caught off guard when it happened, stumbling and trying to catch his footing as the ground beneath him changed into what was on his side. But even then, it didn¡¯t seem like he waspletely surprised by the short-range teleportation, since he quickly recovered and continued sprinting away from me.


    Even with my boosted Dexterity, he seemed to still slightly have the upper hand in speed ¨C I didn¡¯t know if that came from him having a higher Dexterity score, or him being more used to having a high value in the Stat, or from him just being more physically athletic than me, but whatever the reason, he was putting more and more distance between us as we ran.


    I shot off more Rays of Frost, but each time I did, he seemed to vanish from the Spell¡¯s path and reappear just a hair to the side, making the Spell miss. And now, he didn¡¯t seem to stumble at all when it happened, fully expecting the small teleports. Must¡¯ve been a Talent, or something. I didn¡¯t know a whole lot about Rangers, unfortunately.


    Nevertheless, it didn¡¯t seem like those Rays of Frost were doing much. And the Ranger was outside the ten-pace range needed to activate Gravity Well.


    But I still had another option.


    I cast Expedite once more, increasing my Dexterity up to 74. Instantly, I shot forward, my legs carrying me much further than I¡¯d expected. With each step, I pushed myself off the ground and through the air, twice as far as I¡¯d normally go. My senses were even sharper. I could see the individual creases and folds of the man¡¯s brown leather armor, and the pores in his pale skin. I could hear the soft crunch of footsteps on the ashy dirt. I could¨C


    Oh, fuck.


    I fell face-first into the gray ground, tumbling at high speeds as I iled my body in an uncoordinated mess. Yeah, I obviously couldn¡¯t sprint at top speed with two casts of Expedite yet. But still, just as I hit the ground, thatst boost of speed got me barely within ten paces of my enemy, and I cast Gravity Well on him.


    He¡¯d clearly gottencent with whatever that short-range teleportation ability was, and waspletely caught off-guard by his weight suddenly increasing by over 50%. That, on top of his already drained Dexterity, caused him to copse to the ground right beside me.


    I hurriedly got to my feet, making sure to keep Gravity Well active on my enemy, and leapt on top of the prone man. Really, he wasn¡¯t much older than I was, I saw as he looked into my eyes withplete terror. Just what did the kingdom tell this guy I¡¯d done?


    I flipped him around and forced his hands behind his back while he struggled to get out from under my body. Thankfully, not only did his Strength score seem to be below mine, but his arms were obviously less developed, too, his muscles not matching those of a trained Swordsman.


    ¡°Listen, kid,¡± I knelt on his arms which were now tucked behind his back. ¡°I need you to tell me what you know. I don¡¯t want to hurt you. Or anyone. But you need to tell me why you¡¯re out here, how you found me, and if there are others. Unfortunately, you wouldn¡¯t be the first person I¡¯ve killed in thest twenty-four hours.¡±


    He whimpered below me, but didn¡¯t speak. I had no experience interrogating people. Should I have been more aggressive and intimidating? Less? I really didn¡¯t¨C


    Fuck! He disappeared again. Was it another teleport? I nced around and¨C


    Wait, no. I could feel him ¨C he was still underneath my knee. He¡¯d just gone invisible again. I activated Noxious Grasp, and he gasped in pain as the Spell quickly drained his likely-low Health away. His invisibility turned off, and I shut off Noxious Grasp, too.


    ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t pull shit like that,¡± I said. I was still on-edge. Was I led into a trap? Were there more enemies around? Maybe I just should¡¯ve run off. If I could get to Erani and the Dryad, I¡¯d be a lot safer, but that¡¯d mean just letting this guy go.


    I nced down at the man¡¯s hands, which were still shifting while he tried to slip out from under my body¡¯s weight. On both hands, all five of his fingers were wearing silver rings. Ten total. I reached down and slipped them all off, putting them into my pocket. Probably magical, and I definitely didn¡¯t want him pulling any Enchanted gear shenanigans here.


    ¡°What¡¯s your Health at?¡± I asked.


    No response.


    ¡°I¡¯m asking you that because I¡¯m about to hit you for some damage, and don¡¯t want to kill you. If you don¡¯t tell me, I¡¯ll just attack at full force.¡±


    ¡°E-eighteen,¡± he finally said. His voice was high and hollow, shaking alongside his body.


    ¡°Hm.¡± He was probably lying to try and get me to go easy on him, but I really didn¡¯t want to kill him in the case that he wasn¡¯t. He seemed innocent enough, and definitely held valuable information I could use. I lifted my knee and stood, and instantly, the man attempted to scramble to his feet and flee.


    But then I raised my foot and stomped his head back into the dirt, his nose cracking from being shoved into the ground. I got a notification that I¡¯d dealt 12 damage. Maybe his Health really <em>was</em> that low ¨C the hit wouldn¡¯t have broken his nose if it was much higher, at least. Crippling Chill had worn off by now, so as long as I didn¡¯t hit him any more, he¡¯d survive.


    I reached down, tore a strip of fabric from his shirt, and used it to tie his iling arms back down behind his back.


    ¡°Okay, buddy, no more escape attempts,¡± I said to him. ¡°Now you¡¯re going to answer some questions.¡±

 Chapter 90: Interrogation

    Chapter 90: Interrogation


    I stood in front of my prisoner, a man lying on his stomach with a strip of fabric tying his arms behind his back.


    ¡°Are you ready to start talking?¡± I asked, looking down at him.


    He rustled around, but didn¡¯t answer. Probably checking his Health to see how much more punishment he could take. Or he was thinking about trying to escape. Or activating somemunication Spell.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t answer in ten seconds, I¡¯m going to kill you,¡± I said in the most threatening tone I could muster. I couldn¡¯t give him time.


    ¡°Y-yes, I can talk,¡± he finally said.


    ¡°Good. Are there any others around here?¡±


    ¡°No, no. Just me.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± I nced around. He could¡¯ve been lying. I walked a bit further away from him ¨C taking care to ensure he was always in my sight ¨C checking around trees and rocks and inside bushes to try and see if there were any more invisible enemies around here. Nobody, it seemed like.


    But just as I thought that, I heard movement. Footsteps, and rustling bushes. My head snapped in that direction, but nobody was in vision yet, so I hid behind a tree. I¡¯d use the prisoner as bait ¨C they¡¯d run up to free him, and that would be when I¡¯d strike. As carefully as I could, I peered around the side of the tree to see how many enemies there were. Two figures, a Human and a¨C


    Wait. It was Erani and the Dryad. I walked out from my hiding ce, hands up to ensure they wouldn¡¯t attack the moment they saw me ¨C they were both obviously on-guard.


    ¡°Oh, hey,¡± I called out. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot, please?¡±


    ¡°What the fuck is going on?¡± Erani asked, gesturing wildly to our surroundings.


    ¡°Uh, yeah, so, basically,¡± I coughed, ¡°we have a prisoner now.¡±


    ¡°What?! How? Where¡¯d hee from? Are we in danger?¡±


    ¡°No idea on all three of those questions,¡± I said.


    <em>¡°Do I kill bad guy?¡±</em> the Dryad asked me.


    <em>¡°Probably not. As long as he doesn¡¯t try to escape, don¡¯t attack him.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Why keeping bad guy alive? Kill bad guys.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°We might be able to get information from him. About the other bad guys. So we need to keep him alive, that way he can tell us.¡±</em>


    The Dryad furrowed her brows at that, obviously pondering that as a possibility. Seemed like Dryads normally operated on more of a ¡®kill first, ask questionster¡¯ philosophy. Made sense, since they couldn¡¯t normally ask their enemies questions in the first ce.


    ¡°I found this guy watching me while I practiced,¡± I said to Erani, who was ring at the prisoner with caution. ¡°He¡¯d turned invisible. Probably a scout, or something. He told me he¡¯s willing to talk, but who knows if he¡¯ll be honest.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell the truth, I swear!¡± He called back to us. ¡°Please don¡¯t kill me!¡±


    ¡°If I see a single persone over here,¡± I called back to him, ¡°the first thing I¡¯m doing is taking away thest of your Health. Do <em>not</em> call for reinforcements. If you do, you¡¯re only killing yourself.


    Erani pulled me aside and whispered in my ear. ¡°Are we actually killing him? I know we have to kill to survive sometimes, but this¡­¡±


    ¡°We at least need him to think we¡¯ll kill him,¡± I responded. ¡°He¡¯s already too low on Health to survive much more damage. So that¡¯s pretty much the only threat we have left. If peoplee¡­ who knows. It¡¯d probably be good to get rid of an easybatant in the first ce when the fight starts. We let them free him, and we just have another person to fight.¡±


    I nced over and saw him with his head angled in an odd way, like he was trying to turn his ear directly toward us. Shit. I knew he had a high Dexterity ¨C that Stat enhanced senses. It was possible he could hear our whispering.


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re definitely letting him go if he gives us the information we want. If he doesn¡¯t talk, or calls people in, we just need to get rid of him.¡±


    Then, I messaged the Dryad. <em>¡°Tell Erani that the prisoner can hear us talk aloud, and she needs to agree with what I just said to make sure he¡¯s afraid enough to talk.¡±</em>


    A moment passed, and then Erani spoke. ¡°Yeah, that makes sense.¡±


    I took a breath, then turned to the man and started walking toward him. He shivered as I approached. Once I got close, I crouched down at his head, looking him in the eye. ¡°Hey, kid. What¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°N- Nantuth.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Listen, Nantuth. I won¡¯t hurt you as long as you help me. I need you to tell me what you know. Got that¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I promise I¡¯ll talk. I¡¯m really low on Health, though, so don¡¯t¨C¡±


    ¡°Why were you out here?¡± I interrupted. I was still tensely ncing at our surroundings. At the very least, I needed to get the basic information as soon as possible.


    ¡°To spy on you. Get information. The leader said¨C¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s the leader? Are they near?¡±


    ¡°Some Demon. And no, he isn¡¯t near here ¨C I¡¯ve never even seen him. But King Koinkar was talking about what he wanted us to do. Said that if we take this final stand and kill you, the Demons¡¯ll leave us alone for good. And they¡¯ll help us rebuild, and give us enough food and shelter to help everyone they¡¯d disced. Plus they¡¯d offer their forces to help us defend our borders, since so many people died or fled during the invasion.¡±


    Yeah, that was bullshit. I had no idea whether it was the king who was lying, or the Demons, but I highly doubted that the Demons would help out the kingdom that much. Even if they killed me, they¡¯d have no reason to try and repair rtions with this ce afterward ¨C they¡¯d obviously shown how easily they could destroy the kingdom if they wanted to. And it wasn¡¯t like they had empathy for us Humans. It was just a hollow incentive for the soldiers to kill me.


    The man ¨C Nantuth ¨C watched me stare at him while I thought about this. ¡°P- please don¡¯t take my soul,¡± he stuttered out.


    I was suddenly yanked out of my thoughts by his words. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I- I don¡¯t know much, but I promise I can be useful if you leave me alive. Just, please, don¡¯t take my soul if you do kill me.¡±


    ¡°Since when could I take fucking souls?¡± I squinted. ¡°What does that even mean?¡±


    ¡°B- but the Demons said you could. That¡¯s why they¡¯re here, right? You took some souls from them, and now they¡¯re trying to get their property back. A- and if you kill us, you¡¯ll take our souls, too, to make yourself more powerful.¡±


    I rubbed the bridge of my nose, speechless. Seemed like the Demons had done more than just make false promises to get the Humans to fight on their side. ¡°I¡­ no. That¡¯s not what happened. I just fought some Demon that left the Underworld, and now they¡¯re after me because I killed their friend, or something. It¡¯s nothing like that.¡±


    He just stared at me, obviously only half-convinced.


    But I wasn¡¯t here to argue, so I just continued. ¡°Okay. So, this Demon leader wanted you to follow me and get info. How much have you reported back to them?¡±


    ¡°Just some basic stuff about your direction of movement, so far. But I¡¯m just one person. We have a rotation of scouts toe in and trail you. This is my second shift, but there are a bunch of them.¡±


    ¡°How many people have gone before you?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But, but I have gotten some basic information from thest ones that followed you. I think they¡¯ve been doing this since you got through that barrier they set up.¡±


    <em>Shit</em>, I scowled. How much could they have gotten about me? Probably eavesdropped on our conversations, but what else? They at least knew about Ethereal Armor and its effects, but maybe we could keep Expedite hidden from them? We could feed them bad intel, as long as we knew when and where the scouts were. ¡°How long have you personally been trailing me?¡±


    ¡°An hour. I was supposed to take care of you for as long as you were in this part of the forest. Someone else would take over once you got into the wastnd.¡±


    I nodded, then had an idea. ¡°Good. You told the truth, for the most part. We were aware of the scouts, and you repeated what we already knew. If you¡¯d have lied, we would¡¯ve killed you. Keep it up for a bit longer, and we¡¯ll let you go.¡±


    He paled, then nodded shakily.


    I got a message from the Dryad. <em>¡°Your lover says question, ¡®that to scare prisoner?¡¯¡±</em>


    Not a perfect trantion, but I got what Erani had probably asked. <em>¡°Yeah, just a lie to make sure he stays honest.¡±</em>


    ¡°Where do you report to?¡± Erani asked. ¡°Do you teleport, or travel?¡±


    ¡°Teleport,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯re supposed to use Message Paper to talk to someone back at base, and they take us in. So, so I don¡¯t know how to get there. Honest.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Message Paper? Do you have that on you?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yes. In my pocket.¡±


    I instantly dug through his pockets and felt it. Must¡¯ve missed it during my previous search, since it was such a small item. The paper was a small piece with a tiny scrap of charcoal to draw on it. I¡¯d heard about the stuff before ¨C mark on this one, and another one that¡¯d been paired with it would get the same markings. ¡°This is the only way you canmunicate with your base?¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes, that¡¯s it. I promise.¡±


    I nodded, pocketing the paper.


    ¡°Back in that base you get teleported into, did you see your surroundings? Any identifiablendmarks?¡± Erani continued her line of questioning.


    ¡°No, we stayed in a single room to report before being taken back to the kingdom with another teleportation. No windows or anything.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯d you report to?¡±


    ¡°One of those big Demons. They all look alike.¡±


    ¡°And that was the only person in the room with you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I swear, I have no idea where it is.¡±


    ¡°What were the surroundings like? Temperature, humidity, anything.¡±


    ¡°It- it¡¯s cold, and feels hard to breathe. Like we¡¯re high up.¡±


    I frowned. The mountains?


    ¡°Do you know anything about their ns?¡± I asked. ¡°What they¡¯re setting up, what type of questions they ask you.¡±


    ¡°They- they asked me to pay real careful attention to what direction you¡¯re going, and how close you are to Kingdom¡¯s Edge. Whether you changed directions, talked about changing directions, things like that. The other stuff seems normal. How many times you Leveled up, how many monsters you killed, that sort of thing.¡±


    I nodded. Seemed like they were nning on setting up some sort of trap. Could they have been the ones to send the Dragon on that rampage? Maybe they convinced it to attack us, or something.


    I sighed. We¡¯d need to ask this guy as many questions as we could. Probably wouldn¡¯t get another opportunity like this to get information about our enemies.


    After a while of questioning and confirming, asking the same questions againter to make sure he didn¡¯t contradict himself, and ensuring he couldn¡¯t escape, I felt like we finally had a good amount of information.


    We ended up pulling his shirt over his head and taking him off, away from the area I¡¯d caught him and to some other random part of the wilderness. That way if he did call for help, they wouldn¡¯t know exactly where he was. We took some other safety measures, like searching him even more thoroughly multiple times for any sort of Enchanted items he might¡¯ve had alongside those ten rings.


    We also made him cast one of his spells over and over again until he couldn¡¯t every few minutes to ensure his Mana was consistently drained. He had something that made a bow shot fly faster and straighter, so we just had him shoot a specific spot way off in the distance with it to ensure he cast it without hurting anybody. And we took care to ensure he was as restrained as possible while he held his bow to do this.


    Unfortunately, as a Ranger, he was what was considered a Mixed-Type ss. That meant he had some Spells, but also some Martial Arts and other things. So even with a totally drained Mana pool, he could still use Stamina to activate other abilities. That was how he¡¯d done that weird short-range teleporting thing that let him dodge my Rays of Frost while I chased him ¨C it was a Passive Martial Art that drained Stamina to instantly avoid any damaging Spell projectiles that would¡¯ve hit him.


    But, thanks to my build, his Stamina was already significantly drained. And since Stamina regenerated much more slowly than Mana, we were in the clear for a while, in that aspect.


    We moved him periodically throughout our interrogation ¨C especially every time we had him empty his Mana, since he had to see to be able to do that ¨C but eventually we got it done, and got pretty much all the information we could out of him.


    We¡¯d all but confirmed that, whatever the Demons were doing, it had a lot to do with setting up some sort of trap in Kingdom¡¯s Edge. They asked their scouts to make sure they listened to everyst word we said whenever we talked about travel ns, and to even record our exact word-for-word conversations in a notebook they had. It was really creepy reading through Nantuth¡¯s notes ¨C seeing my exact conversations with Erani, recorded in a notebook that even included things like my inflection when speaking, and how many seconds our pausessted.


    Some other stuff felt notable, too. It seemed like the kingdom had fallen to itsst leg because of the Demon invasion and the amount of resources they kept spending to fight us. Tons of people had fled ¨C especially anyone with a halfway-decent Level ¨C and there were riots and protests in just about every major city. A couple smaller viges had even been ughtered when they decided to stop providing food to the kingdom as form of protest. But even that didn¡¯t stop more from following in their footsteps.


    It was nice to see that the general poption disliked the Demons, at least. I¡¯d pretty much only ever seen the people hunting me, which were probably the ones that believed their lies ¨C or at least, the ones that thought the best course of action to get rid of the Demons was to just kill me. It made sense, in a twisted way ¨C it¡¯d be easier to kill one man than fight off the Underworld¡¯s forces.


    But still, it was worrying to see just how much the kingdom was spending to kill me. Really, it was an almost suicidal amount. I hadn¡¯t tried on the rings the scout had ¨C they could¡¯ve been trapped ¨C but Nantuth said that all ten of them were invisibility rings. That was how he could stay hidden for so long ¨C he didn¡¯t have any sort of Spell or Talent that could do that. They could all turn someone invisible for thirty seconds as a one-time use ability, afterward they¡¯d go inert and lose their Enchantment permanently. And apparently every single scout got ten of them to watch over me with.


    They weremitting countless soldiers to their different projects. I hadn¡¯t really thought about it, but that barricade they¡¯d set up ¨C it spanned multiple days¡¯ travel ofnd. And every single section of it was manned by dozens of Humans and hundreds ofndmines. Those things were expensive to make. Not only that, but they¡¯d also burned a massive portion of the forest to push me into it. Swaths ofnd, viges and towns burned to the ground, farnd scorched. The entire kingdom took a toll from that maneuver.


    And now, they weremitting even <em>more</em> to this? The ten rings in my hand ¨C at least, the ones that weren¡¯t used up already ¨C would be worth at least ten silver. Each. And they were giving every scout ten of them? Not to mention that they were apparently setting up <em>another</em> ambush for us in the mountains. They were instituting drafts, buying so much Enchanted gear that they¡¯d resorted to sending out scavenging parties to find more gear on the corpses of dead adventurers in the forest, and selling their already limited food stocks to fund their military.


    The kingdom was killing itself. It turned out that every single nearby country hadpletely cut off all trade with them, and refused to even consider helping them after what¡¯d happened. I mean, it made sense that these countries would want to turtle up, focus on defending themselves in case the Demons attacked them next, and try not to provoke the Underworld, but still. The fact that they¡¯d even cut off trade showed just how much confidence the rest of the world had in the future of this ce.


    In the end, though, there wasn¡¯t too much else that Nantuth knew that could help us in our current situation. Seemed like the Demons knew to keep their scouts on a need-to-know basis, since they were the ones most vulnerable to being captured and interrogated. But we still got information, which was helpful.


    I turned to Erani after we moved him to a new stretch of forest for thest time. ¡°So, got any more questions?¡±


    ¡°No. And we should probably get out of here soon. Even if he didn¡¯t contact anyone, people will notice when he doesn¡¯t turn up when he¡¯s supposed to. Dragon should be gone, anyway, so we just need to go.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°So¡­ what do we do with him?¡±


    ¡°I¨C I thought you said you¡¯d let me go,¡± the prisoner said. ¡°P- please don¡¯t kill me.¡±


    I really didn¡¯t want to kill him. He¡¯d been nothing but helpful ¨C even somewhat sympathetic to our plight, after some time. He¡¯d apparently been forced into the military because of a draft that¡¯d gone out, so he didn¡¯t want to be in this situation. But if he got back to his base, he could still tell the enemy what he¡¯d told us. Hells, they¡¯d probably torture it out of him even if he decided to help us and keep it all secret. And if they knew what we knew, our intel would be useless. They¡¯d just change their ns.


    <em>¡°Why you not talking anymore,¡±</em> the Dryad asked.


    <em>¡°We¡¯re done asking him questions,¡±</em> I responded. <em>¡°Just trying to figure out what to do with him, and then we can go.¡±</em>


    We could throw him into the forest without his gear, that way he wouldn¡¯t be able tomunicate with the enemies until he got to them physically, and it¡¯d take him a while to get to them to do so. That¡¯d probably give us enough time to get away and fight through their ambush without them knowing what we knew. But then, he¡¯d probably just die out here and it¡¯d be the same thing as executing him. We could take his stuff and throw him into some nearby vige, but first we¡¯d have to find one, which would be dangerous, and he¡¯d probably be able to find some way to contact people in there. It was hard to find a solution that worked.


    There <em>was</em> the possibility of taking him along with us, I thought. He didn¡¯t exactly seem eager to help the Demons, so I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d try to sabotage us and run back to them. Hells, some of his abilities seemed pretty useful in a fight. Maybe he could help us out at points.


    I turned to Erani to ask her what she was thinking, but then I heard a sudden noise and a sh of movement to my left, and the man¡¯s head fell from his neck.


    He¡¯d been decapitated.


    The Dryad lowered her whip, which was now stained in blood.


    There was a moment of pause, before I realized what¡¯d just happened.


    <em>¡°What the fuck did you just do?!¡±</em> I demanded.


    She looked at me innocently, tilting her head as though she had no idea why I was even asking her that. <em>¡°This is bad guy. Bad guy not useful anymore. So should die. So killed bad guy.¡±</em>

 Chapter 91: Murder

    Chapter 91: Murder


    Erani and I stood in front of the decapitated corpse of our prisoner, Nantuth. Next to us stood the Dryad, who had just killed him. Blood oozed from the body¡¯s neck, saturating into the ashen ground and turning it a dark, slimy red.


    I looked down at the sight, sickened. Sure, we¡¯d killed people before ¨C I¡¯d killed, myself, back in the explosion at the barricade ¨C but this man was innocent. He was cooperative. I heard Erani gasp and turn away.


    <em>¡°Why would you do that?¡±</em> I asked the Dryad in as calm a manner as I could.


    She frowned at me. <em>¡°Thought you were okay with killing bad guys. This was bad guy, am correct?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, yes, he was on the bad guys¡¯ team. But we didn¡¯t have to kill him. He wasn¡¯t even against us ¨C he just helped us by giving away information. Wasn¡¯t trying to hurt us in any way. We can¡¯t just kill people for the fun of it.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°How does it hurt us if kill him?¡±</em> the Dryad asked.


    <em>¡°It doesn¡¯t hurt us. It hurts him. That¡¯s the point.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°If killing bad guys only hurts bad guys, will not stop killing bad guys.¡±</em>


    Was she seriously refusing to apologize? And not only that, but it didn¡¯t seem like she had any intention of stopping, either. <em>¡°Okay, listen. Believe what you want to believe, but you can¡¯t just kill people like that without even asking us first. We could¡¯ve found a better way to deal with him that didn¡¯t end in him dying.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Bad guy dying was the purpose. If asked you first, you would say no. So did not ask.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I¡­ what?¡±</em> She didn¡¯t ask because she knew we¡¯d say no if she did? How did that even make sense?


    ¡°Can you talk to her about this?¡± I turned to Erani, who was still turned away from the gory sight. An innocent man, killed just like that.


    She nodded and closed her eyes, presumably to focus onmunicating with the Dryad. While they did that, I guided them both away from the scene, holding Erani¡¯s hand so she wouldn¡¯t trip while walking blind. Ignoring the fact that it was just unpleasant to look at, the corpse would also inevitably attract Ghouls with their strong sense of smell, so it would be smart to get away from there.


    Besides, at the end of the day, we had no idea if that man had been transmitting his location somehow while we interrogated him, so we needed to leave just in case enemies were on their way. The Dragon had done its rampage, anyway ¨C we¡¯d heard its roars while we interrogated Nantuth ¨C so we knew it¡¯d be safe to enter the wastnd.


    While the two talked telepathically, I was left in my own thoughts. The shock of watching a man unexpectedly die in front of me had worn off, and logic was starting to kick in a bit more. At the end of the day, we hadn¡¯t really had a way to deal with the man without killing him. Even if he didn¡¯t want to hurt us, his existence would do us harm all the same. So it wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t understand where the Dryad wasing from.


    But still, it didn¡¯t even seem like she was doing it because we didn¡¯t have another choice. She¡¯dbeled him as a ¡®bad guy¡¯ so he needed to die. Even if we had a perfect way of keeping him alive, I suspected she wouldn¡¯t have cared. And, most important of all, we couldn¡¯t let her get away with just killing people for no reason, <em>especially</em> without even consulting anyone.


    What if she saw some random traveler who wanted to help us and decided to kill them? What about once we got through Kingdom¡¯s Edge, to the Barinruth Empire? Regardless of what was the right decision in this specific case, she needed to understand that we disagreed there.


    After a few minutes, Erani opened her eyes. ¡°I couldn¡¯t get through to her. Seems pretty set in her ways.¡±


    ¡°But why? What¡¯s the point of even killing him? Did she just want to avoidpromising our location by leaving him alive?¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± Erani sighed. ¡°I asked. Nothing like that. She just wants to kill all the ¡®bad guys¡¯. Doesn¡¯t think they deserve to live.¡±


    ¡°But he wasn¡¯t doing anything wrong,¡± I argued. ¡°He was forced into service because of the draft. Did you exin that to her?¡±


    ¡°She and I have already had a conversation about this,¡± Erani sighed. ¡°She doesn¡¯t care about any of that. Said that if someone was forced into service, they should just let themselves be killed instead of bing a ¡®bad guy¡¯.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know what to say, so instead I just shook my head.


    ¡°What should we do?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°About her. I mean, like, what should we do now that she¡¯s just killed someone innocent? And wants to do it again?¡±


    ¡°What <em>can</em> we do? Kill her? Lock her up in prison? At the end of the day, we need her on our side. She¡¯s too valuable an asset to give up. We¡¯d have died without her multiple times over, by now. After we get through Kingdom¡¯s Edge, though¡­ who knows. We¡¯ll see where she¡¯s at. Maybe then we can give her to the authorities, I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s just a kid, An. If anything, she needs proper guidance, not to be killed.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say we¡¯d kill her, just give her to the government. They¡¯d figure it out.¡±


    ¡°And do you really think they¡¯d do anything other than kill her? At best, she¡¯d be sold into very for some noble. But she¡¯d probably just be ughtered for XP. It¡¯s either she stays with us, or she dies at the hands of some other Humans. I know you know that¡¯s it.¡±


    ¡°She could also just go back to living in the wilderness,¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Somewhere she doesn¡¯t know at all? She wouldn¡¯t even be in the same country anymore, much less a territory she¡¯d recognize.¡± Erani sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t just abandon her, whether that means certain death for her or not. I mean, yes, she¡¯s clearly misguided¨C¡±


    ¡°A murdering psychopath, more like.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t call her that!¡± Erani frowned at me, and I could tell she was genuinely angry.


    ¡°I¨C okay,¡± I sighed. I really was being too hard on her, especially after she did something that just boiled down to her trying to help. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I know she¡¯s a child. And she hasn¡¯t really interacted with Humans before ¨C at least not in any sort of healthy light. She definitely could benefit from some moral lessons. But, I mean, how would we even do that? She¡¯s not Human, herself. Is it even possible for her to feel true empathy for us?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But we have to try. I want to travel with someone eager to kill innocents as little as you do, but I¡¯d rather we actually try to fix the problem, rather than just throw it away. It¡¯s like you said. She didn¡¯t make any sort of choice to be thrown into the life she¡¯s currently living. She was given the same options these innocent soldiers were ¨C start fighting or die. And so, really, isn¡¯t she just as innocent as they were? She had to learn violence, to learn to never trust another Human, to learn to kill on sight, and refuse to acknowledge the lives she was taking as anything other than worthless. Because if she didn¡¯t, she¡¯d be killed. She was just as forced into this as anyone else was. We can¡¯t judge her for learning the way she did. But we can help her view the world in a less ck-and-white way.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Fine, yeah, you¡¯re right. What should we do to teach her, though? I mean, what should we even say?¡±


    Erani didn¡¯t immediately answer that. Instead, we just kept walking and thinking for a while, the only sounds in the barren forest our tattered shoes crunching against the dry, gray dirt.


    <em>¡°You are not mad anymore?¡±</em> I got a sudden message from the Dryad, startling me. It was always a bit creepy to be reminded that she could tell my exact emotional state and attitude toward her at all times.


    <em>¡°Um, no. I¡¯m not mad at you anymore. I still don¡¯t want you to do what you did, though.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You do not want to hurt me?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No, I don¡¯t want to hurt you. I </em>do<em> want you to not harm or kill people for no reason, though. I get that sometimes, leaving people alive will harm us. But other times, we may be able to find a way to keep someone alive. We can make allies and encourage people to help us, since we helped them. At the very least, ask before doing something like that. What you did back there wasn¡¯t okay. There wasn¡¯t any reason to kill him, and you shouldn¡¯t just do that for no reason.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But did have a reason. Was killing a bad guy.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, maybe we don¡¯t have to kill every bad guy. Maybe we can leave the ones that don¡¯t want to hurt us alive.¡±</em>


    There was a pause, and I could tell the Dryad was taking a moment to think. After a bit, she messaged me once again, <em>¡°but you do that.¡±</em>


    I blinked. <em>¡°What?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You kill when no reason. Kill things that do not want to hurt.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°W-what? When?¡±</em> I¡¯d taken care to not kill people unnecessarily. The only time I may have gone against that was when we¡¯d blown up the barricade. But those people definitely did want to kill me ¨C I¡¯d experienced their murderous intent first-hand ¨C and I needed to do that to prevent myself from getting overpowered by our enemies in the future, anyway.


    <em>¡°Constantly. Kill animals, wildlife, that does not want to hurt you. Do it all the time.¡±</em>


    Oh. <em>¡°Well, that¡¯s different.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°How?¡±</em> She seemed like she was genuinely curious.


    <em>¡°First off, I don¡¯t just kill animals for no reason. We have to eat somehow, so¨C¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You can eat Human, too. So killing Human was not bad.¡±</em>


    I blinked. Cannibalism was an entire other jar of worms that I was <em>not</em> ready to get into with her. <em>¡°Okay, but I also do it for XP. If we don¡¯t get stronger, we¡¯ll die.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I get XP from killing Human. So that also makes killing Human not bad.¡±</em>


    I sighed and shook my head. I just wasn¡¯t getting through to her. <em>¡°Listen. Killing something intelligent like that just isn¡¯t okay. Humans are intelligent, and so are some other species. Like, I saved you from the Demons back when we¡¯d first met ¨C that was because you were intelligent. And¨C¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What is ¡®intelligent¡¯?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Oh, intelligence is, like, how smart something is. Its ability to solve problems,municate, build a better life for itself, that sort of thing.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No. Not what is ¡®intelligence¡¯ definition. What do you think is ¡®intelligent¡¯?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What?¡±</em> I wasn¡¯t sure what she was asking.


    <em>¡°How do you decide what is ¡®intelligent¡¯? What makes Human intelligent, but not Wood Wraith? Or Anacap? All creatures are intelligent, in own way. Just because cannotmunicate with you does not mean not intelligent. Just because hold different values from you does not mean not intelligent. Just because want to kill you does not mean not intelligent. You save me because I was nice, did not hurt you. I know that is why. Your emotions say so.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I¨C listen. Not </em>all<em> animals are intelligent. Some are just objectively dumb. A worm, for example, just doesn¡¯t have the breadth of thought that a Human does.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You do not know. You do not know what thinks, and what does not. Some animals do not think like Humans, and those you say are dumb. Worms can make tunnel, keep track of location, navigate underground better than Humans ever can. You only think I am intelligent because I think like Human. Because I give gift like Humans do. Because I am social like Humans are. But animals that are smart but not social, or that are social but not gift-givers, can all be intelligent.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What, so you think I should just stop killing anything ever? That every single life, down to the smallest insect, is just as precious as that of a Human?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well then what are you saying?¡± </em>I demanded angrily.


    <em>¡°You can kill animals when want to. All animals kill animals. But you must let me kill Humans when want to. Everything kills something. I kill Humans.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I just¨C listen. I don¡¯t want you to kill Humans. I don¡¯t care if you think it¡¯s reasonable for you to do, I don¡¯t like it.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You don¡¯t like because you are also Human. That is okay. Will stop doing it in front of you. Because you are ally. Care about you, and do not want to hurt you. But if you care about me, you let me kill Humans.¡±</em>


    I shook my head. <em>¡°Killing things mindlessly is no way to live. Just murdering people for the sake of murdering ¨C taking lives, people with families, and people who care about them ¨C you can¡¯t just keep doing that.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Why can¡¯t keep doing that?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You just¨C it¡¯s meaningless! It¡¯s violence for violence¡¯s sake. When all you do is kill, that just makes you a husk of a thing. You¡¯re barely even alive. If you want to get stronger so you can protect yourself, or to protect others, or just because you want to get revenge on the person who actually made the decision to do this to you, fine. I¡¯d fully agree with you, actually. But you¡¯re killing people who barely have anything to do with this. Why would you want to define yourself by your enemies? By the things you hate? Why not try to live for the things you love, instead?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Do not have anything that I love. Was all taken from me.¡±</em>


    A chill went down my spine, and for once, I genuinely didn¡¯t think I could respond.


    <em>¡°Bad guys killed everyone I love. Killed all animals I love. Killed mother. Killed forest. Killedndscape. Killed home. Killed all surroundings. Killed everything I knew. I hate them. Why can not live for that? Why you kill my hate, too?¡±</em>


    I looked over at her, and saw tears running down her cheeks. White fluid leaking from white eyes. I struggled to think of something to say. <em>¡°I¨C I didn¡¯t¨C¡±</em>


    <em>¡°If hate meaningless, I meaningless. My life meaningless. Everything else gone.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No, no, you¡¯re not meaningless. I¡¯m sorry.¡±</em> I grabbed her and pulled her into what I hoped felt like a fatherly embrace, her wet tears staining my forehead. I don¡¯t think she even noticed me doing it, she didn¡¯t react to my touch. But still, I didn¡¯t know what else to do. Really, what could I even say to that? I¡¯d been so caught up with my own feelings and desires, I¡¯d forgotten to consider what she¡¯d really gone through in all this.


    It was at that point that Erani noticed what was going on. ¡°Oh gods, what happened? An, what did you say?¡±


    The Dryad pushed me away, simply continuing to sob on her own. Erani looked back and forth between us, eyes wide, as the Dryad leaned against a tree and wiped her eyes with her arm,


    I just watched the Dryad cry, speaking to Erani without looking at her, ¡°I don¡¯t think we can convince her to stop killing people.¡±


    ¡°Why?!¡± Erani demanded.


    ¡°Because if we did, we¡¯d be taking away the only thing she has left.¡±

 Chapter 92: Through the Ashes

    Chapter 92: Through the Ashes


    After some time, we arrived back at the wastnd proper. I¡¯d exined to Erani what¡¯d happened with the Dryad, but neither of us had the courage to speak with her ever since she¡¯d broken down. I didn¡¯t even know what I could say if I did talk to her. Sorry for calling your life meaningless? Sorry for saying everything you¡¯re working for is worthless? How could I even word something like that? And how could I do it without condoning her continued murder of people?


    I¡¯d be fine if it was just the Demons, but¡­ could I really just stand by and watch her murder innocents? Even if I was okay with that, tantly telling her it was fine to just do whatever she wanted without asking didn¡¯t seem like it¡¯d promote teamwork.


    At the end of the day, I had no idea. And it didn¡¯t seem like the Dryad wanted to talk about it, anyway, considering she hadn¡¯t said anything to either of us.


    So we just walked back into the wastnd, ready to take on the familiar challenges ahead of us. With my much faster Mana/Minute, I could easily handle the Ghouls without needing the Dryad¡¯s help, which was good, since she didn¡¯t even try to kill a single monster ¨C she didn¡¯t even seem to notice them, simply trudging along with hollow eyes.


    We avoided the Mountain Troll caves like normal, too. I may have powered up a decent bit thanks to my new Spell and Talent, but I still wasn¡¯t sure if it¡¯d be worth it to go intentionally provoking one of those guys. I only had one more use of Time Loop for the day, and it was only barely past noon by now. It wouldn¡¯t do me any good to go getting into frivolous fights now. Maybeter on, when it was closer to midnight, I could try. But not now.


    While we walked, a jingling in my pocket reminded me of the ten silver rings I¡¯d confiscated from Nantuth ¨C supposedly one-time-use rings that could grant invisibility. He said that some of them had already been used up, but there were probably a few that hadn¡¯t been. So I took them out of my pocket and examined them.


    They looked hastily-made, with their bumpy, uneven edges and cheap-looking forge work; even if I was only ever a manualborer for a forgemaster back in my old vige, I still knew shoddy craftsmanship when I saw it. It made sense that they weren¡¯t very high-quality, though. If they were as mass-produced as Nantuth made it sound, there wouldn¡¯t be enough time for anyone to actually care about what they were making.


    ¡°Those the invisibility rings?¡± Erani asked, ncing over to the ten trinkets held in my palm.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Bit hesitant to try wearing them, though. There¡¯s a possibility they could be trapped and inflict a curse or something when we put them on.¡±


    ¡°The scout was wearing them though, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess, but still. There¡¯s alway a possibility. Maybe it isn¡¯t a curse that harms you, but just one that transmits your location or something.¡±


    ¡°Hm. I guess that makes sense. So will we ever even try using them? Maybe we could just save them for an especially dire situation, or something.¡±


    ¡°I mean, I was thinking I¡¯d just hang onto them until I¡¯m about to activate Time Loop, then I can put them on, see what they do, and go back without facing the consequences if they are trapped.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Right. Damn, I keep forgetting that the stuff you experience with Time Loop¡­ actually happens. Like, you don¡¯t just have some random piece of knowledge beamed into your head. You can actually n around using it and take actions with the knowledge that your timeline isn¡¯t going to continue.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Iughed. She¡¯d said something along those lines a few times before, back in some of those doomed timelines. Really, it was starting to get a bit scary, with how much I had to watch her relive the same conversations with me. She¡¯d told me not to tell her about that, but I was starting to think I should.


    But either way, now wasn¡¯t the time. For now, we needed to just get through this wastnd.


    So we simply marched across the empty field, with me earning a small bit of XP from the Ghouls as we did ¨C 20 here, 30 there ¨C as the sun continued to drift along the sky. I realized during our march that I¡¯d gotten a bit too used to moving in the forests. The natural cover from enemy sightlines was nice, but the true natural cover I realized I¡¯d been unknowingly enjoying was the shade. Out here, with nothing above but sky, the sun beat down on us relentlessly.


    And it seemed like Ethereal Armor did nothing to truly protect against the sun. The Light te I was wearing visually covered my skin, sure, and it even seemed to create some sort of darkening effect on my body underneath the armor, but whatever it was doing, it wasn¡¯t creating actual shade.


    I really had no idea how the intricacies of it all worked, since, when I activated Noxious Grasp while wearing it, I noticed that the smoke seeping from my skin did, indeed, only ever pour from the cracks in the armor or from the hole left for my face. It didn¡¯t pass straight through the armor as though it was intangible. However, it also seemed like the armor didn¡¯t trap heat inside ¨C at least, I didn¡¯t feel any hotter when wearing it ¨C so somehow it was stopping the smoke from getting through, but heat could pass through the glowing armor as though it was nothing.


    Regardless, the point was that it was hot. The mountains of Kingdom¡¯s Edge were still far away ¨C maybe a day or two¡¯s walk ¨C but I was already considering climbing one of those things once we got there, just so I could feel the cool air of the snowy peaks.


    Speaking of the snowy peaks, the Dragon that we¡¯d gone back because of in the first ce was still around, resting itself atop one of them. It hadn¡¯t been living there back when I¡¯d first seen ite by, but now it didn¡¯t seem to want to budge, flying into some sort of cave in the side of the mountain and staying there for the hours that we moved. I had a feeling it was so it could keep an eye on whatever was in the valley.


    Though, considering what we¡¯d heard from the interrogation, I had a feeling I knew what was there. The Dragon happened to be attacking the only pass through Kingdom¡¯s Edge that was located even remotely nearby, and I doubted that whatever was there was there by ident.


    But we¡¯d just have to deal with that once we got there. For now, we needed to worry about actually getting to Kingdom¡¯s Edge, first. Then we could see whatever trap the Demons had set for us, and n ordingly.


    I tried to keep my eye out for any more scouts ¨C even if they were invisible, they¡¯d still kick up the ash covering the ground and leave footprints ¨C but didn¡¯t ever see anything to suggest there were any of them nearby. Maybe they got scared after one of them failed to return, and stopped sending them out. I hoped that was the case instead of the other possibility ¨C that they just developed some other method of trailing uspletely unseen.


    One exciting thing did happen while we traveled, though, and was the main thing lifting my spirits.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 461.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 11.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 11, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 4.7 to 4.82


    Health Drain: From 16.2 to 17


    Stamina Drain: From 8.15 to 8.56


    I <em>finally</em> got Noxious Grasp to Rank up! Really, the change to the Spell itself was numerically small, but the real thing wasn¡¯t the increase in damage per second brought about by this single Rank, it was the fact that I¡¯d gotten it to Rank up at all. In just a few hours, I¡¯d earned over a full third of the 460 Spell XP requirement for Rank 11.


    With thebination of Exponential Remation¡¯s Mana/Minute multiplying effect, and Light te¡¯s Spell discount, Ranking my Spells had be much, much faster. To an insane degree. The next Rank¡¯s requirement was 623 ¨C normally something that would take weeks, if not months, to reach without waiting for my Soft Cap to catch up. But now? I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if I earned it by the time I woke up tomorrow.


    Another thing that put me in a good mood was the fact that the Necrotized debuff from back when we¡¯d first fought those Ghouls had finally worn off. It was just a minus 2 to my physical Stats, but that weakening effect really began to grate on me after some time, and getting rid of it was just a weight lifted from my shoulders. I could tell why the wastnd wasn¡¯t a ce I¡¯d heard of many adventurers going into for XP.


    Normally, a ce like this would be free real estate toe in and clear out to Level up and maybe even push the kingdom¡¯s borders a bit further out. But out here, when a single misstep in a fight didn¡¯t just mean some damage and a scratch, but also several Stats taken away for a full twenty-four hours, it was much more dangerous.


    Suddenly, no matter how much Health you had, a couple dozen hits would also mean a massive debuff to you, even if it only really took away a small portion of your resources. After all, most sses ¨C even the Melee-Types ¨C had at least one physical Stat that wouldn¡¯t get as much focus as the others, and if that Stat started to approach 0, you¡¯d be in pretty big trouble. Much more reasonable to just avoid those types of monsters than topletely reconstruct your strategy when Leveling.


    Thankfully, though, my own Stat debuff effects were what protected us from the Ghouls. With Crippling Chill and Ray of Frost, none of them got close to us. Erani took out a solid portion of them with her Explosive Firebolts too, of course. And we didn¡¯t need to worry about the Mountain Trolls as long as we kept away from them.


    So we traveled as such. I practiced Noxious Grasp with my spare Mana ¨C which was a lot, with my excessive Mana/Minute ¨C and led us on as we walked, with the Dryad still apathetically marching along with us.


    It was once the sun started to set that I started to get really worried that I¡¯d truly hurt the Dryad. She was still wordless, and Erani and I both began to realize this wasn¡¯t just something she¡¯d need time for. I thought that, maybe since she didn¡¯t really like me to begin with, she¡¯d just brush it off, but it didn¡¯t seem like that was the case. The Dryad was normally pretty talkative with Erani, and even she hadn¡¯t gotten anything.


    It was getting dark, to the point where we¡¯d probably need to set up camp for the night in a few hours. And I really didn¡¯t want to just leave things the way they were with her.


    <em>¡°Hey,¡±</em> I ended up saying to the Dryad. <em>¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±</em>


    She looked over at me, seeming surprised at my sudden message. She was obviously still upset, but at least she wasn¡¯t crying anymore. <em>¡°What?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I¡¯m sorry. For saying all those things I said before. It was really insensitive of me. I know that you¡¯re struggling right now, and I should¡¯ve realized that things may not be as simple for you as they are for me. It was really shitty of me to do.¡±</em>


    She paused, before saying, <em>¡°Oh. That is okay. You are not bad guy. Just reminded me of bad guys.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, yeah, but still. I said some hurtful stuff. You¡­ I don¡¯t agree with what you¡¯re doing. I really don¡¯t think it¡¯s okay to kill a Human for no reason. And I don¡¯t think I ever will. But I also understand that, to you, it just isn¡¯t like that. But¡­ can you promise me something?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Please don¡¯t kill anyone who isn¡¯t rted to this. It¡¯s one thing to killbatants, or people working for the Demons. I don¡¯t think you should kill them if you can avoid it, but at the end of the day, I can¡¯t really control you. But if someone isn¡¯t even working for them, just let them live. Okay?¡±</em>


    She seemed to think for a moment, then nodded. <em>¡°Will only kill bad guys. That is eptable trade.¡±</em>


    I let out a breath I didn¡¯t even know I was holding in. That went a bit better than expected. At least she didn¡¯t fight me on that point. Hopefully, as time passed, she could learn to hold a bit more empathy for Humans, and maybe then she¡¯d avoid killing unnecessarily. But for now, we needed to work with her regardless.


    After another few hours, it waspletely dark outside. I also got another exciting notification.


    Threshold reached. Ray of Frost XP has reached 130.


    Ray of Frost Rank has increased to 9.


    Due to Ray of Frost Rank reaching 9, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 24.4 to 25


    Damage: From 59.1 to 62.1


    Dexterity Debuff: From 7.4 to 7.77


    With a new Ray of Frost Rank on top of my Rank in Noxious Grasp, I was feeling more confident than ever. And I hadn¡¯t even been practicing Ray of Frost ¨C that was just from my passive use while fighting off the Ghouls. The next Rank was 10, so I¡¯d need 355 XP to get it there ¨C and I wouldn¡¯t even reap the rewards until I got a Cold or Curse Spell Crystal for it. But the extra boost in numbers was absolutely wee.


    With the skies clear of clouds and trees to block the pale light of the moon, our eyesight wasn¡¯t entirelypromised, but we were all tired anyway after the long day, so we decided we should go ahead and set up camp.


    I wouldn¡¯t go to sleep just yet, though. I still had one more use of Time Loop I didn¡¯t want to waste. But with the couple hours left I had before it refreshed, I wouldn¡¯t use it just yet. Instead, I¡¯d wait until it was getting close to midnight, and then I¡¯d go out and fight a Mountain Troll or something to get some XP before bed.


    But first I¡¯d just help everyone set up camp while I waited. Out in the wastnd, things were a bit moreplicated than normal ¨C we could use a basic watch system to keep us from getting overtaken by Ghouls, but out in the dusty, rocky mess, we couldn¡¯t really sleep. Well, the Dryad could sleep just fine, of course, but Erani and I couldn¡¯t.


    So we took some time to clear the thickyer of ash coating the dry, hard ground in a circr area around us, and then used our own bundled up clothes to make a makeshift sleeping mat and pillow. The thinyers of fabric weren¡¯t much, of course, but it still helped. We were effectively sleeping in our underwear, too, but with the hot air and sweat covering my back, getting rid of thoseyers was a wee change.


    Still, it was a bit awkward to lie down with Erani half-naked, especially considering the unique sleeping arrangement we needed to set up in order to effectively practice her Angelic Shield. Apparently, this would be thest night she needed to practice it before she got it to Rank 10, so this would probably be thest night we¡¯d sleep like this, anyway. Still, that didn¡¯t change the amount of awkwardness I felt doing it. With my arm curled around her body and so much of my skin touching hers, how could I not feel weird?


    I wasn¡¯t trying to fall asleep, instead staying up to go fight somethingter in the night ¨C and also to stay on watch ¨C but we still needed to keep in contact for practice, so I just kept my eyes open and head up, asionally reaching up my unupied arm to shoot off Rays of Frost at the approaching Ghouls. They didn¡¯t seem to be quite as active at night, which was nice. That, or they just thinned out as we approached Kingdom¡¯s Edge more and got closer to the more dangerous areas that got frequently cleared out during fights between Dragons.


    Erani and the Dryad eventually fell asleep as the minutes passed by, or at least that was what I thought. After a while of staying up and killing Ghouls, I heard a voice.


    ¡°Hey, An?¡± It was Erani, speaking sleepily while still lying down.


    ¡°Hey. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be sleeping? You¡¯re taking next watch, you know. Don¡¯t want you dozing off when you¡¯re supposed to be protecting us.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t sleep,¡± she yawned.


    ¡°Hm, yeah. I guess evenpared to sleeping on the dirt, sleeping out here on hard stone would be worse.¡±


    She nodded wordlessly, then said, ¡°do you think the Dryad will ever care about us?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I blinked. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±


    ¡°When you talked to her before, she said that everything she loved and cared about had been killed. So she doesn¡¯t have anything left but things to hate. Does that mean she hates us?¡±


    ¡°No, no, I don¡¯t think so. Maybe¡­ Well, she just hasn¡¯t known us for long. Maybe she just feels apathetic.¡±


    I heard her sigh, still facing away from me as shey on the ground. ¡°Is it weird of me to feel like that¡¯s worse?¡±


    I pursed my lips. ¡°No, maybe not. But I doubt she¡¯ll stay apathetic for long. I mean, you¡¯re obviously a caring person. She probably just needs time to process all of this, right?¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± she groaned, and shifted around in her makeshift bed.


    A few minutes passed, and she didn¡¯t say anything else. I supposed she¡¯d drifted off to sleep once again. It was obvious that this whole Dryad situation was eating her up inside, and it made me feel even worse for being the catalyst. Though, maybe the Dryad had always felt that way, and I was just the one to bring it to light.


    Anyway, enough time had passed that it was nearing midnight ¨C around 11:30, by now. So it was time to go find a worthy opponent.


    Normally, I¡¯d have asked Erani and the Dryad toe along with me, but this time I wanted to do it on my own. After the massive upgrade I¡¯d gotten, I wanted to see exactly what I could do, without any interference. One of those trolls had almost killed me beforehand, and I could only beat it because of how much Erani and the Dryad had weakened it beforehand ¨C and I¡¯d sustained severe injuries anyway. Now, it was time to see how I shaped up with a new Talent and Spell.


    It was time for a rematch.

 Chapter 93: Welcome to the Outlaws: Spectating

    Chapter 93: Wee to the Ouws: Spectating


    Erani was woken up by An in the middle of the night. For a moment, she was confused, but then she remembered she was supposed to take over watch for the next shift here. And then she remembered he was also nning on going out to kill some Mountain Troll to test out his abilities. It was certainly a¡­ choice.


    Well, really, it was technicallypletely riskless for him to fight the thing, since he had another use of Time Loop that¡¯d be wasted at midnight if he didn¡¯t use it. So, she supposed it made sense. Still, it felt absolutely insane for her to just sit back and watch him march off to fight something stronger than him for absolutely no reason. Again, it technically made sense for him to practice fighting on his own while he had an opportunity to seebat while facing no real consequences for his mistakes, but she couldn¡¯t help wanting to yell at him toe back here and go to sleep, just out of instinct.


    Instead, she just settled on sleepily muttering, ¡°Good luck. Don¡¯t die.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Well, really, I¡¯m fine if I only die once. It¡¯s if I die twice that I get in trouble.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right. Well in that case, be sure to only die after you¡¯ve killed it and gotten the XP. Then feel free to die ande back, I guess.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± heughed. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡±


    And with that, he walked off. In the dark night, the main thing allowing Erani to see was the glow of An¡¯s Light te, but now that he was walking away, the camp was cast in darkness, with him taking her source of sight along with him.


    She¡¯d mentioned it to him before, but the Dark te really did make him look pretty scary. He didn¡¯t realize it, since he was the one always wearing it, but the way it was decorated, with the deep ck coloring that literally sucked the light from the sky and the sharp edges, it just made him look like something that walked out of the deepest hell.


    Sure, the intimidating edges and small spikes lining armor wouldn¡¯t do anything themselves ¨C the only person able to touch or use either Light te or Dark te seemed to be An ¨C but that didn¡¯t mean they didn¡¯t still make him look freaky. Add in the fact that Dark te had a full face covering, and he barely even looked Human when he had it on. Secretly, Erani hoped that whatever Rank 10 Upgrade the Spell got would only make the Light te portion stronger, and not the Dark te. She really just didn¡¯t like looking at it.


    But for now, she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about it. With the almost half-off discount Light te offered, it was the obviously correct choice. Sure, when up against something insane like a Dragon that could kill someone at their Levels in a single hit, donning the Dark te would be useful, but in the closer matches like the one he was about to find himself in, Light te was just better.


    So she watched as her literal knight in shining armor departed, off to y the evil beast. Of course, this was an ¡®evil¡¯ beast only in the way that it was just some wild monster minding its own business, and he wasn¡¯t really a ¡®knight¡¯ if he was literally being hunted down by the entire kingdom he lived in, but she still felt like the armor made him seem heroic, at least.


    The brightness of the Light te let Erani see An even from far away, so she spectated as he walked off a few hundred paces, stopping near a cave that housed one of those Mountain Trolls. Erani hadn¡¯t seen one before, but from An¡¯s description, they were apparently pretty scary. And with that super-speed ability, she would hate to find herself up against one of them. She was pretty much only effective when fighting at a range, so for something to be able to so easily close that gap, its build would pretty much hard-counter hers. Luckily, An had clearly built his own set of abilities to be able to handle closebat quite well.


    She watched as he seemed to take a moment to set himself, preparing for the fight as he stared into the glowing red eyes of the cave. A man standing in glowing armor against a red-eyed beast lurking in the dark, the gentle wind blowing dust and ash around them ¨C the scene looked like something she¡¯d see in a storybook. But here she was, watching in person.


    Then, in a sh, the beast attacked. It leapt out of its cave, lunging straight at An. But he moved quickly ¨C probably boosted with Expedite ¨C and stepped back and to the side,pletely dodging the monster¡¯s attack. At the same time, he lifted his hand with pinpoint uracy to shoot off a multitude of Rays of Frost at the monster. It was still just a silhouette in the dark night to Erani, but she could still see the bright blue rays impact it, causing the Troll to roar in rage and charge again.


    This time, An let it get to him and take a swing without him dodging, and it was only then that Erani could actually see the monster¡¯s features in the bright light of his armor. It was big ¨C that much she could tell by its silhouette ¨C and misshapen. Lumps covered its body, and she couldn¡¯t tell if they were asymmetric muscles, some sort of massive tumors, or just the way its body was naturally shaped. And, of course, its face, twisted in anger, was just ugly. Its eyeballs were somehow too big while its actual irises and pupils were too small, its nose was wide and long, and its cheeks sagged and pped in the wind like there was too much skin on its face.


    But none of those features seemed to prevent it from fighting. It swung with deadly speed at An¡¯s torso, and seemed like it would easily bat him away, but before the hit couldnd, something happened to the Troll. It lurched and its already ugly face twisted in confusion and pain, and its speeding arm suddenly slowed and lost its uracy. After fighting alongside An for so long, Erani well knew what those effects were ¨C he¡¯d probably used Crippling Chill or activated Gravity Well. Or both at the same time.


    Either way, its previously deadly strike was suddenly aplete joke to dodge, and An, seemingly out of pride or maybe just to show off to Erani, who he no-doubt knew was watching him fight, opted to dodge by leaping straight over the Troll¡¯s fist,nding on its hand with his arms out as if asking for apuse. The moment the boots of his Light te touched the Troll, it reared back in pain ¨C he¡¯d probably used Noxious Grasp to deal some damage while he touched it ¨C and he leapt back off.


    The Mountain Troll, obviously furious with An at this point, took a breath and just looked at him for a moment. An seemed to realize what this meant, whatever it was, and prepared himself to defend against a deadly attack. And then the Troll¡¯s eyes glinted, its red eyes shining in what Erani could immediately tell was magical brightness.


    And then it disappeared.


    Or, at least, Erani thought it disappeared. In an instant, it moved from its own position to right in front of An in an incredible burst of speed, leaning forward and opening its jaws in an attempt to chomp its enemy¡¯s head clean off. But An ducked, also moving much more quickly than what should¡¯ve been possible, and rushed forward between the Troll¡¯s legs. He dragged his hand across its body as he dashed, no doubt using Noxious Grasp, and ended up behind it, reaching up to fire off a couple more Rays of Frost as it turned around to face him.


    In another burst of speed, it rushed forward and swiped, but this time An leapt back, apparently not seeing a good opportunity to get off a few moments of Noxious Grasp there. He held up a hand and shot off yet another Ray of Frost, though.


    It stepped up for another attack, reaching out both arms as far as they could go to try and grab him and¨C oh! Suddenly, it was on the ground, pushed downward by an invisible force the moment it offset its center of gravity by reaching out so far. But An didn¡¯t utilize this moment to attack the Troll. No, instead, he just backed away and watched as it pushed itself back off the ground.


    It was obvious what he was doing here ¨C buying time. The longer this fight went on, the higher his chances of winning. Normally, for Magic-Types, this worked in the opposite way. For example, Erani¡¯s maximum Mana was around 1200, meaning she could fire off about 24 total Firebolts in a fight. So, ifbat went on too long, she¡¯d have to ration those shots out more and more. Sure, natural Mana regeneration might allow her to use one more every now and then, but in truebat, that bit of Mana wouldn¡¯te quickly enough.


    And as Magic-Types Leveled up and increased their Mana/Minute, so too did they Rank their Spells and increase their costs, keeping that rtionship between Mana regeneration and number of Spells able to be cast pretty steady. In fact, often it¡¯d work out that Magic-Types would have to wait even <em>longer</em> to regenerate enough Mana to cast their Spells again as they Leveled up. Since Mana/Minute increased in a linear fashion with Level-ups, but the Mana cost of Spells increased exponentially, the higher-Level someone was, the more time they¡¯d need to prepare for a fight they¡¯d have to go all-out in.


    But for An, thatmon knowledge was turned on its head. His absurd Mana/Minute meant that, if he could just get a fight tost long enough, he¡¯d win every time. Before, trying to oust an opponent would mean almost exclusively using Noxious Grasp to ration out his Mana for the maximum amount of effect, but now he didn¡¯t need to do that. Sure, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use his Spells constantly, but he¡¯d be able to cast Rays of Frost, keep his Crippling Chills active, and even asionally utilize the expensive Gravity Well to fight off his opponent and slow them down, making the fightst even <em>longer</em>.


    In short, his Spells all focused on making a fightst longer, and now An¡¯s Talent would allow him to cast more Spells the longer a fightsted. It was a vicious cycle of fucking with his opponent. And quite honestly, Erani was a bit scared of it. Even without much information, he¡¯d managed to build himself up to be nigh-unstoppable inbats that were even remotely fairly-matched. Unless he waspletely outnumbered or his opponent was quintuple his Level, he had the potential to dominate a fight.


    So when she watched him calmly back away as the enraged Troll stood up and charged once again, she had nothing but confidence that he¡¯d end up killing it. Maybe not instantly, but he had the inevitability here. His build countered the Troll¡¯s, he was already in a better spot in terms of resources, and he was probably a lot smarter than the thing, on top of all that.


    It swung again, and he dodged and shot another Ray of Frost, and then it tried stomping on him, only to lose its bnce and fall, most likely because of Crippling Chill¡¯s Dexterity drain. And then, after a few seconds passed and it got back to its feet, obviously tired and injured, it got another Ray of Frost to the face, reawakening its anger and causing it to charge once again.


    She realized An wasn¡¯t just controlling the flow of the fight, he was even controlling the monster¡¯s emotions, getting it angry whenever he had the resources to fight it off, and knocking it down to demoralize it whenever he was low on Mana and needed some time to regenerate. It was almost like watching a professional dancer, the way hemandedplete control of the entire battlefield.


    And the longer he fought, the more and more tired his opponent got. He was finding more moments he could tap his hand against it to refresh Venomous Grasp, which of course got the monster even more tired, and make it even easier to touch with Venomous Grasp.


    It took at least five or ten minutes, but to Erani, the fight was over before the first thirty seconds had passed. The Troll just didn¡¯t know it¡¯d lost yet. But eventually, the beast copsed, and An came walking back over to Erani. His face shined both in obvious excitement and from the glow of his armor.


    ¡°Did you see that?!¡± Heughed once he got back to the camp and plopped down next to her. ¡°That shit was awesome! I <em>totally</em> fucked it up! Only took a few scratches, and it¡¯s fuckin¡¯ dead!¡±


    ¡°Yep, very impressive,¡± she smiled. She couldn¡¯t help but grin alongside him after seeing his enthusiasm.


    ¡°Got a bit over 700 XP, too,¡± he said.


    ¡°Wait, 700?¡± she asked. That was way more than she was expecting.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, it was lower-Level than thest one we fought, so not quite as much.¡±


    ¡°No, 700 sounds like way too much!¡±


    ¡°Well, I killed it twice. Time Loop.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right.¡± She normally knew that he¡¯d activated it recently because she¡¯d be standing right next to him, but he must¡¯ve gone back to when he was already away from her and out ready to face the monster. Or maybe it was when she was still asleep, or something. ¡°Well still, that¡¯s amazing!¡±


    ¡°All in a day¡¯s work,¡± he sighed andid back down with a sarcastic smile.


    ¡°Dumbass,¡± Erani rolled her eyes.


    ¡°If I¡¯m so dumb, how did I kill a Mountain Troll single-handedly?¡±


    ¡°Time travel,¡± sheughed. ¡°Now go to bed. I don¡¯t want to have to dy because you¡¯re tired and wanna sleep for five more minutes.¡±


    ¡°Fine, fine,¡± he said and closed his eyes. ¡°Let me know if anything goes wrong while you¡¯re on watch.¡±


    ¡°Mhm,¡± Erani nodded and scanned the area, looking for Ghouls. She¡¯d try to keep them from picking apart the Mountain Troll corpse too much, too, so that they could eat it in the morning. She¡¯d be surprisingly ustomed to eating raw monster meat over the days, so it took a while for her to remember that the prospect of eating it would probably be consideredpletely disgusting to the average person. Or, really, it¡¯d be disgusting to her back before the invasion. Maybe An¡¯s mannerisms had rubbed off on her more than she¡¯d realized.


    But they needed the nutrition and energy. With the mountain range ahead and the ambush that likelyy in wait for them in it, tomorrow would likely be a big day for them.

 Chapter 94: Enter the Edge

    Chapter 94: Enter the Edge


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 623.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 12.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 12, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 4.82 to 4.94


    Health Drain: From 17 to 17.85


    Stamina Drain: From 8.56 to 8.99


    I woke up to this notification, announcing the new Rank I¡¯d gotten for Noxious Grasp. My work had paid off!


    I¡¯d done the math with my Mana/Minute, and realized that, if I didn¡¯t have Light te active all night, I wouldn¡¯t end up getting enough Spell XP to Rank it up by morning. Now, it really wouldn¡¯t matter too much if I had to wait a bit longer to Rank it up, but, well, I just didn¡¯t want to. If it was possible for me to Rank up overnight, I wanted to do it.


    So, I decided to establish a system with Erani and the Dryad. While each of them were on watch, whenever they saw my Light te disappear, they¡¯de over to wake me up, I¡¯d reactivate the Spell, put it back on, and go back to sleep.


    Now, did I sleep well when I had to wake up every hour to put on te armor? No. But was it worth it for the new Spell Rank? Debatably. I certainly felt like it was worth it, at least. It may not have beenpletely sustainable to do this every night, but at least for now, I was willing to make the sacrifice offort for the sake of an additional Spell Rank.


    When I got up and Erani saw the bags under my eyes, though, she seemed to disagree.


    ¡°I told you that was a bad idea,¡± she scolded.


    ¡°Still worth it,¡± I muttered, then yawned.


    ¡°You got your Rank-up?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Next costs 844.¡±


    She nodded knowingly. ¡°Prices really increase as you go on. But with your build, I have a feeling that won¡¯t be as much of a problem for you. At least, not for a while.¡±


    I nodded. With these fasting Spell Ranks, Noxious Grasp¡¯s effectiveness would only go up more. At this point, I was enjoying the effects of Venomous Grasp more than the damage, so the additional Ranks weren¡¯t <em>too</em> impactful, but the additional Stamina drain was a huge help. Plus, getting closer to that Rank 20 Upgrade was something I highly looked forward to.


    Another thing I was looking forward to was my next Level. After that fight with the Mountain Troll, I¡¯d gotten myself up to 1199 XP, out of the required 1300. Just from passively killing the Ghouls as we went, I was confident I could Level up today.


    Level 16 didn¡¯t inherently include anything important ¨C nothing like a Spell or Talent Choice ¨C but it still did have two things I was excited for. First, the extra points in Conjuration I¡¯d get each Level would be much, much more impactful now that I had Exponential Remation to boost their effectiveness. So even getting those would end up being a pretty massive boon. The second¡­


    Well, I wasn¡¯t sure if I was excited, or nervous.


    When I¡¯d gotten myst Intelligence information rank ¨C back when I hit 16 Intelligence ¨C I didn¡¯t actually get any new information. Instead, I¡¯d gotten something strange.


    Intelligence threshold reached. 16 Intelligence.


    Your Intelligence information rank has increased.


    Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -Trailzer Title has begun collecting data on holder. All future thoughts, decisions, actions, emotions, and movements will be logged.


    -Logged data will be used as Intelligence Information Rank increases further.


    That was what it¡¯d said. Currently, my Intelligence was at 19. And next Level, I¡¯d get one more, and it¡¯d go up to 20. Since it seemed like I got a new rank every 4 points of Intelligence, I¡¯d get something new then. And, judging by the way that was worded, it¡¯d have something to do with the ¡®logged data¡¯ the Title had been collecting on me. Who knew what that¡¯d mean.


    So we went ahead and ate ¡®breakfast¡¯ ¨C that is, the Mountain Troll I killed the night before. Fortunately, the protection offered by Endurance also extended to protecting one from diseases and food poisoning, so for me, eating it wasn¡¯t a problem. As for Erani, who had a lower Endurance, we just made sure she ate all the good parts from the inside that seemed safest. Even with the base 10 she had in the Stat, she should¡¯ve been protected from the basic stuff.


    The Dryad had been the one to take thest shift for watch, so she was alreadypletely awake, ready to keep moving. She still wasn¡¯t very talkative ¨C at least, not with me ¨C but I could tell from her bodynguage alone that she was eager to head out. I just hoped her restlessness wasn¡¯t due to a thirst to kill more people.


    <em>No</em>, I chided myself, <em>don''t think like that</em>.


    Whether or not the Dryad could tell when I thought about her that way, it was just shitty of me. I understood her feelings a bit more, now. And specifically, I understood that it wasn¡¯t as simple as her just wanting to kill people for the sake of killing them. Thinking of her as some bloodthirsty monster wasn¡¯t going to help anything ¨C showingpassion to her would.


    <em>¡°Hey,¡± </em>I said as gently as I could to her, ¡°a<em>re you ready to go?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes,¡±</em> she responded curtly.


    So we headed out. It¡¯d take some time for her to warm up to Humans, but hopefully it¡¯d happen eventually. For now, I just needed to make sure we kept moving toward the ever-approaching mountain range of Kingdom¡¯s Edge.


    A couple hours passed, and the Ghouls in the area continued to thin out as we got closer and closer to the mountains. At this point, they were towering over us, and I could actually see the entrance to the main valley pass. There was only one pass through the mountains that was even remotely near, carved through by some unknown sser hundreds of years ago. Whoever they were, they¡¯d probably done it to try and allow travel through Kingdom¡¯s Edge. Unfortunately, the monsters around here made that still a pretty unattractive prospect to most.


    Despite the lower Ghoul numbers, I was still able to kill a few as we traveled, getting me closer and closer to my anticipated 1300 XP mark. I <em>could</em> go and take massive detours to kill every single monster I saw, but that¡¯d only slow us down, and I still wasn¡¯t sure what type of ambush the Demons were setting up for us. Hopefully, if we got there quickly enough, they wouldn¡¯t have time to fully set it up.


    I also wasn¡¯t sure about going out to kill more Mountain Trolls. Ironically, Erani was the one to suggest I do so while we traveled, and I was the one who shot her down because it was too risky. When she first suggested it, I thought she¡¯d lost her mind. But then I realized what things must¡¯ve looked like from her perspective.


    The first time I fought that Mountain Trollst night, I only barely eked out a victory. It was great practice, but hard, and I even almost died a couple times. Sure, I ended up killing it, but I was left with low Health and Mana and a few injuries. Then, once I fought it the second time, I knew the fight, knew my enemy, and beat it easily.


    But Erani only saw the second time, so to her I probably looked like some badass warrior soloing such a massive monster. But in reality, I¡¯d probably need to use Time Loop any time I went up against one of those things if I wanted to take it down without sustaining major harm and draining all my resources. So I definitely couldn¡¯t be pulling that while we traveled.


    My XP was slowly increasing, though, as I killed the straggler Ghouls that stumbled out into the area. At this point, I¡¯d probably just need to kill one more to get my next Level, so I kept my eyes out for any that got close.


    But as we walked, we eventually approached the base of the mountain range. The ground was no longer spotted with caves in here ¨C the Mountain Trolls, ironically, didn¡¯t seem to make their homes in the mountains ¨C but there were still some Ghouls up ahead. This valley was the only way through that wouldn¡¯t take us climbing up and over the mountains themselves, so if we wanted to get through without exposing ourselves to the elements and harsh monsters of the peaks, we¡¯d have to walk through this single path.


    It winded and curved between the bases of the massive hills, to the point where, standing at its entrance, I couldn¡¯t see very far ahead. We¡¯d have to stay alert as we moved to ensure we wouldn¡¯t get ambushed. Fortunately, I still had two uses of Time Loop at my disposal, so it wouldn¡¯t be bad if we did, but I didn¡¯t want to waste them if at all possible.


    ¡°You ready to go in?¡± I asked Erani.


    ¡°Not much of any other choice, is there?¡±


    ¡°Guess not.¡± I nced upward at the mountain peak that seemed to house the Dragon that¡¯d attacked us in the past. I couldn¡¯t see well, especially from my current angle, but from what I could tell, it was still up there. At least, I didn¡¯t see it flying around anywhere else. ¡°Let¡¯s just keep an eye out for anything that could cause us problems.¡±


    She nodded, and we continued walking.


    Kingdom¡¯s Edge was famous for housing Dragons, of course, but that wasn¡¯t all the monsters that lived there. asionally, Ghouls would wander in from the wastnd, as I¡¯d already seen, but there were also Drakes that lived in the lower parts of the mountains, taking refuge from the much more powerful Dragons, and there were Lava Slugs that would lie in wait in the sporadic shrubbery for something to brush by them, where they¡¯dtch onto you and suck out your blood until you ran dry.


    Apparently, the Dragons and Drakes were big enough that they didn¡¯t even notice when a Lava Slug or twotched onto them ¨C and the Ghouls didn¡¯t have any blood to begin with ¨C but to a Human, the sensation would feel like fire in your veins, hence the name. But as long as you avoided brushing up against the trees and bushes that asionally cropped up along the mountains, you could avoid them.


    So it was with caution that we made our way through the winding path ¨C both watching out for the Demons and the rest of the monsters that made their habitat here.


    The first fifteen or twenty minutes passed uneventfully. I saw a couple Ghouls here and there, shambling up or down the mountain range, but they were all hundreds of paces away ¨C much too far away to reasonably go and hunt down. Taking the time to go up there to kill one, just for a measly 30 XP, would be stupid. Going that high up could easily make me visible to any enemies that could be nearby, plus the Drakes and Dragons often made their territories high in altitude, so to climb a mountain would be like intentionally provoking them.


    Eventually, I¡¯d find a Ghoul down lower for an easy kill.


    But as we rounded a corner of the path, winding around a boulder that¡¯d fallen from a mountain into the valley, I saw something that immediately took my mind off the topic of Ghouls.


    Marching through the valley was a pair of Infernals and a Human soldier. The Human was a Magic-Type, it seemed, judging by conspicuousck of any melee weapon, and he was obviously working with the Infernals to do something. Surprisingly, whatever they were doing didn¡¯t seem to involve hunting for me, as they marched along without any attempt to search the area for anyone that may be hiding.


    However, they <em>were</em> moving our way, so I silently told the Dryad about the danger, and asked her to inform Erani that we needed to move back ¨C I was really enjoying this new method of silentmunication we had.


    She seemed to get the message, and we fell back, fleeing from the bounder I¡¯d nced around and backtracking along the path until we hid behind a cliff face a few dozen paces away. From there, I nced around as sneakily as I could.


    The group turned the corner around that same boulder and stopped there. The Infernals were standing around doing nothing, just looking around, but the Human was casting some sort of Spell. Slowly, as I watched, a perfect square of stone was broken off from the massive rock, held suspended in the air by magic. I watched as the Human pointed his finger, and therge brick floated along,nding in one of the Infernals¡¯ outstretched arms.


    Then the Human went back to work, magically breaking off another b of stone, floating it into an Infernal¡¯s arms, and kept going until the entire boulder had been broken away into rectangr bricks, leaving nothing but pebbles that¡¯d been shaved off by the Spell. The Infernals¡¯ arms were full by now, each hefting their own half of the boulder¡¯s-worth of material. And then, they turned and walked back the way they came.


    I had an urge to attack them now that their backs were turned ¨C the Infernals obviously had their hands full, the Human probably had his Mana reserves mostly drained by now, and we could probably capture one of them if we beat them to interrogate them ¨C but I ended up deciding against it. We had no idea what kind of countermeasures they had, including whether or not they had any way tomunicate back to wherever they were taking those materials.


    So if we attacked and they sent back word, not only would our location be known, but it could take enough time for the Demons to send out teams to find us that enough time could pass for Time Loop to no longer be able to get us back to before we made our mistake. If we attacked them, we¡¯d most likely be forced to use Time Loop right after, no matter what, to make sure that didn¡¯t happen. And I wasn¡¯t willing to use up that resource when in such a dangerous area.


    ¡°What do you think they needed that for?¡± I asked Erani once we were sure the group had left.


    ¡°Probably for whatever ambush they¡¯re setting up in here,¡± she responded. ¡°We know that scout they¡¯d sent out had been returning to a full building that¡¯d been built in the mountains, so this is probably construction materials to add on to that.¡±


    I pursed my lips. If they were actively building something, that only meant we needed to move even faster ¨C giving them more time to finish their construction would only make this harder and harder on us. ¡°Yeah, seems like it. Let¡¯s keep moving.¡±


    But just then, I heard a sound behind me ¨C the growl of a Ghoul. I instantly whipped around and raised my hand, shooting off a few Rays of Frost in the direction the sound came from. The monster¡¯s face froze over as the beams impacted it and my mind was filled with notifications.


    And then¨C


    You have in Level 9 Ghoul.


    You have earned 39 XP. Your XP is 1.31k.


    Threshold reached. 1.30k XP.


    Your Level has increased to 16.


    Due to achieving Level 16 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 2 Dexterity, 1 Conjuration, and 1 Intelligence.


    -Soft Cap has increased to Rank 9.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 16.


    Intelligence threshold reached. 20 Intelligence.


    Your Intelligence information rank has increased.


    Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have gained the following hindrances:


    -You will increase your Intelligence information rank once per 8 Intelligence, instead of once per 4.


    Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You may choose an Intelligence benefit to rece your current benefits.


    I blinked. Well, that first effect wasn¡¯t very much of a ¡®benefit,¡¯ considering it only slowed my progression, but that wasn¡¯t really what I was focusing on here. My mind was drawn to that second line. I got to <em>choose</em> one? And it¡¯d rece my current benefits?


    So, it¡¯d rece my ability to see the names of my future Spell and Talent Choices, mainly. If it fully reced that ¨C something which was absolutely helpful ¨C that meant the new benefits would all have to be even <em>better</em> than what I currently had.


    I looked over to Erani. ¡°Let¡¯s find a ce to sit and rest. I need to meditate.¡±

 Chapter 95: Information Intake

    Chapter 95: Information Intake


    Erani, the Dryad, and I sat down and took a break so I could meditate and choose my new Intelligence benefit, whatever that meant. It really didn¡¯t take long for us to backtrack enough to feel safe from those rock mining patrols we¡¯d seen earlier, but in my anticipatory state, it felt like it took forever.


    ¡°What do you think your choices are gonna be?¡± Erani asked me as we settled down and ensured the surrounding area was safe.


    ¡°No clue,¡± I responded. ¡°I mean, the Trailzer Title says that it¡¯ll ¡®improve the information given to you by the System regarding your ss and what might be of it in the future.¡¯ So presumably all my choices will continue to do that. It¡¯ll probably just change the way it gives me that information, or something.¡±


    ¡°Well, let me know what choices you get, even if you don¡¯t need help deciding. I¡¯m pretty curious about what this could be.¡±


    I nodded and closed my eyes to meditate. It took a bit longer than usual because of how curious I was, but eventually I was able to clear my mind and open up the choice.


    Choose one Intelligence benefit to obtain:


    Investigate


    Once per Choice, you may pick one of the three shown options to Investigate. Upon Investigating an option, you will be shown the next Choice you will receive if you choose that option, describing the names of your next options and their full effects.


    The depth of the Investigation will increase as you increase your Intelligence information rank.


    Choosing this will rece all current Intelligence information benefits.


    Impulse


    You no longer have specific information, but will gain an instinctual pull toward certain Choices that the System predicts you would choose if you had all information about the System.


    The pull will be more specific and identifiable the higher your Intelligence information rank is.


    Choosing this will rece all current Intelligence information benefits.


    Index


    You will gain a personal artificial assistant that will help you make Spell Choices, Talent Choices, Upgrade Choices, and all other choices. The personal assistant will be fitted to your personality and history, and will be omniscient to the workings of the System as well as your personal self.


    It will want nothing more but to see you seed, but its capacity to help will be limited by your Intelligence information rank.


    Choosing this will rece all current Intelligence information benefits.


    This new choice was¡­ interesting. For the most part, I didn¡¯t get to see any exact effects, it seemed, but rather a general overview of what the choice would offer me. It was jarring, going from the exact numerical specificity of Spell and Talent Choices to this less definitive shot in the dark, but I still had a good bit to go off of here.


    Investigate was specific, at least, but I also wasn¡¯t as big a fan of it. Being forced to only see a single option¡¯s future wouldn¡¯t offer much information ¨C what helped in making decisions was being able topare my options against each other, and Investigate wouldn¡¯t allow me topare anything. If I decided I wanted to pick a certain option and then Investigated it, only to find that I didn¡¯t like its future options, could I really go and pick another? What if the others¡¯ future Choices were just as bad? I wouldn¡¯t be able to know.


    As for Impulse and Index, they were much less generous with what they told me about themselves. They both had something inmon, though, in that they both seemed to be using that ¡®logged¡¯ information that the Talent had been gathering about me. Impulse straight-up said that it¡¯d predict what I¡¯d choose if I had all the information and then give me some sort of gut feeling that it was what I wanted. And Index would give me an assistant that was ¡®fitted to my personality¡¯ to help me.


    They both did seem pretty simr in that they could potentially give me an infinite amount of information, but that vehicle through which the information was given to me was limited. And the way that limit worked was what made them distinct from one another.


    Impulse could help guide me to the correct choice, but how would I know when it was guiding me? The description itself said that the ¡®pull¡¯ would be more specific and identifiable as I increased my rank, but that implied that it¡¯d start out as unspecific and unidentifiable. Would it be the case that I¡¯d barely ever feel it? Or that it¡¯d be so vague that I could easily confuse some other natural feeling for Impulse trying to tell me something? The way it was worded, it seemed possible that I could feel ¡®false positives¡¯ for that pulling sensation.


    Besides, I wasn¡¯t sure that I liked making decisions totally blind, only relying on gut instinct. Sure, the System <em>predicted</em> I¡¯d choose what it guided me to if I had all the information, but technically, it¡¯d only begun logging my mind since yesterday. Who knew how correct it¡¯d be? It could be useful as it got more powerful, but I didn¡¯t like blindly relying on a vague instinct that¡¯d be shoved into my head.


    And then there was Index. That one seemed pretty strange. What would it mean to ¡®gain a personal artificial assistant¡¯? Whatever that thing was, it would apparently have all knowledge about the System, which would be incredibly helpful. Of course, that was met by the caveat that its ¡®capacity to help¡¯ wouldn¡¯t be infinite. I wasn¡¯tpletely sure how that would work, but I assumed it¡¯d be something along the lines of me only being able to ask it a few questions per Choice, or something.


    Either way, I liked the sound of this one more than the others. Since it just let me ask questions and get answers to them, I wouldn¡¯t have to rely on blind trust in what the System thought was best for me, like I¡¯d have to do with Instinct. And unlike Investigate, it¡¯d presumably allow me to ask about multiple options, so I could ask about the future of the specific Spells or Talents I was interested in andpare them to each other. I could also ask about specific ways the different options may work, or how they¡¯d Rank up. And, unlike Impulse, I could have the information and make the decision myself.


    It seemed my decision here was obvious. But Erani did ask me to at least read them out to her, so I went ahead and began doing that while I could still have the Choice pulled up, that way I could get the exact wording right.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, keeping my eyes closed. ¡°Did you want to hear about those options?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I heard Erani say.


    ¡°Alright, so¨C¡± I was cut off by a noiseing from off in the distance. A voice.


    ¡°No, dude, you shouldn¡¯t use the Mana potion for a healing Spell to cure your headache,¡± the voice was saying. My eyes shot open and I looked around as we all got to our feet as silently as we could. The voices wereing from around a corner, out on the road ¨C we¡¯d strayed from the path so we could stay hidden. ¡°Boss gave us those for a reason, there¡¯s no way they¡¯d approve¨C¡±


    ¡°Hey, wait,¡± another voice cut the first off. ¡°Did you hear that?¡±


    ¡°Hear what?¡±


    ¡°Sounded like someone was talking.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, ¡®course someone was talking. It was me, dumbass.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not talking about¨C ugh. Just get the Infernals to go check it out. I don¡¯t wanna get jumped by that fugitive guy. Prefer to keep my soul <em>inside</em> my body, thank you.¡±


    ¡°Hah, you really think he made it out here? I got a silver¡¯s bet that he doesn¡¯t even make it past the wastnd. Ghouls¡¯ll get him.¡±


    ¡°Nah, dude. Have you seen those replications they made of him? Those fights he had with the Demons, the smokeing from his hands, that shit was soul juice or something, man. He¡¯s using the souls he captured to power his Spells or something, I bet. And the Nymph thing he¡¯s got with him? The pet? Thing¡¯s ruthless. No way they¡¯d get taken down by the Ghouls.¡±


    ¡°Then the Trolls¡¯ll get them. And if they don¡¯t, those Hellion things the Demons have stalking the ground near the fort definitely will. Listen, dude, those replications of his fights, they¡¯re made with illusions. It¡¯s just what they <em>think</em> happened, based on reports. You know that shit¡¯s always half made-up. He just got lucky a couple times. Probably hasn¡¯t even gotten to Level 10 yet.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just sayin¡¯, I don¡¯t wanna get my soul gobbled up by some freak.¡±


    ¡°Fine, fine, I¡¯ll send the Infernals to go check out the noise.¡±


    There was the sound of shuffling and stomping heading toward us, going off the path and into the gravel and bush ¨C where we were. But we were already off, doing our best to sneak away through the thick shrubbery and around the group of soldiers.


    <em>¡°Kill them?¡±</em> The Dryad asked me, baring her whip.


    <em>¡°No, no, too dangerous. If we kill them, we could give out our location. We need to escape.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Don¡¯t like letting bad guys get away.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I know. But from the looks of it, there¡¯s most likely a whole lot of them just a bit ahead. Once we find where, exactly, they are, you¡¯ll be able to fight them. But for now, we just need to make sure we have the element of surprise.¡±</em> I kept moving, eager to get away from our enemies, and the Dryad hesitantly followed. <em>¡°Thank you for asking, though. I promise I¡¯ll help you get your revenge.¡± </em>


    Luckily, the Infernals were obviously not in a hurry here, as I could hear them meandering along,zily checking behind bushes and rocks as we hurried off, back in the direction of the fort ¨C the greenery thinned out in the direction back to the wastnd, so we couldn¡¯t stay hidden if we moved that way.


    Once the sound of the searching Demons faded behind us, we slowed down.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°looks like we weren¡¯t safe back there. How far out do you think those patrols go?¡±


    ¡°No clue,¡± Erani responded. ¡°Seems like it¡¯s pretty far, though.¡±


    I nodded. If we wanted to fully escape their sphere of influence, we¡¯d probably have to flee all the way back out into the wastnd.


    ¡°Shit, Drake,¡± Erani said suddenly, looking up at the cliffs behind me.


    Sure enough, I looked up to see a Blue Drake sitting atop one of the rocky crags to my back, staring curiously down at us. I almost attacked instantly, but paused when it didn¡¯t move to attack us, itself. ¡°Seems like it isn¡¯t interested in fighting right now.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, probably low on Health, or something. Let¡¯s just get back to the road. Those things can get territorial, and I don¡¯t wanna take our chances with its forgiveness.¡±


    But just as we moved to leave the bushes and head back to the path, I felt a stabbing pain on my back. Like a red-hot needle swimming through my veins.


    ¡°Ah!¡± I fell to the ground just as I got a notification.


    You have beentched by Lava Slug.


    You gain the following effects:


    You lose 10 Health every minute.


    ¡°An!¡± Erani yelped when I fell. ¡°Is it the Drake? An attack?¡±


    ¡°Fucking¨C agh!¡± I gasped through the pain. I could barely speak.


    <em>¡°What happening?¡±</em> The Dryad messaged.


    <em>¡°Lava Slug. My back. Get it off, please!¡±</em>


    I watched as the Dryad nced over my back, reached down, grabbed something, and pulled¨C


    Lava Slug has been removed. You no longer have the effects of Lava Slugtch.


    Instantly the pain was lifted, reced by a dull throb, like my body remembered what¡¯d just happened.


    <em>¡°Thank you,¡±</em> I sighed as I spoke to the Dryad.


    ¡°It was a Lava Slug?¡± Erani asked, examining the creature in the Dryad¡¯s hands.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I got to my feet and looked at it, too. The thing was tiny, not evenrger than my index finger, and colored a mix of red and gold, with orange flecks swirling through its semi-translucent skin. On its front-end were two tiny hooks with pricks of blood coating them. It must¡¯ve stabbed through my shirt and sunk its teeth in me. ¡°For something so small, that pest really knows how to fuck you up.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a reason they¡¯re called Lava Slugs,¡± Erani said.


    Then, as if to remind us that it was still there, the Drake growled, taking a step forward and looming down its rocky home to stare at us.


    ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s head out. I don¡¯t think it wants us lingering.¡±


    I ryed the same to the Dryad, and started forward.


    As Erani and I left, I watched her turn and gently ce the Lava Slug she¡¯d been holding down on the leaf of a nt. It wriggled and began moving, slowly crawling down the branch of the bush.


    <em>¡°Don¡¯t just put it back, kill it. It¡¯s a pest.¡± </em>I walked forward and pinched my fingers around the butt of the Slug.


    You have struck Level 0 Lava Slug for 11 damage and drained 5.39 Stamina over the course of 0.6 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1022.


    You have in Level 0 Lava Slug.


    You have earned 2 XP. Your XP is 8.


    The Dryad looked at me, seeming a bit confused. <em>¡°Why kill?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, you don¡¯t like the bad guys, right? I don¡¯t like monsters that attack me. As far as I¡¯m concerned, killing something like a Lava Slug just makes the world a slightly better ce.¡±</em>


    She tilted her head to the side for a moment, then nodded. <em>¡°Understand. You not very different from me.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, guess I¡¯m not,¡±</em> I said. <em>¡°Now c¡¯mon. We need to get away from this Drake before it attacks us.¡±</em>


    Once we¡¯d finally gotten to a spot that didn¡¯t have patrols of Infernals roaming around, didn¡¯t have cliff faces for Drakes to guard, and also didn¡¯t have Lava Slugs crawling onto our backs, we finally sat and rested. It was a clearing we¡¯d found off the path enough to not risk people hearing us talk, but not so far off that we¡¯d need to worry about monsters. At least, we wouldn¡¯t need to worry too much.


    ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m gonna try meditating again. Watch my back?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Erani nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye out.¡±


    This time, it didn¡¯t take too long to get back into a state where I could make changes. I opened up my choice for Trailzer, and read out the options to Erani, sessfully this time. I also went ahead and assigned my Stat Points while I was at it, further increasing Conjuration.


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 95.


    And then, once I was done reading my options to Erani, I took a breath, and made my choice.


    You have obtained the Intelligence benefit Index.


    It was time to meet my ¡®personal artificial assistant.''

 Chapter 96: Meeting Allies

    Chapter 96: Meeting Allies


    You have obtained the Intelligence benefit Index.


    I opened my eyes and nced around the clearing we rested in. I saw the familiar orange glint of some Lava Slugs off in a couple distant bushes, but no assistant.


    Erani was staring at me expectantly. ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t see it anywhere.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you need to activate it somehow. Or it¡¯ll only show up when you have a Choice.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, guess it¡¯s something like that. We¡¯ll have to see what this ¡®assistant¡¯ ister.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± A new, high-pitched voice said. ¡°My name is not assistant! It¡¯s Index.¡±


    ¡°What the fuck?!¡± I eximed and looked around for the speaker.


    ¡°What? Do you see it? Is it behind me?¡± Erani turned and looked, too.


    ¡°No, no, I don¡¯t see it. But didn¡¯t you hear that?¡±


    ¡°No? Hear what?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s¨C wait, you seriously didn¡¯t hear it? Sounded like¨C¡±


    ¡°She can¡¯t hear me, dummy,¡± the voice said again. ¡°I¡¯m here to help <em>you</em>, not anyone else.¡±


    ¡°Um, okay,¡± I said, ¡°so, it¡¯s speaking to me. Said you can¡¯t hear it, though.¡±


    ¡°Uh, hello~?¡± it said in a singsong voice. ¡°Stop talking about me like I¡¯m not even in the room!¡±


    ¡°It is way more Human than I thought it¡¯d be,¡± I said. ¡°This is seriously freaky.¡±


    ¡°So, what¡¯s it saying, then?¡± Erani asked. ¡°Do you think it¡¯ll start repeating lines if you wait long enough? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s just, like, pre-made messages made toe through until you say something.¡±


    ¡°Wh¨C I¡¯m not saying pre-made messages! I¡¯m way more advanced than that. An, tell that woman that she¡¯s totally wrong.¡±


    ¡°Uhh, doesn¡¯t seem like they¡¯re pre-made. Sounds pretty personalized to me.¡±


    ¡°Stop talking about me like I¡¯m not here! I¡¯m a real person, you know.¡±


    ¡°I mean, objectively, you¡¯re not.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Uh, sorry, I¡¯m just trying to talk to it.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s that going?¡±


    ¡°I am a person!¡± it said. ¡°Sure, I don¡¯t have a ¡®physical body¡¯ and I¡¯m ¡®just a fragment of the System¡¯ but that doesn¡¯t make me <em>any</em> less real than you are.¡±


    ¡°Okay, so it¡¯s apparently, like, very alive. At least, it sure as hells thinks that it is.¡±


    ¡°Can you see it?¡± Erani asked.


    I nced around. ¡°Seems like I can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s just ¡®cause you¡¯re dumb,¡± the voice said.


    ¡°Dumb?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Erani squinted at me.


    ¡°Uh, just give me a second. Trying to talk to it.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d <em>normally</em> be able to see me,¡± the voice said, ¡°but your Intelligence is too low. System¡¯s limiting you.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Wait, so you really do have a physical form, but you¡¯re just, like, what? Invisible?¡±


    ¡°I mean, no, I don¡¯t have a <em>physical</em> form ¨C I can¡¯t touch anything ¨C but I have a body. I¡¯m flying right in front of you!¡±


    ¡°Huh¡­¡± I absentmindedly waved a hand in front of my face.


    ¡°Stop that!¡¯ it said, obviously annoyed. ¡°Your hand¡¯s going through me. It¡¯s rude to do that, you know.¡±


    ¡°So, what, exactly, do you¡­ do?¡±


    ¡°Well, talk, mainly.¡±


    ¡°Right, okay, what do you talk about?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m an advisor! I stop you from making bad decisions.¡±


    ¡°Sure, you help me choose the right Spells or whatever. But why are you here now? I¡¯m not choosing anything. Is this just, like, an introduction thing? And you¡¯ll go awayter?¡±


    ¡°Rude. Why am I here? I just said! I¡¯m here to advise you.¡±


    ¡°On what?¡±


    ¡°Anything! Sure, <em>technically</em> I¡¯m only omniscient about the System, but I can still advise you about whatever.¡±


    ¡°...Okay,¡± I blinked. ¡°Let¡¯s start with questions about the System. Um, what are the effects of my next Spell options?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that.¡±


    ¡°Alright. What are my options going to be for Crippling Chill¡¯s Rank 10 Upgrade?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that.¡±


    ¡°Well, what <em>can</em> you tell me?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Can you tell me <em>when</em> you¡¯ll be able to do anything useful?¡±


    ¡°It depends. Getting more Intelligence can increase the information I¡¯m allowed to give you, but so can getting more information on your own. So, you could ask me about the technicalities of your current Spells, since you already know a lot about them. You might be able to ask me some questions about the Spells you¡¯re already being shown. Listen, my specialty isn¡¯t in just telling you random stuff like your next Spell Choice. It¡¯s <em>advising</em> you! I can tell you about secret synergies, aspects of your options that you aren¡¯t considering, monsters you¡¯re fighting, anything.¡±


    ¡°Wait, monsters? I thought you were just omniscient about the System.¡±


    ¡°Well, monsters have Status sheets, don¡¯t they? I know ¡®em.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± I rubbed my chin. ¡°And you can tell me about stuff you aren¡¯t omniscient about, too, right?¡±


    ¡°...Yeah?¡±


    ¡°You said you were flying right in front of me before. Where are you now?¡±


    ¡°Sitting on top of your head.¡±


    ¡°Wh¨C get off,¡± I rubbed my hand through my hair. It¡¯d gotten pretty long, and was now past my ears. ¡°Um¡­ are there any Lava Slugs on that bush over there?¡± I pointed at a bush to my side, deliberately not looking at it.


    ¡°Hm, let me check.¡± There was a moment of silence, and I could imagine the owner of the voice ¨C Index ¨C flying over and searching through the bush. Then, it spoke again, ¡°Yeah. Two of ¡®em.¡±


    ¡°Where on the bush are they?¡±


    ¡°One¡¯s on the lowest branch, closer to you, and another¡¯s near the middle of it. Why? Are you trying to take a piss and wanna know where¡¯s safe?¡±


    ¡°No. How¡¯d you know that?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ looked?¡±


    ¡°Can you look up to the top of that mountain?¡± I pointed. ¡°Tell me if there¡¯s a Dragon up there.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I can¡¯t do that.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t move that far.¡±


    ¡°Well, how far <em>can</em> you move?¡±


    ¡°Couple dozen paces. It kinda depends on the circumstances. So¡­ why do you want to know?¡±


    ¡°If nobody can see you, but you can see them, and you can tell me what you see¡­ Y¡¯know, I think I¡¯m seeing just how useful you are more and more.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s my purpose! Though, I¡¯m <em>really</em> supposed to be an advisor, not a scout.¡±


    ¡°Well, is there anything you can advise me on right now?¡±


    ¡°Hm, let¡¯s see¡­¡± There was another moment of silence, only this time I wasn¡¯t actually sure what Index was doing. ¡°Just pulled up the logs for your most recent fight. Wanna go over it? I can coach you.¡±


    ¡°...So, when it lunged there, you should¡¯ve used the opportunity to cast Ray of Frost and refresh the Frostbite, instead of doing Noxious Grasp for its Fester. The Frostbite was two seconds from falling off, while the Fester was four, and you could tell from its movements that it was about to strike again, so the lowered Dexterity was more important.¡±


    ¡°Mhm.¡±


    This had been going on for about an hour now, Index the assistant going through that fight with the Mountain Troll ¨C <em>both</em> timelines I¡¯d fought it in ¨C and talking through every decision I made. It even talked through the decisions I <em>didn¡¯t </em>make, but thought about making. Since it knew my thoughts, it could even see when I just deliberated on doing something.


    Honestly, though, I was still reeling from the fact that it knew what I¡¯d done in previous timelines. It made sense ¨C Time Loop preserved my Status, and Trailzer was a part of my Status, so its log got preserved as well ¨C but still, this was the first time someone actually knew what¡¯d happened in a timeline I¡¯de back from. It waspletely surreal.


    ¡°Mountain Trolls get a random amount between 7 and 13 Endurance per Level,¡± Index continued, ¡°so this one¡¯s max Health was probably around 1700. So, at this point, with the amount of damage you¡¯d dealt to it and the Mana you had left, you could afford to spend the rest of your Mana on Rays of Frost and finish it off. Because of your mistake, it scraped you eleven secondster and you lost an additional 13 Health. But it also could¡¯ve cost you¨C¡±


    ¡°So,¡± I interrupted Index¡¯s spiel, ¡°how far back do you have knowledge of me?¡±


    ¡°I can only remember back as far as when you got to 16 Intelligence. So, just a couple days.¡±


    ¡°Remember? So you were here this whole time? Just couldn¡¯t say anything, or something?¡±


    ¡°Well, I wasn¡¯t technically here, but I have such detailed knowledge of the log that I may as well have been.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, so that log. What, exactly, is it?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I thought the System exined it quite well. It¡¯s just a list of pretty much everything that went through your head or body from the moment you got that benefit until now.¡±


    ¡°Wait, if it includes all my thoughts, do I even need to be saying things out loud right now? You could just read what I <em>want</em> to say in the log.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, but that¡¯s a bit impersonal, don¡¯t you think? Besides, it takes longer for me to read through the whole log every time you want to say something, instead of just listening to you talk.¡±


    ¡°How big even is the log? I think a lot of stuff. You can look through it that quickly?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a fragment of the System,¡± I could sense some humor in Index¡¯s voice. ¡°I can read pretty fast.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡±


    ¡°So?¡± Erani cut in. She¡¯d been patiently watching me talk with Index all this time, and looked like she was ready to burst by now. ¡°What¡¯s up with this thing? What¡¯d you learn?¡±


    ¡°Well, ironically, not too much about the System. I mean, not immediately, at least. Index said it could tell me about monsters we¡¯re fighting, I can ask about technicalities and edge cases for my Spell and Talent Choices, that sort of thing. But what I really figured out that helps immediately, is how it helps with reconnaissance.¡±


    ¡°Couple dozen paces, huh?¡± Erani said after I was finished telling her my findings with Index. Seems pretty useful. Can it move through solid objects? Like, it doesn¡¯t need to go through walls, does it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m actually not sure. Uh, Index, can you¨C¡±


    ¡°Yep. No corporeal form.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Yeah, it can move through walls.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fantastic,¡± Erani smiled. ¡°Earlier, those Humans in the patrol that passed us were talking about some ¡®fort¡¯ right? Well, if we can get close enough to it, we can just send Index through the walls, have it check everything out, find weak points or areas we could move through, and boom. We can sneak right by without having to fight anyone.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s assuming there <em>are</em> weak points or areas we could move through. Besides, they were also talking about Hellions patrolling the surrounding area, right? How could we get through that without alerting anyone?¡±


    Erani looked down. ¡°Index can move through the ground, right?¡±


    We snuck along the path through Kingdom¡¯s Edge, making heavy use of Index¡¯s reconnaissance abilities. We¡¯d keep it up ahead, at the two-dozen-pace distance limit, and have it peek around corners and through bushes for us. If it ever saw anything, it¡¯d tell me, and we¡¯d run off and hide in the wilderness next to the trail until they passed.


    And, of course, we also had it dip underground periodically to look for Hellions. There was obviously no light down beneath the solid stone, but that apparently wasn¡¯t a problem for Index. Besides, it didn¡¯t even need to see the monsters themselves ¨C just the tunnels they left behind when digging through the ground. The moment we saw those, we¡¯d back off and start looking for another way in. But so far, so good.


    Erani had volunteered to exin everything about Index to the Dryad, who was understandably curious about why I suddenly began talking to myself. Apparently, she was still having that discussion. The Dryad clearly was having some trouble understanding what Index was.


    While we traveled, Ethereal Armor¡¯s one hour timer ran out, and my Light te dissolved like it normally did. I routinely re-cast the Spell, Erani and the Dryad taking a pause, knowing I¡¯d have to take a minute to don the armor once more. But when I cast the Spell and the Light te fell to the ground in front of me, I got an unexpected notification.


    Threshold reached. Ethereal Armor XP has reached 130.


    Ethereal Armor Rank has increased to 9.


    Due to Ethereal Armor Rank reaching 9, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 182 to 187


    Dark te Downtime: From 39.9 to 37.9


    Light te Discount: From 40.4% to 43.4%


    Wait, what? Why did¨C


    ¡°Because you Leveled up,¡± Index¡¯s voice interrupted my thoughts.


    ¡°What?¡± I said, disoriented by her reading my thoughts.


    ¡°You forgot your Soft Cap went up,¡± it said. ¡°When you Leveled up to 16.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I blinked. ¡°Yeah, I guess it slipped my mind.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I feel so important,¡± Index joked. ¡°I even made you forget about the rest of your Level-up benefits.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not¨C¡±


    ¡°An?¡± Erani asked, looking at me. ¡°You good?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right,¡± I said, ¡°forgot you can¡¯t hear Index. I just Ranked up Ethereal Armor, forgot about my Soft Cap going up.¡±


    ¡°Oh, good!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, got an extra 3% discount on Spells with Light te, which is really solid. I should probably Rank the rest of my Spells that are still at 8.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    My other two Spells to Rank up were Expedite and Gravity Well, so I just cast both on myself until I got a notification for them.


    Threshold reached. Expedite XP has reached 130.


    Expedite Rank has increased to 9.


    Due to Expedite Rank reaching 9, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 67 to 68.7


    Dexterity Buff: From 29.6 to 31.1


    Buff Duration: From 44.3 to 46.5


    Threshold reached. Gravity Well XP has reached 130.


    Gravity Well Rank has increased to 9.


    Due to Gravity Well Rank reaching 9, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 12.4 to 12.7


    Gravity Increase: From 55% to 61%


    I smiled at the numerical increases. With Ethereal Armor¡¯s increased discount and Expedite¡¯s increased duration, the ratio of Mana spent to seconds active for Expedite went way up.


    ¡°Approximately 0.8362 Mana spent per second of Expedite now,¡± Index said.


    I blinked, startled by its sudden words. ¡°Gods, you¡¯ve got to stop just randomly butting into my thoughts.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m here to help you! If I don¡¯t say anything, I won¡¯t be helping.¡±


    ¡°So there¡¯s no way for me to get you to stop talking? What if talking harms me by startling me when I¡¯m trying to hide, or something?¡±


    ¡°If you actually think me talking will hurt you, I won¡¯t do it. Right now, though, you just think it¡¯s annoying for me to say stuff unexpectedly, but recognize its usefulness. So it¡¯s not harmful, therefore I¡¯ll keep doing it. I can see into your mind, remember?¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Fine.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, as I was saying, you¡¯re now spending approximately 0.8362 Mana per second you keep Expedite active,pared to what it was before, at 0.9014.¡±


    ¡°You can seriously do all that math in your head that quickly?¡±


    ¡°Yep! I¡¯ve got a whole lot of power from the System dedicated to me, so I can do all kinds of stuff!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve been noticing that more and more.¡±


    We walked like that for a couple hours, with me continuing to get to know Index as we went, until finally we came across something.


    ¡°Hey, be careful rounding this next corner,¡± Index said. ¡°I think it¡¯s what you¡¯re looking for. Far off, so I can¡¯t see real well. But there¡¯s a lot of people.¡±


    I ryed that information to Erani and the Dryad, and we slowly crept up to the edge of a rock face. Once we got there, we peered around, and¡­


    ¡°Good gods¡­¡±


    It was massive. When I heard ¡®fort¡¯, I imagined a building made of stone on the edge of the road housing some soldiers ¨C maybe some wall that covered the road and had people manning the ramparts. Not this.


    The massive structure was built between the two steep rock faces, connecting them so that I couldn¡¯t even see the sky on the other side of their blockade. It was a stone wall built so tall and so thick, I couldn¡¯t imagine anything short of an army¡¯s-worth siege equipment getting through.


    The wall itself wasn¡¯t t. It was covered in stone rooms that jutted out from the face, square boxes that had windows to shoot out from, or cannons pointed out the walls, or holes in the floors to dump boiling oil out of. Stringing these rooms in the wall together were dozens ¨C hundreds ¨C of rope bridges, all teeming with soldiers walking back and forth.


    The wall itself was constructed at the end of a long, straight section of road between two tall cliff faces. There¡¯d be no way to get close without walking down this multi-hundred-pace stretch of cleared-out road ¨C under which the ground was supposedly teeming with hellions ¨C and there was no way to get around short of going all the way back to the beginning of the path, and climbing up the mountains the wall was situated between. We¡¯d have to climb for days ¨C weeks ¨C just to get to this point from the beginning, and this wall was probably just part of the way through Kingdom¡¯s Edge. We¡¯d have to go for even longer to actually arrive at the Barinruth Empire.


    There was one weird part of the fort, though.


    It was covered in scorch marks.


    I could see, lying at the bottom of the wall were the burnt remains of ropes and nks used to make their bridges. The stone bricks making up the wall had ckened areas ¨C massive burn spots that dotted the entire thing.


    And when I thought back to when I¡¯d seen the Dragon attacking something in this very valley, I suspected I knew exactly where those burn marks came from.


    ¡°How are we supposed to get through <em>that</em> alone?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we can get through alone,¡± I said, ncing up at the mountain. ¡°But I suspect we may have an ally to turn to.¡±

 Chapter 97: Mountaineering

    Chapter 97: Mountaineering


    ¡°...You can¡¯t be serious,¡± Erani stared at me.


    ¡°We know the Dragon wants to get rid of the fort. We know it¡¯s willing to attack. All <em>we</em> need to do is talk to it and ask for its help in taking them down. It should be happy to help.¡±


    ¡°Right, except for the fact that we¡¯re Humans. And it¡¯s a Dragon. I highly doubt it¡¯ll have the humility to admit it needs our help. Besides, we don¡¯t even know if it still wants to take the wall down.¡±


    ¡°It was attacking for hours. I¡¯m sure it at least has some desire to kill them.¡±


    ¡°But it gave up. Maybe it decided this wasn¡¯t worth its¨C¡±


    Erani was cut off by a deafening roar from above. I looked up and saw the exact Dragon we were talking about bolting straight down at the still-in-construction wall in what seemed to be a surprise attack after re-gathering its strength.


    The guards at the wall spotted the approaching Dragon and prepared for battle, rushing into the square rooms built into the wall and grabbing their weapons. Surprisingly, though, they didn¡¯t seem too worried. I knew I¡¯d be, if I saw that massive beast headed for me ¨C even with the fortifications they had.


    But it seemed like they knew something I didn¡¯t, because nobody seemed to be panicking. Instead, the Humans calmly drew their bows while the Infernals manned their artillery weapons. They all stared up at the approaching monster, waiting for it to draw into their range.


    It sped toward them, gaining more and more velocity as it pped its wings and opened its mouth, preparing to bombard them in fire. And then, just as it got to them, it swooped by, sting the entire massive stone wall with a zing inferno, sure to destroy anyone and anything caught within.


    But then the fire let up. And the wall stood. In fact, it didn¡¯t even seem like it¡¯d been touched by the fire. Instead, judging by the scorch marks covering the ground, it seemed like it¡¯d hit the area around the wall, but stopped abruptly when it got within a dozen or so paces.


    And I felt like I knew what¡¯d stopped the fire. Though it was covered up during the brunt of the ze, I could just barely see the purple shimmer of a magic shield disappearing as the Dragon flew away from its fly-by attack.


    ¡°They have a shield that can block <em>that</em>?¡± I wondered aloud, amazed at their ability to fend off the full-force breath of a Dragon.


    But judging by the scorch marks that covered the wall from before, it seemed like, if the Dragon kept beating away at it, that shield may break. Though, I had no idea how long it¡¯d take to break through. Or what it¡¯d block from getting through, and what it¡¯d permit to pass.


    Or, maybe I did have a way of knowing.


    ¡°Hey, Index,¡± I said as we watched as the Dragon turned around to attack once again. ¡°What kind of shield is protecting them from the Dragon?¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­¡± Index¡¯s voice echoed in my ear as Erani turned to look at me. ¡°An advanced one. Seems like it¡¯sing from some Enchanted item held within the wall. It¡¯ll block a ton of damage, and is specialized to block magic attacks. Physical attacks, on the other hand, it¡¯ll break much more quickly from. It also has someplex parameters on who or what it¡¯ll let through. Tons of tiny rules and systems and algorithms determining that.¡±


    ¡°So it has a weakness to physical attacks? Why¡¯s the Dragon attacking with fire, then?¡±


    ¡°No clue,¡± Index said. ¡°It may just not know about the vulnerability. It¡¯s not a ¡®weakness¡¯ in the sense that a single sword swipe could break it. More a weakness in the sense that, if the shield could block a million damage from magical sources, it can only block a hundred thousand from physical sources. Those aren¡¯t real numbers, by the way. I can¡¯t tell you how much it can actually block.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I nodded. I was just seeing more and more evidence that we¡¯d need the Dragon¡¯s help to get past the wall. Or at least, we¡¯d need to get its permission to pass through its territory in the mountains so we wouldn¡¯t have to deal with the wall in the first ce.


    ¡°This is what you wanted, right?¡± Erani asked me. ¡°The Dragon¡¯s attacking. Shouldn¡¯t we run up and help?¡±


    ¡°No, not now,¡± I shook my head. ¡°We need something coordinated. As-is, we¡¯d just get mistaken for soldiers and get ughtered with the rest of them if the Dragon takes the wall down. And they seem prepared enough that it probably won¡¯t be able to, anyway. We need to talk to it and figure something out together.¡±


    ¡°You want to <em>talk</em> to a Dragon. Yeah, while we¡¯re at it, why don¡¯t we have a tea party with the gods?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not as ridiculous as it sounds. It has something it wants done and isn¡¯t capable of doing alone. All we have to do is convince it we can help aplish that goal. If we can figure out what it¡¯s capable of, tell it what we can do, and take some time to make a n together, we could do together what we couldn¡¯t do on our own. And all <em>we</em> need to do is help it break through that magic shield. After that, I¡¯m sure the Dragon would be more than capable of destroying the wall itself while we head off. So when you think about it, there isn¡¯t much danger posed to us.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, not much danger,¡± Erani rolled her eyes. ¡°Except for the part where we talk to the Dragon without it getting bored and killing us. Or taking whatever we say as an insult. Or just killing us by ident because it stepped in the wrong ce.¡±


    ¡°Look, what other option do we have? We definitely can¡¯t get through on our own.¡±


    ¡°We do, though. We have those invisibility rings, right? You checked whether they worked or not, and they did. How many of them are still functional?¡±


    ¡°Six,¡± I said, frowning. Using the rings <em>could</em> work, but physically getting past the magical shield and the wall it was protecting would still be an issue. ¡°Fifteen minutes each.¡±


    ¡°Perfect. That¡¯s half an hour for all three of us,¡± Erani nodded. ¡°We can sneak in now, while the soldiers are distracted by the Dragon, and get through by the time half an hour passes. They won¡¯t even see us.¡±


    I pursed my lips and thought. It definitely could work. If we found a way through that shield, it¡¯d be totally possible for us to sneak past.


    ¡°Index,¡± I said, ¡°is there anything specific you can tell me about how the shield decides what it lets through, and what it doesn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°Hmm,¡± Index said. ¡°What I can say is that it allows the soldiers through automatically, and it isn¡¯t because of anything you¡¯d be able to take from them. There¡¯s no bypass item they hold that you could steal and now you¡¯d be able to pass through the barrier. Instead, it¡¯s a¨C shoot. I can¡¯t say that part. But yeah, there¡¯s no physical object you¡¯d be able to get that would let you through.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, then turned and told Erani what Index just said.


    ¡°She can¡¯t say any more than that?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Nope,¡± Index said. ¡°But I can give you some general advice. You probably shouldn¡¯t approach the wall straight-on, whether or not you have invisibility. It seems like you pretty strongly suspect there are Hellions patrolling the ground between you and the wall. If there are, they¡¯d be able to detect you regardless of whether or not you are invisible. They can detect movement through vibrations in the ground, so they¡¯d be able to feel your footsteps.¡±


    ¡°Shit, that¡¯s right,¡± I said, and exined what Index said to Erani.


    She gazed around at our surroundings. ¡°There doesn¡¯t seem to be any way for us to climb up into the nearby mountains here. The cliffs surrounding us are so sheer, I doubt I could climb them even without worrying about getting seen.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s probably by design,¡± I nced around us, searching for a way up into the mountains. If we could get up into them and off the road, we most likely wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the Hellions. ¡°They probably chose this exact point because they knew we wouldn¡¯t be able to get by any way other than straight through that wall.¡±


    ¡°Hm. So I guess the invisibility rings are a bust, then.¡±


    ¡°Maybe not. We can talk to the Dragon and use it to bust through that shield, and then from there, we can use the invisibility rings to fight without worrying about risking our lives too much.¡±


    ¡°Sure, but those are the standard type of invisibility, right? Not true invisibility? So if we take any damage at all, the invisibility immediately wears off.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but it''s better than nothing. Hells, if things get bad, we can always go back on whatever deal we make with the Dragon, pop our invisibility, and run off.¡±


    Erani pursed her lips. ¡°Fine. But only because I know you have Time Loop in case it doesn¡¯t work.¡±


    <em>¡°Why is Dragon attacking bad guys?¡±</em> I got a sudden message from the Dryad, who was looking expectantly at me.


    <em>¡°Seems like it just doesn¡¯t want them in its territory. Or maybe they did something to piss it off. Who knows.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Are we going to attack?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No, not yet. I want to try making a n with the Dragon first. Maybe we can talk with it for a bit and figure something out. The way we are now, if we just randomly charged in and attacked, we¡¯d just get ourselves killed.¡±</em>


    The Dryad looked over at the Dragon as it swooped around once more, raking its ws against the magical purple sphere surrounding the stone wall. The soldiers manning it took shots at the Dragon with their siege weapons, but it didn¡¯t seem to do much more than irritate it. <em>¡°What Level is Dragon?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What Level is it?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Uh, I don¡¯t know. One second.¡±</em> I looked away from the Dryad and spoke aloud, ¡°Hey, Index, do we know the Dragon¡¯s Level?¡±


    ¡°Mm. It¡¯s up there. Couldn¡¯t tell you the exact number, but it¡¯s high double digits. And, of course, it¡¯s a Dragon. So even one at Level 20 would be super powerful.¡±


    I ryed that information back to the Dryad. <em>¡°Why do you ask?¡±</em>


    She just gazed up at the flying beast. <em>¡°Dragon seems powerful.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, it sure does. I think we should be able to take down that wall with its help, as long as we can get a coordinated n with it.¡±</em>


    She nodded and didn¡¯t say anything else.


    ¡°Well,¡± Erani said, ¡°we should probably head back so we can start climbing these mountains. We can¡¯t get into them from here, but if we move backward far enough we should be able to. From there, we can climb up into the Dragon¡¯s territory and talk to it. Don¡¯t wanna stick around and get impaled by stray projectiles or something.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯d probably be a good idea.¡±


    We started heading back the way we came. Since the valley was carved into the mountain range, the ce we were before had no actual way to climb up into the mountains. Instead, we¡¯d need to head a bit further back to a ce that had a more gentle slope up into the wilderness.


    Eventually we found a ce where the rough rock edges made for some natural footholds and we could climb a few paces upward into the natural, bumpy terrain. I had Index looking out for us, helping me avoid any scouting parties we may have run into, and from wandering into contact with any more Lava Slugs. I¡¯d had more than enough experience with them already, and didn¡¯t really desire any more.


    It took us about a half hour before we got into the wild mountain range, but even then, I could still look up and see the Dragon circling the sky around the wall. At least it provided a goodndmark for us to know where to go. The mountain the Dragon resided in was near the wall, so we¡¯d just need to climb up there. And once we reached its cave or got its attention somehow, we could start negotiating.


    The only problem with that was the distance. That mountain was far away and far up, so we¡¯d have to do quite a bit of climbing. And, quite honestly, I wasn¡¯t sure if I or Erani could do that. The Dryad would probably be fine with her high physical Stats, but even with Recursive Growth¡¯s bonus boosting my physique, it¡¯d probably take me at least a week before we could get to the peak of the mountain. Not to mention Erani.


    Luckily, I had the perfect solution. Expedite would more than double my own Dexterity, and more than <em>triple</em> Erani¡¯s, so using that, we could easily scale obstacles that would previously take minutes or even hours of time and effort to get past. Cliff faces with tiny handholds, massive boulders impossible to climb over, chasms in the ground forming impasses we had to go around, all of them could be easily passed with my new Spell.


    Expedite cost me 67 Mana, which was a bit more than a full minute¡¯s worth, and it¡¯d stay active for about 45 seconds. So, if I used a single stack of it on both Erani and myself, I could keep us boosted for a bit less than half of the time spent journeying. We could just turn it off when on even ground, and then use it when climbing up hills or cliffs to keep a quick pace.


    And I definitely wanted to keep a quick pace. The Dragon would likely either destroy that wall or give up for good eventually. If it destroyed the wall, great, we didn¡¯t have anything to worry about. But if it gave up or ¨C gods forbid ¨C died, we¡¯d be fucked.


    Plus, I wasn¡¯t too confident in the idea that our enemies would just sit around forever waiting for us to show up. It seemed like the death of their scout scared them off for a bit, but even then, if we were gone and unounted for for days longer than they anticipated, they¡¯d know we were up to something.


    So it was with great eagerness that I decided to start helping Erani train with Expedite. As we were, she had no capability of functioning with a boosted Dexterity, same as I was when I first started using it.


    We¡¯d need to change that as soon as possible.


    ¡°Shit!¡± Erani fell to the ground, failing to even catch herself with her hands.


    ¡°I told you, don¡¯t try to walk at first. Just move your arms and fingers for a bit and try to get used to the sensation.¡±


    After the effect wore off, she got to her feet, brushing herself off. ¡°I know, but you make it look so easy.¡±


    ¡°I make it look easy because I practiced for hours,¡± Iughed. ¡°Here, I¡¯m gonna re-cast it on you, and I just want you to stay still and try to poke my fingertip with yours. That should get you used to precise movements. Then we can move on to walking.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± she sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t cast it on me if you think you hear a monster around, though. I don¡¯t wanna be caught crippled in the middle of a fight.¡±


    We continued to practice like that for a bit. It took a while, but eventually she could walk with the effect active, and then run, and then climb, until she was fully capable of movement. From there, we finally started proceeding up into the mountains.


    It was our first priority to just stray away from the path. It¡¯d make no sense to traverse nearby, since that would only increase our risk of being seen by enemies. And then, we started heading toward the Dragon¡¯s peak.


    It didn¡¯t take long for us to experience our firstplication.


    Erani and I were both climbing up a ledge, boosted by Expedite. The Dryad was way ahead of us, and had actually already gotten to the top of the short cliff and was looking down at us as we climbed, giving us advice like which handholds were unstable. We were only about ten paces from the ground, but even a fall of that much would be more than enough to hurt badly, so we both tried to stay careful.


    But while I tried to focus on climbing, I was startled by a voice.


    ¡°Find a t ledge to stand on,¡± Index said. ¡°Enemy iing.¡±


    ¡°Fuck,¡± I stumbled and tried to climb over to the best foothold nearby while I called out, ¡°Erani! Find a ce to stay. There¡¯s an¨C¡±


    I was interrupted by a sudden shriek, and looked up to see a figure soaring over us ¨C a Drake.


    I squinted the sun from my eyes, trying to identify its color. It was green. That meant it was an acid affinity. I hoped it¡¯d just fly right past us, but it seemed like we¡¯d unintentionally invaded its territory, and it was set on chasing us away.


    Normally, we¡¯d just flee and avoid a fight like this ¨C Drakes were surprisingly forgiving as long as you left the moment it gave you its warning ¨C but we couldn¡¯t do that as we were. Erani and I were both suspended ten paces in the air, and the Dryad was all the way at the top of the ledge ¨C none of us were in much shape to easily leave the way we came.


    ¡°Can you tell me its Level?¡± I asked Index. ¡°How fucked are we if we fight it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s on the lower end of Drake Levels, but not too low. Even at their minimum Levels of 15, Drakes get 15 Endurance per Level, plus a Talent that gives them extra Health per point of Endurance. It¡¯d have at least 4000 Health. As a Green Drake, its w attacks also deal increased damage, it has a spit attack, and if it¡¯s above Level 35 it¡¯ll¨C¡±


    Index¡¯s voice was drowned out by the Drake¡¯s second warning shriek as it flew a bit closer to see what was going on. I just did my best to climb faster and get to a safe ce on this gods-damned cliff.


    But I couldn¡¯t climb fast enough, and soon¨C


    ¡°Shit!¡± I retracted my hand as a glob of hissing goo spattered against the cliff face above me. I was lucky that the resulting ssh didn¡¯t get on me this time. Straining my neck, I nced behind myself and looked back at the Drake, which was hocking up another ball of acidic saliva to throw at me.


    Expedite has worn off of you.


    Your Dexterity is 19.


    ¡°Fuck, fuck, fuck,¡± I muttered and re-cast the Spell on myself, lowering my Mana to 959.


    ¡°An!¡± Erani called. She was a couple paces to my side and a couple below me. ¡°I need a refresh on Expedite! It just ran out.¡±


    With an angry Drake behind me, and Erani, who wouldn¡¯t be able to defend herself without my help below me, I turned around and readied myself. The Drake hissed.


    I¡¯d have to dig myself out of this situation, I just had no idea how I¡¯d do it.

 Chapter 98: Disastrous Drake

    Chapter 98: Disastrous Drake


    I stood on the edge of a cliff face, edging my heels back so I could keep my footing while facing off against a Green Drake as it pped its wings to keep itself afloat and stared at me, preparing to shoot acid straight at my head.


    ¡°An!¡± Erani called. She was a couple paces to my side and a couple below me. ¡°I need a refresh on Expedite! It just ran out.¡±


    ¡°On it,¡± I said, trying to edge my way over to her while also looking over at the Drake. It hadn¡¯t attacked us directly yet ¨C just shot off warning shots with its acid. Hopefully, it¡¯d just leave us alone¨C


    Another glob of acid came flying at me straight from its throat.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± I did my best to duck below it, and managed to avoid letting the acid impact me. But even though it just sttered against the rock behind where my head used to be, the resulting ssh of burning liquid covered my back.


    You have been burned by acid. 58 damage.


    Your Health is 272.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 19.9 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    40.2 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 92.


    I cried out in pain and immediately activated Regenerate to try and recover some of my lost Health, all while stumbling in an attempt to keep myself from losing my bnce while on unstable footing. It was only because of Expedite that I managed to keep myself from tumbling all the way down to the rocky ground below.


    As I leaned back up and used one of my hands to hastily brush off the hissing liquid, I used my other hand to tightly grip a stone to the side, keeping my bnce. That acid hurt like a bitch.


    Seemed like this fight was on.


    I heard an explosion as one of Erani¡¯s Firebolts impacted the midair Drake, sending it flying away and pping its wings in a desperate attempt to keep itself from spiraling to the ground. Unfortunately, however, the thing seemed strong enough to weather the attack for the most part, and it flew back secondster, angrier than ever. Once it got close to us, though, I hit it with a couple Spells of my own.


    You have cursed Level 29 Green Drake with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    31.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 930.


    You have struck Level 29 Green Drake for 61 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 29 Green Drake with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.77.


    14.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 916.


    I was lucky to even hit with the Ray of Frost; with my hands mostly upied with holding onto the wall behind me, I only managed to find a fraction of a second I could spare to shoot off my Spells, and even then I didn¡¯t enjoy much uracy.


    Still, my two Dexterity debuffs applied themselves, and that was what mattered. The Drake¡¯s wings suddenly moved a lot slower and it struggled to keep itself afloat. Unfortunately, the moment I hit it with my Spells, it moved back, out of range for me to hit it with Ray of Frost again. It was also too far for me to hit it with Gravity Well, too, which was my original n ¨C if it was close enough, with those Dexterity debuffs working alongside increased gravity, I could probably ruin its ability to fly and send it to the ground.


    My first priority was to get to Erani so I could touch her and refresh Expedite¡¯s effects, since they¡¯d worn off of her. I nced over and saw her barely staying where she was on the cliff. And I doubted she¡¯d be able to move and dodge if the Green Drake shot acid at her, next.


    I watched as she shakily held out a hand and shot off a Firebolt, but right as she did, her foot slipped and she was forced to reach out and catch herself, ruining her aim and the shot went wide, hitting nothing but air.


    Now that the Drake was outside my range of effectiveness, I had nothing I could do to it other than refresh Crippling Chill once it wore off the monster. Sure, the current Dexterity debuff was dying it a bit, but it was getting more and more used to the effects by the second, and Ray of Frost¡¯s portion would wear off soon, too. What I needed to do was help Erani so she could regain her footing and start being able to help fight it off with her Spells.


    But the Drake snarled and moved back in, readying itself to shoot off another ball of acid and looking at Erani as it did so.


    I wouldn¡¯t be able to get to her in time. And she couldn¡¯t dodge. Could a second cast of Expedite on myself help me get to her faster?


    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± I heard Index¡¯s voice. ¡°You don¡¯t have enough practice for something as finesse-intensive as mountain climbing. It¡¯ll only send you tumbling off the cliff.¡±


    ¡°Then what do I¨C¡±


    ¡°That thing you¡¯re considering in the back of your mind? Do it. The Drake¡¯s low on Dexterity and won¡¯t be able to move in time. And with the Dryad¡¯s Stats and the abilities she has with her whip, she¡¯ll be able to do it.¡±


    <em>¡°Hey!¡±</em> I mentally shouted up at the Dryad without hesitation. She was watching helplessly from above, her own melee-range weapon not nearly long enough to touch the flying Drake. <em>¡°You can drag people around with your whip, right?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes. Why¨C¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Grab me and pull me up toward you, as fast as you can.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You will not be able to hold yourself to cliff face. You will fall.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Just do it!¡±</em>


    The Dryadshed its whip down at me and it wrapped itself around my waist, the spikes retracted into its body and the vine moving unnaturally to hold onto me tightly. Then, with a great tug, I found myself yanked up all the way toward the top of the cliff. I didn¡¯t reach the top, but I didn¡¯t need to. Instead, once I was at the peak of the arc, I cast two more stacks of Expedite on myself, adding an immense amount of power and finesse to my movements at the cost of any amount of uracy, and kicked off the wall behind me.


    With myself now being way above the Drake and with a boosted physique, I began heading in an arc straight toward the flying monster, arms out to catch on to it. The Dryad¡¯s whip fell off of me as she seemed to will it away from me and back to herself, allowing me to fly true, straight at my hovering target.


    It looked up, distracted from its original goal of shooting Erani, and tried to move away from me so I¡¯d miss and hit the ground, but as I got closer to it, I also got back into range of hitting it with Gravity Well, and instantly did so. Its ability to fly ¨C or even move ¨C was suddenly impaired even more than before, and it couldn¡¯t maneuver itself away from me in time before I crashed straight into the monster.


    You have been mmed into something. 27 damage.


    Your Health is 257.


    I instantly gripped my hands into the Drake¡¯s leathery skin and activated Noxious Grasp, attempting to fight my disorientation as I felt the monster begin to spiral toward the ground now that it was cursed with a Dexterity debuff, an increase in gravity, and also had someone riding on its back. It shrieked and cried out, pping its wings desperately to try and shake me. With that alongside the inherently disorienting effect of overusing Expedite on myself, I basically had no idea what was going on.


    But I knew I was dealing damage to the monster and keeping Erani safe. Still, once I looked down and saw the ground quickly approaching, I couldn¡¯t help but regret my actions a little bit.


    You have been mmed into something. 41 damage.


    Your Health is 216.


    My head spun once I mmed into the hard stone ground alongside the still-spasming Drake, both from the pain and the still-cripping effects of Expedite. I tried to keep my hands gripped onto the skin of the Drake, but then I felt something sharp tear into my stomach and kick me away.


    You have been sliced by ws. 54 damage.


    Your Health is 162.


    You have been burned by acid. 19 damage.


    Your Health is 143.


    You have struck Level 29 Green Drake for 87.7 damage and drained 44.1 Stamina over the course of 4.9 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    13.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 833.


    I rolled away and coughed in pain from the Drake¡¯s sharp ws cutting into my skin ¨C that it was even able to slice me despite my high Health was testament to its power. I still couldn¡¯t quite see, much less fight the monster.


    ¡°Roll left, then kick away with your legs,¡± Index suddenly said.


    I did as it told me to, and the sound of the Drake¡¯s snarls got a bit fainter. I coughed, managing to get my head oriented correctly and my eyes looking up at the monster which was quite disoriented, itself. Gravity Well was still in full effect, and with its lower Dexterity, it wasn¡¯t handling the Spell very well. ¡°Health?¡± I asked Index.


    ¡°Too high. Keep backing away. Expedite has a bit of time left, but try to wait it out before confronting.¡±


    The beast stepped over to me, its mouth open to cover me in acid. I quickly reached up my hand to hit it with a Ray of Frost, but I overshot the movement and the Ray flew out into open sky, hitting nothing.


    But, just before the Drake could cough the burning liquid out onto me, a figurended on the ground next to us. I looked over, barely finding myself getting used to the sensation of three Expedites, to see the Dryad having leapt all the way down from its position at the top of the cliff,nding on her feet with its long whip in hand.


    The Drake looked over at her and caught a spiked vine in the face, slicing its eye with sharp thorns. I used the opportunity to shakily get to my feet and back away to a safer distance away from the Drake while it attempted to swipe its ws at the Dryad. She sidestepped back and forth, dodging the shots of acid as they came at her, but the green goo formed pools on the ground that¡¯d no doubt be harmful to step in, and she was quickly being surrounded by it.


    I tried to hold out a hand to shoot the monster with a Ray of Frost to slow it down, but Expedite was still preventing me from moving very urately, and I couldn¡¯t find a clean shot between the two quickly-moving figures.


    ¡°You okay?¡± I heard a voice from beside me and turned to see Erani stumbling over from the cliff face.


    ¡°Erani! You got down alright.¡±


    ¡°Barely,¡± sheughed. ¡°Had to jump thest few paces. Now c¡¯mon, let¡¯s help our friend.¡±


    Erani stepped forward, holding out a hand and shooting off a pair of Firebolts, both of which hit the Drake square in its center of gravity and sent it stumbling back. With the time this bought her, the Dryad was able to take a step back and leave the veritable minefield that was left by the Drake¡¯s acid.


    The monster turned and roared at us, but now that we¡¯d forced it down to the ground ¨C down to <em>our</em> territory ¨C I liked our chances a lot more.


    ¡°Buy me some time?¡± I asked. ¡°I need Expedite to wear off.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± she nodded. ¡°Just keep Gravity Well active and Crippling Chill refreshed so it can¡¯t fly away.¡±


    So Erani and the Dryad got to work, fighting as a pair with Erani shooting Firebolts to keep the Drake off-bnce and the Dryad constantly moving in to take care of the constant unsteadiness the Drake was under. While it was much too big and high-Leveled for Erani¡¯s stun-locking method to keep itpletely incapacitated, the explosions still massively inhibited its ability to fight effectively, and the Dryad was fast enough that even a slight reduction in ability couldpletely tip the odds in her favor.


    By the time thirty seconds had passed, it was covered in cuts and burns, snarling and backing away whenever the Dryad got close.


    ¡°I¡¯m running out of Mana to keep casting Firebolts,¡± Erani turned back and said to me. ¡°You good to fight?¡±


    I waited a second, then two, and then¨C


    Expedite has worn off of you.


    Your Dexterity is 50.1.


    Expedite has worn off of you.


    Your Dexterity is 19.


    ¡°Good to go,¡± I nodded and walked forward.


    I was still in range to keep Gravity Well online, which meant I was also already in range for Ray of Frost.


    ¡°Is it low enough for Ray of Frost to be enough to take it out?¡± I asked Index.


    ¡°Hm, you have¡­ 860 Mana? Yep. Putting that much into Rays of Frost will be enough.¡±


    So once I saw an opening, I raised my hand and shot off as many of the Spell as I could, as quickly as I could.


    Blue beams flew into the monster, each one coating its skin in ice and dealing its own bit of damage. The Drake tried to dash off behind cover, but the Dryad wrapped its whip around one of its legs and pulled, tripping it in its haste to escape.


    And by the time I¡¯d spent 500 Mana on the magical barrage, I got a new notification.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 29 Green Drake.


    You have earned 306 XP. Your XP is 312.


    I looked down at the corpse of the gigantic beast. Even a single week ago, I¡¯d have thought that the idea of me killing a Drake was ridiculous. That was something the high-Levelers did, something that¡¯d only happen to me once I¡¯d trained and Leveled for years, worked with an expert party, and of course, only when I was paid by some city to take one down for them.


    But here was the corpse of one I¡¯d killed today, a ragtag group of a couple Humans and a monster, ying it because we were journeying into fucking Kingdom¡¯s Edge to try and have an audience with a Dragon.


    What a life.


    ¡°Well,¡± I sighed, looking down at the fresh corpse in front of me, ¡°you up for dinner?¡±

 Chapter 99: Disastrous Dragon

    Chapter 99: Disastrous Dragon


    Erani, the Dryad, and I all sat around the corpse of a Green Drake, eating its tangy, sour meat. Well, the Dryad wasn¡¯t eating ¨C she got energy from the sun ¨C but she sat with me and Erani while we ate.


    <em>¡°How much longer until see Dragon?¡±</em> The Dryad asked me. She¡¯d asked a couple times now how close we were to it. I supposed that was just the way kids were, and she was a kid, in a way. At least, she seemed just as impatient as any other child I¡¯d seen.


    <em>¡°We probably won¡¯t see it until tomorrow,¡± </em>I said. We¡¯d only just started climbing the mountain, after all.


    She just nodded.


    ¡°Angelic Shield finally Ranked up to 10,¡± Erani said, pulling my attention away from my conversation with the Dryad. ¡°When I dropped from the side of the cliff. Fall damage got negated, and gave me thest bit of Spell XP I needed.¡±


    I raised my eyebrows. ¡°That¡¯s great! So you¡¯re gonna go back to practicing Firebolt, then?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Currently Rank 15, but it has 7 free Spell Ranks put into it from my ss, so it¡¯ll only cost the same as a Spell at 8 to Rank up.¡±


    ¡°And once it gets up to Rank 20, you¡¯ll need two more Fire Spell Crystals to Rank it from there, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. But that¡¯ll take a while. I don¡¯t have your absurdly high Mana/Minute,¡± she rolled her eyes. ¡°But my Next Level is 15, so I should be getting a new Talent of my own, soon.¡±


    ¡°Know what you¡¯re gonna pick?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, probably just sticking with my original ns and going with Signature Magic.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s it do? Do you remember the specifics?¡±


    ¡°I actually have its exact wording memorized from when I kept studying my future Talent Choices,¡± she chuckled. ¡°It reads ¡®Whenever a Spell you cast deals damage to a being, for the next minute, all future copies of that Spell you cast deal an additional 10% damage. This effect adds with itself.¡¯¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Sounds good, considering you¡¯re pretty much only casting Firebolt over the course of a fight.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the idea. Though it¡¯s a bit unorthodox to use Signature Magic when you picked Angelic Shield for your second Spell. Normally, with Signature Magic, you want to go into abat with a single Spell in mind, and focus on spending all of your Mana on only that Spell ¨C that way you get the full benefit. But because of Angelic Shield¡¯s passive nature, you can¡¯t control whether or not you cast it. So I won¡¯t be able to fully utilize its effect. Still, the Talent¡¯s good enough that it¡¯s still worth picking.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I can see that. Well, hopefully we can get you to 15 before we take on this wall. I imagine we¡¯ll all need to be in top shape for that.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll see. But I think our main issue is going to be actually talking to the Dragon.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just a conversation.¡±


    She justughed at that and rolled her eyes, biting into the piece of Drake thigh she was eating.


    After we finished, we continued hiking up the mountains for the rest of the day with surprisingly fewplications. We had a few run-ins with some more Drakes, but as long as we showed that we meant no harm and left their territory immediately, they¡¯d leave us alone. We <em>did</em> end up getting into a fight with another one ¨C this one was a Blue Drake ¨C but it was rtively low-Level, so it didn¡¯t prove too difficult to kill. And I got a good 200 XP out of it, too.


    Still, we avoided picking fights with Drakes, even if the lower-Level ones didn¡¯t give us much trouble to kill. The thing about Drakes was that they had a pretty wide range of possible Levels; Drakelings evolved into Drakes at Level 15, but Drakes wouldn¡¯t evolve again until they reached Level 60. If you saw a Drake, you wouldn¡¯t have any idea whether it was a manageable Level 20, or if it wouldpletely demolish you because it was actually Level 55. So we generally tried to stay away. No sense in drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves.


    While we hiked, I also kept an eye on the Dragon. It eventually gave up from its attack on the wall like it¡¯d done before, flying back up to the top of the mountain and resting there for a few hours. And then, a few hourster, it flew back down and attacked again. This attack didn¡¯tst for nearly as long though, and by the time thirty minutes had passed, it flew back up dejectedly. Seemed like it was already running out of motivation to bother itself with fighting the Demons. I knew I would, if I had to ram myself up against a magical shield over and over again.


    By the time the sun had set, we¡¯d gotten about halfway there, I estimated. Expedite significantly sped up the process, which I was extremely thankful for. But still, I wanted to hurry as much as possible.


    So to hurry, I¡¯d been spending pretty much all of my Mana on Expedite to keep a quick pace. We didn¡¯t only use it to get past impassable obstacles like cliff faces, but also just to move more quickly across t terrain. And because of Light te and Exponential Remation, just within the time we¡¯d been climbing, I¡¯d gotten the 355 Spell XP required for Rank 10. I remembered back when it¡¯d taken days of dedicated practice just to get Noxious Grasp from Rank 9 to 10. Now I¡¯d done it in a few hours.


    That said, I wouldn¡¯t be able to get the Rank-up benefits until I used a Spell Crystal. So now I was just staring at this disappointing notification.


    Threshold reached. Expedite XP has reached 355.


    Consume an Alteration Spell Crystal to increase Expedite Rank to 10.


    But once I got that crystal, I¡¯d get to choose a new Upgrade. Expedite was just waiting for that moment. And the rest of my Spells were gonna get to that point soon, too. It was a bit disheartening to know that I¡¯d be unable to Rank them untilter, but that was more than made up for by the fact, the second I got those Spell Crystals, I¡¯d probably get to Upgrade almost all of my Spells.


    It <em>was</em> unfortunate to have to effectively waste my Mana on Expedite for now, since I¡¯d still need to cast it to get us through the mountain range but wouldn¡¯t get any Spell XP for it, but I supposed some things just needed to be done.


    Once it was nighttime, we set up camp on the mountain edge to sleep like normal. Ironically, now that we were up on the mountain itself, we¡¯d stopped having to worry as much about monster attacks. It was like being in the eye of a storm ¨C everything up here was so dangerous, nothing stuck around to bother us. Even Drakes were scarce, being so close to Dragon territory ¨C especially when that Dragon was as active as it was.


    Still, we set up a watch system like normal for the night. This time, I decided to just keep my two unused activations of Time Loop. If I wanted to use them, I¡¯d have to go out and find something to kill first, which was actually quite unlikely, given how scarce finding anything alive our here was, and I¡¯d also have to live with the possibility of dying in an instant if something like that Dragon or a high-Level Drake found us in the few minutes it¡¯d take to refresh Time Loop. Considering those circumstances, I decided I¡¯d just hold onto them for safety.


    So we justid down and got ready to sleep. It felt nice to go back to practicing Noxious Grasp after spending so much Mana on Expedite, and I felt the bit of a headache that¡¯d beening on drift away after spending some time resting and casting my familiar Spell.


    Since Erani¡¯s Angelic Shield Ranked up to 10, she wouldn¡¯t be able to Rank it any more until we got a Spell Crystal for her. But we stayed in the same sleeping position we normally did for practice anyway. Neither of us said a word, simply lying down next to each other and wrapping our bodies together without discussion.


    It¡¯d just feel wrong to sleep without her, at this point ¨C and I suspected she felt the same. With everything going on, it was nice to have someone to go through it all with.


    ¡°Good night,¡± I murmured to Erani, eyes closed.


    She hummed and nuzzled her head into the nape of my neck. ¡°Night, An.¡±


    The next day, we awoke and quickly made off, ascending further into the mountain range of Kingdom¡¯s Edge. The cliffs we ascended and hills we hiked got steeper and less Human-friendly, and we began seeing more and more evidence that there were powers beyond Humanity that resided here.


    Early in the morning, we came across a crater the size of a vige that ate a chunk out the side of a slope. Later, we found a cylindrical hole the shape of a talon that stabbed straight down at least a dozen paces into the earth. We found the skeletal remains of a massive Drake ¨C judging by the size of it, this was probably one of the over-Level-50 ones.


    I had no doubt that most, if not all, of these things were caused by the Dragon. And every time I saw one of these disys of power, I got a stronger and stronger sense that I should not have been there. But with Dark te and Time Loop, I had safetys to keep my life intact. That didn¡¯t quite quell my primal fear, though. Something about existing in the same area of a beast that could so easily demolish its environment just made me want to turn and run.


    And, of course, as we neared the home of the Dragon, we also saw the thing itself more and more often. It continued swooping down to the wall and attacking, but those attacks progressively got shorter and shorter. Its strategy seemed to be moving away from long-term assaults and into quick and dirty hit-and-runs.


    I had to imagine that the longer this went on, the more well-established the Demon forces would get, and the more easily they¡¯d be able to repel the Dragon. We needed to talk to it and get something figured out soon. I had a few ideas brewing in my head about how we could subvert that magical shield, thanks to the info I¡¯d gotten from Index, but first we needed the Dragon to actually listen to us.


    Eventually, as the sun crested the sky and time passed to afternoon, we climbed a routine ledge and, upon reaching the top, found ourselves in front of a view that showed the entire path through Kingdom¡¯s Edge before us.


    ¡°Y¡¯know,¡± I said, staring down at the view alongside Erani, ¡°if I didn¡¯t know I¡¯d have to walk along that whole path soon, I¡¯d say this view was almost beautiful.¡±


    ¡°Mm. Being able to see the wall that¡¯s been made specifically to kill us definitely dampens the mood.¡±


    ¡°It does remind me of our first date, though. When we were up there at the top of the clock tower. So I think I¡¯ll forgive it for also reminding me of how that clock tower got destroyed.¡±


    ¡°You were such a dork back then,¡± Eraniughed. ¡°You were totally out of your element back in that big city.¡±


    ¡°It does feel pretty long ago, at this point,¡± I nodded, gazing across thendscape.


    As I¡¯d suspected, the wall that the Demons had built in that valley wasn¡¯t even halfway through the path. Once we passed that, we¡¯d need to walk for at least another half a day before we exited the mountain range.


    The Demons had also continued their construction while we were climbing, and the wall was much taller and thicker by now, with archer towers built into it and even more heavy weaponry lining the boxes built into the side of the stone barricade. Their construction was paused for now, though, as the Dragon had gone on one of its now-routine attacks on the wall.


    It¡¯d long since learned that attacking the magic shield was a waste of energy since the shield would just be reformed even if it was broken, and so the Dragon was now attacking the things left outside the shield.


    It struck at straggling soldiers out collecting resources, supply lines, the surrounding environment that the wall was built into ¨C anything to disrupt its construction. I¡¯d always heard that Dragons were territorial, but this was intense. It did <em>not</em> want to allow anything in its home.


    The attacksted for all of five minutes before the Dragon took back to the skies and began heading back toward the peak where it resided. This time, because of our positioning so close to that peak, it¡¯d fly right over our heads.


    ¡°Hurry, get under a bush or something,¡± I said aloud to Erani and mentally to the Dryad. ¡°Don¡¯t want that thing to see us before we¡¯re ready to talk.¡±


    We were high up enough that vegetation was pretty scarce, but we made due with the bushes and sticks and leaves that lied around, with Erani hiding under some branches and me being forced to rely on the debris around to cover myself with. And the Dryad of course had its own natural camouge due to the pigmentation of her skin.


    So I was lying under some rocks and sticks when the Dragon flew over us, staring up at it and trying not to move. And while I watched it pass over, I thought I saw it nce down at us and meet my eyes. But it kept moving withouting down to attack us, so I must¡¯ve imagined it.


    Once it was gone, we got back up.


    ¡°Think it saw us?¡± I asked Erani.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said. ¡°Couldn¡¯t see. But I guess it didn¡¯t, if it moved on.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Index, what do you think?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t see that far, but apparently you think it¡¯s possible but unlikely. So I¡¯ll just agree with you.¡±


    ¡°Very helpful,¡± I rolled my eyes. ¡°Keep an eye out ahead for us? Just let me know if you see something dangerous.¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡±


    A few hourster, the Dragon left from its perch once again and headed down to the wall. This time, we were prepared for it, so we had hiding spots already picked out and we were totally hidden from sight by the time it passed over our location. I¡¯d also decided to switch from Light te to Dark te with Ethereal Armor, since no matter whether or not it saw us, we¡¯d be talking with the Dragon soon, and keeping it from one-shotting me would be nice.


    Once the Dragon started flying back up to the top of the mountain, we hid once again below a rocky overhang, preventing anything in the air from seeing us. We also couldn¡¯t see anything in the air, of course, but we¡¯d just wait a few minutes to be sure the Dragon was gone, and then we coulde out once it was safe.


    <em>¡°If n is to get Dragon attention and talk, why we hiding?¡±</em> the Dryad asked in a tone I felt was exasperated and inpatient.


    <em>¡°We need to show it we¡¯re here specifically to talk. If it just sees us randomly in the mountains, it¡¯ll probably assume we¡¯re with the Demons and kill us like it does with the other soldiers it sees. But if we show up at its home and we¡¯re the ones to initiate conversation, we can exin what we want and what we can offer.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...Okay.¡±</em>


    ¡°Uh, hey An?¡± Index said into my ear while I spoke with the Dryad. ¡°The Dragon just came into my view. It normally doesn¡¯t get close enough for me to see it. I think it may be¨C¡±


    Index was interrupted by a massive crash and a copse of the rocky overhang above us. Gigantic boulders and pieces of stone rained down upon us, destroying everything beneath.


    You have been crushed by stone. 3.61k damage.


    Dark te has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 165.


    Your Health is 165.


    Due to preventing damage, Dark te is Broken. It will be unable to trigger for 37.9 seconds.


    I coughed, finding myself crushed beneath countless pieces of rock. I couldn¡¯t even begin to move, pinned down by the rubble.


    When I tried reaching out to my connection with the Dryad, I found it nonexistent. As if it¡¯d never been there in the first ce. Why couldn¡¯t I¨C


    ¡°Yeah, Dryad¡¯s dead,¡± I heard the familiar voice of Index say. ¡°Erani is, too. All these rocks were super overkill.¡±


    I tried to speak, but couldn¡¯t muster the energy. Apparently, even if Dark te prevented the damage from killing me, it sure as hells didn¡¯t prevent pain.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you don¡¯t need to speak. Your lungs are so full of dust you probably couldn¡¯t even if your entire body <em>wasn¡¯t</em> being crushed right now. To answer the question you want to ask, yes, it was the Dragon. Thing¡¯s still here, actually. Standing on top of all these rocks.¡±


    I heard a muffled voicee from above me, something out in the open air. It was deep and primal, and had an ent I couldn¡¯t even begin to ce. ¡°Three damage notifications. Two kill notifications. Two Humans and a Dryad for damage. One Human and one Dryad for kill. A Human is still alive. Reveal yourself. Perhaps, if you beg enough, I will allow you to live.¡±


    It said thatst part much louder than the rest ¨C it was obviously talking to me.


    It seemed like the Dragon decided to bring the meeting to us.

 Chapter 100: Welcome to Hell: Walled Off

    Chapter 100: Wee to Hell: Walled Off


    A Devil stood at a desk in a damp, dark room. This room reminded him of his old office, but it wasn¡¯t his. In fact, this office was exactly 2.8%rger than his old office ¨C something he was painfully aware of.


    ¡°How are things going with the An Nota job?¡± His superior asked him. She was sitting at her desk in her office, with the Devil standing before her. The jagged, stony walls of the Underworld that once feltforting to the Devil now just felt hostile and oppressive. And the sight of his superior ¨C the same one who demoted him ¨C did nothing to help this feeling.


    ¡°They are proceeding well, Superior Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki.¡±


    ¡°Give me specifics. Your history with this case fills me with no confidence when hearing that things are proceeding ¡®well¡¯. Is An Nota close to death?¡±


    ¡°Fucking¨C How do you expect me to know that?¡± The Devil shook his head. ¡°We have defenses set up. He¡¯ll <em>probably</em> die soon. We¡¯ll see¨C¡±


    ¡°Xhag.¡± His superior stared at him with a look of warning on her face. ¡°I am aware you¡¯ve been spending quite a bit of time in the Overworld around the Humans. I am aware that they have a¡­ certain way of speaking. I am aware you are so weak-minded so as to allow yourself to be influenced by them and adopt that way of speaking. However, I am <em>not</em> aware that I have ever authorized you to speak to me in such a manner.¡±


    He stared at her. He¡¯d slipped up again. More and more, he found himself speaking and thinking using those words that the Humans did. At first, he¡¯d just spoken to the Humans that way so they¡¯d fully understand that he was above them. Then, he spoke to his underling Demons. Now, he was having trouble removing such casual prose from his vocabry. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Superior¨C¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re <em>sorry</em>? I assume you mean ¡®formal expression of apology.¡¯ Xhag, you must be aware that I could have you executed for the way you¡¯ve spoken to me.¡±


    ¡°Ah¨C yes. A most formal expression of apology, Superior Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki. It will not happen again.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t execute you. For now. But I fully intend to give you a fate worse than death if you do not seed here. Kill An Nota <em>before</em> he escapes to that other Human territory, or you will face severe consequences.¡±


    The Devil fought back a scoff. As if he wasn¡¯t already facing severe punishment with this overwork they were forcing him under. All he wanted ¨C more than anything ¨C was for this to be over.


    ¡°Don¡¯t disappoint me, Xhag. You can give me your reportter, since it seems like for now, you¡¯ve aplished nothing of note.¡± His superior waved her hand, shooing him out of her office. ¡°Get back to work.¡±


    So the Devil sat back down at his desk, surrounded by his ¡®peers¡¯ in rank only ¨C he was obviously still better than <em>them</em>. He, of course, wouldn¡¯t be doing his copying work. Instead, he needed to make some calls.


    Talking with the Overworlders overmunication crystal had be one of his main time-sinks ever since he ordered the wall to be built, and if he was being honest, it¡¯d be a bit of a relief to talk with them instead of his fellow Demons. At least they weren¡¯t so particr about hisnguage.


    ¡°Update me on how things are going,¡± he said once the crystal connected. Humans apparently didn¡¯t have ready ess to this technology, so it took some time to get them used to it.


    ¡°Hello? Is this thing on?¡± The elderly voice of Winic Vigandoth echoed through, and the Devil¡¯s coworkers stared at him, annoyed. He didn¡¯t have a private office, so any time he made a call, everyone else had to listen.


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s on. Give me an update.¡±


    ¡°Hold on,¡± he croaked, and there was a staticy shuffling sound, like someone was rubbing their sleeve up against the sound-sensitive crystal. ¡°There, it¡¯s cleaner. Should transmit signal better.¡±


    The Devil winced at the loud noise. ¡°...The cleanliness of the crystal has nothing to do with the sound quality.¡±


    ¡°Hold on, hold on, let me just get thisst smudge off¡­¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t¨C listen, just give it to someone else. I¡¯ll get the report from them. Is, uh¡­ Keiki Umesai around?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes, sir. She just got back from a scouting mission. I¡¯ll find her right away.¡±


    Winic Vigandoth was one of the many leaders of the wall project. He was one of the only people who truly understood that Enchanted rock they¡¯d pulled out of the royal vaults ¨C the one that generated the shield. So, even though he was a bit strange, he was integral to the functioning of the project. The rest of the leaders had a bit moremon sense, though, so he liked to speak to them rather than Winic.


    These leaders, unlike the people that¡¯d been in charge of the previous kingdom projects, had been hand-picked by the Devil. Before, when all he interacted with were those fucking idiots who sided with the dead King Koinkar, he absolutely hated interacting with Humans. But now, it wasn¡¯t that bad anymore. At least <em>they </em>werepetent.


    Winic Vigandoth had been some court Wizard wasting his talents on research instead of actual military expansion. Sure, he was entric, but he also knew more about magical artifacts than anyone else ¨C even if he tended to get the wrong idea every now and then, like his strange superstition about themunication crystals and keeping them clean. Keiki Umesai had originally been assigned to be a military strategist ¨C yet another waste of talent, as she was clearly much better fighting battles herself, rather than telling others how to do it.


    There were a few other leaders of the wall project, not all as high-Level as Winic and Keiki. Some of them didn¡¯t have sses at all, in fact. That was something a few of the Humans seemed rather appalled at, actually. Something along the lines of ¡®people without sses shouldn¡¯t run military operations.¡¯ It seemed like the Humans thought they were too weak? But to the Devil, <em>all</em> of the Humans in the kingdom were pretty weak, so it didn¡¯t make much of a difference to him.


    Most of the strong ones lived elsewhere, and even the strong ones that resided in the kingdom to begin with left once they realized what was going on. After all, to be strong as a Human, you had to survive a long time ¨C and you didn¡¯t survive a long time by fighting battles that weren¡¯t necessary.


    But Keiki Umesai was at least smart. She knew what she was doing, and she knew how to do it well. So when he heard from Keiki on themunication crystal, he trusted what she said.


    ¡°Sir, the fugitive should have been here by now. To put it candidly, something has gone wrong.¡±


    And that was not something he wanted to hear from a trusted source. ¡°You haven¡¯t seen any sign of him?¡±


    ¡°No, sir. We¡¯ve begun sending out scouting parties, which I¡¯ve led, but still haven¡¯t seen him. We especially should¡¯ve seen signs of his group if they were in the wastnd. There¡¯s no cover to hide in.¡±


    ¡°And those scouts we gave the invisibility rings to?¡±


    ¡°One of them was captured, presumably questioned, then killed before we could retrieve him. So we¡¯re assuming the fugitive knows everything he knew. We¡¯re also assuming they have the remaining rings, so we have stopped sending out scouts. The fugitives know to watch out for them now, and if they catch more, they get more rings, which could be detrimental to us.¡±


    The Devil frowned. ¡°Okay. So where is he, then?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Well, we have some ideas,¡± a new voice came in faintly from the background.


    ¡°Ah, Carison Aakbi,¡± the Devil recognized the voice. This man was one of the Unssed he¡¯d put in charge. This Human ran a merchantpany that spread all over the kingdom. And he¡¯d built it up from when he was just a peasant, scraping up enough money to eat by selling scraps out of the garbage that he¡¯d cooked into edible ¨C and even tasty ¨C food.


    Whether that¡¯d be considered ethical by most was up for debate, but the Devil could appreciate someone with the ambition and intelligence to drag themselves up from nothing like that. When the Devil had first heard of the fact that, in Human culture, a person of trash birth could raise themselves up to be a king, he¡¯d been disgusted. But now he understood it.


    Maybe it was different for Demons. But with Humans, it really seemed like some were just born into unlucky circumstances, but were still intelligent and hardworking. And they deserved to see some reward for that diligence. So when he heard about Carison, who went from meager street-rat to influential merchant, he was eager to recruit him. It was rtively easy ¨C all he had to do was get some money out of the royal treasury and wave it in front of the man¡¯s face ¨C and the Devil was d to have him on his team.


    ¡°Where do you think An Nota is?¡± The Devil asked.


    ¡°If people aren¡¯ting to your establishment, they aren¡¯t just sitting around at home. They go somewhere else, instead ¨C apetitor,¡± Carison said.


    ¡°And who would our petitor¡¯ be in this metaphor?¡±


    ¡°The ¡®product¡¯ we¡¯re selling is passage through Kingdom¡¯s Edge. We¡¯ve just designed it such that the price is impossible to pay ¨C take down the wall. We hoped we had a monopoly, such that the fugitive had no other options on ways to get through, so they¡¯d have to pay our impossible price. However, it seems we do have apetitor, after all ¨C one that¡¯s offering a better way to get through. And that would be the being that¡¯s been trying to take this wall down the whole time we¡¯ve been building it.¡±


    The Devil frowned. He¡¯d heard about their issues with the Dragon, of course. They gave a report every time it attacked. He knew its attacks had been getting weaker and shorter, while the wall¡¯s defenses were getting stronger and stronger. Sure, they had no hope of actually <em>killing</em> the thing, but he was pretty confident it¡¯d get bored eventually. As long as they didn¡¯t actively antagonize it and get the attention of the other Dragons ¨C no way they¡¯d survive an onught from multiple at once ¨C it shouldn¡¯t have been an issue. And since it didn¡¯t seem to realize the wall repelled magical attacks much more effectively than it did physical ones, it most likely wouldn¡¯t ever break through.


    But if the fugitive worked together with it, they may have problems. Really, they didn¡¯t even need to take down the wall at all. If the Dragon just distracted the soldiers in the wall, An Nota could sneak by. Or, really, it could just fly them away.


    The Devil wasn¡¯t too scared of either of those things happening ¨C the Dragon would only help them if they had something to offer, and the only thing they could offer would be helping it take down the wall ¨C but the longer this went on, the more time An Nota had to find a way through this.


    ¡°So you think he¡¯s climbing the mountain to go contact the Dragon, then?¡± he asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a possibility.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Send a scouting party into the mountains and see if you can find him, then.¡±


    ¡°Sir,¡± Keiki cut in, ¡°climbing the mountains would be suicide for an ordinary group of soldiers. Especially approaching a Dragon that¡¯s trying so hard to kill them.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not an ordinary soldier. Could you lead them?¡±


    There was a pause before she eventually responded, ¡°It may not be a good idea. If we¡¯re too slow and the Dragones back for a full-force attack alongside the fugitive, if I¡¯m not there to help defend, things will go poorly. It¡¯d be an incredibly risky move to go off on this wild goose chase. I think we should stay back and wait for him toe to us.¡±


    ¡°We need to actively work to achieve our goals,¡± Carrison said, ¡°not wait for them to be achieved for us. The fugitive will not simplye to us and die for the sake of our convenience. We cannot hole up and wait.¡±


    ¡°If Keiki doesn¡¯t want to be sent out on the mission, I won¡¯t make her,¡± the Devil said. She¡¯d probably perform worse if he forced her out like that. Or just desert ¨C he knew that arge part of the reason she was protesting was almost certainly because she didn¡¯t want to personally put herself at the risk of facing the Dragon without the protection of the magic barrier. ¡°Besides, I have some ideas for a couple other people that can lead this excursion.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure, sir?¡± Keiki asked. ¡°Anyone you send out is likely going to be risking their lives. I¡¯m not sure if anyone would voluntarily go out.¡±


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry. They¡¯ve been learning discipline for thest week or so. I¡¯ll send them over in a bit ¨C you may recognize them, actually. You¡¯ll hear from me when they¡¯re on their way.¡±


    ¡°Okay, sir. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    The Devil hung up, then reached his Mana into the crystal once again to make a new call. This time, the subus he had posing as King Koinkar picked up.


    ¡°Yes, Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook?¡±


    ¡°I want you to get some people out of prison for me.¡±


    ¡°Of course, Superior Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook. Who would you like me to order freed?¡±


    ¡°Take Ripley and Asmo out of their week of torture. And be sure to tell them the premature end is conditional. I¡¯m giving them one chance to make up for their mistake in the past ¨C letting An Nota survive.¡±

 Chapter 101: Welcome to the Kingdom: Release

    Chapter 101: Wee to the Kingdom: Release


    Ripley Tid on the floor of a cold, dark room. She was recovering from day three of her week of torture. Or was it day four? She couldn¡¯t keep track of it, at this point. All she knew was that it wasn¡¯t over yet.


    Her onlypanion in her experience, Asmo, was with her for now. They normally only got around two hours each day to recover together before one of them would be taken away for the next session. So while Ripleyid on the floor, trying to rest, Asmo leaned up against the wall in a sitting position.


    They didn¡¯t speak much during their breaks ¨C Ripley was barely conscious enough to think, let alone talk ¨C but simply being in Asmo¡¯s presence brought Ripley somefort. Someone she knew had gone through the same experiences she had. They could suffer in silence together.


    Out of the two of them, Ripley could tell Asmo was taking this better. Asmo, at least, had the strength to sit up while she rested. Though her matted hair covered her face, Ripley could still see Asmo¡¯s eyes ¨C there was still fight in them.


    Just a few more days, Ripley thought to herself. Just a few more, and she¡¯d be free<em>.</em> What she¡¯d do when she was free, she had no idea. Fight the Demons? Run? She still had no idea how to feel about King Koinkar. His life had been threatened by that Demon, sure, but he was still the one to put her through this. Could she really continue to take orders from him after going through this pain that <em>he </em>ordered?


    Her thoughts were interrupted by footstepsing down the corridor.


    ¡°No,¡± she muttered. It¡¯d only been halfway through her four-hour break. They shouldn¡¯t have been here so soon. ¡°Please don¡¯t take me.¡±


    A helmeted guard walked up to the cell, keys in hand, and Ripley weakly kicked her legs, pushing away from the door. She was a high-Level Melee sser ¨C probably higher-Level than the guard ¨C but there were more than enough ways to reduce her power. Stat-lowering Enchanted bracelets cuffed onto her, items that locked away her Talents and Martial arts ¨C given enough resources and the ability to actually put these things on a person, you could reduce just about anyone back down to the strength of an Unssed.


    The guard inserted the key and turned it. The rusty lock grinded open, and the door creaked awry.


    ¡°Please,¡± Ripley moaned. ¡°Not yet.¡±


    ¡°King Koinkar wants to see you,¡± the voice from the helmet spoke.


    Ripley¡¯s voice caught in her throat. That¡­ wasn¡¯t what they normally said. She just stared at the guard, unsure of what to say. Asmo looked over, too.


    ¡°Both of you,¡± the man continued. ¡°Come with me. We¡¯ll get you some food and rest afterward.¡±


    Ripley met Asmo¡¯s eyes. Rest? Food? Were they¡­?


    No, she let herself finish that thought. If she did, she¡¯d just be setting herself up for disappointment. They were getting a short break. Maybe King Koinkar just wanted some information.


    Hells, maybe he just wanted some feedback on the torture methods. Ripley chuckled darkly to herself at the thought. Taking a survey to improve the quality of the pain. Honestly, that seemed like the type of thing Asmo would actually do. Way too pragmatic. But Ripley supposed that pragmatism was helping now ¨C at least Asmo hadn¡¯t been totally broken yet.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s go,¡± the helmeted man said again. His tone was softer than the guards normally were then they said that line, which put a bit more confidence in Ripley. She hesitantly got to her feet, only able to stand because of the hope pushing her on now ¨C and the remaining physical Stats that hadn¡¯t been drained away from her shackles.


    Asmo stood too, looking suspiciously at the guard, who just stood there looking at them. Once they walked through the door, he turned and led them away, off in a different direction from where they normally went for their sessions.


    Ripley leaned over to Asmo as they walked. ¡°What do you think¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°I do not know,¡± Asmo muttered back. ¡°Just stay ready. Whatever it is, I am not sure that I like it.¡±


    They arrived in the throne room, Koinkar sitting atop his usual golden throne. He looked at them strangely, as though he didn¡¯t recognize them, but Ripley wasn¡¯t sure if that was actually true or if she was just imagining things. She wasn¡¯t exactly in the best state of mind, and she knew it.


    ¡°Greeting, Asmo and Ripley,¡± the king said. ¡°Are you doing well?¡±


    Ripley blinked. ¡°Are we¡­ doing well?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Asmo said. ¡°You are torturing us.¡±


    ¡°Ah, right,¡± Koinkar looked embarrassed. ¡°It is a phrase, yes? I forgot what it could mean when used literally.¡±


    What? Ripley thought. How could he forget what ¡®are you doing well¡¯ meant? Maybe she was more mentally affected than she thought, because she feltpletely lost in this conversation already.


    ¡°Er, anyway,¡± he continued, ¡°you¡¯re being set free.¡±


    <em>That</em> woke Ripley up. Even Asmo¡¯s normally-unemotive face lit up with widened eyes.


    ¡°W- what?¡± Ripley asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook ordered for you to be set free from your torture and to go work on a project of his.¡±


    Now Ripley was lost again. ¡°Xhag¡¯duulini¨C who?¡±


    ¡°Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook. He is the Devil who you¡¯ve met already. The one who ordered your torture in the first ce.¡±


    ¡°And you¡­ take orders from him?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. I forgot you were not informed. The Koinkar Kingdom will be fully coborating with Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook to catch and kill An Nota. We found that would be the most mutually beneficial option avable to us, and¨C¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re <em>working</em> for him?!¡± Ripley took a step toward the brilliant throne housing the frail man, breathing heavily. ¡°He destroyed¨C he tortured¨C he killed Cami!¡±


    ¡°Yes, it is unfortunate what happened because of my previous insistence on working against him,¡± Koinkar nodded. ¡°But that is in the past. We are now¨C¡±


    ¡°The death of your only daughter is ¡®unfortunate¡¯? What in the hells is wrong with you? You were always a cowardly old man, but working for those filthy, evil fucking Demons, it¡¯s¨C¡±


    ¡°Insubordination will <em>not</em> be tolerated!¡± Koinkar stood tall from his throne, cutting an imposing figure that Ripley had never thought his weak old body could ever show. His suddenly-strong voice echoed through the massive throne room. ¡°If you continue to argue with me and insult our allies, I will not <em>hesitate</em> to throw you back in that cell to be tortured for the rest of your life! Now listen to me and do as I say. Know your ce.¡±


    With a look of genuine fear on her face, Ripley took a step back. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ different. You¡¯d throw me back in there? Demons are our allies? Something¡¯s changed with you. This isn¡¯t right. I¡­¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care what you think. Just listen to me. We suspect An Nota is in the mountains of Kingdom¡¯s Edge. We want you and Asmo to lead a squad of soldiers into the mountains, find him, and kill him. And that is what you <em>will</em> do. We will give you some time to eat and rest ¨C perhaps forty-three minutes should do it ¨C and then you will depart.¡±


    Ripley looked over at Asmo, who was eyeing Koinkar with a certain re. Neither of them said anything.


    ¡°No objections? Great. Guard, take them to their temporary quarters. And prepare a teleporter to take them to the bastion.¡±


    The guard walked away and they followed, but Ripley¡¯s mind was elsewhere. Something was wrong with Koinkar. She wasn¡¯t totally sure what it was, when he¡¯d changed, or how it¡¯d even happened, but she would find out what it was. For now, she¡¯d go along with whatever this cooperating-with-the-Demons bullshit was going on.


    But she wouldn¡¯t be controlled like this forever.


    Asmo stood in the cramped quarters she¡¯d been allowed to rest in for the next forty-three minutes. There was a bed in the corner, which she¡¯d obviously be unable to make real use of in such a short amount of time, and pretty much nothing else. Just in walls and a door.


    She agreed with what Ripley had said ¨C Koinkar was obviously acting strangely. And it wasn¡¯t just those big decisions he¡¯d made, either. Sure, he was running the kingdom poorly, but what set Asmo¡¯s mind on high-alert more than anything were the small conversational details and slip-ups.


    He¡¯d said ¡®greeting¡¯ when he first saw them. Not hello, or even greetings. Greeting. That was weird. He took the time to memorize that Devil¡¯s name. He picked such an oddly specific time for their time to rest. And he only got truly angry when Ripley insulted the Demons.


    Asmo was almostpletely certain she knew what happened here. She had no idea how it happened, but she <em>did </em>know what was going on.


    And she intended to confront it.


    She stepped out of her room, closing the door behind her.


    A guard standing nearby looked at her. ¡°Lady Asmo, please stay in your room and rest. You can¡¯t be out here¨C¡±


    You have activated Blink.


    45 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 131.


    In an instant, Asmo disappeared from view and appeared a couple dozen paces away, down the hall and out of sight of the guard. It was <em>so</em> nice to be able to activate her Martial Arts again. Those Enchantments preventing them from using their System abilities had been removed once they got out of the cells, so she was no longer prevented from using what she¡¯d relied on for so much of her life.


    Blink was effectively a short-range teleportation Martial Art, with the caveat that the user had to be able to reach the ce they were teleporting to normally. So she wouldn¡¯t be able to teleport through a wall, since she couldn¡¯t walk through a wall. But she could use Blink to go down some halls just fine.


    You have activated Blink.


    45 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 87.


    With another activation of the Martial Art, Asmo was back in the throne room.


    She walked up to King Koinkar, who was still sitting on his throne. Without her weapons, she wouldn¡¯t be able to do much, but she really just wanted to talk, so she wasn¡¯t too worried.


    ¡°What are you doing here?!¡± Koinkar stood up abruptly ¨C something Asmo knew such a frail old man shouldn¡¯t have been able to do. He was holding something in his hand, a blue glowing crystal of some sort ¨C something she knew she¡¯d never seen before. ¡°Get back to your quarters.¡±


    ¡°Hello Koinkar,¡± Asmo said.


    The king just looked at her expectantly. Asmo waited for him to say something, but he never said it.


    ¡°That is the first time I have seen you not correct someone who did not call you <em>King</em> Koinkar.¡±


    ¡°W¨C what?¡± He frowned, looking a bit worried. ¡°I just¨C I¡¯m a bit stressed.¡±


    Yes, that confirmed it. ¡°How long has Koinkar been dead?¡±


    He just blinked.


    ¡°Or is he only captured, perhaps? Or I am speaking to him, but he is mind-controlled in some fashion? I do not particrly care about the specifics. But this is a recent thing, yes? The change was made while I was confined?¡±


    ¡®Koinkar¡¯ lifted the blue crystal up to his mouth and muttered into it, then lifted it to his ear and listened to a voice that returned. He never took his cautious eyes off of Asmo. There were no guards in the room at the time ¨C probably to give him some privacy with that strange speaking crystal ¨C so Asmo wasn¡¯t worried about exposing these secrets. It didn¡¯t seem like anyone else knew about him being reced.


    ¡°I do not want to work against you,¡± Asmo continued. ¡°I assume you¡¯re a Demon, yes? Or you¡¯re working for the Demons? I, personally, do not mind working for them, so that would not be an issue.¡±


    He slowly lowered the crystal back to his mouth, and spoke into it again. This time, she could barely hear what he said, ¡°I will call you back, Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook. Report of this interaction toe.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I prefer speaking to you over that specific Demon. He was the one who ordered my torture, so I hope you understand myck of fondness for him.¡±


    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I kill you?¡± His tone waspletely different now. Instead of the rough croak that Koinkar normally forced from his throat, this thing spoke with a smooth, borderline seductive voice. Something oozing charisma and confidence.


    ¡°I am a powerful Human ¨C one you do not need to deceive. I suspect there are few, if any, Humans who are aware of this little coup you have performed. I can be someone who you do not need to worry about lying to.¡±


    ¡°And why would I believe that you aren¡¯t nning on backstabbing us?¡±


    ¡°Why would I admit I know about this? ying dumb would obviously be the better decision if I wanted to work against you.¡±


    ¡°Unless you gained our trust using such an admission, which you are attempting to do right now.¡±


    ¡°Of course I am trying to gain your trust. However you have done it, your group has taken over the Koinkar Kingdom. If I am to move up in the world, I should ally myself with this new power, not hold onto some dying old faction. I want to help you because you are powerful, and I want to ensure I do not find myself fighting a losing battle.¡±


    ¡°And you are okay with working against your own species? And working with the people who tortured you?¡±


    ¡°I am working for myself, not against my species. If the rest of the Humans decide they are against me, so be it. And I am willing to work with you <em>because </em>you showed your power by ordering my torture. Even before you took over Koinkar, your power was able to strongarm the kingdom into ordering the torture of its own soldiers. Clearly, the best way to avoid going through that again is to stop working against you.¡±


    ¡®Koinkar¡¯ rubbed his chin. It was bing more and more obvious as she watched that it felt like watching something puppeteer a body more than Koinkar himself doing these things. None of his mannerisms were there. And judging by the strict scarcity of guards around the castle, she suspected most of the ones who used to be here had been kicked out or executed, by now.


    ¡°Does Ripley know?¡± The king asked.


    ¡°No, I suspect not. We have not spoken about it, at least.¡±


    ¡°I will have you verify all of what you¡¯ve said under Truth Stone, I hope you are aware.¡±


    ¡°Of course. On the condition that you verify under Truth Stone that you have no intention to immediately execute, imprison, or torture me again without me doing anything to provoke you.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Fine. Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook really wants you to lead this squad, so I suppose I won¡¯t kill you for as long as you are useful.¡±


    ¡°Then I will make sure I stay useful.¡± And hopefully, she¡¯d prove her worth well enough, soon enough, that she could begin working up the ranks with this new organization. ¡°One caveat, though. I will work with you, and do whatever you say, as long as you promise me one thing. Riplet T is to <em>never</em> be informed about <em>anything</em> rting to this. And nothing will harm her. If I am taken care of, so is she.¡±


    ¡°Hm. You Humans are so strange. Why would you care about her? You just said you¡¯d be willing to kill innocents. And now you want us to protect someone?¡±


    ¡°I take care of what is mine,¡± is all Asmo answered with. ¡°What will you do when An Nota is killed?¡±


    The king just shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m just following orders. Our circle of the Underworld will likely try to stay established up here for the long-term, though. We already have developed a foothold, after all. So do not worry about us disappearing and leaving you with nothing.¡±


    Asmo nodded. ¡°Well then, I look forward to a mutually beneficial rtionship between us. And I look forward topleting my first mission.¡±


    The king grunted. ¡°Yes. Kill An Nota, and we will grant you anything you want. I am sure Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook will personally make sure of it, at this point.¡±

 Chapter 102: Failed Negotiations

    Chapter 102: Failed Negotiations


    Iy, crushed beneath the rubble of the overhang destroyed by the Dragon as it stood atop the wreckage searching for me. Erani and the Dryad were dead, so I knew for a fact that this timeline wasn¡¯t one I¡¯d continue in even if I did survive this. But still, I¡¯d use this opportunity to try and get at least a bit of information from the Dragon.


    So I tried to shift myself out from under the rubble that crushed me.


    But I couldn¡¯t. It was all so heavy, I couldn¡¯t move at all. My arms were pinned under jagged rocks, my torso and legs would¡¯ve been broken if not for Dark te reducing the damage and saving my life, and I couldn¡¯t see anything. I tried casting Expedite on myself, but no matter how limber the extra Dexterity made me, I simply didn¡¯t have the power in my muscles to move.


    So instead, I resorted to coughing the dust from my lungs and shouting out.


    ¡°Please,¡± I croaked, ¡°spare me.¡±


    My voice must¡¯ve been weak and muffled,ing through all the stone that was on top of me, but I still felt the Dragon move around, the entireyer of rocks covering me shifting above me.


    Its voice came through again, this time much louder ¨C it must¡¯ve moved its head closer to me so I could hear it better. Its deep voice rumbled my heart. ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°My¨C¡± I coughed. ¡°My name is An. I am not against you. I want to take that wall down, too.¡±


    I felt a rumbling from above and the rocks covering me were drug out of the way. One sweep of the rubble aside, and I felt the weight lessen. Another, and suddenly I felt like I may be able to move. A third, and finally I could see sunlight breaking through the gaps of the gravel.


    Iboriously raised my hands and shifted the dirt and stone away from my face, and I could finally see clearly.


    Staring straight down at me was the massive scaly face of a Dragon ¨C head taller than my entire body. Its yellow eyes felt like they glowed brighter than the sun, staring through me. Its reddish-purple scales glinted dominantly, like the beast was brimming with power. Its nostrils red with each breath, the heat from its air feeling like it would melt my skin if I let it too close to me.


    ¡°You are the living one,¡± it said, its massive mouth opening and showing me just how easily it could eat me ¨C one bite would be all it¡¯d take.


    ¡°Yes, thank you for sparing me,¡± I said, getting to my feet only to fall to my knees, bowing my head toward it. ¡°Please, I believe I can offer you help¨C¡±


    ¡°What is my name?¡±


    ¡°I¨C what?¡±


    ¡°You have told me your name. Tell me my name.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I looked at it, confused. ¡°You haven¡¯t told me yet.¡±


    ¡°No. You have not heard of me. Why would you want my help if you do not know why I am?¡±


    Ah. It was a pride thing. This Dragon wanted someone who could stroke its ego. I took a moment to think, then spoke, ¡°I am aware of the great Dragon species, of course. As a member of such a family of beings, you demand great respect. I can promise that I believe in your power.¡±


    ¡°But you do not know my name,¡± its deep voice rumbled my heart, teeth shining a reflection of the broken helm of my Dark te. It was slowly reforming as the forty-second timer ticked down until it could be used again.


    ¡°I¡¯m willing to learn!¡± I said. ¡°Please, inform me of your greatness.¡±


    ¡°I am Mountaintamer, Giantyer, Kinsbane, Homeholder, Wastyer, Ashbearer, Chasmcreator, Earthquaker, Humanughterer, Wisdomholder, Bearer-of-the-Heavens Astintash! All know my name! You are ignorant. You are stupid. You are worthless.¡±


    ¡°Yes, my sincerest apologies,¡± Imitted what the Dragon said to memory, doing my best to remember all ten titles alongside the damn thing¡¯s actual name. The Intelligence Stat helped to increase memory, in the same way Strength increased physical power and Conjuration increased your speed at casting Spells, so memorizing the name wasn¡¯t as hard as it¡¯d be for an Unssed person.


    ¡°Your apology is worthless,¡± Astintash said. ¡°Someone who does not even know who I am, trying to speak with me as though they are my equal? I thought you may be an intriguing Human, since you survived my attack, but clearly your mind is not as strong as your body.¡±


    ¡°Please, educate me on your great deeds,¡± I said.


    The Dragon looked down at me. ¡°You have no manners whatsoever. No offering, no foreknowledge, all you can do is ask things of me. I refuse to hear you out further.¡±


    ¡°Wait, please¨C¡±


    Astintash opened its mouth. ¡°I hope you are worth a good amount of XP, Human.¡±


    You have been bitten. 2.8k damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have died.


    Yeah, I didn¡¯t really expect to survive very long. I tried to ignore the memory of the pain of my body splitting in two, focusing on what I¡¯d gained. I knew the Dragon¡¯s name ¨C that was huge, considering how much Astintash seemed to care that I didn¡¯t know it before. But I¡¯d also gathered some other valuable information from our conversation.


    Obviously, by looking at the ten titles the Dragon preceded its name with, I could infer some things about its past. Giantyer ¨C it¡¯d killed Giants. Same with Kinsbane ¨C it¡¯d probably killed some other Dragons before. It was proud of its physical power, considering how many titles mentioned its ability to destroy things, so we probably needed to specifically mention that.


    And there were some other things I¡¯d learned from small things Astintash had said. Little context clues to give me some ideas on what we could do.


    But that still left me with the question of how it¡¯d found us. Did it somehow see us under the stone overhang, or something?


    I felt myself begin to fade, and hurriedly selected a time ¨C the maximum I was allowed to go back, four hours.


    And then I was back, lying under some rubble. For a second, I panicked. Why was I covered in rocks? Had I identally gone back four minutes or something instead of four hours, and now I was still crushed under the fallen stone of the overhang?


    But then I realized where ¨C and when ¨C I was. This was during the time we were hiding from the Dragon the <em>first</em> time, when it flew harmlessly over us. We were safe.


    I peered up from underneath the stones and sticks I¡¯d piled up on top of myself and gazed at the soaring beast that I¡¯d just seen up close. And as I did so, I saw its glowing yellow eye shift ever so slightly, meeting mine. Then it looked away and kept flying.


    It was then that I realized. It <em>had</em> seen me just now! Before, when this had first happened, I thought I may have seen it nce down at me, but hadn¡¯t been sure. And when it left, I¡¯d just assumed I was mistaken. But that time I was sure. Astintash had seen me.


    It¡¯d probably noticed us on the mountain, but didn¡¯t want to attack until it was sure we were headed for it and not just making our way through. Or it wanted to get a gauge on our abilities, or had been weakened from its previous assault, and wanted to make sure it was in top shape before engaging with a group of unknowns. Whatever the reason, it knew we were here, and it seemed like it¡¯de and ¡®talk¡¯ with us in about four hours if we were still around.


    Part of me wanted to go back again with my second use of Time Loop, four <em>more</em> hours back, that way we could be sure it didn¡¯t know where we were. But if we did that, we¡¯d either have to engage with it when we had no uses remaining, or wait until tomorrow to get my uses back, which would just dy our ns and give the Demons even more time to establish their defense.


    No, we needed to try this now, when the timing was right.


    I knew what Astintash wanted from us. I also knew that, at least this time, it was willing to talk. Sort of. It¡¯d made a single surprise attack that had killed Erani and the Dryad instantly, but when it realized I¡¯d survived, it was fully willing to discuss things with me for a bit. And it only killed me because I didn¡¯t navigate the conversation correctly.


    Now, I could say the right things and actually get to negotiate with it if we survived that initial attack, so all I had to do was get it tond in a way that <em>didn¡¯t</em> kill us. And something it¡¯d said back there gave me an idea of how to do so.


    ¡°An?¡± Erani said, leaning over to look at me.


    I blinked. I was still lying under cover, long after Astintash had flown away.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, sorry,¡± I said. ¡°Time Loop.¡±


    She immediately nced back up at where the Dragon had disappeared. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°You can probably guess. Dragon killed us all. And I <em>think</em> it saw us when it flew over just now. At least, I can¡¯t imagine how it knew where we were when it killed us. We were well-hidden at the time.¡±


    ¡°Well, if it saw us, what are we supposed to do to stay alive this time?¡±


    ¡°Well, I learned a good bit about it before it killed me,¡± I said. ¡°First, its name is Astintash. Well, really, it¡¯s Mountaintamer, Giantyer, Kinsbane, Wastyer, Ashbearer¡­ wait. No, there was another one in there. Homeholder? Yeah, Homeholder, Wastyer, Ashbearer, and then it was¡­ Earthquaker? Or no, was it something else? Fuck.¡±


    My Intelligence Stat clearly wasn¡¯t helping me quite as much as I hoped it would with remembering all of the titles. Even if I did remember most, I suspected that if I missed one or even just didn¡¯t get them in the correct order, it¡¯d be seen as a massive insult to Astintash.


    ¡°It¡¯s, uh¡­¡±


    Index spoke up. ¡°Mountaintamer, Giantyer, Kinsbane, Homeholder, Wastyer, Ashbearer, Chasmcreator, Earthquaker, Humanughterer, Wisdomholder, Bearer-of-the-Heavens Astintash.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the correct order. I¡¯m looking through my logs right now. When you heard it, that¡¯s what you repeated back to yourself to try and remember.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Thanks.¡± I¡¯d forgotten Index not only experienced what I did, but had an immutable log that¡¯d forever hold all information I took in. It effectively gave me a perfect memory, as long as Index had the time to look back through and find it. That was¡­ useful. I hadn¡¯t even considered that when I first thought about what Index could do for me.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Erani asked.


    I repeated the full name back to her. ¡°Index just reminded me. Pretty useful to have around, honestly.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m here for!¡± Index said cheerfully.


    ¡°Anyway, yeah, that¡¯s the Dragon¡¯s name. And it¡¯ll get pissed if you don¡¯t remember, so we should probably all go over it a few times to make sure.¡±


    ¡°Okay, so if we know the name, it won¡¯t kill us?¡±


    ¡°...Not quite. It killed us instantly without even giving us a chance to talk, but Dark te saved me. It was only after it noticed I was still alive that I could get some info out of it. So if we can get it to avoid attacking initially, then we can show off that we know about it, and from there we should be safe.¡±


    ¡°And how do you suggest we keep it from killing us at first? Should we just find a deep cave we can hide in so it can¡¯t reach us, or something?¡±


    ¡°That may work, but I think I have a better idea,¡± I said. ¡°When it was talking to me, it kept talking about how insulted it felt that I didn¡¯t do any of the ¡®good manners¡¯ stuff. I didn¡¯t know its name, didn¡¯t know its history, but most importantly, it said I didn¡¯t bring an offering.¡±


    Erani slowly nodded. ¡°An offering. So we just have to find something to offer it.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. We put out an offering in a big, visible area, and then when it flies by to kill us, it¡¯ll see that we¡¯ve left the offering out, be impressed by our good manners, ande down to talk. Then we can negotiate about taking down the wall and stuff. If that still doesn¡¯t work, then we can just go back, run away, and try again tomorrow. It¡¯ll suck to be set back another day, but that way we aren¡¯t risking anything.¡±


    ¡°Okay, that makes sense. But what can we offer? Not really much of value that we have on us. And definitely not anything big enough to draw its attention from up in the air.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have anything on us <em>now,</em> but we can gather something to offer.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡± Erani frowned.


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°Dragons have to eat, don¡¯t they?¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    ¡°And we saw quite a few Drakes on our way up here.¡±


    Erani looked at me.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s time to do some big-game hunting.¡±

 Chapter 103: Offering

    Chapter 103: Offering


    Erani, the Dryad and I walked through the forest, looking for Drakes.


    We knew that, in just a few hours, it was pretty unlikely we¡¯d actually get enough Drake meat together to actually sate a Dragon¡¯s appetite. Drakes were big, sure ¨C head to tail, they were probably five, or even ten, paces long. But I¡¯d just seen a Dragon up-close. And I could tell just how much it¡¯d need to eat to actually be satisfied.


    Still, I wasn¡¯t too worried. Leaving out this offering wasn¡¯t actually about giving something of significant value to the Dragon ¨C it could easily kill a few Drakes. No, this was more about showing that we had friendly intentions. It¡¯d at least be able to tell that for <em>us</em>, killing Drakes was difficult and dangerous, and if we were going out and doing that solely for its sake, we obviously respected it and wanted to help.


    Thankfully, Index¡¯s perfect memory of events helped us here, as well. It knew where and when we encountered Drakes in the past, so all we had to do was re-trace those same steps to find them again.


    It could also tell us the general Levels of those Drakes, meaning we could ensure we never got into a fight we couldn¡¯t win. And as long as we made sure we were prepared before each fight and didn¡¯t fight them in bad circumstances like we did back on the cliff, we¡¯d be fine.


    We still didn¡¯t tell the Dryad about Time Loop ¨C we were under time pressure here, so it just wouldn¡¯t make sense to stand around and exin this whole thing to her while I was trying to figure things out with Index, n ahead for our encounter with the Dragon, or fight Drakes.


    Instead, we just told her we¡¯d changed our minds about the exact way we¡¯d go about doing this. It wasn¡¯t like we straight-up lied to her, though. I told her I found out some new information with one of my System abilities, and it didn¡¯t seem like our old n would work.


    Honestly, she didn¡¯t inquire much about how the System ability worked, so I didn¡¯t even have to tell her anything untrue. Instead, she just asked what we¡¯d be doing, and when she¡¯d get to see the Dragon.


    So that was how we spent our next three or so hours. Most of our time was just spent walking from ce to ce, with me making liberal use of Expedite to keep our pace up ¨C I¡¯d even started using two stacks of the Spell on myself and Erani while we were in tter areas where we could afford to be a bit clumsy.


    Because of my extreme rate of Mana regeneration, even if I started eating into my reserves from the usage of Expedite, it¡¯d only take a bit of rest once we got to our destination before I was fully filled up and back in top shape, ready to fight.


    First, we took on a Red Drake ¨C those had ess to fire magic. Someymen got Red Drakes confused with Dragons; you¡¯d often hear someone bragging about how they survived a Dragon attack, when in reality it was just that they¡¯d gotten a bit too close to a Red Drake¡¯s territory and it¡¯d chased them off. But really, they were quite different.


    Sure, they were both flying, scaled beasts that used fire, but that was where the simrities ended. Obviously, there was the difference in Level and Size, but Red Drakes also hadpletely different fire magic. They didn¡¯t breathe fire by breathing out a massive, billowing cone that enveloped everything nearby in its intense inferno. Instead, they shot off concentrated balls that¡¯d explode on impact. Really, it was quite simr to Erani¡¯s Firebolt.


    Red Drakes also had a few additional things that Dragons didn¡¯t do. Their skin itself could heat up so much that it could melt steel ¨C at least that was what I¡¯d heard ¨C and they could even start wildfires if they got too hot when in a dry area.


    That heated skin ability really hurt my ability to take on the Drake we fought. While it at least didn¡¯t inhibit Ray of Frost or Crippling Chill, it <em>did</em>pletely destroy my ability to keep contact with Noxious Grasp. So I was demoted to long-range caster in that fight, taking potshots from afar, keeping curses active, and using Gravity Well to keep it grounded, while the Dryad took it on within melee range with her whip.


    Still, despite my own troubles, Erani and the Dryad were just fine while taking it on. It had that Firebolt ability, but didn¡¯t seem to be able to use it too often judging by our fight, so as long as Erani and I kept our distance, it couldn¡¯t do much to hurt us.


    In the end, I got 271 XP for my troubles, and we got a sizable corpse to offer the Dragon.


    But we weren¡¯t done. After killing the Red Drake, we left it where it was and went to find our next victim. I¡¯d spoken with Index and asked it to look through its logs to specifically find a single area we passed through which held multiple close-by Drakes. So, once we killed the Red Drake, the next Drake was close enough for us to get to and kill rtively quickly.


    This one was a White Drake, which used healing and buffs to keep itself strong. That meant it took longer to take down, but also had absolutely no way to attack at a long range. So for that fight, we took a more methodical approach. Sure, it had healing, but using that Healing cost Stamina ¨C it was like my Regenerate Talent.


    We kept it grounded with my debuffs, kept our distance from its powerful w swipes and bites, and took our time to slowly exhaust it, killing it with rtively fewplications. It took a few additional minutes, but taking a bit of extra time to kill it safely was much better than killing it recklessly, taking a bunch of damage, and requiring hours to regenerate that Health.


    For the White Drake, I got another 289 XP.


    After killing it, since it was close to where we killed the Red Drake, we grabbed it and began dragging the corpse back that way. My 17 in Strength helped a decent bit in this, and Expedite¡¯s Dexterity boost helped us ensure we moved optimally, but really we wouldn¡¯t have been able to move such a big creature without the Dryad.


    Her Strength score was obviously muchrger than mine. She was a melee-focused monster, so it made sense, but it was still a bit jarring to see someone with arms smaller than mine so much more capable of pulling so much weight. I knew she¡¯d done things before like pulling me up a cliff with her whip, but that gap in Stats hadn¡¯t ever been made as obvious as it was now.


    After killing the White Drake, we still had a bit more time, and went out to kill one more. Thankfully, I¡¯d asked Index to try its best to find an area with as many lower-Level Drakes around as possible, so we actually had a couple choices.


    The nearest-by Drake was a Green Drake, so that was the one we went for. The fight with it went simrly to our previous fight with the acid-spewing type, except this time much easier, since we were the ones that chose the terrain.


    The Dryad and I took turns alternating who was the main melee attacker, making sure the Drake couldn¡¯t ever overwhelm either person with its pools of acid. And, since I kept draining its Stamina over the course of the fight, it could use that acid-throwing ability less and less as time went on.


    And eventually, like all the others, it fell, earning me a sizable 334 XP. Out of the 1600 total I¡¯d need to Level up, I was now at 1416 ¨C it wouldn¡¯t take much to get me to Level 17. Part of me wanted to push things and try to get one more Drake before the Dragon came, but I knew we didn¡¯t have that much time ¨C especially since we needed to get the actual offering set up. So after killing the Green Drake, we grabbed and began dragging it back to where we¡¯d piled the first two.


    By the time we got it back, it was about thirty minutes until the time the Dragon hade before, so we¡¯d need to be ready by then.


    Now that we had everything in the right ce, it was time to actually construct the offering. None of us really knew what an ¡®offering¡¯ would entail, other than a bunch of stuff to give to the Dragon, but we all did our best to try and at least make everything look presentable.


    We found a high-up teau visible from the air and put the Drake corpses up there, arranging the bodies to look nice and symmetrical next to each other. The Drakes took up one side of the t area, while we stood on the other. And with that, everything was set up.


    I watched as the massive beast soared down from its mountain, going to attack the wall like it¡¯d done before. On its way back up, it¡¯d most likely see us.


    <em>¡°When is Dragon arriving?¡±</em> The Dryad said.


    <em>¡°Soon. Why are you so eager to meet it?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Strong monster.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, I guess it can definitely do a lot for us. Still, I¡¯d have assumed you¡¯d be more afraid and less eager. I sure as hells am more than a bit anxious about talking to the thing.¡±</em>


    I got the impression from her of a mental shrug. <em>¡°It is just a wilderness creature.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, a wilderness creature that could kill you in an instant.¡±</em> I knew it could, too. I¡¯d just seen it, about four hours ago. Or, depending on how you counted, in about three minutes.


    <em>¡°How do Humans say¡­ it is risk and reward. I am confident that risk is low because of n. Am also confident that reward is high.¡±</em>


    I just shook my head. Seemed like she was confident in this Dragon¡¯s ability to help us take down the wall. I supposed that was a good thing, so I didn¡¯t need to go convincing her otherwise.


    ¡°So we¡¯re just waiting for the Dragon toe?¡± Erani asked me. ¡°When is it supposed to see us?¡±


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re technically in a different spot, so I don¡¯t have a perfect idea, but it should see us when it¡¯s on its way back up the mountain. Really, it already saw us, but it just waited toe and actually confront us. So even if we¡¯re in a different spot, it¡¯s still looking around for us. So, since we¡¯re in such a visible location, it¡¯ll probably find us around the same time.


    She took a deep breath. ¡°Alright. So we¡¯re just going to, I guess, <em>talk</em> to it.¡±


    ¡°Just a conversation.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Yeah, maybe to <em>you</em>. You can just go back if you die.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll also go back if you die, you know.¡±


    She pursed her lips. ¡°Well, thanks. I guess that¡¯s a bit reassuring.¡±


    ¡°Did you not think I¡¯d do that? Go back and change things if you died?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe. I guess I just felt like you¡¯d try to prioritize your own survival. So if you felt like you needed me¡­¡±


    ¡°I do need you,¡± I put an arm around her, standing and gazing across the mountainous skyline. ¡°Not just for survival, either. We¡¯ve been through a lot together. I wouldn¡¯t just let you die if I thought it¡¯d help me a bit.¡±


    She just nodded silently and leaned her head on my shoulder.


    ¡°I care about you. Seriously.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯d say I¡¯ll do my best to keep you alive, too, but I don¡¯t think it carries the same weight when I don¡¯t have time travel powers,¡± she chuckled.


    ¡°Well I appreciate it either way,¡± I smiled back.


    My positive mood was interrupted by movement in the distance. A figure flying through the air, toward us. The Dragon Astintash, clearly looking in our direction.


    It neared us, pping its wings to slowly descend toward the teau our offering was set atop. The wings¡¯ ps blew air all across the area, stirring the leaves of the nearby nts and scattering the sticks we¡¯did out to get its attention. My long hair was pushed back with each movement of the beast¡¯s wings.


    I subconsciously took a few steps back, intimidated by Astintash¡¯s entrance despite already having seen it up close. I could tell where Dragons got the nickname ¡®tyrants of the air.¡¯


    Itnded with a loud thud, shaking the surrounding area.


    ¡°You have acquired my attention, Humans,¡± its deep voice rumbled my heart. ¡°What do you want from me?¡±

 Chapter 104: Draconic Dealings

    Chapter 104: Draconic Dealings


    The Dragon Astintashnded on the teau we stood on with the three Drake corpses making up our offering, shaking the area and almost pushing me to the ground solely from the shockwave.


    ¡°You have acquired my attention, Humans,¡± Astintash boomed. ¡°What do you want from me?¡±


    I steadied myself and looked up at the massive monster¡¯s face staring down at me. Erani seemed frozen in shock, but the Dryad looked like she was the least afraid out of all of us despite the fact that I was the only one that¡¯d actually spoken to this thing before.


    ¡°We have an offering for you,¡± I began. It couldn¡¯t hurt to point out all the trouble we¡¯d gone through for it. ¡°Three Drakes, all in by our own hand, and all with minimal meat missing. We hope they will fit your tastes.¡±


    It nced over at the pile of corpses. Inparison to the Dragon¡¯s massive body, the monsters we¡¯d worked so hard to kill seemed tiny. Then it looked back at us. ¡°Hm. That will make a fine snack.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. Better than nothing. ¡°Wee to you, oh great Mountaintamer, Giantyer, Kinsbane, Homeholder, Wastyer, Ashbearer, Chasmcreator, Earthquaker, Humanughterer, Wisdomholder, Bearer-of-the-Heavens Astintash, in pursuit of you allowing us to assist you take down the wall constructed by the Humans and Demons in the valley.¡±


    It raised its eyes when I said its whole name without pausing or stuttering to remember the next part ¨C a feat I¡¯d aplished both from a decent bit of practice before our meeting, and from the fact that I was just repeating what Index whispered in my ear as I spoke ¨C and it looked even more surprised when I said we just wanted to help it with something it already wanted to do. I began to get a bit hopeful that we could do this second try, leaving myst use of Time Loop for the assault on the wall itself.


    ¡°And how would you help me?¡± Astintash said.


    ¡°We have inside knowledge about how the shield you¡¯ve been struggling with functions,¡± I said, going through the list I had in my head, ¡°we are powerful enough to assist with the soldiers within the wall, and we could serve as a distraction if things go poorly.¡±


    ¡°Hm. What is this inside knowledge?¡±


    ¡°We would rather tell you once we have guaranteed that you n on epting our offer.¡±


    ¡°Bah, fine,¡± it rolled its eyes in a massive motion. ¡°Then tell me this: why do you want to help me?¡±


    ¡°W-well, you are so great a being that¨C¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± it interrupted me with a frustrated grunt. ¡°I know how you Humans are. You do not consider me so great as to risk your life for my own sake. This is why I dislike dealing with you Humans. Liars, connivers. What do <em>you</em> gain from helping me?¡±


    Hm. It¡¯d probably just be best to tell the truth here. A sanitized version of the truth that omitted the fact that we were the reason the wall was there in the first ce, but still the truth. ¡°We want to pass through this mountain range, and that valley is our only way through without intruding on the territories of the Dragons, such as you. So to respect the Dragons¡¯ territories, we must pass through the wall. And they will not let us through without us destroying it. We have the knowledge to destroy them, but not the power. Which is why we require your assistance.¡±


    At this, Astintash drew a w to its chin in a surprisingly Human gesture, pausing to think. After a moment it said, ¡°and why did you want my help, specifically?¡±


    Now it was my turn to stop and think. Part of me wanted to give an answer saying that we chose it because it was amazing and fearsome and powerful. Something that wasn¡¯t very true ¨C we¡¯d really pick any Dragon out there ¨C but that would stroke its ego. The other part of me kept in mind what it¡¯d just said about Humans being liars and how it hated us for that. But I couldn¡¯t really think about what to say for too long, so in the end I just spat out something a bit in-between.


    ¡°Dragons are a fearsome species, and one that we have great respect for. And when we saw you attacking the wall, we could see that you were not only as strong as the legends said, but also that you, specifically, were willing to help us with our task. We would never want to waste a Dragon¡¯s time by asking it to do something it isn¡¯t willing to do in the first ce.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± Astintash grunted. ¡°I see. So you selected me because I was most avable from my species.¡±


    ¡°Yes, a species which is most powerful!¡±


    ¡°Then how do you know my name?¡±


    I froze. I¡¯d gotten a bit lost in the conversation ¨C if we just selected it because it was the closest-by, then how would we know its name and all of its titles? That could only happen if we¡¯d heard of it beforehand. And we couldn¡¯t say a bluff along the lines of ¡®because we know the names of all the Dragons,¡¯ because it could easily test our knowledge on that.


    What could we even say?


    But just then, Erani stepped forward and spoke. ¡°We¡¯ve nned on passing through this valley for some time now, and so we spoke to our fellow Humans about what we might encounter on the way. We unfortunately heard nothing of this wall, but we <em>did</em> hear quite a bit about you, oh great Mountaintamer, Giantyer, Kinsbane, Homeholder, Wastyer, Ashbearer, Chasmcreator, Earthquaker, Humanughterer, Wisdomholder, Bearer-of-the-Heavens Astintash. All of the Humans we spoke to told us that your territory was close to this valley, and that you, of course, have killed many of our kind. Such strong Humans, felled by your hand, we were warned against drawing such a powerful being¡¯s ire. That is why we have heard of you, specifically.¡±


    I let out a breath, thanking the gods she thought of something.


    ¡°Hm. I did not know I had such a reputation among the Human tribes.¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes,¡± Erani continued. ¡°Wee from a settlement that is close to the wastnd, so the Humans have sometimes seen you soaring above the mountaintops. I would go as far as to say you¡¯re famous from where wee from.¡±


    The Dragon smiled in satisfaction. Of course, by smiling, it bared its teeth and let out the scalding-hot breath from its mouth, reminding me just how easily the massive monster could kill us. That reminder could very well have been intentional, when I thought about it.


    Regardless, it continued. ¡°Good. It seems Humans are not quite so stupid and ignorant. At least, not the ones youe from.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, bowing my head.


    ¡°What about this other creature?¡± Astintash asked, nodding in the Dryad¡¯s direction. She was staring at the Dragon with a look of determination on her face, but as far as I could tell, she hadn¡¯t said anything yet ¨C to me, Erani, or Astintash. ¡°This is not a Human ¨C or, not one I of a type I have seen before.¡±


    ¡°She is a Dryad. She¡¯s traveling with us, and I guarantee that she will be of help when attacking the wall,¡± I said, trying to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand. If Astintash asked too many questions, our story could fail under scrutiny.


    ¡°Hm, the wall,¡± Astintash said. ¡°I suppose I could take advantage of that inside knowledge you im to hold. Where does your knowledgee from? And how much confidence in it do you hold?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m one hundred percent sure it¡¯ll work,¡± I said. ¡°Ites from the System itself. I have something in my Status that can give me information like that, and it¡¯s never wrong.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m ttered you think of me like that,¡± Index butt in, to which I couldn¡¯t really respond verbally.


    ¡°...Hm. Well I can agree to allowing you to help me,¡± Astintash said, ¡°but we will see to what extent. Give me the information, and if this is not a trick, I will let you live. I can swear that on my name.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I nodded. ¡°The main piece of information about the shield that would help you is what it¡¯s weak to. It¡¯s strong against magic, but against¨C¡±


    I was interrupted by rumbling. At first, I thought Astintash was about to rear up and stomp on us or something, but when I looked at it, I saw that it was just as surprised as I was. And the noise wasing from behind, not from the beast in front of me.


    Erani and I turned around alongside the Dryad, who¡¯d already turned and backed away from the sound. There was nothing there now, but the rumbling was drawing closer and closer by the second.


    ¡°What is this?!¡± Astintash demanded angrily. I could feel the heating off of its breath behind us.


    ¡°I have no idea,¡± I said back at it, pedaling away from the sound down the mountain. ¡°Monster attack?¡±


    ¡°No monster would <em>dare</em> draw near me! This is <em>your</em> trickery! You Humans!¡±


    ¡°We have no idea what¨C¡±


    I was interrupted yet again by sound, but this time it wasn¡¯t just rumbling. Voices ¨C ones I¡¯d heard quite a bit in these past weeks. The voices of Infernals roaring out in anger.


    A group of half a dozen or so Demons crashed through the trees, leaping and climbing up onto the teau alongside us. Their faces twisted with murderous glee upon spotting me. But, of course, Astintash had no idea who it was they were eager to kill.


    ¡°I <em>knew </em>it!¡± the Dragon roared. This time I could feel the full force of its scalding breath on my skin, just barely not hot enough to light my clothes ame. ¡°You were with them. Leading me into a trap? Pathetic. I¡¯ll show you what a mighty being does against such puny forces!¡±


    ¡°No, wait,¡± I turned and pleaded, ¡°you don¡¯t understand! The Demons aren¡¯t after you, they¡¯reing after¨C¡±


    But I was toote. With a gale of wind that blew me off my feet, Astintash pped its wings and took to the air, opening its mouth and showing off a dangerous glowing from its throat. The glow of deadly heat.


    I tried to crawl over to a nearby rock to take cover behind, but I knew it was pointless. Nothing would save me from the wrath of a Dragon. With the roar of a monster and the roar of an inferno, the mes rushed across the mountain, engulfing us all, and¨C


    You have died.


    And then I was back.

 Chapter 105: Cliffside Camouflage

    Chapter 105: Cliffside Camouge


    And then I was back, once again lying down beneath the rubble I¡¯d used to hide myself from Astintash. I looked up and watched it nce down at us once again ¨C it¡¯d seen us, and there was nothing I could do about that.


    I got up and brushed the dirt and pebbles from my ragged clothes, trying to think. There were Infernalsing our way. How many were in that group? I thought back, trying to count them up in my memory¡­


    ¡°Six,¡± Index¡¯s voice said to me. ¡°ording to what you saw, that group had six Infernals in it.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± I nodded. ¡°Thanks. So if there are just six¡­¡±


    ¡°An?¡± Erani interrupted me. ¡°You good?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right, yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Time Loop. Uh, so that Dragon¡¯sing down the mountain in a few hours to kill us, and also some Infernals areing <em>up</em> the mountain to kill us. In the same number of hours.¡±


    She just took a breath. I could tell that, at this point, revtions like those must¡¯ve gotten pretty routine to her. ¡°Okay. Tell me what happened?¡±


    ¡°And then, once we thought we¡¯d reached an agreement with Astintash, the Infernals came in. So they¡¯re apparently hunting for us on the mountain.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯d they find us?¡±


    ¡°No clue. I mean, the Dragon wasn¡¯t exactly <em>subtle</em> when it flew down to talk to us. They probably just noticed that itnded in a different spot this time and went to check it out.¡±


    ¡°But there were only six of them? Why would six Infernals think they could take on a Dragon in a fair fight? I mean, it¡¯s not like they knew our rtions with it were so uneasy ¨C for all they knew, it¡¯d just help us kill them and then we¡¯d carry on talking.¡±


    I just shrugged. ¡°Infernals haven¡¯t exactly proven to be the smartest of Demons in the past. More of a brawn type than brains, I guess.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she sighed. ¡°So what¡¯s the n then? If we don¡¯t get an offering, Astintash kills us. But if we spend time preparing an offering for the Dragon, we won¡¯t have time to prepare for the fight against the Infernals and <em>they¡¯ll</em> kill us.¡±


    ¡°I think we might be able to do this,¡± I said. ¡°If we go <em>down</em> the mountain, the Dragon probably won¡¯t search the whole base just to find a few people it saw out of the corner of its eye hours ago. It¡¯ll onlye searching for us if we¡¯re still up near its home.¡±


    ¡°Probably. Not sure that I like staking my life on those odds.¡±


    ¡°Not sure if we have any way of getting better odds.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°So we go down the mountain and run. And then, I guess we can just try to move around those Infernals?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t doubt that there are more squads moving around on the mountain, but if they¡¯re all that small, it shouldn¡¯t be an issue to maneuver around them and stay hidden. I mean, we¡¯ve avoided their little squads before. Shouldn¡¯t be any different, especially now that we¡¯ve got Index to keep an eye out for us.¡±


    ¡°Still, not sure that I like traveling down a mountain that we <em>know</em> is infested with Infernals. Especially when a Dragon might be looking for us in a few hours, too. It could see us and attack, even if we¡¯re further down the mountain.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s where thesee in.¡± I fished through my pockets until I found what I was looking for ¨C the six invisibility rings we¡¯d gotten from the scout our enemies had sent a couple days ago. Each ring, when activated, would offer fifteen minutes of invisibility, but would then be inert ¨C it was a one-time use Enchantment.


    ¡°Hm. So if we each get two, then it¡¯s thirty total minutes for each person, split over two periods of fifteen. And if you ever take damage, the invisibility ends, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I know, it isn¡¯t the <em>best</em> solution, but we can use them in a pinch. Ideally, though, we can get down from here without having to rely on them.¡±


    <em>¡°When do we talk to Dragon?¡±</em> The Dryad asked me. I¡¯d been keeping her up to date with what we nned to do as we spoke. Not telling her about Time Loop, of course, but just sticking with my previous story that I had a skill which was giving me information ¨C again, not technically a lie.


    <em>¡°Probably tomorrow,¡±</em> I responded. No way I¡¯d try and intentionally negotiate with it without at least one buffer of Time Loop to keep me safe. <em>¡°For now, we just need to avoid the bad guys. There are too many to kill.¡±</em>


    She frowned, visibly irritated at our constantly-shifting ns. <em>¡°There are </em>always<em> too many to kill. Haven¡¯t killed bad guys in long time.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, but there¡¯s not much we can do about that, can we? They¡¯re bing more cautious as we prove ourselves more dangerous.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I just kill one bad guy? As a treat?¡±</em>


    I closed my eyes and tried not tough. The Dryad¡¯s sense of reality was so warped, she clearly didn¡¯t get the humor in what she¡¯d just said. Really, it was half-funny, half-sad that she didn¡¯t get thatmitting murder wasn¡¯t normally considered to be a ¡®treat¡¯ by kids her age. <em>¡°If it¡¯s possible, sure. But probably not. We¡¯ll see.¡±</em>


    She looked down dejectedly. If it weren¡¯t for the context of what she¡¯d just said, I¡¯d have thought the childlike pouting was almost cute.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re going down the mountains, avoiding the Demons, and trying again with the Dragon tomorrow,¡± I confirmed with Erani. ¡°Sound good?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°A bit frustrating, though. I was going through so much mental preparation to talk with it today.¡±


    ¡°Well now you¡¯ll get a bit more time to do more of that preparation,¡± I shrugged. Though I did agree with her, if just a bit. It¡¯d take a while to figure out a new way to safely converse with Astintash, and in that time, I had no doubt the Demons would only fortify their position more. Time was of the essence here, and even if we escaped with our lives, we were only giving them more of it.


    But there wasn¡¯t much we could do about that, so we started heading down the mountain face, retracing our old steps.


    It took a couple hours before Index warned us of the first group. I was still using Expedite on all of us, though this time it was less to allow us to move quickly, and more to ensure nobody tripped while scaling down the steep terrain. We needed it, too, since as we moved around a cliff face, Index¡¯s voice came in telling me about nearby Infernals and startling me so much I almost slipped and fell on the spot.


    Six Infernals, like I¡¯d seen before, were heading up the mountain and checking around rocks and bushes in obvious search for us. They were speaking with each other, but unfortunately I didn¡¯t understand theirnguage, and Index couldn¡¯t trante for me. So we just hid around the cliff face with Index¡¯s guidance, stayingpletely out of sight of the group as they passed us by. After they were gone, we kept moving.


    And then we encountered another group. Another six Infernals, moving up the mountain and still scouring thend. Again, we were able to avoid them. With an invisible scout to keep an eye out for us, we were effectively one step ahead of the groups at all times. And because the Demons had no idea I had it, they couldn¡¯t n around our foreknowledge.


    If they did know, I had no doubt they¡¯d send much, muchrger groups, thoroughly checking every area, rechecking them, and rechecking them again before moving on. At the end of the day, even perfect knowledge of what was a dozen paces ahead of you wouldn¡¯t do anything if they made sure they looked in every hiding spot. But for now, it seemed like the Infernals were enacting more of a quantity over quality n. A n that obviously wasn¡¯t working for them.


    Over the next hour, we passed by group after group, safely hiding from each gang of six Infernals as they failed to find us sneaking by them. Really, it helped my confidence quite a bit, and my mood slowly but surely scaled upward as we scaled down the mountain. We never needed to use the rings, either, meaning we could save them forter. Maybe it was actually possible to just get by safely and just deal with this tomorrow.


    Though, someone with us was still trying to drag my mood back down.


    <em>¡°Could have killed those bad guys,¡±</em> the Dryad said to me. It seemed like she¡¯d fully embraced me as the authority figure and Erani as the friendly, nurturing figure. So what that meant was that whenever she just wanted to have a nice conversation, she went to Erani. But when she wanted toin, she went to me. <em>¡°Only six of them, no others nearby. Isted enemy. Terrain was good for ambush.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I¡¯ve already exined this to you,¡±</em> I responded,pletely exasperated. <em>¡°If we fight them, even if we win, we¡¯ll just draw more attention to ourselves. They could havemunication methods, ways to get back to the other squads if they¡¯re attacked. Or they could just yell for help. And even if we beat them with no trouble, the next squad thates across them will see the dead bodies and know we¡¯re near.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But would be reducing bad guy numbers. Getting attention of more bad guys would just mean more fighting and more killing bad guys.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°And getting the attention of </em>enough<em> bad guys would mean you die. Alongside me and Erani.¡±</em>


    She paused to think. <em>¡°Have not died yet from battle. Bad guys have never killed us, we have only ever killed bad guys. Never lost a fight.¡±</em>


    I had to remind myself not to tell the Dryad that no, we actually had lost quite a few fights, but I¡¯d just gone back to save us afterward. <em>¡°Just because it hasn¡¯t happened before doesn¡¯t mean it won¡¯t happen now. We haven¡¯t died yet because we¡¯ve been cautious. Not because we¡¯re invincible.¡±</em>


    She just pouted and turned to Erani, no doubtining that I told her she couldn¡¯t kill anyone. I just sighed and kept moving, keeping an ear out for more of Index¡¯s warnings. And Erani rolled her eyes as the grievances from the Dryad flooded in.


    After another hour, it seemed like we¡¯d gotten past the squads of Infernals. We hadn¡¯t seen any of them for a while now, so we were at least past the bulk of them. We¡¯d probably keep moving for a bit longer, just to make sure we were out of sight of the Dragon, then move somewhere out of the way and rest. All we¡¯d need to do would just be hole up in some cave or something, wait until the next day, and try again.


    So as we marched down the steep mountain face and no warning from Index came through, I felt more and more rxed. It was a nice change of pace from the constant on-edge hiding before, though I still wasn¡¯t totally off-guard ¨C we could¡¯ve just wandered into a gap of their forces crawling all over the mountain like a swarm of ants. They could also start moving back down once they didn¡¯t find us up there, and we¡¯d have to deal with all the groups we¡¯d evaded once again.


    Still, my confidence was high as we approached the bottom of the mountain and it started evening out and getting a bit less steep.


    But then, I heard something that rmed me.


    Not Index¡¯s voice, warning me of another squad of Infernals. No, whatever this was, it wasn¡¯t close enough for Index to see it. But the fact that it was far away and I <em>still</em> heard it only made me more afraid.


    It was the roar of a crowd¡¯s march.


    The unmistakable cacophony of jingling armor, hundreds of ted steps impacting the dirt, voices of people making idle conversation. All mixed together into the same swarm of sound.


    And it was getting closer.


    ¡°Fuck, fuck, fuck,¡± I muttered, instantly moving back up. Erani and the Dryad heard it too ¨C and this time, the Dryad retreated alongside us withoutint. Anyone who heard how many people there were would know they were outmatched.


    Even with Expedite boosting our Dexterity, though, it was much more difficult moving up the mountain than it was moving down. I clumsily slipped over loose stones and my legs burnt from the effort of bounding upward after working to move me as quickly as possible all day long.


    ¡°Rings?¡± Erani asked. We already each had two rings on our hands, ready to be activated.


    I tried to calm my mind and think. ¡°No, not yet. They aren¡¯t in view. It onlysts fifteen minutes, and the army still sounds like it''s a few minutes away. We can activate them once they¡¯re closer, that way we have the full amount of time to sneak by.¡±


    Though I still had no idea <em>how</em> we¡¯d sneak by ¨C hence the fact that we were currently fleeing, trying to buy some time. The soldiers would almost certainly be too tightly packed-together for us to slip through their ranks. And if the crowd wasrge enough, we¡¯d also be unable to move around them within the maximum thirty minutes of invisibility we¡¯d get.


    ¡°An, group behind you to the left,¡± Index¡¯s voice warned in my ear.


    I nced over, and sure enough, saw another one of those groups of six Infernals ¨C what I now realized must¡¯ve been splintered-off scouting groups sent ahead of the main army that was climbing the mountain. They marched forward, ahead of the army that was still out of sight, toward us. Compared to the still minutes-away crowd of soldiers, they were an in-view immediate threat.


    I pointed them out to Erani, and we all instantly tried to veer off to the side, away from the Infernals as they moved up the mountain behind us. We hid behind rocks and bushes when possible, but unlike the other times we hid from the Infernal groups, we couldn¡¯t just find a good hidden area and stay there until the group passed. We had to keep moving up the mountain or risk being overtaken by the army.


    My mind raced, trying to figure out the optimal path forward. Obviously we still had the rings. Worst-case scenario, we could all pop them and run, hoping for the best and that we wouldn¡¯t need themter. For now, though, using them still wasn¡¯t <em>strictly</em> necessary. The immediate threat was a simple six Infernals. A while back, that would¡¯ve been an unbeatable threat. But all three of us had gotten quite a bit stronger since then, and a few Infernals wasn¡¯t the certain-death fight it once was.


    ¡°An, they¡¯re getting closer,¡± Erani whispered to me. ¡°Fight?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I whispered back. ¡°Agree. Using the rings is too wasteful. We take them out quickly and cleanly and keep moving before the army gets here. If they get too close, then we can use them.¡±


    ¡°Alright, sounds good. Let¡¯s¨C¡±


    Erani was interrupted by the roar of one of the Infernals. Seemed like one of them had spotted us. I snapped my head over to see the six Infernals rushing over to us, growling and shouting in anger.


    This was a fight we¡¯d have to get through fast. Not only did we have the armying from below, but we also had more Infernal groups around that might hear themotion, too. And, of course, I still wasn¡¯t confident we were far down enough from the mountain to be safe from Astintash¡¯s rage.


    Effectively, we were cornered on all sides.


    But, of course, as I knew, there was one thing cornered animals could always do.


    <em>¡°Dryad.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Do you want to kill some bad guys?¡±</em>


    She grinned, eyes lighting up in a childlike expression of pure joy. <em>¡°Finally!¡±</em>

 Chapter 106: Elevated Encounter

    Chapter 106: Elevated Encounter


    The group of six Infernals charged at us as we attempted to climb up the mountain¡¯s edge into a more favorable position. Fortunately, we were higher up than our enemies, meaning we had a height advantage over them.


    Of course, none of us fought with heavy weapons ¨C arge portion of the height advantage was that gravity would work for your swings while working against the other¡¯s ¨C but the simple fact that they¡¯d have to move uphill to get to us while we¡¯d move down to get to them could easily change the oue of our battle.


    Part of my mind was still urging me to stop wasting time and just run away, but I knew once these Infernals knew where we were, they wouldn¡¯t stop chasing. Or, worse, they <em>would</em> stop chasing, go back to the army, and then we¡¯d have theming after us, too.


    Besides, there was no way I¡¯d be able to convince the poor Dryad to flee from such a tant challenge. I could tell by the look on her face, she was fighting back here. No matter what.


    But we¡¯d have to do this quickly. The more time we spent stationary, fighting against this splinter group, the more time the main army would have to catch up to us ¨C and we¡¯d have no chance of beating them alone.


    Erani backed away, hands out and ready to throw Firebolts. ¡°The sound¡¯s going to draw attention.¡±


    The Infernals screamed and charged.


    ¡°Attention¡¯s already been drawn,¡± I said, shaking my head. Even if we got out in time, the army woulde across these bodies. Sure, it could be possible that they were killed by Drakes or something, but they¡¯d know we were near. But that was why I wanted to save our rings until thest possible moment ¨C we¡¯d almost certainly have to use them soon, and I wanted to ensure we had as much time as possible with them active. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    The Nymph charged at the group with me hot on her tail. A set of Firebolts from Erani whipped past our heads and straight into our approaching enemies, knocking a few of them back. By this point, her Spell had Ranked up quite a bit since thest time we¡¯d fought against them, and it showed.


    The Demons grunted and stumbled back at the explosions, smoke clearing away to reveal new burns and blisters covering the areas the Spells struck. But it wasn¡¯t enough to stop them, and they continued forward.


    The moment they were in my range, I hit all of them with Crippling Chill, applying my now-signature debuff to each monster, and strafed to the side with my hand out, casting Rays of Frost at the crowd as the Dryad approached, demanding their full attention.


    With Crippling Chill draining their Dexterity by 15.5 and Ray of Frost adding on 7.77 more, the Demons now had to go up against an enraged Dryad with a full 23.27 Dexterity taken away from them ¨C and that was ignoring the fact that Crippling Chill also stole some of their Stamina every second. They outnumbered her, but I still didn¡¯t envy their position.


    One of the Infernals let its guard down, readying itself to take on the Dryad and forgetting about me.


    You have struck Level 22 Infernal for 62 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 22 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.77.


    14.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 766.


    You have struck Level 22 Infernal for 58 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 22 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.77.


    14.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 752.


    You have struck Level 22 Infernal for 61 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 22 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.77.


    14.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 737.


    In an instant, three of my Rays mmed right into its face and eyes, and it screamed out in pain, turning to me with a furious re. It grabbed one of itspanions and split from its group, charging straight at me.


    As I focused my attention on my two new foes, I heard explosions and the unmistakable sound of the Dryad¡¯s thorned whip slicing through flesh in the background. I wasn¡¯t too worried about helping them out for now.


    I cautiously backed away as the two Infernals approached, shooting off yet more Rays of Frost any time I felt like I had a good shot at any of their vital areas ¨C the better the hit, the more damage it¡¯d deal. Still, I was walking backwards and they were running forward, so with every second that passed, they got closer and closer.


    But I still had a couple more tricks I could pull. The moment they both were only a few more paces away, I activated Gravity Well, but only targeting one of them ¨C the one in the back. Instantly, it stumbled under the new weight of its body, but the other didn¡¯t realize what¡¯d happened and kept charging. Now they were separated from one another, at least to an extent. For a time being, I¡¯d only have to deal with one of them.


    It threw a punch at me and I ducked under its massive fist, feeling the wind created by the strike blow past my hair. I¡¯d cast two stacks of Expedite on myself, so dodging a single punch was borderline trivial at this point. After it struck at me, I pounced forward and grabbed its leg, activating Noxious Grasp to drain some Health and Stamina, and to stick the Infernal with a Fester for the next five seconds.


    It roared and tried to kick me off, ncing around only then to realize that itspanion was still struggling up the mountain a few paces back, burdened by Gravity Well¡¯s weight. It snarled and reached down to grab me and yank me away, but I backed off before it could touch me.


    You have struck Level 22 Infernal for 55.5 damage and drained 27.9 Stamina over the course of 3.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    8.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 616.


    Raising up my hand to cast a couple more Rays of Frost at my two attackers and keep their Dexterity debuffs active, I stole a moment to nce over at the other four that Erani and the Dryad were dealing with.


    One of the Infernals was kneeling on the ground, covered incerations and struggling to pick itself back up. The ground below it was covered in the Demon species¡¯s signature blue blood, and it obviously wasn¡¯t able to fight effectively anymore.


    The other three were at least on their feet, but honestly didn¡¯t seem to be in too much better shape. I watched as the Dryad did a full-on backflip over one of their heads, lowering her whip as she did so to catch the Demon by its neck and pull it down to the ground with her. It gasped out in surprise and pain, calling out for help from its two standingpanions, but before they could do anything, Erani shot off a pair of Firebolts and sted them both back.


    Yeah, I still didn¡¯t think they needed any of my help. Honestly, I couldn¡¯t tell if the Dryad actually needed to pull all of that acrobatic shit when she fought, or if she was just showing off. We hadn¡¯t tried boosting her already-high Dexterity with Expedite since she never needed it while climbing, but after seeing this, I kind of just wanted to see how high we could push her.


    A thrown punch from an Infernal pulled me out of my head. Right, I was still in a fight. I quickly activated Gravity Well on the nearest Infernal, dropping it off the one in the back so I could buy myself some time and back away from them, retreating further up the cliff. I wanted to keep the high ground advantage I had over them ¨C with their lowered Dexterity and heavy bodies, they struggled even more than normal to chase me uphill.


    The Infernal from the back quickly overtook the one in the front, trudging up the ever-steepening mountainside to chase after me as I continued to shoot off Rays of Frost at them both.


    Because of the army that was still approaching, I didn¡¯t want to use my now-standard strategy of taking advantage of my high Mana/Minute to drag fights out as long as possible, finishing off my enemies through lowering their Stamina. We were on a time limit, and dragging out the fight like that would only serve to get us caught by the more dangerous enemy.


    So instead, I¡¯d focus on getting in max-damage shots with Ray of Frost and try to lower their Health to 0 that way. Even though Infernals wereplete damage sponges, they still only had so much Health. And with my much-increased maximum Mana, I could probably take a couple of them down even while using a less-efficient way of converting Mana to damage.


    Besides, even if I ran out, I always had Erani or the Dryad there to help deal thatst bit of damage necessary ¨C or I could just wait a bit of time for some of my Mana toe back.


    One of them got up to me again, so I utilized my boosted Dexterity to sidestep a punch, get in close, and tackle into the Infernal¡¯s side with Noxious Grasp active. It stumbled, and at that exact moment I hit it with Gravity Well, and it fell to the ground. The one still climbing also had Gravity Well active, so it was still a good few paces away from us as I held the monster down and shot a few point-nk Rays of Frost straight at its face.


    62 damage, 61 damage, 59 damage, 62 damage, 60 damage, 61 damage.


    Then I leapt back off as the other Demon neared us.


    You have struck Level 26 Infernal for 82.3 damage and drained 41.4 Stamina over the course of 4.6 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    12.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 423.


    ¡°How much Health should they have left?¡± I took a breath and asked Index as I continued backing away from the Infernals. Honestly, I probably could¡¯ve fought just fine without retreating so much, but backing away served another purpose ¨C getting us further and further away from the ever-approaching army of reinforcements. Once our enemies were dead, we could flee at full speed, but even now, every pace I moved away from that unbeatable force was another pace of progress.


    ¡°Not much,¡± Index responded. ¡°They¡¯re Levels 22 and 26, and you¡¯ve hit the higher-Level one for more damage in total, so you can estimate it to be around¡­ 700 for each.¡±


    I nodded and checked my Mana. Around 425. With Ray of Frost, I¡¯d have enough damage to kill them. Though I did want to leave as much leftover forter as possible ¨C my Mana/Minute wasn¡¯t enough to outpace keeping Expedite active on both me and Erani, so having some in reserve for that while we fled after the fight would be integral to our survival here.


    At this point, Crippling Chill had fallen off all six of the Infernals, but my two were in bad enough shape that it wouldn¡¯t be necessary, and when I nced over at the four Erani and the Dryad were facing off against, I saw that they didn¡¯t need it either; they¡¯d already killed two of them, so now they just had to finish off the other half, which shouldn¡¯t have been a problem.


    I raised my hand and fired off a new barrage of Rays of Frost, focusing on the lower-Leveled Infernal first. I¡¯d shoot its face, then when it raised its hands to defend itself and try to push forward, I¡¯d either shift my position to get a new shot at the head, aim at the neck, or find a new decent spot to hit ¨C gut, chest, groin, whatever. Hitting an enemy in the head was always the best way to get maximum damage for a Spell, but plenty of other spots could get you close.


    I had to duck and weave under a few swings as I hurried to get the fight over with, but soon enough, the first Infernal fell.


    You have offered major contribution toward the ying of Level 22 Infernal.


    You have earned 404 XP. Your XP is 1.93k.


    Threshold reached. 1.60k XP.


    Your Level has increased to 17.


    Due to achieving Level 17 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Strength and 3 Endurance.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 17.


    And after that, it may as well have been over. The second seemed to understand this, ncing over at its fallen brethren, then back behind it, at the three out of four that¡¯d died fighting Erani and the Dryad.


    It tried to run away, back down the hill, but I quickly hit it with a fraction of a second of Gravity Well, pulsing it on and off andpletely ruining its coordination. The Demon fell to the ground,pletely exposed, and I finished it off with Ray of Frost.


    You have offered major contribution toward the ying of Level 26 Infernal.


    You have earned 481 XP. Your XP is 806.


    I took a breath now that the main struggle was over and nced over my Level-up benefits. It¡¯d taken some effort, but I¡¯d gotten another Level! There hadn¡¯t been much for this one other than the extra Stats, but my next Level would be 18, and that¡¯d mean a new Spell.


    But I couldn¡¯t consider the possibilities long ¨C the sound of the army¡¯s march was getting louder by the second. Part of me wanted to sit down and apply my Stat Points, but I knew we wouldn¡¯t have that much time. Our immediate enemies were gone, but that didn¡¯t mean we got to rest. It just meant we were free to run as fast as we could away from the unstoppable force.


    I looked down at Erani and the Dryad just as they finished off the fourth Infernal.


    You have offered minor contribution toward the ying of Level 23 Infernal.


    You have earned 41 XP. Your XP is 847.


    I¡¯d been getting those notifications as they killed the Demons off during the fight since I¡¯d cast a few Spells on all of them right when it started, but mostly ignored them. In total, though, I did get a decent bit of XP from the four they killed.


    ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± I called down to them, ¡°we need to go!¡±


    Erani nodded, pulling the Dryad along with her up the hill to me.


    But just as I turned to start climbing up again, I heard a shout from behind and turned around to see shes of armor through the trees.


    Many, many shes of armor. Spread out across my vision, easily hundreds of soldiers all approaching.


    And in the front¡­


    ¡°There!¡± A female voice called out.


    You have been shot. 141 damage.


    Your Health is 189.


    An arrow, flying so fast I didn¡¯t even know it was there before it pierced my skin, ripped straight through my shoulder and tore through the other side, embedding itself into the stone behind me.


    I instantly fell to the ground, both trying to duck into cover from any more projectiles, and out of intense pain from the hole that¡¯d just been made in my body.


    ¡°An!¡± Erani dashed up the hill toward me, stumbling over loose stones. She kneeled by my side . ¡°What happened?¡±


    I only saw her for a moment, but I knew who shot me. A woman with a bow as tall as she was, wearing a familiar set of armor.


    The same woman who, in an old, doomed timeline, had killed me. Shot me straight through the head with an arrow in the same way she¡¯d just shot a hole in my shoulder.


    I still remembered her name, too. The same name that woman, Cami, had called her. Asmo.


    She was here once again to take my life, but this time she didn¡¯t have someone there I could convince to spare me.


    No, instead, she just had hundreds of people alongside hundreds of Demons, all just as eager as she was to kill me.


    ¡°Rings!¡± I coughed out in pain, mentally moving to activate mine. But even with the magical invisibility, I knew things wouldn¡¯t be so easy. Following footprints, using special tracking skills¡­ there were ways for them to follow us.


    You have been made invisible.


    For the next 15 minutes, you gain the following effects:


    -You are affected by invisibility. You cannot be sensed visually by anyone.


    -If you take damage, invisibility automatically ends.


    The effect activated, and I began to see myself fade away. But above all of that was a single thought.


    This wouldn¡¯t be thest I saw of Asmo. I could tell, in that single glimpse of her face. She fully intended to kill me. Either she¡¯d find me through my invisibility now, or she¡¯d find me fifteen minutester when it wore off. But she was going to do her damndest to end my life.


    And I knew in that moment that I¡¯d have to do <em>my</em> damndest to end hers, in turn.

 Chapter 107: Sierra Smuggle

    Chapter 107: Sierra Smuggle


    ¡°Rings!¡± was all I could get out, activating mine as quickly as I could.


    You have been made invisible.


    For the next 15 minutes, you gain the following effects:


    -You are affected by invisibility. You cannot be sensed visually by anyone.


    -If you take damage, invisibility automatically ends.


    Instantly, I disappeared from sight. I looked down and couldn¡¯t see my hands, body, or clothes. Invisibility was interesting because, in addition to making your own person unable to be seen, it would also affect certain things you carried with you.


    Nobody was quite sure how it decided, but, for example, while a shirt would be made invisible, a backpack wouldn¡¯t. Gloves would, but a sword you held wouldn¡¯t. And, obviously, the moment you removed any of these objects from your person, they¡¯d instantly be visible.


    Of course, I consciously understood what invisibility would mean. Nobody, not even I, would be able to see me. However, I didn¡¯t realize just how disorienting something like that would be.


    I¡¯d let my hair grow out a bit recently ¨C some of that due to the necessity of recent events ¨C and so, at this point, it was always down at the sides of my head, framing my face. There were always strands falling down in front of my eyes every now and then, and any time I moved my eyes upward or to the sides I could always see it. But not anymore. I could still <em>feel</em> my hair there, it <em>should</em> have been there, but I couldn¡¯t see it.


    I also couldn¡¯t see my nose between my eyes. Normally, I wasn¡¯t even aware of my nose always present in my sight, but now I couldn¡¯t get the pointedck of it out of my thoughts. It just felt <em>wrong</em>. And, of course, worst of all ¨C I could still see when I blinked, straight through my eyelids.


    During the few seconds it took for me to adjust to these changes ¨C and during the time it took to deal with the excruciating pain from the hole torn in my shoulder ¨C I watched Erani and the Dryad disappear from sight, as well.


    <em>¡°C¡¯mon, we need to move,¡±</em> I silently messaged the Dryad. <em>¡°Tell Erani too, follow me¨C or, wait. You can¡¯t see me. Uh¡­ Go over there, in the direction of that big tree. We need to stick together so we aren¡¯t isted when the effect wears off.¡±</em>


    I moved away, watching my footsteps and the footsteps of my twopanions impact the ground so I could keep basic track of where we all were. It was very strange to look down and not see my own body below me, but I was beginning to get used to it.


    The soldiers of the army, of course, had begun moving forward to attack us after that Archer woman ¨C Asmo ¨C spotted and shot me, but it didn¡¯t seem like they knew we¡¯d turned invisible yet. They were still moving toward our original position where we¡¯d hidden at first, but we were now long gone from there. Hopefully they¡¯d have trouble tracking us as we moved further.


    I was, of course, using Regenerate to try and heal some of the damage I¡¯d taken from Asmo¡¯s shot as we moved, each activation of the Talent increasing my Health by 22 over the course of 10 seconds. It wore off after the first activation, and I used it a second time, eager to move out of the dangerous territory of being able to be killed by a single one of her arrows.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 22.1 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    42.2 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 56.


    I technically had enough Stamina for one more activation after this, but I still wanted to keep enough energy to actually move up this mountain, so I wasn¡¯t sure if I¡¯d use it. After I saw the full effect of this activation of Regenerate, my Health would be sitting at 233, so I was at least out of the immediate danger zone for now.


    One thing I¡¯d noticed as I Leveled up more and more was the effects of increasing my Stamina/Minute. Generally speaking, exerting the body a certain amount would always cost the same amount of Stamina. If a person weighed the same amount, carried the same gear, and moved over simr terrain over the course of multiple days, each time they moved over that same terrain, it¡¯d cost them the same amount of Stamina.


    So, if moving over that terrain cost the person, say, 2 Stamina every minute, it wouldn¡¯t matter what Level they were. It¡¯d always cost 2 Stamina every minute to move in that way. Obviously, increasing maximum Stamina would allow a person to move for a longer amount of time, but so would Stamina/Minute.


    Most people thought of that number as just something that would help rest <em>after</em> exerting your body, but in truth, it was always regenerating Stamina, even while you were draining it. Currently, my Stamina/Minute was a bit over 1. Compared to the 0.36 all Unssed people had, that meant, in the previous example with movement costing 2 Stamina every minute, I¡¯d be able to travel for twice the amount of time they could ¨C and that was before taking into ount the fact that I¡¯d also be starting out with a higher Stamina value than them, too.


    Where this really started to get ridiculous was once Stamina/Minute overtook the amount of Stamina expended per minute. Hells, I¡¯d already noticed at times that, when we were moving at a more leisurely pace and went some time without having to hike up hills or fight monsters, I¡¯d check my Stamina, go thirty minutes of walking, and then check my Stamina again to see it was <em>higher</em> than I¡¯d started at. What that meant was, during those moments of walking, I must have been using up less than 1 Stamina every minute, and therefore my Stamina/Minute was enough to cover it with some extra on top.


    This was the reason why you¡¯d often hear about duals between High-Level opponents taking hours, sometimes even days if they were strong enough. Mages had enough Mana and warriors enough Stamina tost them that long. Of course, Melee-Type sses had Martial Arts which expended Stamina to use, and us Magic-Types had our Spells, so all of those excess resources would end up going to those sinks during a high-intensity conflict, but still. At a certain point, fights would work more like a siege than a battle, with each side trying to slowly chip away at the other¡¯s resources while preserving their own.


    So, while I was a bit worried about pushing my Stamina so low in the middle of being chased, it actually wasn¡¯t as much of a death sentence as it may have been in the past.


    However, there was one thing that still made me hesitant to use that third activation of Regenerate.


    Expedite would increase my Dexterity temporarily, meaning I could suddenly move much, much faster. However, moving faster wasn¡¯t free. Moving the body would still require just as much energy as before, Dexterity would just allow me to expend that energy at a much quicker rate. So, if I could move twice as fast, I¡¯d have to use twice as much Stamina, too. And when being chased, that meant I¡¯d want to hold on to as much Stamina in reserve as I could in case I ever needed that burst of speed.


    We continued up the mountain, reaching the tree I¡¯d pointed out to the Dryad before.


    <em>¡°Okay, now let¡¯s keep moving up, between those big rocks,¡± </em>I said. It was important to ensure we stuck together here, since it was so easy to lose track of everyone with our invisibility active. <em>¡°If you can, try to mask your footprints by kicking behind you as you move. But don¡¯t let it slow you down and get you left behind. I can¡¯t see if you¡¯re moving slower than us.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Will bad guys catch us?¡±</em> the Dryad responded with a question. I could sense the fear in her mind as she sent the message. <em>¡°Like you said before. Too many to kill. I¡­ I am sorry for wanting fight.¡±</em>


    It was a moment that broke my heart, hearing her apologize like that. She was a child, forced into this awful survival situation. <em>¡°No, no, I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t catch us. And if they do, we have each other. I¡¯ll protect you, and you can protect me. We take care of each other, okay? I promise. And don¡¯t apologize for wanting to fight. We have enemies, and you wanted to make them pay for hurting you. I want to make them pay, too. And we will, together. After we survive.¡±</em>


    As a response, she just sent a vague response of affirmation andmitment, a bit tooplex to trante into a single sentence. But I could tell she trusted me, and that was all that mattered in the moment.


    We squeezed between the rocks, the hard surface helping to ensure we left no tracks behind us as we continued up into the mountainside. At this point, the soldiers realized we were gone from our previous hiding ce ¨C I could easily keep track of what was going on with my vantage point. They were scouring the nearby area, looking around trees and rocks for us. Judging by the fact that they were looking ¨C trying to <em>see</em> us ¨C it seemed like they hadn¡¯t yet picked up on the fact that we¡¯d used invisibility.


    I watched as Asmo walked up to the area they¡¯dst seen us, inspecting it on her own. She held her hands behind her back, inspecting each overturned rock, disturbed leaf, and speck of dust perfectly.


    Standing behind her was another woman I recognized ¨C this one looked like she was a Berserker ss with a battleaxe in her hands. She was one of the soldiers from the royal guard with Asmo, but I didn¡¯t remember if I¡¯d ever heard her name. She didn¡¯t seem as enthusiastic about finding and killing me as the Archer was ¨C she was more standing on guard and trying to protect her own life than actively seeking me out ¨C but if she was with them, she was obviously dangerous.


    Asmo bent over and touched something on the ground. Probably a footprint, or some other track we¡¯d left behind. I knew they¡¯d find something eventually, but watching them suddenly start chasing along the same trail we¡¯d just walked made me more than panicked.


    I was still pretty low on Mana from our fight with the Infernals ¨C I was currently at 173 ¨C so I wanted to avoid casting Expedite for now. Using it on both me and Erani would sink me down below 100, which would essentially mean I¡¯d be useless if a fight broke out. Sure, if we actually got to the point of fighting we¡¯d probably be fucked anyway, but I wanted to save spending thest of my Mana on Expedite as ast-resort option, at the very least.


    Besides, for now, we still slightly outpaced our pursuers. They had to spend their time tracking us and trying to figure out where we¡¯d gone, so as time passed, little bits of additional distance were put between us.


    A minute passed, and my Mana regenerated a bit more, up to 227. The soldiers picked up pace a bit more as they followed our tracks upward, seeming to understand the general direction of our movement.


    Another minute passed, my Mana moving up another slight amount up to 281, and the soldiers picking up their pace yet more. As such arge force, I could tell it was difficult to actually get word out for everyone to get moving, but now that they <em>were</em> moving, and they knew where to move, they were like a force of nature. The same boulders we scurried over were demolished by specialized Magic-Types in the front, trees that would be in the way were chopped down at the base.


    At this point, they¡¯d gotten to the point of moving faster than us, slowly reducing that same distance we¡¯d just put between us and them. And in front of that force moving toward us was that damned Archer, following our tracks. Even with our efforts to hide them, we were no match for an expert like her, it seemed.


    It was clear I¡¯d just have to use my limited Mana on Expedite. I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep it active for long, but we needed to buy some time.


    <em>¡°Can you tell Erani toe close to me?¡± </em>I asked the Dryad. We¡¯d defaulted to using her as a method of passing silent messages since Archers were high in Dexterity and Dexterity enhanced hearing. <em>¡°I¡¯m going to use that Spell on both of us so we can move faster than the bad guys.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay.¡±</em>


    After a moment, I watched as a set of footprints in the ground walked over to me. To be honest, I¡¯dpletely lost track of which set was whose because of the invisibility, but it seemed like this was Erani. I reached out a hand, blindly feeling around until I touched her skin.


    But just as I was about to cast Expedite on her, I heard a voice.


    ¡°Uh, you may not want to do that.¡± It was Index. It¡¯d been silent for a bit now, probably understanding that any sudden noise from it would startle me and threaten causing a scene that¡¯d make us easier to spot, so if it was talking now, it was probably important.


    ¡°What?¡± I whispered in as silent a tone as possible. Really, it was more just moving my lips than anything. Index didn¡¯t need to <em>hear</em> me as much as I just needed to put the intention of speaking into my mind so that Index¡¯s log could pick it up and it could read my words from there. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ shoot. I can¡¯t really say.¡± It sounded stumped and frustrated. ¡°Just¨C you¡¯re going to want that Mana soon.¡±


    I nced around, side to side. Were there enemies around? Was it warning me of an ambush? I ryed everything it said to the Dryad, asking her to pass the words on to Erani, too. I felt Erani¡¯s hand leave mine as she presumably nced around for something that might attack us soon, too.


    I didn¡¯t see anything, but obviously Index wanted to warn us about <em>something</em>. What was it?


    ¡°Ah! Finally, I can tell you something else,¡± it¡¯s voice came through again. ¡°You¡¯re looking in the wrong direction.


    I nced down. Hellions? No, I didn¡¯t feel them. So if it wasn¡¯t down, then it must¡¯ve been¡­


    ¡°Oh no,¡± I muttered, not quite caring that I might be heard from someone. There were much bigger thoughts on my mind.


    I nced upward toward a figure that flew above us, blotting out the sun. Massive, covered in scales, and definitely not a Drake.


    It roared. A Dragon¡¯s roar. That deep bellowing scream echoed out as Astintash hurtled toward the ground in front of us, diving straight down toward the mountainside. It got closer and closer, until¨C


    It crashed straight into the army¡¯s forces, creating a massive shockwave andpletely destroying the surrounding terrain. I was flung to the ground, as were Erani and the Dryad, I suspected. The trees around us split and splintered from the impact, and even some of the boulders closer to the impact cracked as the earth shook below us.


    I groggily lifted my head and looked over to the Dragon which was now standing in the middle of the decimated army, corpses littering the ground around the crater that¡¯d formed around its feet.


    ¡°You dare?!¡± Astintash boomed, spewing mes from its nostrils as it snapped its head around at the surrounding soldiers. ¡°You dare muster this pathetic army to try and attack my home?!¡±


    It stomped its feet once again and whipped its tail into a few stragglers behind it, then opened its mouth and billowed out a cone of me, incinerating everyone in front of it, and turned around to spew them across the entire battlefield.


    Even with us being quite a number of paces away, I could feel the heat from where we were.


    Thankfully, as we weren¡¯t Astintash¡¯s main targets, I wasn''t damaged. A message from the Dryad and whisper from Erani confirmed they were safe, too. The people in the army, however¡­ Anyone who hadn¡¯t already been crushed underneath Astintash¡¯s feet was burnt to a crisp, the only survivors people who were either far enough away to begin with, or people high enough in Level to have escaped or tanked the damage.


    Still, the Dragon wasn¡¯t immortal. From the back of the army, I could see siege weapons being loaded and readied to fire. Astintash had caught them off-guard and destroyed a healthy portion of the forces, but it¡¯d also made itselfpletely vulnerable in the process. This wasn¡¯t one of its fly-by hit-and-runs like it did against the wall. It¡¯d dropped itself in the middle of enemy forces in an effort to kill them all or die trying.


    A ballista shot impacted its side, and when it turned to look at the shooter, it was hit in the side of the face by a glowing-white arrow ¨C one that was no doubt shot by that damned Archer, Asmo. I hadn¡¯t technically seen it, but I had no doubt she had some sort of movement ability to get out of that sort of trouble. Archers were notorious for being able to slip out of a Melee-Type sser¡¯s range in almost any situation.


    Astintash stomped and scraped at the army, killing anyone who dared draw near, but the people were also fighting for their lives, chipping slowly away at the Dragon¡¯s tanky body.


    I felt Erani¡¯s hand grab my shoulder. ¡°They¡¯re distracted, let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± I responded, trying to think through my injuries. ¡°We¡¯re still making ourselves vulnerable if we climb. Asmo¡¯s alive, and if she decides to abandon the soldiers and keep searching for us, she¡¯ll almost certainly be able to track us down. We were absolutely fucked before, but Astintash is providing us a chance to win here, whether it knows it or not. If we leave Astintash here, it¡¯s possible the army could kill it. They brought resources, siege weapons, things specifically made to kill Dragons. They knew it might attack them and came prepared. It could beat them, but if they kill it, that¡¯s our entire method of getting past the wall, gone. We¡¯re back to square zero.¡±


    ¡°Then what the fuck do we do?!¡± Erani slightly raised her voice. I could tell she was panicking, and tried to stay calm, myself.


    ¡°We wanted to negotiate with it before, right? Well, it¡¯s right in front of us, and needs our help. Why not get that negotiation done right now?¡±

 Chapter 108: Alp Attack

    Chapter 108: Alp Attack


    We stood atop a hill, looking out as the Dragon Astintash fought against an army of Human and Demons soldiers. It crushed any that got close like they were ants, and the army seemed to be quickly learning that fact. The Melee-Types scattered while the ones in the back used siege weapons like ballistas and magical cannons to attack it.


    As I watched, glowing chains shot out from different parts of the crowd of soldiers, embedding themselves into the scales of Astintash and tying it to the ground. It shook its massive body to try and rid itself of the clearly-Enchanted chains ¨C and some of them did break ¨C but the moment it tried this, more siege weapons fired and impacted the beast, taking advantage of its moment of distraction.


    Honestly, I didn¡¯t really believe Astintash was in much trouble here. It was <em>possible</em> that the army would be able to kill it, but it was just as possible that the Dragon would wipe them out before they could. Or, at the very least, it could escape and fly away.


    Sure, it was taking heavy fire from dozens of projectiles every second, but this was a Dragon we were talking about. Not only did they have insane amounts of Health, but they also had heaps of abilities to raise their defenses even more. Even if Astintash stopped resisting right now and just let them kill it, it¡¯d still probably take over an hour for them to actually reduce its Health to 0.


    So, by offering to help the Dragon, it wasn¡¯t like we had this massive bargaining chip of ¡®we¡¯re saving your life¡¯ to hang over its head. However, it obviously did seem like Astintash had underestimated these forces ¨C otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t have let itself get attacked like this. It obviously didn¡¯t <em>like</em> getting hurt, even if it wouldn¡¯t technically die, and it wouldn¡¯t have let it happen on purpose. It was currently at least a bit in over its head.


    And this wasn¡¯t even all of the soldiers. There were more back at the wall. So, while we didn¡¯t have the power over whether Astintash lived or died, we <em>did</em> have the bargaining chip that it was now obvious to the Dragon how much it¡¯d need our help to take that fort down. After all, if this was just a portion of their forces, and they were still able to harm it, just how bad would things be when they were hidden behind a one-way magic barrier it couldn¡¯t even break through?


    It¡¯d obviously been having trouble taking them out in the past, but back then they were just some annoying people holed up in a valley. Now they were actively encroaching on Astintask¡¯s territory. It¡¯d certainly realized by now that, if it couldn¡¯t take out that wall, it¡¯d either have to deal with attacks like these forever, or permanently move to a different home. And judging by the beast¡¯s ego, I didn¡¯t think it wanted to admit defeat and run away.


    So now we offered a much more desired solution ¨C we could take care of this problem once and for all.


    It was with that in mind that I looked over to where I assumed the Dryad was ¨C she was still invisible, just like Erani and I ¨C and spoke to her, <em>¡°I want you to send a message to the Dragon for me. It¡¯s too dangerous for me to move in and draw attention to our location. Are you close enough to speak to it from here?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes,¡± </em>she said. <em>¡°Can talk to Dragon.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay. Tell it we want to help, but we also want to make sure it won¡¯t kill us if we do. And be sure to use its full name when you talk to it. Dragons appreciate that sort of thing.¡±</em> It was a shame I couldn¡¯t do the discussion myself, considering I was the only one with actual memory of what¡¯d happened in the past, but I trusted the Dryad to say the right things. She could be a bit tough to understand at first, but as long as she was respectful, we¡¯d be fine. And I¡¯d be coaching her through what to say, anyway.


    There was a moment where Astintash froze up, ncing around as it obviously received the transmission from the Dryad. It of course took fire during this time, but it shielded its face with its wings while it seemed to try and focus on what was happening inside its head. After a few seconds, it came back out and started fighting back against the army again, and the Dryad spoke to me once more.


    <em>¡°It says it will not kill us as long as we are friendly. Can we trust?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, probably,¡± </em>I said. <em>¡°Its life isn¡¯t strictly in danger here, but it probably would like some help, especially with the siege weapons in the back that it can¡¯t reach right now. And, from a long-term perspective, it definitely needs our help if it wants to take down the wall. We¡¯re the only one with the knowledge to destroy the shield, and the enemy is only getting more powerful with time ¨C this assault may as well prove that to the Dragon. So it''s either take down the wall right now, or be forced to deal with constant attacks for the rest of its life. Or run away and find a new home. It wants to take that first option, and it¡¯ll need us to do it.¡±</em>


    The Dryad paused to think for a second. <em>¡°So we offering to help it for nothing?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What? No, we¡¯re offering to help because it¡¯ll help us get through the valley, too.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But get nothing in return.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...We get to pass through the valley in return. The wall will be destroyed.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But Dragon is giving us nothing. Dragon receives our help but gives nothing away. We can ask for something too, correct?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, I guess,¡±</em> I frowned. What exactly was she getting at?<em> ¡°But I don¡¯t really think it has anything we want. Not like it¡¯s keeping some random Enchanted gear in a disy case in its cave, or anything. And if we ask for too much, like a ride all the way to the Barinruth Empire, it¡¯ll just kill us for the insulting request.¡±</em>


    I heard shuffling from beside me and saw footprints heading toward the battlefield ¨C was the Dryad moving? <em>¡°Does have something I want. Something it can give away.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What do you¨C wait!¡± </em>I stood and reached out, trying to blindly grab her arm, but it seemed she was already dashing down the hill toward the battlefield.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I heard Erani ask. She must¡¯ve heard the movement from the Dryad leaving.


    ¡°I¨C I don¡¯t know,¡± I shook my head. ¡°I asked her to negotiate with Astintash for me, and it seemed like it was going well. But then she suddenly started talking about how we should be getting paid by Astintash for our help, and then ran off before I could try to ask her what was going on.¡±


    ¡°What? What would she even want from it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I¡¯m wondering,¡± I gazed off into the chaotic battle ahead of us. Her invisibility would probably keep her safe from everything, but why would she even need to get close to Astintash? She could talk to it just fine from here.


    ¡°What are we even supposed to do, then?¡±


    ¡°I guess we just do what the original n was. We move along the sidelines and destroy as much of the siege equipment as we can ¨C especially those chains that are holding it down. And try not to get hit in the process. Don¡¯t want my invisibility falling off of me in the middle of a battlefield.¡±


    ¡°Guess that makes sense,¡± Erani said. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    We both got out from behind our cover to slide down the hill and toward the battlefield as well. Thankfully, nobody seemed to notice our invisible bodies pushing aside nts or kicking up dust due to the absolute chaos that was the fight raging in front of them, so Erani and I were able to sneak forward and toward the back of the enemy ranks, where they kept their siege weaponry ¨C ballistas and cannons, mainly.


    I¡¯d quickly lost where the Dryad was the moment she entered the battlefield; keeping track of her footprints among hundreds of soldiers running around, shockwaves from Astintash swiping at anything that got close, and bright swaths of fire breath sweeping the burnt and brokenndscape was functionally impossible.


    But judging by the direction she¡¯d been moving at first, I suspected I knew where she was going ¨C straight to Astintash. And from the looks of Astintash¡¯s face while it fought, I could tell that they weremunicating in some way as she approached.


    I voiced my suspicions to Erani as we continued to work our way around the main forces and toward the back ranks of the army. Part of our conversation was to n and strategize before we entered enemy ranks, and the other part was just to keep both of us talking so we could keep basic track of where the other was. I noticed that, during any moments when we were silent, it became increasingly difficult to make sure we stuck together.


    ¡°So she¡¯s going toward Astintash, you think?¡± Erani asked. ¡°She isn¡¯t responding to what I say, other than simple one-word replies to the basic stuff. Apparently she¡¯s too busy focusing on negotiations with that Dragon and with avoiding stray attacks to also worry about talking with me. But why wouldn¡¯t she go and help us take down the siege weapons, too?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°She kept asking about whether we could get something from it in return for helping, since it''s in so much trouble right now. I said we might be able to, but I had no idea what it had that we¡¯d want and that it¡¯d be willing to give away. Then she seemed to have some sort of idea and just sprinted off. So I guess she¡¯s trying to get whatever that thing is? I just hope she doesn¡¯t fuck us over with this.¡±


    ¡°She probably knows what she¡¯s doing, if she¡¯s that confident.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s also two years old.¡±


    Erani pursed her lips. ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±


    I just sighed and shook my head. ¡°Not much we can do now. It¡¯s not exactly easy to change her mind when she¡¯s set on doing something.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess.¡±


    We kept moving in silence, but I couldn¡¯t stop trying to guess at what she wanted. ¡°Index, do you know what they¡¯re doing?¡±


    ¡°Well, of course I <em>know</em>, but I can¡¯t tell you. You are aware of what they¡¯re bartering over right now, though.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, I¡¯m aware of it?¡±


    ¡°I mean you¡¯ve heard of the thing before. You know it exists.¡±


    I wracked my memory, trying to think of some sort of object I knew Dragons had in their possession. Maybe the Dryad wanted a tooth, or a scale, or something? People often took parts of dead monsters as trophies and sometimes as alchemical ingredients and things like that, but I couldn¡¯t think of any reason a Dryad would want something like that. Crafting things out of monster parts was definitely more of a Human thing.


    ¡­Wait. Thinking for a moment, I <em>could</em> identify something she may be able to gain from this. But that¡­ there was no way she was trying to do that, right? I mean, how could she take a risk so massive? Sure, that¡¯d mean a huge boost in power, but there was no way the Dragon would do it. I had to be wrong.


    ¡°An?¡± Erani¡¯s voice shook me from my thoughts. We¡¯d arrived at the edge of the army¡¯s forces. The group wasn¡¯t exactly organized, at this point. It was more a frantic surge of some people trying to get as far away from the massive Dragon as possible, some people trying to prevent the others from deserting, and yet more trying to operate the siege weapons in the middle of the chaos than a proper army.


    Really, it was mainly the Humans that were fleeing and the Demons that were doing everything else. It was known that Demons didn¡¯t experience ¡®true death¡¯ if they died in the Overworld ¨C or, at least, sometimes they did, sometimes they didn¡¯t ¨C but I hadn¡¯t heard much more than that. So apparently they were fine with just being killed by the Dragon for the cause of killing me.


    But even still, the weapons they shot could deal quite a bit of damage to Astintash. Plus, I could count three of the magical chain weapons located here, too ¨C there were more scattered around the battlefield that had attached themselves to its scales, but I suspected that even taking out a few would free it up enough to break off the others on its own.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just continue with the n,¡± I whispered. ¡°Take out the siege weapons and Astintash will know we mean well.¡±


    Erani confirmed with a grunt, and I took a moment to put a stack of Expedite on both of us. I¡¯d unfortunately not had enough time to regenerate all of my Mana, but the extra Mana/Minute from Exponential Remation still helped out quite a bit ¨C plus Light te helped to discount my Spells as always.


    After casting Expedite twice, I was left at just over 300 Mana. Not much, but hopefully enough to get the job done. Erani was our main source of firepower when it came to destroying these weapons, anyway, considering she was the one with explosion magic, so ideally I wouldn¡¯t have to cast much in the first ce. I¡¯d essentially serve as bodyguard and distraction, considering it was hardly possible to blow a bunch of shit up without drawing at least a bit of enemy attention.


    ncing over, I still couldn¡¯t quite see what was going on with the Dryad. At the very least, not seeing her meant she hadn¡¯t yet been hit and was still invisible. And whatever was going on, it looked like Astintash was still taking moments to pause and respond to whatever she was saying to it, so it seemed things were going well.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go,¡± I said.


    And, in an instant, Erani leapt to her feet and shot off a Firebolt, blowing up the first of the three nearby chainunchers. One out of three down, so we were making good progress.


    Then, of course, every Infernal and Human near us turned to look at the source of the Firebolt that just blew up in the middle of their army. And, even though they didn¡¯t technically see us, I could tell they recognized Erani¡¯s now-signature Spell.


    They knew we were here, we just had to make sure they didn¡¯t know where in ¡®here¡¯ we were. And that was where my main job of distraction woulde in.


    It was time to join this already-chaotic wreck of a battle, and make it just a bit messier.

 Chapter 109: Concealed Clash

    Chapter 109: Concealed sh


    Erani and I stood, invisible from our rings, watching as her Firebolt impacted and destroyed the first chainuncher that we wanted to destroy. That left two more in this area.


    But, of course, those next two wouldn¡¯t be as easy as the first. Because now, everyone nearby knew we were here. The Infernals were the main ones sticking around, Humans much more keen to flee from the massive Dragon that was only barely being held in ce by the chains they¡¯d set up, so they were the ones to run at us the moment the Firebolt exploded.


    They didn¡¯t know where we were exactly because of the invisibility, but they¡¯d be able to figure it out if they tried. Invisibility didn¡¯t protect you from leaving footprints, giving off a scent, or making noises for the keen observer to hear. So it was my job to keep them from being able to focus on finding us.


    Because of the way invisibility worked, things like Firebolts would still be able to be seen, even if the caster wasn¡¯t. That was why everyone could tell our general location ¨C they just had to see the direction the Firebolt came from.


    However, if a Spell didn¡¯t have a visual effect in the first ce, nobody would be able to tell where it came from. And I had two Spells that fit that criterion.


    You have cursed Level 24 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    31.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 280.


    You have cursed Level 22 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    31.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 248.


    I hit the two nearest Infernals with Crippling Chill, also ready to activate Gravity Well the moment they got within range of that Spell. They paused the moment the curse hit them, ncing around wildly for their unseen attacker. At that moment, Erani and I tore off, with me following after her footsteps so we could stick together.


    With my low Mana reserves, I was tempted to ask Erani to shoot at the crowd of enemies to hold them off if things got bad. But I also knew that she must¡¯ve had pretty low Mana reserves, too. We¡¯d both participated in that fight with the Infernals before the army arrived, and I knew she¡¯d spent quite a lot back there. In fact, considering my abnormally high Mana/Minute, I probably had way more to spare here than she did.


    ¡°Yep, you do,¡± Index said. I didn¡¯t even get startled this time at its butting in, a testament to how used I was getting to having it be there. ¡°You¡¯re lucky those chainunchers are fragile enough to break in one hit. Or maybe it¡¯s that you¡¯re lucky your girlfriend has such high-Rank Firebolts and all those Talents to make them more powerful.¡±


    I cursed another Infernal that seemed to notice a patch of grass that got pushed aside by one of us.


    You have cursed Level 27 Infernal with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    31.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 220.


    We were getting close to being in range to shoot another of our targets, but there were so many enemies in our way it was difficult to navigate even short distances without alerting them.


    ¡°Anyway, you might wanna hurry up with your n here. I know you¡¯re aware that theunchers shoot Enchanted chains, but you don¡¯t know what they actually do. Sure, they¡¯re artificially strong and limit movement and all that, but they also make the monster they¡¯re attached to more vulnerable to damage over time. So the longer they¡¯re attached to your good ole pal Astintash, the faster they¡¯ll be able to kill it. You¡¯re probably on a tighter time schedule than you realize.¡±


    Shit! I needed to let Erani know about thatption and get her to move more quickly. But we were too close to the enemies for me to talk without alerting everyone.


    They were still trying to search around the area they¡¯d seen Erani¡¯s Firebolt came from, which we were fleeing from, but the Infernals weren¡¯t stupid. Well, they weren¡¯t exactly <em>smart</em>, but I had no doubt they¡¯d realize we were moving around. And the moment they found a trail of footprints leading to us, it wouldn¡¯t take much longer for them to find us.


    And speaking of footprints, I tried my best to continue keeping track of where Erani was, but it was getting harder and harder as time passed. I still needed to find some way to urge her to hurry because of what Index had told me. Part of me was irritated it hadn¡¯t told me before we got to the point where we needed to be silent, but the other part knew it was probably under some seriously heavy limits by the System.


    I¡¯d realized at this point that the System wasn¡¯t just choicey about <em>what</em> it allowed Index to tell me, but also <em>when</em>. It seemed to determine specific points at which the information provided was within whatever ¡®allowed¡¯ level of helpfulness it internally kept track of, and only allow me to hear that information then. It could probably tell what I¡¯d consider ¡°helpful¡± from that damned log.


    But still, free information was a lot better than nothing. I reached out, trying to grasp Erani¡¯s arm as some sort of signal that we needed to hurry more than we thought, and after a few failed tries I managed to touch her. I felt her jump under my sudden touch, but after she seemed to realize it was me, she moved closer.


    ¡°What is it?¡± She whispered as we continued to move around the alert soldiers, so quiet I could barely hear her.


    ¡°We need to hurry,¡± I murmured. ¡°Complications.¡±


    I felt her shift under my touch as though she were ncing around herself. ¡°Can¡¯t move much faster without drawing attention.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll handle it. We¡¯ll split up, you just go. Move around back and hit the other two chains.¡±


    There was a pause. ¡°...Okay.¡±


    Then she split away, and I saw her footsteps move off into the distance. I needed to stay behind and draw attention here, that way none of them would see her where she was going.


    I stood and looked around. Over to my right, an Infernal gazed over in the direction Erani was moving just as she subtly pushed a nt¡¯s branch over to allow her through to her destination. Seemed like I¡¯d be doing my job right away, then.


    The Infernal stepped in her direction, but just as it did, I held out a hand, and after a breath of anticipation, shot off a Ray of Frost.


    You have struck Level 21 Infernal for 59 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 21 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.77.


    14.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 215.


    Instantly, the dozens of already on-guard soldiers turned all eyes on me. In the background, Astintash roared and continued to fight, but suddenly that noise seemed much less pressing as the Demons sprinted full-tilt at my now-exposed location.


    I ran off in the opposite direction Erani had gone ¨C my still-active invisibility helped keep my specific whereabouts hidden but the Infernals clearly knew I was here, and they could follow the indentations my feet left in the ground as I went.


    I held back a hand and shot off several more Rays ¨C some hitting and others not ¨C both in an attempt to slow down my pursuers and to keep their attention solely focused on me here. Thankfully, thebination of Ethereal Armor¡¯s discount and my Mana regeneration that was nearing 1 per second at this point helped me be a bit more liberal with my casting here.


    Running through bushes and pits of mud, I was clearly leaving quite a bit of a disturbance that the Infernals could follow, but my goal here was speed, not discretion. I heard a roar of anger close to my left and realized one had nked to my side and gotten quite close, so I immediately activated Gravity Well to slow it down, keeping the Spell active until Expedite carried me away from the burdened Demon. That Spell still had about 20 more seconds left on it before I¡¯d have to re-cast again.


    When I¡¯d looked over to avoid the Infernal to my left, though, I also happened to catch the main conflict happening in this battle through the corner of my eye ¨C the chained Astintash fighting off the soldiers.


    Obviously, most of the Melee-Types had cleared out of that area by now, leaving a decimated, ckened pit with only the Dragon in it and¡­ the Dryad. Clearly-visible now, with an arrow sticking out of her shoulder. She¡¯d been hit, ending her invisibility and exposing her to our enemies.


    Still, she seemed safe for now. She was sticking by Astintash, clearly still inmunications with it as she absent-mindedly killed off anyone that the Dragon missed in its radius of destruction.


    I held out a hand and shot off a few more Rays of Frost to keep the Infernals away. I¡¯d led almost everyone fully away from Erani at this point, leaving her to easily take care of the remaining chainunchers. In fact¡­


    I heard a distant explosion, and another glowing chain snapped off of Astintash, freeing its movement more.


    Yep. Seemed like she was already on that.


    A roar from my right this time ¨C another Infernal had snuck up on me. This time I sent off an instant curse of Crippling Chill to lower its Dexterity, and turned to shoot it with a Ray of Frost to lower the Stat even more.


    But as I turned around to aim my hand at its head and shoot the Ray, I saw something in the distance.


    Off on top of a hill, between two trees, there was a figure. Two figures, onerge and one small. They were just standing there, watching, so far away I could barely make out that they were even there, much less what, exactly, they were.


    Trying not to get distracted, I let off the Ray of Frost at my immediate attacker, the Infernal.


    You have struck Level 25 Infernal for 61 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 25 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.77.


    14.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 106.


    The Ray left my hand, a bright light shed, and as expected, the now-weakened and damaged Infernal fell back and away from me, leaving me safe to continue fleeing and serving as a distraction.


    But the moment that happened, I saw a hint of movement from the two figures. And in that second of time, I figured out who the two of those people were. It was the Archer and the axe-wielder ¨C Asmo and the other royal guard. They¡¯d been standing and watching. And in the next second, I figured out what the hint of movement from Asmo had been.


    You have been shot. 56 damage.


    Your Health is 177.


    An arrow flew true through the air and straight into me. It was only because of my heightened reflexes from Expedite and the moment¡¯s warning I¡¯d gotten from the long range that I was able to slightly twist my body and allow the arrow to only slice along my stomach.


    But still, the arrows shot from a high-Level Archer would deal significant damage no matter where they hit you. And, no matter how much damage anything did, it was still damning to me.


    Invisibility has been lifted due to taking damage. You are no longer under the effects of invisibility.


    The Infernals charged at me with renewed ferocity now that I was fully visible to them and I scrambled to move around the mountain face to avoid being in direct line of sight of that Archer, Asmo. Damned woman had gotten a clear shot on me from that far away? All from a single shot of Ray of Frost?! I knew her senses would¡¯ve been enhanced from her Stats and Talents, but that was ridiculous.


    With this many enemies chasing after me, now that I¡¯d lost my main advantage slowing their pursuit down, they quickly began gaining on me. And unlike when I just had to fight off one or two at a time that happened to get close, this time it was all several-dozen of them at once. No way a few Rays of Frost could push them off.


    So I activated Expedite on myself, lowering my Mana to 71 and stacking with the first instance of the Spell to raise my Dexterity to a blistering 81. And then I cast it on myself again, further increasing my Dexterity to 112. My legs were moving faster than I thought they could, taking my body ces more quickly than I could think.


    I acted purely on lightning-fast reflex, instinctively climbing up a cliff face and putting a great deal of distance between me and the Infernals. With three stacks of Expedite on me, I easily outpaced their clumsy movements.


    But still, it took every drop of effort and focus to avoid slipping up as I moved. I wasn¡¯t used to this level of Dexterity, and I had to constantly readjust my movements mid-step to keep myself from tripping and falling. My entire mind was dedicated to making sure I could move forward one more pace, then to move the next, then the next, blocking out everything but that.


    After a few seconds, that ended as my first stack of Expedite wore off, and my Dexterity fell to a more manageable level. But still, just those five or ten seconds put a massive amount of distance between us. I kept running, now fully out of sight of Asmo from the rock face I¡¯d put between us, and I could rx just a bit.


    And I opened my senses back up to the world just in time to hear the third and final <em>snap</em>.


    Erani seemed to have destroyed thest chainuncher, and I looked back to see Astintash shaking that Enchanted shackle from its body. Now with much of its strength returned, it shook violently, and¡­


    <em>Snap, snap, snap.</em>


    The rest of the chains broke off, too. It pped its wings dramatically, as if trying to sear its imposing figure into the eyes of everyone to see its renewed glory.


    And just as I thought it¡¯d take to the skies, ready to sweep across the battlefield and burn everyst soldier around to a crisp, it did something unexpected.


    It lifted up a hand, ws extended ¨C was it about to take a swipe at something?


    But no, it lowered the w gently to the ground ¨C toward where the Dryad was standing, and touched her lightly on the forehead. It was strikingly simr to when the Faerie Queene paid her Tribute, back when she was just a Nymph.


    Wait. Really?!


    The Dragon was giving the Dryad a Tribute. That was actually what they¡¯d been bargaining for. I¡¯d considered the concept, but didn¡¯t think she would actually be able to convince it to do that for her. But apparently, they¡¯d worked out a deal while I fought.


    When she¡¯d gone from a Nymph to a Dryad, I still remembered the intense increase in power she¡¯d gone through. Now, she was getting a Tribute from a fucking <em>Dragon</em>.


    She fell to the ground, writhing in pain as the physical changes onset by the Tribute began to take ce. In just a second, she¡¯d get to her feet, apletely different species empowered by Astintash¡¯s Tribute.


    Just what would those changes be?

 Chapter 110: Draconic Dryad

    Chapter 110: Draconic Dryad


    I stood, watching the Dryad howl in pain as her body underwent the changes of her Tribute.


    Generally speaking, Tributes didn¡¯t normally cause such dramatic changes. All of the Nymphs I¡¯d seen in the past that¡¯d received Tributes got basic things like ws on the tips of their hands. And, of course, Tributes also provided Stats and other System-rted abilities. In terms of bodily changes, they wouldn¡¯t normally do so much.


    But those small changes happened when getting Tributes from a weak monster. The first Nymph I¡¯d ever seen, back when I was first lost in the woods, had gotten its long ws from a Stripek ¨C a monster that didn¡¯t even exist past Level 10. So of course such a weak monster would cause such a weak change.


    When she¡¯d turned into a Dryad from being a Nymph, the Dryad had gotten her Tribute from a Faerie Queene with an utterly massive Level. And getting something like thatpletely changed her species and added on tons of new abilities.


    So, if she was getting a Tribute from a Dragon ¨C something around as powerful as the Faerie Queene ¨C would that mean we¡¯d see her evolve into yet <em>another</em> new species? Tributes stacked upon one another, so a Dryad ¨C something that¡¯d already gotten a Tribute from a Faerie Queene ¨C getting yet another Tribute from a Dragon wouldn¡¯t be the same thing as a regr Nymph getting a Tribute from a Dragon.


    In fact, I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if this was the first time in the history of the world that this species was about to be created. Really, what were the odds that something went out and got Tributes from <em>both</em> of those powerful monsters?


    Last time, she got the ability to instantly cure all wounds and afflictions once a week, the ability tomunicate telepathically with others, a much more powerful weapon that she had finer control of, and a massive number of additional Stats. What would she get this time?


    My thoughts were interrupted by movement in the corner of my eye. An Infernal approached me, ready to attack, and I was forced to pay attention to the fight again. I still had my second ring I could activate for another bout of invisibility, but for now I wanted to try and keep it in reserve.


    It swung and I dodged beneath its fist, backing away and shooting it with a Ray of Frost.


    You have struck Level 22 Infernal for 62 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 22 Infernal with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.77.


    14.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 18.


    I wanted to conserve my low Mana as much as possible, too, so I tried to focus on just retreating from the Infernal for now. Something told me this entire battle was about to undergo quite a massive shake-up.


    Sneaking a nce over at the Dryad once again, I was struck with the sight of apletely different being. She was even taller ¨C I wasn¡¯t close enough to tell for sure, but she¡¯d most likely stand a solid head taller above me now. But even then, her new height was probably the <em>least</em> obvious change about her.


    Her eyes, as always, glowed white. But now, there was a different form the glow took. It wasn¡¯t the steady, unchanging light like you¡¯d find from a magical illumination Spell. Now, it was like that of fire, dancing in her eyes and asionally sending out white embers and sparks floating up from her face. Across her body, the previously-green, natural vines that wrapped across her were now smoldering red, sizzling with an obvious heat that¡¯d scald the skin of whoever touched them.


    And that red-hot nature spread to her whip, which was, naturally, on fire. Full, zing mes spread all along the length of the whip,bining with the thorns to create a truly deadly weapon.


    She got up to her feet and stood straight up, gazing around the battlefield with her newly-aze eyes.


    With its end of the bargain seemingly done, the Dragon Astintash pped its wings and took to the skies, now free from the chains that¡¯d held it in ce. The instant the soldiers saw it free to hunt them down, almost everyone began fleeing in terror.


    As the Dryad looked around, she eventually saw me and caught my eye. In that instant, I got an unexpected System notification.


    A Bond with Level 28 Draconiad has been established. You will now gain a portion of her natural might.


    For as long as you are within 1000 paces of Level 28 Draconiad, you gain the following effects:


    -Your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are each increased by 2.


    -Whenever Draconiad gains XP, you also gain 1% of that XP.


    -You gain 6% Resistance to all heat-based damage.


    I blinked, surprised at the flood of changes that suddenly rushed into my body from the additional Stats. Draconiad? A Bond had been established? What the fuck?


    But before I could process what had just happened ¨C or even finish reading through the whole notification ¨C I heard a growl to my side and saw the Infernal charging at me again. I backed away ¨C something that was made a bit easier due to my extra Stats ¨C and tried to figure things out.


    Draconiad ¨C that was probably just the name of the Dryad¡¯s new species. And, from that new species, she got this Bond ability? I supposed it made sense; as a Dryad, she could telepathically connect with people, offer them aid in the form of healing, and so on. And now, with a Dragon¡¯s Tribute, that connection seemed to be used to also impress some of her newfound power into those she¡¯d connected with.


    Level 28 Draconiad has offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 28 Infernal.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 2 XP. Your XP is 849.


    I nced over to see the Dryad ¨C or rather, Draconiad ¨C standing over the corpse of an Infernal. It seemed like that was how the extra XP system worked. One percent wasn¡¯t exactly a lot ¨C the whole Bond thing seemed to be mainly small boosts like that ¨C but free XP was free XP. Still, I was a bit frazzled by everything going on.


    I got a few more notifications about her killing various Infernals as she whipped her new body into action, flinging herself through the battlefield with more prowess than I¡¯d ever seen her show before. She tore through Demons and Humans alike, and I quickly lost track of her in the crowd.


    At the same time, I could hear Astintash moving across the legions of soldiers and sending them fleeing. It soared over my area and I quickly took cover under some rocks as it breathed its fiery breath down at my pursuers. Whether this was a genuine attempt to save me or just Astintash seeing some soldiers and going to kill them, I had no idea. But I was thankful nheless.


    After it left, I came out from my hiding ce to see that there were no longer any soldiersing after me. Not <em>all</em> of them had died, but the ones that survived were either burnt and unable to fight, or got scared off and were now in the process of running away.


    I also didn¡¯t see Erani anywhere. She was probably still invisible, and definitely too far for me to see something like the footprints she¡¯d be leaving behind as she moved.


    <em>¡°Hey,¡±</em> I messaged the now-Draconiad, using the familiar link between us as I searched. <em>¡°Are you okay? What¡¯s going on?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Am fine,¡±</em> I got an excited response. <em>¡°Am going to kill bad guys!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Wait!¡±</em> I urged. <em>¡°There are way too many, and they¡¯re already retreating. Just let them go for now, and we can regroup. You just got a bunch of Stats from the Tribute, right? You need to give your body time to adjust then, and¨C¡±</em>


    <em>¡°If bad guys are running away, it means they know I can kill them!¡±</em>


    I got several more notifications of her killing more soldiers. She clearly wasn¡¯t listening to me in her excitement from the power-up.


    <em>¡°Okay, fine, kill the ones that are nearby. But after that,e back as soon as you can. I don¡¯t trust the Dragon not to identally crush you or something.¡±</em>


    I nced around, trying to find Erani. We¡¯d need to regroup at some point, but maybe it¡¯d be easier to do so once the one with telepathic abilities came back and could help us coordinate. Because for now, I was relying on just walking around and hoping to stumble into Erani while still staying hidden in case any stragglers showed up.


    Really, it was quite uncanny how quickly everyone cleared out once Astintash was mobile again. Sure, it was possible that one or two stuck back and might attack me, but pretty much everyone left the moment the Dragon got free. Seemed like they didn¡¯t trust themselves that much to take it down after those chains were gone. Well, that, and I was sure the newly-created Draconiad rampaging through their forces didn¡¯t do much to help.


    It didn¡¯t seem like Erani was anywhere immediately nearby, so I just decided to message the Draconiad and ask her for some help in finding each other.


    <em>¡°Hey, do you mind asking Erani where she is right now? She¡¯s invisible, so it¡¯s hard to find her.¡±</em>


    I waited for a second, but didn¡¯t get a response. That¡¯d never happened before. Was there something going on with the new Bond she¡¯d gotten or something?


    <em>¡°Are you getting this message?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Help!¡± </em>I suddenly got back. <em>¡°Too many bad guys! Come!¡±</em>


    My eyes widened. Shit! Instantly, I shot off in the direction I¡¯d seen her run off in. I should¡¯ve insisted for her toe back immediately, not let her just go off and do whatever she wanted. She obviously wasn¡¯t thinking very soundly, and I should¡¯ve been the voice of reason there. She was a <em>kid</em>, I chided myself. Of course she needed an authority to tell her to knock it off sometimes.


    ¡°An, wait,¡± I heard a voice that I recognized to be Index¡¯s.


    ¡°What?!¡± I asked, still rushing over to the aid of mypanion in trouble.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t advise going to save her. We don¡¯t know how many enemies there are, and you don¡¯t have much Health and Mana left. It¡¯s too big a risk to take considering the reward.¡±


    ¡°Considering the reward?!¡± I demanded. ¡°She¡¯s in trouble. She needs my help. It¡¯s not a question of risk and reward.¡±


    ¡°I mean, objectively, it is. Saving her only increases your chances of future survival by a certain amount, and even with her new Tribute, I don¡¯t suspect it will raise your chances by the amount you¡¯re risking right now going to save her. Mathematically, it doesn¡¯t¡ª¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t some fucking math problem you can optimize!¡± I said. This was the first time I¡¯d actually disagreed with one of Index¡¯s rmendations. It seemed like it didn¡¯t do well with emotions.


    ¡°Of course I don¡¯t ¡®do well with emotions,¡¯¡± Index said, reminding me it could read my thoughts. ¡°Emotions are illogical, and relying on them only serves to lower your survival chances. If you¡¯d just stop and <em>listen</em> to me, I¡¯d¡ª¡±


    ¡°Listen,¡± I said, ¡°there¡¯s no point to living if I¡¯m not happy. And if she dies, I won¡¯t be happy. Plug that into your calctions, and run it from there. Saving her is non-negotiable.¡±


    ¡°I¡­okay,¡± Index said after a moment. ¡°In that case, use more Mana on Expedite to get there faster. If there are enough enemies to overwhelm her, there will be enough that you won¡¯t be able to kill them all, no matter how many there are. You¡¯re better off using your Mana now to arrive before they have a chance to kill her.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Thank you. If she dies, I¡­¡±


    My voice trailed off, and I didn¡¯t bother to continue my thought. She wouldn¡¯t die. With a hurried cast of Expedite, using the Mana I¡¯d regenerated in the time since the fight had died down, I moved faster than ever in my attempt to catch up to mypanion.


    <em>¡°Where are you?¡±</em> I asked, trying to keep myself from panicking.


    <em>¡°Downhill! Cornered by bad guys!¡±</em> Was all the response I got.


    I nced around frantically, trying to find any clump of soldiers that might give away her location. The destruction was so dense from Astintash¡¯s rampaging attacks, rubble all around and dirt kicked up in the air, it was difficult to make anything out.


    But then, off to my left, I heard a yell. It was a roar of pain, clearly from an Infernal ¨C not who I was looking for ¨C but it was better than nothing. I rushed off in that direction, trying to find where it came from, when I saw it. A group of soldiers, retreating off down the hill, but obviously being slowed down by something. Four of the Infernals were carrying someone between them, each Demon holding one of the person¡¯s limbs.


    And the person was glowing with fiery anger, eyes aze.


    She was struggling to get away from them, but her power had always been in her speed, rather than her raw strength. And even though her strength was undoubtedly powerful in its own right, getting ganged up on by several massively muscr Infernals was obviously way too much for her to overpower with brute force alone, especially when there were dozens more soldiers surrounding her.


    I rushed forward without thought to save my captivepanion, despite the fact that there were way too many Infernals and Humans for me to take on. Sprinting closer to the dozens of soldiers, I wracked my mind for a solution. Rushing straight in would just get me killed, but obviously I couldn¡¯t just leave her there to get captured ¨C and probably killed, after she was questioned.


    Noxious Grasp? No, too many enemies to kill them all with it. And not enough Mana to use Crippling Chill, Ray of Frost, or Gravity Well to incapacitate them all at once. Even with Expedite, the crowd was too thick for me to get through to the Draconiad, no matter how much Dexterity I had. Besides, I needed my Mana for once I actually got near them. It felt like there was no way through.


    But then I remembered onest tool I had.


    You have been made invisible.


    For the next 15 minutes, you gain the following effects:


    -You are affected by invisibility. You cannot be sensed visually by anyone.


    -If you take damage, invisibility automatically ends.


    With the activation of myst invisibility ring, I disappeared from sight as I rushed straight up to the crowd of soldiers unnoticed. They were in too much of a hurry to get out of here away from the still-rampaging Dragon to hear or see the footsteps approaching them.


    <em>¡°Get ready,¡±</em> I messaged, <em>ing in.¡±</em>


    I felt a sense of genuine surprise from the Draconiad. <em>¡°What? You are here?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Of course, you needed help. What else was I supposed to do?¡±</em>


    I slipped into the crowd, using the fact that everyone was already bumping into each other to easily get by without people realizing it was me touching them. Ducking below arms and squeezing between bodies, I moved through into the center of the group.


    And then, once I got to where the four Infernals were holding the Draconiad captive, I took a moment to get my bearings, and then enacted my hastily-constructed n.


    My Mana had regenerated a bit in the couple minutes it¡¯d taken for me to find the Draconiad, and in an instant, I spent it all. I cursed all four of the Infernals holding her with Crippling Chill, dropping my Mana down to almost nothing, and, in the confusion, tackled my body into the Draconiad¡¯s, ripping her from their grasps.


    She fell to the ground alongside me, blindsided by the sudden force pushing her to the ground, but her fiery eyes lit up when she realized what was going on. Hastily getting to her feet and wielding her weapon, sheshed the burning vine of thorns out in a wide arc at the four Demons and everyone else making up the group.


    Level 29 Draconiad has in Level 21 Infernal.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 3 XP. Your XP is 883.


    Level 29 Draconiad has in Level 25 Infernal.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 4 XP. Your XP is 886.


    Level 29 Draconiad has in Level 27 Infernal.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 4 XP. Your XP is 890.


    Level 29 Draconiad has in Level 22 Infernal.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 3 XP. Your XP is 893.


    Embers and sparks flew through the air as the vine tore through their bodies, finishing them off from their previous wounds, and the rest of the Human soldiers screamed in fear and backed away, clearly not willing to engage with her now that she wasn¡¯t in bonds.


    She struck out at some of them, nicking their backs as they fled from her, and stepped forward to give chase, but I grabbed onto her arm. It still surprised me to see her having grown so tall when just before she was barely my height. But despite the difference in our size ¨C and probably physical strength ¨C she hesitated and looked back when I grabbed her wrist.


    Of course, she wouldn¡¯t actually see anything when looking back at me because of the invisibility, but she could receive my message all the same.


    <em>¡°Please,¡±</em> I said, <em>¡°don¡¯t kill yourself over them. I know you¡¯re angry ¨C I am too. I mean, they almost just killed you, for the gods¡¯ sake. But if you¡¯re going to dedicate yourself to destroying them, at least promise me you won¡¯t destroy yourself in the process.¡±</em>


    She nced back. Some of the people had drawn their weapons and were ready to attack if she struck at them, but none of them approached. In fact, even though they seemed ready to fight, everyone there was backing away, clearly not wanting to engage now that she was free.


    The sound of Astintash¡¯s roar sounded from off somewhere else in the massive, chaotic battlefield, and I saw a cone of mes spout up from the trees in that direction. The reminder of the bloodthirsty Dragon seemed to convince the soldiers to run off for good, at that point, and I let out a breath.


    The person I¡¯d just saved didn¡¯t seem quite as rxed as I was, though. She stared into me as though she could see me despite the invisibility. <em>¡°Why you save me?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What do you mean?¡±</em> I responded.<em> ¡°Of course I saved you ¨C you needed help. You think I was just going to let you die?¡±</em>


    There was a pause. <em>¡°When first get ability to talk to you, could sense your emotions. You were afraid of me, scared I may kill you. You kept me with you because I help kill bad guys and keep you safe, but did not feel like I your friend. Now¡­ you still not feel like I your friend. But not in bad way. You feel like¡­¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I feel like you¡¯re my family,¡±</em> I said, understanding what she meant. <em>¡°And I would never let my kid get ughtered by some Demons. I know, back then, you said that if I felt like saving your life would put my own in serious danger, I wouldn¡¯t do it. Well, now I know that I would. And I hope you know it too.¡±</em>


    She stared at me, her eyes welling up with white tears. <em>¡°I¡­ your child?¡±</em>


    I couldn¡¯t help butugh a bit, saying that someone so much taller than me was my kid. But, really, in a way, that was just how I felt. She didn¡¯t have anyone else, and I wasn¡¯t about to abandon her to live life on her own. So, in a way, she was like my surrogate daughter.


    She nodded, apparently feeling my confirmation with her empathy ability. <em>¡°I know where mother is, saw her when chasing after this group of bad guys. Follow me to find her.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Uh, sure,¡± </em>I said, a bit surprised at her sudden use of the word ¡®mother¡¯ to refer to Erani. She sure did adapt to these things quickly, it seemed.


    But as we walked off in that direction, I felt somethinging ¨C a System message, like the ones I got when I Leveled up. Or, really, it felt more like the one I¡¯d gotten about that Bond thing I¡¯d gotten when the Draconiad had evolved ¨C which I still needed to ask her about.


    But once the notification arrived in my mind, I realized I¡¯d probably have quite a bit more questions for her than I first thought.


    Threshold reached.


    Your Bond with Level 29 Draconiad has deepened.


    Due to your Bond being deepened, it has undergone the following changes:


    Stat Increase: From 2 to 4


    XP Gain: From 1% to 2%


    Heat Resistance: From 6% to 11.6%


    My main question being, how in the fuck did the System just decide the Bond got stronger?

 Chapter 111: A Name

    Chapter 111: A Name


    After walking along the decimated battlefield with the Dryad for a few minutes, we ended uping across Erani, who was sitting up on a tall rock looking around for us, too. Apparently she was in contact with the Draconiad as we searched, so it didn¡¯t take long for us to find each other with her help.


    She slid down the smooth face of the rock,nding on her feet in front of us. She wobbled a bit uponnding, acting a bit simrly to how she did when I¡¯d first started casting Expedite on her. Strange, considering she was used to the Spell by now, and she didn¡¯t even have it active anyway.


    ¡°Hey.¡± I walked up to her and brought her into a tight embrace. I hadn¡¯t realized that we hadn¡¯t really been separated before, ever since the Demons first invaded. It was a bit of a wake-up call just how much I missed her after such a short time apart. It felt totally unnatural to not have her by my side ¨C like missing an arm. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she nodded and we separated. ¡°Just trying to get used to this Bond thing. You have it too?¡±


    ¡°Right, I do,¡± I frowned. ¡°It isn¡¯t that bad though, just a couple extra physical Stats. Or, I guess since you aren¡¯t used to getting extra Stats other than Dexterity, the Strength is messing with you, or something?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, of course,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯d think just about anyone would feel weird after getting an extra 22 in all of their Stats.¡±


    I blinked, not processing what she¡¯d just said for a moment. Had she said <em>twenty</em>-two? My Bond had already been ¡®deepened¡¯ once, and it was only at 4 additional Stats!


    Erani seemed to notice my shocked expression. ¡°Did you get something different?¡±


    Still trying to process what she¡¯d just said, I read out my version of the Status window. It seemed like I could ess it just by focusing, the same way I could ess all of the other general information about my Status.


    You have a Bond with Level 29 Draconiad.


    For as long as you are within 1000 paces of Level 29 Draconiad, you gain the following effects:


    -Your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are each increased by <strong>4</strong>.


    -Whenever Draconiad gains XP, you also gain <strong>2</strong>% of that XP.


    -You gain <strong>11.6</strong>% Resistance to all heat-based damage.


    My mind raced at what she¡¯d said. Twenty-two in each physical Stat?! Even after ounting for my boost, my totals were 22 in Strength, 41 in Endurance, and 23 in Dexterity. She¡¯d have a 32 in each now, ounting for the base 10 she¡¯d start with. What in the fucking hells caused her to get such an insane buff from this?


    ¡°Wow,¡± her eyes widened, ¡°that¡¯s way less than what I got. I was a bit taken aback when I got it ¨C fell t on my face the moment the extra Strength kicked in ¨C and it¡¯s honestly taken this long for me to calm down after seeing it. I assumed you¡¯d gotten the same thing, but I guess my case is special, somehow?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, maybe,¡± I said. ¡°What are your exact benefits?¡±


    ¡°Well, like I said before, the Stat gain is 22, and then the XP gain is 11%, and the Resistance to heat is at 49.4%.¡±


    ¡°Huh. So I guess the XP percentage is always equal to half the Stats, then I¡¯m not sure how the heat Resistance works specifically, but we can probably figure it outter. But, okay, more importantly, did your benefits start out that high? Or did they start at where mine were, and then grow to be where they are now over time or something?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean did they grow? They started out where they are. Is it possible for the Bond to change?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°When I first got mine, it started out at 2 Stats, 1% XP, and 6% Resistance. But then, after saving her and talking with her for a bit, it said something about the Bond being deepened, and the benefits increased to where they¡¯re at now.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± Erani brought a hand to her chin, thinking. ¡°Maybe she knows how this works better than we do.¡±


    Erani and I nced over at the Draconiad. Standing next to her, I still wasn¡¯t totally used to her new appearance. Going from a Nymph to a Dryad, the changes were noticeable, sure, but not too severe. She mainly just got a bit bigger and her hair grew longer. This time, though, I could barely even see who she was before her new look. Her burning eyes, even taller height, even her hair color seemed to have changed from dirt-brown to a deep red. And, of course, the vines wrapping her body were constantly set aglow, embers zing like a hearth as the wind blew onto them.


    It seemed like she could somehow choose whether they were actually hot to the touch, though. When I found her getting captured by those Infernals, their hands were smoldering by the heating from her body. Butter, when I touched her, it just felt warm. Ufortably warm, sure, but nothing that would actually burn me.


    But I supposed all of those changes made sense, considering the being she¡¯d just gotten a Tribute from. I was surprised she¡¯d managed to pull something like that off, considering how proud Dragons tended to be. Hells, I knew Astintash by now, and I knew it¡¯d never tolerate someone asking something like that of it. Or, at least, I thought I knew so. Seemed like the Draconiad had figured something out I hadn¡¯t.


    Anyway, we needed to figure out what was going on with this. If there was a possibility for me to bring my Bond up to where Erani¡¯s was at, it¡¯d mean an absolutely massive boost in power. Or if we could get Erani¡¯s even higher than it was already at. Good gods, bringing her Bond to an even more ridiculous level¡­ The thought of that filled me with anticipation.


    Off in the distance, I could still hear Astintash wreaking havoc among the fleeing army, but I was willing to bet it¡¯de back soon. And once that happened, I¡¯d at least like to have figured out how these changes would affect me.


    <em>¡°Hey, so does your Status say anything about a ¡®Bond¡¯?¡± </em>I messaged her.


    <em>¡°Hm,¡±</em> she sent back, <em>¡°I will look. When got Tribute, lots of things entered mind. Hard to remember all.¡±</em>


    I waited patiently for her as she took a few moments to look through what would clearly have been quite the backlog of System notifications. With the Tribute alongside plenty of kill notifications, she probably had a good bit to look through.


    <em>¡°Yes, see something saying Bond,¡±</em> she said. <em>¡°Bond established with you and with mother.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Right, we got notifications about that, too. It said what the Bond does, but not why they were formed or how they might work in the future. Do you have any information about that on your end?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes. Bond with you is Rank 2, Bond with mother is Rank 11. Bond with you started at Rank 1 but increase to 2. Does not say why, though. Or if close to new Rank. What do Bonds do?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It doesn¡¯t say anything about that? For us, it increases our Stats, copies some of the XP you get and gives it to us, and reduces any heat-based damage that would be dealt to us. Do you not get anything for them?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No. But Tribute gave me Stats, XP, and heat Resistance, so seems like you get portion of that, too.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Hm, interesting.¡±</em>


    I was still a bit frustrated that neither of us got any confirmation on what made the Bond deepen, but the information we got was still valuable. Besides, I had a few ideas on how it actually worked. Logically, I felt like they made sense ¨C at least, the evidence <em>seemed</em> to suggest I was right ¨C but it was just such a ridiculous thought that the System would do something like that that part of me refused to believe it without further proof.


    Part of me wanted to sit around and do some experiments to figure out how this all worked, but we still had more things to discuss.


    <em>¡°So,¡±</em> I said, <em>¡°How did you get the Dragon to give you a Tribute? What did you even discuss?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Discuss how filthy Humans are. And how Humans are lowly beings that deserve to be crushed under foot.¡±</em>


    Well. I supposed that would be one way to build some rapport with Astintash. <em>¡°...Right. And I guess you just promised to help with the army and the wall?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes. In return for help, Dragon says will keep us safe and make sure we pass through after wall has been destroyed.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Huh. Yeah, that works just fine. Wait, does the Dragon even know about us? If you talked about how much you hated Humans, how did you then go and say you were negotiating on behalf of a couple Humans that wanted to help?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Oh,¡±</em> she smiled, obviously proud of herself, <em>¡°said you were my prisoners. Told Dragon that I attack and destroy Human settlements, then collect strongest Humans from them and keep them in possession to fight for me. Dragon was so proud! Said it could even learn from me.¡±</em>


    I just sighed. I had no idea how I¡¯d keep this kid under control when we got to actual civilization. <em>¡°So I guess you made good friends with it, then? That¡¯s good, at least. Don¡¯t have to worry about being stabbed in the back or anything.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, good friends. Dragon even gave me name!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Wait, what?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes. My name is¡­¡±</em> she paused, clearly going through some effort to try and transmit an actual name through the connection between us. I knew how hard it was ¨C I still couldn¡¯t do it, actually. <em>¡°My name is Humanyer Ainash.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Um.¡± </em>¡­Humanyer? Looking at her face, she seemed so proud of the title. <em>¡°Uh, yeah, the name itself seems really good! But, um, maybe ¡®Humanyer¡¯ isn¡¯t¨C¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Humanyer is best part!¡± </em>She said. <em>¡°I y Humans! Bad guys will fear my name!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Right¡­ but not all Humans are bad guys, remember? Some Humans are good guys. The Demons are the ones that are mostly bad guys, maybe you could change it to be Demonyer instead?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But that is why it is Humanyer,¡± </em>she pouted. <em>¡°One day, I will kill all Demons. Then there will be no reason to make Demons scared with my name. But since some Humans are good guys, some Humans will always be alive. And with my name scaring all of the Humans, none of them will be bad guys! They will all be too scared of me to be bad! It is perfect!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Er¡­¡±</em> Yeah, I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to change her mind on this. <em>¡°Right. Well, anyway, I like the Ainash part. It¡¯s a pretty name, and I think it suits you.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Thank you,¡±</em> she smiled.


    At least her name wasn¡¯t something like Astintash¡¯s with a dozen titles all describing what a terror she was to Humanity before the name itself. A name which was obviously formatted simrly to the way Dragons formatted their own ¨C with the titles followed by the actual name.


    And the name also sounded like a Dragon¡¯s in the way it was pronounced. I wasn¡¯t an expert on the species, or anything, but I¡¯d heard a few Dragon names in my life and it lined up well enough. Which made sense, considering a Dragon was the one toe up with it. Still, I was sure it¡¯d seem pretty weird for a Dryad to walk around with a Dragon¡¯s name ¨C well, Draconiad, anyway.


    I imagined that anyone who heard me say it would instantly think she was a bloodthirsty, fire-breathing scaled beast, especially if they heard the ¡°Humanyer¡± part that came in front. But maybe that was for the best, considering she was getting to the point of being about as dangerous to the Human species as any other Dragon would be. At least the name would work as a deterrent to anyone who wanted to try messing with her.


    ¡°So¡­ Humanyer, huh?¡± Erani said. She¡¯d apparently had a simr conversation with our newly-namedpanion that I had.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I sighed and shook my head. ¡°Whatever, I guess. It¡¯s her name, she can do what she wants with it. I¡¯ll probably just stick with the ¡®Ainash¡¯ part minus the title, though.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯d be the best,¡± Erani nodded. ¡°Does your little Index thing know anything about the new abilities Ainash got? Maybe it knows something she wasn¡¯t told.¡±


    ¡°Maybe. Index, can you tell me anything about that?¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± the voice spoke into my ear and I barely masked my being startled. It never quite stopped unsettling me to hear a voice so obviously close to my face but that I could never see. ¡°The System really wants you guys to get a bit more familiar with them before giving you any more info, but I can tell you some of the basic stuff. So, basically¨C wait. Oh, uh, you may wanna talk to me about thister.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Company.¡±


    Before I could ask Index what it meant by that, I heard a sound. A Dragon¡¯s wings pping through the air,ing up the mountain.


    ¡°Back up,¡± I said, anticipating Astintash¡¯s heavynding.


    I watched as it came into view, massive body blotting out a significant portion of the sky and covering us in shade as usual, and slowly lowered itself to the ground.


    ¡°Hm, there you are,¡± it boomed. I suspected it wasn¡¯t trying to be imposing with its speech, but that was pretty much impossible for something its size. ¡°I have chased those pathetic meddlers back to their hideout. You two Humans, you were the ones to help me free myself from those chains they bound me with?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yes,¡± I said. ¡°We would also like to help you destroy their base and wipe them out.¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes, your owner said something like that,¡± it said. ¡°Let us depart, then.¡±


    Astintash readied its wings to fly back up into the air and head down to the wall, but I stepped forward, holding out my hands to stop it. ¡°Woah, uh, let¡¯s hold on a second.¡±


    It red at me. ¡°What?¡±


    I paused, feeling the weight of a Dragon¡¯s ire in full force. ¡°Um, would it be okay if we rested for a bit? We need to recover our Health and stuff. Maybe we could attack tomorrow?¡±


    While it would be nice to recover our Health, my main worry was, of course, getting back my uses of Time Loop before the assault. Sure, Astintash would be doing most of the heavy-lifting here, but I wasn¡¯t keen on moving forward with this n while having absolutely no protection.


    Astintash didn¡¯t say anything for a while, just staring at me. At first, I thought it was just taking an abnormally long time to think about what I¡¯d asked, but then I realized it was talking with Ainash, my ¡°owner.¡±


    <em>¡°Dragon says okay to rest for little while,¡±</em> she said. <em>¡°Maybe one hour.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Any chance you could talk it up a bit more?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Do not think so. Wants to hurry and kill bad guys.¡±</em>


    Damn. Yeah, seemed like that wouldn¡¯t be happening, then. It¡¯d be much riskier to push Astintash on the subject and take the gamble of maybe killing us for the disrespect, than to just go in and try to stay safe during the fight.


    <em>¡°Okay, fine. Let¡¯s rest then.¡±</em>


    So the three of us sat down in front of an inpatient Dragon, heat from its breaths warming my bones. Honestly, I felt like if anyone saw us in this position, they¡¯d be wondering why we weren¡¯t all screaming in fear. Having something that could so easily kill us sitting around just a few paces away, I could see where they¡¯d being from. Really, a couple weeks ago, I¡¯d have thought the same thing.


    But at this point, I¡¯d had so many close calls with death ¨C a good number of which ended in me actually dying ¨C that I just couldn¡¯t bring myself to care. We¡¯d rest for now, then get ready for the fight.


    The fight to finally allow us out of this gods-forsaken kingdom.

 Chapter 112: A Short Respite

    Chapter 112: A Short Respite


    Erani, our newly-namedpanion Ainash, and I all sat and rested, taking a short break before moving to attack the wall. I used thest of my Stamina on Regenerate, trying to get my Health back up a bit, then sat down and closed my eyes.


    Index reminded me that I¡¯d Leveled up back there when I was fighting the Infernals, and I still had Stat Points to assign. So my first portion of the break was spent in meditation.


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 100.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    <strong>22 (18 + 4)</strong>


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>17</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>41 (37 + 4)</strong>


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>893</strong>/<strong>1.9k</strong>


    Dexterity:


    <strong>23 (19 + 4)</strong>


    Health:


    <strong>196</strong>/<strong>410</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.149</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>100</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>45</strong>/<strong>190</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>1.25</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>22</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>1082</strong>/<strong>1110</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>57.6</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Expedite <strong>9</strong> - XP <strong>355</strong>/<strong>355</strong>


    Exponential Remation


    Devastator


    Ethereal Armor <strong>9</strong> - XP <strong>51</strong>/<strong>355</strong>


    Regenerate


    Trailzer


    Gravity Well <strong>9</strong> - XP <strong>6</strong>/<strong>355</strong>


    Recursive Growth


    Ray of Frost <strong>9</strong> - XP <strong>35</strong>/<strong>355</strong>


    Time Loop <strong>17</strong>


    +Extended Loop


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP <strong>238</strong>/355


    Noxious Grasp <strong>12</strong> - XP <strong>416</strong>/<strong>844</strong>


    +Venomous Grasp


    100 Conjura


    100 Conjuration! I smiled, looking at the nice, three-digit number. It was the culmination of everything I¡¯d been working for all this time.


    I was just about getting 1 Mana every second at this point, which was extremely promising. Soon enough, my Mana/Minute would reach 100, and then I¡¯d be able to get a full point of Spell XP past the Soft Cap every single minute. Quite the difference from back when each individual point of Spell XP gained was an aplishment of its own. All I¡¯d need were a few more Levels, and the extra Conjuration gained would be enough to push me there, whenbined with Exponential Remation.


    But then, the XP requirements for reaching the next Levels were speeding up, as well. To get to 17, it had cost 1600, now it¡¯d cost 1900 for 18. I remembered the general idea of how XP costs ramped up; the first 10 Levels would start with a base 50 cost, and increase by an additional 50 each Level until 10. Those first 10 Levels were considered the ¡°easy part¡± of Leveling, because after that, the rate the costs would increase at would start going up, itself.


    From the 500 XP cost at Level 10, it¡¯d start increasing by 100 each Level. Then, once it got to 1000 at Level 15, it¡¯d start going up by 300. That was the part I was in. After that, once you got to Level 20 it¡¯d start going up by 500, then at Level 25 it¡¯d go up by 1000, at 30 it¡¯d go up by 3000, and so on. It followed that same pattern forever, as far as Humanity knew.


    At this point, I was just beginning to get a taste of the ever-increasing nature of Level requirements, and I could already see why many people stopped trying to get stronger after a certain point.


    It¡¯d be pretty easy to get to, say, Level 10 over the course of a year by just taking on easy, safe jobs and teaming up with a big group of other adventurers to make sure nobody was put in any danger.


    Assuming you yed things safe and the group got an average of 50 XP per outing killing random monsters that strayed close to city walls, split among five people, each individual would just get 10 XP each outing. And assuming they went out a few times a week between their regr jobs, to get the altogether 2750 XP to get from Level 0 to Level 10, it¡¯d take a bit less than two years. That wasn¡¯t bad at all, if you had the time and were dedicated.


    But then, to get from Level 10 to Level 20, you¡¯d need a total of 13,500 XP. Using that same method, it¡¯d suddenly take over eight years of time and dedication to get to that point. And getting to Level 30 would take a lifetime.


    Now, sure, as a higher-Level individual, you¡¯d have the ability to safely take on higher-Level monsters. But higher-Level monsters were much harder toe by. You could easily find Wood Spirits and Trimps roaming around the wilderness, but finding a nest of Drakelings to kill every single day? That just wasn¡¯t going to happen. And when you were trying to kill all the high-Level monsters in an area, you¡¯d naturally start butting heads with other high-Level adventurers who also wanted that XP. And that was not something you wanted.


    So the majority of people who wanted to avoid dying pointlessly would take things slow and typically stop trying to Level after Level 10 or so. Past that point, they¡¯d just Level incidentally while on jobs, which wouldn¡¯t happen often. Adventuring paid well, so most wouldn¡¯t need to go out killing monsters more than a couple times a week.


    Of course, there were people out there who worked to Level much, much harder and took many more risks, but they certainly weren¡¯tmon. Doing that would either be extremely expensive, since you¡¯d want to protect yourself with powerful items and hired guards to step in if you ever got into trouble, or you¡¯d go without the protection and have a high chance of dying. There were many people who fancied themselves a future Level 30 adventurer and ended up buried a Level 3.


    Really, I¡¯d been Leveling much more quickly than most people did when they first got a ss. Obviously, some of that was because of some of the inherent benefits I¡¯d been given. I had Time Loop, which could get me massive amounts of extra XP throughout my fights, I had the Devastator Title, passively increasing my gains, and I had Recursive Growth working for me quite well at this point, more than making up for its sub-par performance for the first few Levels after I¡¯d gotten it. Some of my strength absolutely came from outside my direct influence.


    But I had no doubt that I knew where most of it came from. It¡¯de from necessity. There was no doubt in my mind that if I hadn¡¯t taken every opportunity avable to me to fight, kill, and work for more strength, I¡¯d have died for good a long time ago.


    Sure, the Demons were sending in their soldiers to try and kill me, that was one way of thinking about it. But another way to think about it? They were sending in little pouches of XP, ripe for me to im. Through their own blunders and mistakes, they¡¯d created the same person that was about to rip and tear his way through their forces, destroy their wall, and get the fuck out of here.


    Me, Erani, Ainash, we¡¯d all been tempered like steel by the Demons trying to kill us all. And by the gods, we were about to be forged into a de that¡¯d slit their throats.


    I opened my eyes, taking a deep breath. Time to focus. I would not die so close to the finish line.


    ¡°Index, can you tell me any useful information before we go into this fight?¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­ Well, I can¡¯t tell you much about your Draconiad friend that you don¡¯t already know, since you just haven¡¯t been around her in her new form for very long yet. But you <em>have</em> been around this Dragon, especially when considering your multiple timelines dying to it.¡±


    ¡°What, does dying to something mean I get a bunch of new info?¡±


    ¡°Basically. Really, I wasn¡¯t technically supposed to be used alongside your specific ss. I was just meant for anyone that had a unique one. So my limitations weren¡¯t exactly designed with time-travel powers in mind.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Pretty much, there are hidden values only I know that constitute your ¡®Familiarity¡¯ with something. The more Familiar you are with it, the more information I can give you. Now, countless things can increase familiarity, so pretty much any interaction will do so naturally. Researching something, talking with people about it, just existing near it, and, most importantly, fighting against it. When you fight something, you¡¯ll be given Familiarity with it based on how impactful that fight was. So, killing something is way more likely to give you Familiarity than just poking it once and running off.¡±


    ¡°...Right, so I can get this Familiarity with monsters by killing them, makes sense.¡±


    ¡°Not just by killing them. I said it¡¯s based on how ¡®impactful¡¯ your encounter was. So if <em>you¡¯re</em> the one that¡¯s being trashed by a monster, it¡¯ll also build up a ton of Familiarity all the same.¡±


    ¡°And Familiarity can be tracked along deaths,¡± I nodded.


    ¡°Exactly. Time Loop is very specific about its wording. It¡¯ll turn back your current Health, Stamina, and Mana, and it¡¯ll also reset any of your other Talent cooldowns, but nothing else rting to your Status. That, of course, means Levels and XP, but it also means stuff like building Familiarity. It also has some interesting interactions with that Bond you have.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t say,¡± Index sighed. ¡°That hint was already pushing it. But anyway, what I¡¯m getting at here is that you¡¯re pretty darn Familiar with Dragons, at this point. Especially Astintash.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said. I was careful about what I specifically said to Index, since I had no doubt Astintash could hear me no matter how softly I spoke. So far, I hadn¡¯t given anything away ¨C nothing that Astintash could put together based on my side of the conversation alone ¨C so I wasn¡¯t worried about anything, but mentioning the fact that I was talking about it specifically would probably not be a good idea. ¡°What can you tell me, then?¡±


    ¡°Well I can¡¯t tell you exact Health numbers or anything like that ¨C you¡¯d need to start dealing significant damage to it to start figuring that stuff out. But I can tell you about why Astintash cares so much about killing off these soldiers. You can probably do a good bit with that information.¡±


    ¡°You mean it isn¡¯t just about¡­¡±


    ¡°Pride?¡± Index read from my mind. ¡°No, not just that. At least, I don¡¯t think so. I¡¯ll admit what I¡¯m about to say is technically spection ¨C I can¡¯t read anyone¡¯s mind but yours ¨C but I know enough from knowing Astintash¡¯s mental conversations with Ainash and knowing literally everything about the Dragon species that I¡¯m pretty confident.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good to me. Any information is good information, even if it isn¡¯t totally certain.¡±


    ¡°Well, do you know how Dragons reproduce?¡±


    ¡°Eggs, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, theyy eggs, but the process isn¡¯t exactly typical. When a Dragonys an egg, that egg still needs to be fertilized. Without fertilization, it¡¯ll essentially sit around forever, waiting for that to happen. The eggs canst effectively an eternity while waiting for fertilization though, so as long as they aren¡¯t damaged, there¡¯s no rush once they¡¯ve beenid. So what Dragons will do is, the moment they reach maturity, they¡¯ll instantly find a ce to roost andy a batch of eggs.¡±


    ¡°And then, what, just find another one?¡±


    ¡°Find another Dragon to fertilize their eggs? No, no, Dragons are much too proud to go to another for help. Especially when that other Dragon¡¯s own essence of self will be half of the makeup of the original Dragon¡¯s offspring. You may forget about this because you¡¯re a Human, but Dragons aren¡¯t <em>only</em> proud as a species. They believe that they¡¯re naturally superior to all other species¡¯, yes, but they also believe that they, as an individual, are superior to all others of their <em>own</em> species.¡±


    ¡°Wait, so what do they do, then?¡±


    ¡°Dragons are sexless ¨C there aren¡¯t male or female versions of the species. They can all bothy and fertilize eggs.¡±


    ¡°So does that mean¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, a Dragon will fertilize its own eggs. But it doesn¡¯t do so immediately. Using the exact same gics to bothy and fertilize an egg won¡¯t work. Instead, Dragons utilize another unique quirk of their biology ¨C their gic makeup shifts over time. Or, rather, it shifts with Levels. As they Level up and evolve their bodies, the gic fabric making them up will slowly change. So, afterying its eggs immediately upon reaching maturity, that specific set of gics is frozen in time, awaiting the fertilization from a new ¡®version¡¯ of the same being.¡±


    ¡°And then after a while, ites back?¡±


    ¡°Exactly. It¡¯lle back after hundreds of years, once it¡¯s at a gic point it¡¯s particrly proud of, and fertilize the eggs, finallypleting them and readying them to hatch. It essentiallybines a Dragon¡¯s own past and its present to create what they consider to be a perfect being. Thebination of one¡¯s origins and one¡¯s aplishments. From that point, it¡¯ll take a good few years for the eggs to actually hatch, and during that time, they¡¯re especially vulnerable since they¡¯ve got living beings inside of them now.¡±


    ¡°And so right now¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, right now, I¡¯m pretty certain Astintash has got a batch of eggs it¡¯s protecting. At least, that¡¯s what I¡¯ve gathered from the way it was talking privately with Ainash.¡±


    ¡°Huh, interesting.¡± So it seemed like it may not have just been that Astintash was protective of this ce out of convenience, but rather because it <em>had</em> to stick around to protect its vulnerable eggs.


    Having knowledge of that bargaining chip was certainly good, but it also meant the Dragon had more reason to get angry and kill us if we didn¡¯t cooperate. In any case, it probably wouldn¡¯t be a good idea to bring it up now. But if anything went wrong, maybe I could find a way to use it then.


    I spent the rest of our hour-long break resting physically and mentally as I used my excess Mana regeneration to practice Noxious Grasp. I¡¯d been spending so much Mana on Expedite, it almost felt like I was neglecting the Spell. Probably not a good idea to form emotional attachments to words on a Status screen, but it made me feel a bit guilty to overlook the Spell that¡¯d been with me for so long. It also still gave me a bit of a headache to not cast it for an extended time like that, so it was nice to get rid of that.


    I¡¯d have liked to try and test out some of my theories on how, exactly, the Bond with Ainash worked, but quite honestly I was way too tired to do that. And it seemed like she was, too. I was sure evolving and then instantly going into a massive fight put her body under a huge amount of strain, and she was in no shape to be spending our precious hour on that. Figuring out how the Bond Ranked up would just have to wait, it seemed.


    So, after a much-too-short sixty minutes, Astintash growled and rose to a full stand, nodding its head to motion for us to stand as well.


    ¡°We leave now,¡± it said, ¡°to finish what those filthy intruders started.¡±

 Chapter 113: A Crash

    Chapter 113: A Crash


    Astintash stood in front of me, its massive frame dwarfing mine as we prepared to leave and attack the wall.


    ¡°What is that weakness the magical shield has that you told me of?¡± It asked me. ¡°Your owner, Humanyer Ainash, says you are the one with the most knowledge of it.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°basically, it¡¯s especially weak to physical attacks. Seems like you¡¯ve been hitting it mainly with magic, fire breath, that sort of thing. But what¡¯d be much easier to destroy it would be something like swiping at it with your ws. May be a bit hard to do because of their weapons, but if you take it slow and hide behind something like a nearby cliff face, you could probably get in some hits without getting hit in turn.¡±


    Astintash looked at me silently for a while, obviously thinking. ¡°What you say could be true. You are sure of it?¡±


    ¡°Yes, the knowledgees directly from the System, it wouldn¡¯t lie to me.¡±


    ¡°Hm. How much Health do each of you have?¡±


    I frowned. Was it about to kill us? I knew we¡¯d be taking a risk the moment we gave up our bargaining chip of that knowledge, since Astintash essentially just didn¡¯t need us anymore. But we could still be <em>useful</em>. Why would it kill us?


    Erani nced over at me. ¡°...Why?¡±


    Astintash swung its massive head over to stare at her. ¡°Because I want to know. Tell me.¡±


    I grit my teeth. Astintash wouldn¡¯t need to know our Health numbers to kill us, so I supposed it would be safe. ¡°...Currently about 200.¡±


    ¡°100 for me,¡± Erani said, ¡°with a shield that can block some more.¡±


    ¡°Hm. With the shield, that should work.¡±


    ¡°Work for what?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The fight. Get on my back.¡±


    I blinked. Get on Astintash¡¯s back? Get on a <em>Dragon¡¯s</em> back? That was a fucking death sentence. No Dragon, <em>ever</em>, would allow a lowly Human to touch them and live, much less to literally use the Dragon like a transport animal.


    If Astintash was going to just let us get on its back, it must¡¯ve been desperate. Which made sense, considering what Index had told me while we rested. But still¡­


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± I asked. ¡°I thought Dragons hated¡ª¡±


    ¡°We do. Now get on my back.¡±


    I nced back and forth between Erani and Ainash, who was standing next to us. ¡°...Okay.¡±


    ¡°Good. We leave now.¡±


    Wind whipped through my hair, and I felt like my entire body threatened to drop from the scaly back of Astintash.


    We were hundreds of paces in the air, flying above the tall peaks of the mountains as the Dragon soared us over to the wall. Astintash¡¯s back wasrge enough that Erani, Ainash, and I could all fit on it with room to spare, but that didn¡¯t mean it was easy to stay on.


    Every second that ticked by my grip slipped some more, and every time Astintash pped its wings I felt a bit more unsteady. Honestly, I felt like it was being clumsy with us on purpose as a way to regain some of its dignity, flying us around. Threatening to push us to our deaths in the mountains below was definitely one way to establish its power over us.


    I had a couple stacks of Expedite cast on me and Erani to help us hold on a bit tighter. With Erani¡¯s much higher Stats now that she had that high-Rank Bond with Ainash, she could handle herself a bit better on her own, but it still wasn¡¯t nearly enough.


    My hand slipped from one of Astintash¡¯s rough scales, and I quickly cast another stack of Expedite and grabbed back on as quickly as I could.


    I understood Astintash¡¯s desire to get this done quickly, but still¡ªthis was a bit unnecessary, wasn¡¯t it? Maybe it was just my new perspective, of being <em>on</em> the Dragon instead of watching it from below, but it felt like Astintash was going much faster than it normally did when it flew down to approach the wall.


    It only took a couple minutes before the massive structure blocking the valley came into sight. It was absolutely teeming with guards, all of them obviously much more alert than normal after the defeat they¡¯d suffered up in the mountains


    I expected Astintash to slow its blistering pace now that we were close to the wall, but it only seemed to be going faster.


    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s going on?¡± I asked, shouting so I could be heard over the wind.


    ¡°We are attacking.¡±


    ¡°Right, but shouldn¡¯t you be slowing down?¡±


    ¡°No. I will be elerating.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°You said the shield was weak to physical attacks, correct? I will attack it physically.¡±


    Attack it¡­ Wait. Oh, gods. I suddenly realized what it was nning.


    ncing over at Erani, I saw that she must¡¯ve noticed, too.


    <em>¡°Hold on!¡±</em> I mentally screamed to Ainash.


    She looked over at me. Luckily, she didn¡¯t have quite as much trouble holding on to Astintash as we did because of her naturally higher Stats¡ªespecially now, after her evolution to the Draconiad. But still, with Astintash¡¯s speed ever-increasing as it tilted its body downward and headed straight for the stone wall.


    <em>¡°What happening?¡±</em> she asked. <em>¡°Why?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It¡¯s going to ram the wall!¡±</em>


    Her eyes widened, and she looked back at Astintash¡¯s target. The soldiers had noticed us by now, and were quickly preparing retaliation. They were toote, though¡ªwe¡¯d collide with them in only a few seconds.


    <em>¡°When I say to, jump,¡±</em> Ainash said.


    <em>¡°What? Why¡ª¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Jump!¡±</em>


    Without thinking, I did as she said and leapt from Astintash¡¯s scaly hide, Erani doing the same. At that instant, Astintash flew straight into the suddenly-materializing purple glowing dome shield that surrounded the wall. Its snarling face rammed straight into it, and for a second I thought the shield may hold against its massive body. Asintash¡¯s nose ttened against the dome, its snout bing slightly misshapen, and then¡ª


    The loudest sound I felt like I¡¯d ever heard rang through the air, shattering my eardrums at the same moment the dome itself shattered. Purple shards of magical energy flung everywhere, bouncing harmlessly off my body andnding on the ground, quickly dissipating into nothing.


    Astintash continued on its death-flight straight into the wall.


    But I couldn¡¯t focus on that, because I was also flying forward, still midair from when I leapt from the Dragon¡¯s back. Everything had happened in a split-second, to the point where I almost forgot that I, too, was flying straight at the solid stone wall in front of me at deadly speeds.


    Was <em>this</em> why Astintash wanted to know how much Health we all had? And after I told it I was damaged down to around 200, it decided I¡¯d be fine?! That thing had no perspective on how much damage it¡¯d take to kill someone like me.


    And I was going to die. In the half-second before my death, I decided to reminisce on all the shit I¡¯d survived just to be done in by flying into a massive brick wall.


    Yep. Pretty disappointing.


    But just before I ttened into the collection of stones in front of me, I felt something wrap around my waist. A vine. Behind me, Ainash had flung her whip out and wrapped it around my waist. But even if she could suddenly stop me in my tracks and prevent me from smacking into the stone wall, that sudden stop would kill me just as easily as hitting the bricks. And with the wall only paces in front of me, there was no way she had the space to gradually slow me down to a safe halt.


    Then the second-loudest sound I¡¯d ever heard rang out.


    Astintash¡¯s massive Dragon body mmed into the stone wall in front of me, crashing straight through it and leaving a massive hole behind. And that massive hole was where I realized I was aiming for. Ainash wasn¡¯t wrapping the whip around me to stop me, she was trying to guide me into the only safe ce I couldnd.


    Erani, to my left, was already on-path to fly through the hole, and so was Ainash, in the air behind me. I was the only one who was a bit too far to the right.


    In what felt like slow motion, I felt Ainash pull on the whip as hard as she could, yanking me through the air and toward her. But even still, it wasn¡¯t quite enough. I was on the right course, but the wall was so close I didn¡¯t have enough time to course-correct and avoid hitting¡ª


    My leg mmed into a stray brick of the wall on the edge of the hole, and time felt like it sped up again.


    You have been mmed into something. 19 damage.


    Your Health is 184.


    I flipped into the hole, set spinning indiscriminately by the impact I¡¯d made at the edge of the hole, and I could just barely make out the carnage of Astintash¡¯s path of destruction it¡¯d made through the wall. Shocked faces stared on in horror through the rubble and mangled bodies of the people that were in the direct path of the enraged Dragon.


    And then I was through the hole in the wall, out the other side and still flying forward down the mountain path. I¡¯d long since lost my entire sense of direction, simply lost in the mess of color of the world spinning around me.


    I coughed a loud ¡°ough,¡± as I hit the ground the first time.


    You have been mmed into something. 34 damage.


    Your Health is 150.


    Then I bounced back up, only slowed down a bit, flew even further, and then hit the ground again.


    You have been mmed into something. 21 damage.


    Your Health is 129.


    And then again.


    You have been mmed into something. 20 damage.


    Your Health is 109.


    And then, onest time, I mmed into the ground. Only this time, the downward force wasn¡¯t quite great enough to bounce me back up into the air. Instead, I slid across the rough gravel and dirt, rocks tearing across my skin as friction slowed me down.


    You have been mmed into something. 11 damage.


    Your Health is 98.


    You have been burned by friction. 48 damage.


    Due to Heat Resistance, damage has been reduced to 42.


    Your Health is 56.


    After what felt like an eternity in the sky, I was back at home on the ground. My throat was raw from screaming, which I didn¡¯t even know I¡¯d been doing that whole time.


    Groggily, I looked around, trying to stand despite the pain of mynding. Erani and Ainash were both located a couple dozen paces from me, scattered along the path like me, and in a simr-looking shape that I was. It seemed like Erani had been mostly protected from the damage by Angelic Shield though, which was good.


    Then I saw the wall. The structure that once stood tall now stood with a massive hole straight through the middle. Astintash was getting to its own feet, standing between us and the broken wall, looking proud of its work. Despite how upset I was at its almost getting us killed, I couldn¡¯t deny the effectiveness of its methods.


    Slowly, as I watched, the massive wall began to copse in on itself. With the gigantic wound in its base, there was no way it could support its own weight, and parts began to crumble. Stones fell, support beams snapped in two, and people began to scream. Humans and Infernals alike at the top floors suddenly had the split-second decision of whether to leap from the top all the way to the ground, or take their chances with the copse and hope they didn¡¯t get crushed by rubble.


    Chunks of stone and bricks crashed down to the ground, entire rooms fell through ceilings of the multiyered building, the outer shell of stone began to crumble apart. Some of the people who¡¯d chosen to leap from the top of the wall¡ªor who had just fallen due to the instability of the thing¡ªbegan impacting the ground.


    Within about ten seconds, the entire wall crumbled to the dirt,pletely demolished by Astintash¡¯s attack. The surviving soldiers¡ªmaybe a quarter of who¡¯d been in the wall to begin with¡ªwere getting to their feet, standing off against us.


    In the crowd of our enemies, I spotted two people. I wasn¡¯t surprised that they¡¯d survived, but still, seeing them here made my heart drop.


    Those two royal guards, with their bow and battleaxe, stood ready to fight. Asmo yanked her bow from her back, wiping a trail of blood trickling down her forehead with a scowl on her face. The woman with the battleaxe didn¡¯t seem quite as eager to attack, but she wielded her weapon just the same.


    And, of course, surrounding them were dozens upon dozens of Infernals and Humans, all ready to kill me¡ªeither out of hatred or fear for their own lives, it didn¡¯t matter at this point. Was there even any distinguishing it, anymore? They wanted to kill me, and I needed to stop them from doing that. And there was a gigantic Dragon right in front of me that would surely make certain I kept up my end of our bargain.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Astintash rumbled back to us, ¡°I have broken through their defenses. You will help me kill them until everyst one of these pathetic beings are dead.¡±


    I nodded and stepped forward, activating Regenerate to heal back some of the damage I took in ournding.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 24.9 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    45.1 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 66.


    Ideally, I could stick to killing the Infernals and let Astintash take care of the Humans, but I suspected those two royal guards wouldn¡¯t let me off so easily.


    Either way, there was no damned way I was going down without a fight.

 Chapter 114.1: A Battle’s Beginning

    Chapter 114.1: A Battle¡¯s Beginning


    Astintash charged.


    Of course the Dragon was the one to move first¡ªnot only was it easily the most confident and motivated of anyone involved in this fight, but it was also the only one <em>not</em> sustaining serious injuries.


    Several soldiers fled the moment Astintash took a step toward them, some of them stood their ground, but most were still trying to dig themselves out of the rubble of the wall.


    The two soldiers leading the defense¡ªcalling for everyone else to stand their ground¡ªwere the royal guards. Asmo had her bow drawn, arrow notched and ready to loose, and the axe-wielding woman held her bloodied de, prepared to strike.


    I, on the other hand, felt not quite as ready to attack. There were probably fifty paces between me and the shattered wall¡¯s remains, and that was a lot of paces to clear when up against enemies with ranged weaponry. I watched as Astintash took a dozen shots to the face from its bow-wielding opponents, uncaring of the twigs poking its scales, and wished I had the ability to just ignore things like that.


    But at least Astintash made for a good distraction. I nced over to Erani and Aina¡ªoh. Ainash had already dashed forward, right behind the rampaging Dragon and whip aze, ready to strike down her enemies.


    ¡°You stay back,¡± I said to Erani. ¡°You can use yourst invisibility ring if you need to. Just try to stay safe.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going in?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have much of a choice. Astintash¡¯ll kill me if I don¡¯t.¡±


    She pursed her lips and nodded, and, with a couple stacks of Expedite on myself, I charged forward behind Ainash and her Dragon friend. Fortunately, Astintash¡¯s body was so massive that, by running behind it, basically nobody ahead had sight of me, so I didn¡¯t yet have to worry about being shot.


    But as we approached the enemy forces, several Infernals circled around Astintash toe and attack me. There was a clear difference of interest between the Humans and Infernals here, since the Humans were the only ones risking their lives. As such, the Humans focused on surviving¡ªeither fleeing or trying to kill Astintash¡ªand the Infernals focused on the primary objective¡ªkilling me.


    So I was forced to slow down as the Infernals closed in to block my passage. They were all pretty severely damaged¡ªas was I¡ªbut clearly they were ready to fight regardless.


    A couple Firebolts flew out from behind me, Erani shooting at the crowd of Infernals to slow them down and thin them out before they could attack, which I was extremely grateful for.


    Level 29 Draconiad has offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 27 Infernal.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 4 XP. Your XP is 897.


    I was suddenly distracted by a few notificationsing in about Ainash¡¯s exploits in ying her enemies. I tried to just ignore them as they came in, which was pretty easy, but I had to imagine Erani had a much harder time ignoring hers. She got so much more XP from Ainash¡¯s killings that it was likely she¡¯d randomly get Level-ups at some point, which would definitely be a distraction.


    ¡°An, below!¡± Index¡¯s voice snapped me out of my head.


    Below? What could be below¡ª


    I felt a rumbling, one that reminded me of something.


    Hellions! I¡¯dpletely forgotten that they also had Hellions crawling the ground beneath the wall!


    As quickly as I could, I leapt backward just as a massive, toothy worm burst from the gravely dirt below me. I¡¯d barely gotten out of the way in time to avoid the rows of spines lining its maw, bursting up right where I¡¯d been.


    In an instant, I raised my hand and shot it with as many Rays of Frost as I could before it burrowed back into the ground. Unfortunately, the total 200 damage I dealt to it didn¡¯t seem to be enough to kill the monster before it could burrow back into the ground, hidden from my sight.


    Spell casting speed was one of the stranger factors when it came to Magic-Types. For the other types of sses, their limiting factor time-wise was the physical speed they could move their bodies at. Whether they were fighting normally or using Martial Arts to enhance their abilities, they could still only do one thing at a time, on a fundamental level. They couldn¡¯t swing their sword twice at the same time, even if they had the Stamina avable to activate a sword-swinging Martial Art twice.


    As Magic-Types, we didn¡¯t have those physical limitations. Theoretically it was possible for me to cast 1000 Mana¡¯s worth of Spells in a split second. However, we <em>did</em> have mental limitations. And that was what prevented me from doing just that in a fight. When I cast a Spell, I had to mentally push the Mana in my body to form the Spell.


    Back when I was first lost in the woods, I¡¯d struggled to figure out how to do that with Noxious Grasp, leading to me taking full seconds just to toggle the Spell on and off, but at this point, I¡¯d gotten quite adept at doing that, both with Noxious Grasp and generally with any new Spell I got. It took a bit of time to learn any new Spell¡¯s form, but I could figure it out pretty quickly, with my practice.


    But still, I could fundamentally only form one Spell at a time with my mind. So, when I went to cast several Rays of Frost at a time, it wasn¡¯t as easy as just thinking ¡°I would like to cast ten of this Spell, please,¡± and it would happen. It was going through and manually, one-by-one, forming and casting each Spell.


    This limitation could be sped up in a few ways, though. As I mentioned before, there was always practice. The more I cast Ray of Frost¡ªor practiced my Spellcasting in general, for that matter¡ªthe more quickly I¡¯d be able to push my Mana into that familiar pattern. However, just like how increasing my physical Stats could make my body move faster, increasing Conjuration could help my mind move faster when shaping Mana.


    At its new value of 100, my Conjuration was certainly helping me cast my Spells at record speed, but it didn¡¯t seem to be enough to cast enough Rays of Frost to kill a Hellion in the little time they stayed above-ground.


    At least, it wasn¡¯t enough to kill them without me putting in some effort to <em>keep</em> them above-ground against their wills.


    With Erani still helping to hold back the Infernals, I could focus for a bit more time on fighting off these Hellions below me.


    And there <em>were</em> multiple below me. I didn¡¯t need Index to inform me of that. Even after the initial attacker burrowed under the ground, I could still feel a few more, each moving upward toward my feet.


    ¡°Now!¡± Index shouted, and I leapt out of the way just in time to avoid another monster bursting from the ground. It was obviously a new Hellion, without the frost coating of the one I¡¯d just damaged and let go. But for this one, I wanted to kill it while it was vulnerable.


    The moment it reached the peak of its arc midair, I activated Gravity Well on the monster,pletely ruining its angled attempt to burrow straight back into the dirt. Instead, it fell with a flop onto the gravel, writhing in an attempt to burrow back into the ground under its newly-enhanced gravitational pull.


    I didn¡¯t let it escape this time, though. I tackled it, wrapping my arms around the surprisingly-rough skin of the monster, at least as wide as my own waist, and activated Noxious Grasp while also pumping as many Rays of Frost as my mind allowed point-nk into its body.


    You have struck Level 17 Hellion for 62 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 17 Hellion with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.77.


    14.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 971.


    You have in Level 17 Hellion.


    You have earned 94 XP. Your XP is 1.01k.


    The moment the Hellion was dead, I backed away from its limp corpse, aware that staying still in any area would only invite more of them to attack. Sure, I could handle one at a time, but the moment several attacked at the same time¡ªor they starteding for me when I was in the middle of fighting off the Infernals¡ªI¡¯d start having issues.


    And speaking of Infernals, a few of them were finally approaching. Off ahead of me, I could see Ainash and Astintash rampaging through the main rubble of the wall, killing indiscriminately¡ªwhether someone was fighting back or running away, they died all the same, it seemed. But that didn¡¯t prevent some of the Infernals from getting to me, despite Erani¡¯s best efforts.


    <em>Okay,</em> I thought, <em>not exactly an ideal situation, but let¡¯s do this.</em>

 Chapter 114.2: A Battle’s Beginning

    Chapter 114.2: A Battle¡¯s Beginning


    (Again, be sure you''ve read part 1 of this chapter before proceeding. They were uploaded at the same time, this is part 2!)


    Trying to split my attention between the approaching Infernals and the Hellions below me¡ªIndex¡¯s warnings helped a lot with that¡ªI cast Crippling Chill on any of the Demons that got near and prepared to start using Rays of Frost to focus them down. From what I¡¯d seen with Erani¡¯s Firebolts, it seemed like the Infernals had taken quite a bit of damage already from Astintash¡¯snding, so they wouldn¡¯t be quite as tanky as I knew them to be.


    There were about six Infernals alling at me that I needed to deal with here, and so I picked one at random to try and kill first. The one closest to me, I decided, was going to die. I raised my hand and shot off Ray of Frost after Ray of Frost at the monster as I backed away, trying to keep my distance between me and the group.


    That distance could onlyst so long, though, and soon enough the Infernals caught up to me. With a crowd of so many of them, there wasn¡¯t much I could do to dy them from reaching me while also dealing damage to them. Gravity Well could¡¯ve worked, sure, but keeping it active on six separate enemies would drain my Mana fast¡ªeven with Ethereal Armor¡¯s discount.


    But still, with Expedite active on me, I wasn¡¯t as helpless in close-quartersbat as I used to be. The Infernals swung open-handed at me, trying to catch me in a grab, but I bobbed and weaved between their strikes, angering them further.


    And the moment I saw an opening in the posture of the one I was targeting, I struck. Diving straight into it, leveraging my boosted Dexterity and the natural Strength I got from Recursive Growth to drive my body straight into its and push it to the ground, where Iy on top of it.


    In the little time I had, I activated Noxious Grasp and cast Rays of Frost right up against its face, trying to take away as much of its Health as possible.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 24 Infernal.


    You have earned 199 XP. Your XP is 1.22k.


    Within a few seconds, it was dead, and I instantly moved on to my next target. I spun around and leapt at the next-closest Infernal that was just then reaching down to try and drag me off of its now-dead ally.


    While I normally only ever saw Infernals with facial expressions showing some form of rage, malice, or hatred, this was the rare time I saw an Infernal look at me with some other form of emotion. In the moment when I pounced on it like a predator to its prey, arms out and ready to keep Noxious Grasp draining away Health, my new victim looked at me with fear.


    It made sense, I supposed¡ªwhile the Demons as a whole were an oppressive group of dictators, treating the Overworld like their yground where there were no consequences, the individuals probably felt a decent bit of fear when a Dragon crashed through their secure based and now there were a couple of ravenous Humans tearing through their soldiers alongside a couple of bloodthirsty monsters. Even if the Infernals could survive death up here, I had no doubt they¡¯d rather avoid it. Really, it almost made me feel bad for them.


    Almost.


    I crashed into the Infernal¡¯s body and threw it to the ground, too, with the help of a pulse of Gravity Well to throw it off bnce. Its head mmed into the rocky path below us, and I turned around while straddling its muscly, deformed body to shoot Rays of Frost at the other few Infernals that were still trying to kill me.


    The bright Rays impacted their faces and temporarily blinded them with a sh of icy pain across their faces, buying me a bit more time with my primary target.


    ¡°An, another Hellion!¡± I heard Index shout.


    I was still atop the Infernal¡¯s body, so for a second I was confused.


    Index must¡¯ve picked up on that, though, because it continued, ¡°Judging from the trajectory, it looks like the Hellion¡¯s gonnae up straight through that Demon¡¯s chest to try and hit you from below.¡±


    Ouch. Sacrificing their own soldiers just at a chance at killing me? Seemed like they didn¡¯t like this one¡¯s chances at surviving being pinned down by me. Not that I disagreed with the assessment. But yeah, maybe now it was appropriate to feel bad for the poor Infernal.


    ¡°Three, two, one¡­¡± Index counted, ¡°now!¡±


    I leapt off of the Infernal¡¯s chest just in time to be sttered with a warm, sticky liquid all across my back¡ªalong with a healthy number of chunks.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 27 Infernal.


    You have earned 213 XP. Your XP is 1.44k.


    I turned around and saw just about what I¡¯d have expected from what I¡¯d just felt. A Hellion was in the process of bursting through the ground, straight through the corpse of my now-dead enemy. It was still in its arc, headed toward the direction I¡¯d dodged in, so I stepped back to avoid the blood-and-guts-covered beast fromnding with its mouth around my head.


    But in trying to dodge out of the way of the Hellion, I also opened myself up to attack from one of the Infernals¡ªit was getting difficult to keep track of where they all were, at this point¡ªand it swung its fist at me from behind, catching me by surprise and knocking me across the battlefield.


    You have been mmed into something. 20 damage.


    Your Health is 61.


    Coughing, I moved as quickly as I could to get back to my feet. Damned Infernals, always outnumbering me. I felt like I really thrived in battle when it was one-on-one. Since when did they just get to throw as many Demons as they wanted at me? Wasn¡¯t fair at all.


    Well, I supposed I was the one who brought a Dragon into the fight, so maybe I wasn¡¯t ying totally fair, either. Not to mention Ainash, who still seemed to consider it her sole purpose in life to kill the ¡°bad guys.¡± I was constantly getting notifications from her ying random enemies¡ª2 XP here, 3 XP there¡ªwhich was good. At least, it was good she was still alive and well enough to keep killing things.


    Erani shot a Firebolt from behind the Infernals¡ªwho were now effectively sandwiched between us, unable to fully focus on one or the other¡ªand sted a couple of them off their feet. She had enemies of her own to deal with¡ªInfernals that decided she¡¯d be a nice and squishy target, or Hellions that strayed from the main battlefield to track her down¡ªbut it seemed like she found the time to assist my side of the battle every now and then.


    In the Infernals¡¯ moment of weakness, I charged forward with a barrage of Rays of Frost to apany me. The Spells beamed into them, flooding my mind with damage notifications about all four of the remaining enemies as they were riddled with freezing patches of ice covering their skin.


    My Mana was beginning to feel the effects of the fight so far, threatening to pass below 500 as I shot Ray after Ray at them, but with the group of Infernals only growing weaker by the second¡ªand with them already having lost a third of their numbers¡ªI was able to take down one more, then another, until there were just two Infernals left.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 22 Infernal.


    You have earned 178 XP. Your XP is 1.63k.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 26 Infernal.


    You have earned 207 XP. Your XP is 1.84k.


    I stood against the two, now close enough that I couldn¡¯t safely focus on just casting Rays of Frost.


    Just as they prepared to attack, I heard Index¡¯s voice again, ¡°Two more Hellions on their way.¡±


    Ducking under the left Infernal¡¯s swipe, I tried to catch my footing and figure out how I¡¯d do this. I felt for the rumbling of the first Hellion, and¡­


    Just in time, I leapt forward, leaving the monster biting nothing but air as it burst from the ground. I wouldn¡¯t have the time¡ªor Mana¡ªto retaliate against it for now, but for now I was just trying to focus on taking down these Infernals.


    Which would involve the second Hellion.


    When I¡¯d leapt forward to dodge the first one¡¯s attack, Inded right next to the left Infernal¡¯s leg. That was by design. In the follow-through of its previous attack at me, it didn¡¯t quite have enough time to grab me while I was close to it.


    And so, right when I began to feel the rumbling of the second Hellion, I leapt away from the Infernal¡¯s leg, leaving it alone to take the brunt of the Hellion¡¯s attack.


    The monster bit off a chunk of my enemy¡¯s calf, leaving it roaring in agony as the Hellion took off with its meal¡ªcould it even tell the difference?


    Either way, I backed away and shot a few Rays at the injured Infernal to finish it off.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 29 Infernal.


    You have earned 241 XP. Your XP is 2.08k.


    Threshold reached. 1.90k XP.


    Your Level has increased to 18.


    Due to achieving Level 18 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Dexterity, 2 Conjuration, and 1 Intelligence.


    -Soft Cap has increased to Rank 10.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 18.


    -You may choose a Spell to learn.


    I tried to push down the excitement of the new Level down and focus on the task at hand. More Stats, an increased Soft Cap, and a whole new Spell were great and all, but I couldn¡¯t use them if I died. I still had one more Infernal left.


    It looked at me with a look of anger, like it was ready to tear my limbs from my body just for fun. Its eyes met mine.


    And then it looked up, over my head, at something behind me. What was¡ª


    ¡°An! Duck!¡± Index shouted.


    I did so without thinking, and a split-secondter, a glowing arrow flew over my head, impaling the Infernal straight through the chest.


    You have offered minor contribution toward the ying of Level 21 Infernal.


    You have earned 84 XP. Your XP is 267.


    I turned to look behind me, and saw the exact person I wished <em>hadn¡¯t</em> shot that arrow.


    ¡°That gave me more XP than expected,¡± Asmo said, bow in hand. She was standing just a couple dozen paces away, with the familiar axe-wielding woman standing next to her. ¡°Do you have some sort of Talent that increases the XP drops of monsters you fight?¡±


    The axe-wielding woman said nothing, simply wearing a snarl like the Infernals I¡¯d seen before. Except the snarl seemed strange¡ªalmost fake. Like she was trying to force herself to be angry at me, or maybe she was just conflicted about how to feel. But whatever her emotions were, she wielded her axe all the same, ready to strike me down.


    And I was ready to keep them from doing so.


    I¡¯d fled from these royal guards long enough. It was time for a rematch.

 Chapter 115.1: A Pair of Guards

    Chapter 115.1: A Pair of Guards


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    I stood in the battlefield, still covered in the blood of the Infernals that had just died by my hand¡ªand by Asmo¡¯s arrow. That Archer, who was standing just a couple dozen paces away from me, bow drawn, was in my way alongside the other axe-wielding royal guard.


    Behind them, I could see Ainash and the Dragon still rampaging through the enemy forces of the wall, though those forces seemed to be dwindling¡ªif just a bit. At the very least, the constant notifications I got about Ainash killing enemies and giving me XP were getting a little less frequent by now.


    Thinking back to my encounter with the Royal Guards, way back before I¡¯d even gotten to Level 10, I remembered they had been around the mid to high Level 20s. I¡¯d certainly gotten a good bit stronger by then¡ªand these two people were probably pretty damaged by Astintash¡¯s assault on the wall¡ªbut I had no doubt I¡¯d probably lose in a fair fight against the two. I¡¯d just gotten out of a fight of my own, so even my basic advantage of them being a bit beaten up was nullified.


    ¡°Listen,¡± I said, trying my best to keep things from resorting to violence, ¡°I¡¯m sure you hate the Demons too. If we just work together¨C¡±


    And then Asmo shot an arrow at my head.


    I ducked underneath it, just barely dodging in time, and the woman with the axe rushed forward, preparing for a full-force swing at my torso. I leapt back and cursed them both with Crippling Chill.


    You have cursed Level 25 Human Berserker with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, she loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and her Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    31.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 484.


    You have cursed Level 24 Human Archer with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, she loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and her Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    31.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 452.


    Level 25 Berserker, and Level 24 Archer, huh? Yeah, so they were both mid-20s. Not exactly the highest in the Kingdom, but it was still plenty high enough for them to kill me.


    Generally, guards didn¡¯t have very high Levels whenpared to adventurers, since their jobs didn¡¯t involve them actually going out and fighting monsters to get XP, and it didn¡¯t seem like that rule was any different even when the guards were royal. However, what theycked in System-granted power, I was sure they more than made up for in high-quality training and gear. They¡¯d probably been given personal mentors, Enchanted weapons, anything they could ask for to defend the king. And now it was all being turned on me.


    The Berserker woman swung her axe in a wide arc, stepping forward at a supernatural pace using what was probably a Martial Art in order to hit me despite my attempt to evade her strike. The battleaxe swung around, straight toward the side of my stomach, and I knew I wasn¡¯t fast enough to dodge it this time.


    So, in a split-second decision, I decided to activate Expedite two more times. I¡¯d already put two stacks of the Spell on myself, so this would raise my Dexterity to an absolutely blistering score of 148. A score that I was in no way prepared for. But I¡¯d die without it, so I grit my teeth and prepared to focus every drop of effort on staying upright.


    The effects of the Spell hit me like a Dragon¡¯s stomp, and in an instant I kicked my foot to fling myself backward.


    You have been sliced. 4 damage.


    Your Health is 61.


    You have been inflicted with Burning Blood.


    For the next 10 seconds, you gain the following effects:


    You lose 1 Health every second.


    Whenever you take damage from a physical source, that source deals an additional 50% damage, up to a maximum of 25 additional damage.


    I mentally cursed. The de of the battleaxe just barely grazed my stomach, but of course the damn thing had been Enchanted. I¡¯d take a minimum of an extra 10 damage from the Burning Blood curse, but if I got hit again, it¡¯d deal extra.


    Thebination of the pain from my new wound and the disorienting nature of Expedite caused me tond wrong when I hit the ground, and I tumbled backward to the dirt.


    ¡°Ripley, to the side,¡± I heard Asmo¡¯s voice say, and looking up from my sitting position in the gravel, I saw the Berserker woman¡ªapparently her name was Ripley¡ªstep to the side while she charged forward at me with her axe. Behind her, she revealed Asmo, with her bow drawn, now having a clear shot straight at me.


    In an instant, I raised my hand and cast a Ray of Frost at her head just as she loosed her arrow.


    You have struck Level 24 Human Archer for 54 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 24 Human Archer with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, her Dexterity score is lowered by 7.77.


    14.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 377.


    The Ray shot straight into her eyes, and luckily, caused her aim to waver just enough that the arrow shot to my left, narrowly missing me.


    I activated Gravity Well on the still-approaching Ripley to buy just a bit of time as I scrambled to my feet, just barely getting to a standing position as she swung her axe diagonally across my chest. This time, I let up Gravity Well in the middle of her swing to try and trip her up a bit, and lunged forward, too close to her for the axe to be effective, grabbing onto her face in a half-tackle and activating Noxious Grasp.


    I had to let go just as quickly and flee, though, because Asmo had drawn another arrow and was about to shoot.


    You have struck Level 25 Human Berserker for 3.2 damage and drained 3.3 Stamina over the course of 1.3 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    0.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 369.


    I was stuck in a state of constant flight, fighting the two of them simultaneously. If I tried to attack one of them, the other would be there to fight me off and keep me upied. Noxious Grasp, by nature, wanted me to hold onto an enemy, staying stationary while I drained away their Health. Normally, I could do that with the debuffing nature of my other Spells, keeping my enemy weakened and using abination of Noxious Grasp and Ray of Frost to slowly chip away their Health.


    But when up against a pair of powerful foes, I couldn¡¯t focus my debuffs on a single one of them, and if I tried to use everything on both, not only would it totally drain my Mana, but it probably wouldn¡¯t even be enough to severely weaken them, anyway¡ªI¡¯d need to also drain their Stamina to do that.


    I didn¡¯t have enough Health, Stamina, <em>or</em> Mana to take them both on at once. And I knew that going into this.


    My goal wasn¡¯t to kill them. My goal was to survive long enough for someone else toe in and even the sides.


    Astintash would obviously be ideal¡ªif it came over here, they¡¯d be forced to flee¡ªbut I didn¡¯t have much hope of the Dragon being so benevolent as toe and willingly save my life when it was so busy killing enemies of its own. Ainash was also too far to be able to quicklye over here, not to mention she was in the midst of fighting dozens of Humans and Infernals, too.


    My only hope was¡ª


    A ball of fire flew across my vision and mmed into Asmo, the resulting explosion flinging her several paces away.


    Before I could even say ¡°thank you¡± to Erani, she rushed forward and yelled over to me, ¡°I¡¯ll take the Archer! You focus on the other one.¡±


    She shot another Firebolt at Asmo, who was lying on the ground, covered in burns, but before the Firebolt hit, she suddenly disappeared from sight, reappearing a dozen paces back, standing on her two feet with bow drawn. Erani didn¡¯t seem too worried at this, though, and simply raised her hands to cast another.


    After a quick nce at the now-raging fight between Erani and Asmo, Ripley turned back to me and charged.

 Chapter 115.2: A Pair of Guards

    Chapter 115.2: A Pair of Guards


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    Ripley charged at me, unfazed at her partner¡¯s being shot. She seemed purely focused on her fight. I ducked underneath her swing and leapt to her side. Thankfully, since I¡¯d already gotten used to two stacks of Expedite, raising that number to four wasn¡¯t <em>too</em> bad. At least, I was beginning to be used to it. With two Expedites active, my Dexterity would be 86, meaning the new score of 148 was only about double what it had been before. Still an extreme increase, but not as bad as going from zero Expedites to two of them.


    I sidestepped a strike and ducked below another, focusing every piece of my mind on just dodging the fast and powerful attacks of such a high-Level sser.


    <em>Index</em>, I thought as I dodged, <em>what can you tell me about her?</em>


    ¡°Well, I can tell you the basic way the Berserker ss functions,¡± it said.


    I ducked below another swing of the axe with the help of a pulse of Gravity Well on Ripley to temporarily throw her off.


    ¡°It¡¯s actually a bit simr to Minute Mage in a sense,¡± Index continued, ¡°in that it has a single, signature Talent that it gets at Level 0 and will get more powerful as the ss Levels. That Talent is the appropriately-named ¡®Berserk.¡¯¡±


    I shot Ripley with a Ray of Frost to distract her as I backed away some more.


    You have struck Level 25 Human Berserker for 59 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 25 Human Berserker with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, her Dexterity score is lowered by 7.77.


    14.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 342.


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you the exact numbers, but the Talent is technically free to activate at any time, as often as the user wants. And what it does is increases all of a person¡¯s physical Stats, general fighting abilities, and especially Health regeneration.¡±


    I re-cast two Expedites on myself as the older two stacks of the Spell wore off. 281 Mana left.


    ¡°There¡¯s a reason Berserkers use their Talent sparingly, though. In return for increasing their fighting abilities, it has a couple costs. First, it costs some Stamina every second it¡¯s active, which does physically limit how often someone can keep it active. But the second thing it does¡ªand this is the more well-known downside¡ªis it impairs the user¡¯s sense.¡±


    Ripley tore her axe through the air, and it grazed my arm this time, re-activating its Burning Blood curse on me.


    You have been sliced. 3 damage.


    Your Health is 44.


    You have been <em>inflicted with Burning Blood</em>.


    For the next 10 seconds, you gain the following effects:


    You lose 1 Health every second.


    Whenever you take damage from a physical source, that source deals an additional 50% damage, up to a maximum of 25 additional damage.


    ¡°Basically, when someone¡¯s under the effects of Berserk, they¡¯repletely filled with rage. To an inhuman degree. They still have decent battle-sense and can tell friend from foe and everything, but while that Talent is active, a Berserker wants nothing more than to end the life of their opponent.¡±


    She swung her axe straight downward, threatening to split my head in half, and a well-timed sidestep was all that saved me. Every second that passed regenerated a bit more of my Mana.


    ¡°The way this is relevant to you is that it¡¯s functionally impossible to reason with that woman, in her current state. She understandsnguage just fine, but she won¡¯t listen to anything <em>you</em> say. And she won¡¯t really act in ordance to basic principles like self-preservation, either. She¡¯d be happy to die if it meant you died, too. Regardless of her feelings about all this while the Talent isn¡¯t active, she hates you more than anything else for now.¡±


    Ripley suddenly began moving in apletely unnatural way¡ªa ssic sign that she¡¯d activated another Martial Art. Her arms moved faster than I could see, swinging the axe down at me in what felt like five directions at once. In a split-second decision, I charged forward and tackled her, just barely dodging the lethal attack. I got in half a second¡¯s worth of Noxious Grasp with that, too, but nothing else before I was forced to flee from her once again. Mana had regenerated a bit, though, up to 294.


    ¡°There are a couple ways the Talent can deactivate. One is that, after a bit of time, it¡¯ll just turn off on its own. It¡¯s on a set timer. But, like I said before, the Talent is free to turn on and doesn¡¯t have any limits like yours about how many times in a day it can be activated. So the only way for it to turn off and <em>stay</em> off is if this woman runs out of Stamina. The Talent can¡¯t be used if its user¡¯s Stamina levels are below five percent of their maximum, since the Talent has a natural cost of Stamina every second it¡¯s active.¡±


    Ripley screamed in rage, sounding more like the Infernals I¡¯d fought than an actual person, and charged at me with her axe glinting in the setting sun. I shot off a pair of Rays of Frost, careful not to use too much of my Mana, and used that moment of distraction to dodge to the side and avoid another of her strikes. 51 damage and 54 damage, but Mana was back down to 266.


    ¡°So, basically, you¡¯re up against a super-powered Melee-Type with an insatiable lust for your blood. And until that Talent shuts off, you¡¯re not going to have much luck in killing her. The boosted Health regeneration really is quite ridiculous. In fact¡­ yep, I¡¯m just now getting that I can tell you this, she is literally missing around eighty Health from her maximum right now. Out of hundreds upon hundreds. That¡¯s all the damage you¡¯ve actually managed to deal to her in this fight, with your slower means of dealing damage. And most of it came from the two Rays you just hit her with. That damage will go away pretty shortly.¡±


    I ducked under another swing of her axe.


    ¡°But she <em>is</em> at around half Stamina. So you¡¯ve been doing quite well in that department. Let¡¯s see¡­ what do you have avable to you¡­ Your Health is 34, Stamina¡¯s 61, and Mana¡¯s down to 270. I guess you <em>could</em> activate Regenerate for a bit more Health, but that¡¯d leave you with so little Stamina I¡¯d be worried about your ability to keep fighting. So let¡¯s not do that.¡±


    I backed away from Ripley, breathing heavily.


    ¡°Seems like your best friend in this fight is gonna be your Noxious Grasp Upgrade, Venomous Grasp. It doubles <em>all</em> Stamina loss for five seconds after hitting them with the Spell, and that counts the natural Stamina cost every second from the Berserk Talent. It also counts all Stamina costs of Martial Arts.¡±


    Ripley scowled and charged.


    ¡°So Stamina is going to be the bottleneck for her. You need to abuse that as best as you can here. She¡¯s using up a bit more every second she fights, all you have to do is make sure those seconds pass by <em>without</em> you taking damage.¡±


    Just as she swung at me, I re-cast Crippling Chill, which had worn off at some point during the fight. With the sudden loss of Dexterity she was stunned for a fraction of a second, allowing me to escape her swing alive one more time.


    ¡°So, uh, yeah. You got all that?¡±


    <em>Yeah</em>, I thought. By some miracle, I managed to listen to everything Index was saying while not dying to Ripley. I¡¯d taken a bit more damage than I¡¯d have liked¡ªand definitely spent more Mana than I¡¯d have wanted¡ªbut I also got a bit more Mana back every second, so spending it to keep myself from dying was a pretty good use of it, in my opinion.


    Erani and Asmo were still battling in the background, taking long-range shots at each other, with Erani using Angelic Shield to shrug off all of the hits that weren¡¯t direct, and Asmo abusing her teleportation to avoid being hit by the Firebolts.


    But between me and Ripley, we were both looking much worse for wear. Even with just the couple grazing hits she¡¯d managed to get on me, the Enchantment on her axe tore through my Health all the same. Just a couple more like that and I¡¯d be dead. But she was also low on Stamina, and all I had to do was rid her of thest bit she was clinging on to.


    And that was what I¡¯d do.


    It was time for me to finish this fight.

 Chapter 136: The True Battle Rages

    Chapter 136: The True Battle Rages


    Ripley charged at me, and I set myself. I¡¯d change tactics now, going from defensive and focused on avoiding attacks to offensive, trying to drain her Stamina with Noxious Grasp.


    She swung her axe at me again, but with Expedite, which I was getting more and more used to over the course of my time with four stacks cast on myself, I was fast enough to dodge under her axe and tackle her.


    It wasn¡¯t just Expedite helping me hold my own against her, either. I¡¯d done the math a while ago, and in total, counting the Intelligence given to me with Trailzer, the random Stats from Recursive Growth, and the 4 additional in Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity given to me by Ainad¡¯s Bond, I had 216 total Stats. That was the amount of Stats someone Leveling normally would have by Level 30. And, of course, then I added on an extra 120 with four Expedites.


    Now, sure, many of that was invested into Conjuration, but even just looking at my physical Stats, I didn¡¯t have a terrible looking Status. Sure, Ripley still obviously dominated me physically, but it wasn¡¯t quite as severe as she must¡¯ve been expecting, considering I¡¯m supposed to be a Magic-Type.


    So when I lunged forward and tackled her, I wasn¡¯t surprised to see her stumble backward a bit. I didn¡¯t knock her over, but it wasn¡¯t like hitting a brick wall, either. Well, she <em>was</em> wearing metal te armor, so it¡¯d be more like hitting a metal wall either way.


    But still, Noxious Grasp did its thing, quickly draining Ripley¡¯s Stamina, and when I let go and stepped away, it left a five-second Fester behind, doubling all of her Stamina consumption for the duration.


    She snarled, clearly enraged¡ªthough I suspected she¡¯d be enraged anyway, considering she was under the effects of Berserk¡ªand stepped forward, swinging at me with her axe once again.


    One interesting thing Index had told me before about the Fester was that, by doubling all Stamina consumption, that also meant it¡¯d double the Stamina costs of any Martial Arts activated. Even for a Melee-Type, who¡¯d obviously have much more Stamina than someone like me, those Martial Arts typically carried a heavy cost. I knew that for Swordsman, at least, those Arts wouldmonly cost 30, 40, even upwards of 50 Stamina per activation¡ªand that was just at the lower Levels.


    So by doubling the costs of Ripley¡¯s already-costly Martial Arts, I was effectively locking her out of using them. Berserkers would already need to be careful about Stamina consumption because of Berserk¡¯s constant Stamina drain that came with it, but up against me, Ripley would have to be extremely conscientious about using any Martial Arts at all.


    Really, when I thought about it, I was kind of like a Melee-Type¡¯s worst nightmare, with my entire build focused on denying my enemies of a resource that they counted on so heavily.


    Ripley charged and swung again, her eyes feeling like they were close to catching ame. I backed away, but the de of her axe caught my bicep.


    You have been sliced. 4 damage.


    Your Health is 31.


    I was able to pull away with my boosted Dexterity, quickly enough that it only nicked me, but¡­


    You have been inflicted with Burning Blood.


    For the next 10 seconds, you gain the following effects:


    You lose 1 Health every second.


    Whenever you take damage from a physical source, that source deals an additional 50% damage, up to a maximum of 25 additional damage.


    Her axe was Enchanted. Each time I got hit, I¡¯d take a minimum of 10 extra damage, and that was assuming I could avoid getting hit again for the next ten seconds.


    With my entire arm feeling like it was warming up to feverish temperatures, I backed away and activated Gravity Well on Ripley, this time keeping it active as I tried to create distance between us while I waited out the weapon¡¯s Curse.


    My Stamina was at 61, so I <em>could</em> activate Regenerate if I needed to, but doing so would drop my own Stamina so low that I¡¯d have trouble moving as freely as I was right now.


    With Gravity Well increasing her weight by over 60%, Ripley trudged over to me as I scrambled back. The Spell was hefty in Mana cost, but helped as a panic button at times like these when I really needed to slow someone down.


    I heard an explosion and nced over to see a sting off of Astintash¡¯s scaly hide. It was still fighting over in the rubble of the ruined wall, and it looked like someone salvaged together one of the ballistas that¡¯d been used in defending the fort when it was still intact. Still, I doubted that bothered Astintash much at all.


    It seemed like most of the soldiers there had either died or fled, really. But the remaining ones were still fighting back, so Astintash and Ainash weren¡¯t done yet, it seemed.


    A grunt from Ripley pulled my attention back to her, just in time to duck under another swing of her de. She functioned remarkably well under 60% increased gravity, reduced Dexterity from Crippling Chill, and extra-drained Stamina from Noxious Grasp, really.


    She swung again, and I backed away, but then she spun all the way around, letting the battleaxe¡¯s momentum carry her in another swing that hit me in my ribs with the t end of the axe.


    You have been mmed against something. 9 damage.


    Your Health is 12.


    Your ribs have been fractured.


    You have been inflicted with Burning Blood.


    For the next 10 seconds, you gain the following effects:


    You lose 1 Health every second.


    Whenever you take damage from a physical source, that source deals an additional 50% damage, up to a maximum of 25 additional damage.


    It seemed like she¡¯d used some sort of Martial Art there, because I was sent flying backward¡ªmuch further back than I should¡¯ve been. And it seemed like, even if I didn¡¯t technically get my skin cut open by the axe, it still hit me with that Burning Blood shit.


    My ribs stung like the hells, too. With my already-low Health, I barely had anything that could protect me against blunt damage like that, leaving my body without a shield to prevent my bones from breaking. Which was exactly what happened.


    My hurting body rolled across the dirt path we were fighting on, and Inded on my back.


    Yeah, things were dire. I needed extra Health, even if it was at the cost of my dwindling Stamina.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 25.4 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    45.7 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 14.


    I still had Gravity Well active on Ripley, so she was forced to walk over to me, each stepnding heavily on the gravel pathway.


    But with my now-low Stamina, I was suddenly finding it difficult to stand up. I coughed. The metal te crushing my ribs definitely didn¡¯t help, either.


    I held up a hand and weakly fired off Rays of Frost at her, my shaky hand making it difficult to aim, but they only barely seemed to slow her down. Coughing, I managed to get to my feet, but I could still barely move.


    Ripley kept approaching, both of us exhausted, but unable to stop fighting. Ripley looked like she was about to copse right there on the ground, but the fire in her eyes refused to die out.


    But then, I heard a voice.


    ¡°Ripley!¡± it said. It was Asmo.


    I looked over and saw her. She had her bow drawn and aimed at a fallen piece of the wall that Erani was taking cover behind. I saw countless arrows embedded into the stone surface of the rubble. She was still staring down at Erani¡¯s cover, but she continued talking to Ripley.


    ¡°Command is messaging me. Most of the forces are dead. They¡¯re going to port us out.¡±


    Ripley snapped her head back at Asmo. The effects of the Berserk Talent didn¡¯t technically take away one¡¯s ability to speak, but apparently it did make someone so enraged they barely had the room in their mind for a long discussion. She just yelled out an angered ¡°No!¡±


    ¡°Yes. We¡¯re going to die if we stay. That Dragon will kill us. They¡¯re porting us out.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s almost dead!¡±


    ¡°Irrelevant. We can find another time to kill him. All living VIPs are to leave immediately. They¡¯ve already ported some.¡±


    ¡°No!¡±


    This time Asmo actually looked away from her opponent to stare Ripley down. She had a surprising softness in her eyes when she looked at the Berserker. ¡°You¡¯re not in your right mind. Let Berserk wear off and¡ª¡±


    ¡°No! If he stays alive, the Demons won¡¯t leave!¡±


    ¡°Ripley. They¡¯re porting us out, and you can¡¯t do anything about that. It¡¯s not your choice to make.¡±


    Erani, now that her enemy was fully not even looking at her, popped out from behind her cover and held out a hand to shoot off another Firebolt. The ball of mes formed, left her hand, and flew true, straight at Asmo, and then it collided¡ª


    Or, no, it didn¡¯t collide with her. Just before it would¡¯ve hit Asmo, a ring on the woman¡¯s hand glowed, shed a golden light, and then she was gone. And this time, she hadn¡¯t reappeared elsewhere on the battlefield. She was fully gone. The Firebolt continued on in its path, hitting nothing and fizzling out a dozen pacester.


    Ripley looked, wide-eyed at where Asmo had been standing. Then, she shouted, seemingly to nobody but herself, ¡°No!¡± And reached over to her hand, where a simr ringid on her finger. She grabbed it, frantically tugged it off of her finger, and tossed it aside.


    Just as it hit the ground, it glowed a brilliant golden light, and then shed away, disappearing just as Asmo did.


    Only this time, Ripley didn¡¯t disappear with it.


    She was still standing right there in front of me.


    She pointed her axe at me, breathing heavily, and said ¡°You will die <em>today</em>! I will make things right!¡±


    And, with renewed vigor, she charged.


    I backed away and raised my hand to shoot her with another Ray of Frost.


    But before I could do so, a Firebolt exploded against her, flinging her off to the side and tumbling to the ground, herself. Ripley¡¯s axe was flung from her hands, ttering to the ground just as Ripley¡¯s own body was mmed against the ground. Erani ran up beside me.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± she breathed, then gestured over at Ripley. ¡°Why didn¡¯t she leave like the Archer did?¡±


    ¡°I think they were wearing Enchanted rings,¡± I groaned, Health and Stamina still so low that it felt like I was dying, ¡°that could teleport them out when someone else activated them. She threw hers off right before it was activated.¡±


    ¡°What? Why would she do that?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s a Berserker,¡± I exined. ¡°I think she¡¯s not really in the right state of mind to retreat right now.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Erani blinked, then looked back at our enemy. ¡°Okay.¡±


    Ripley struggled to get up from the ground, covered in burns from the Firebolt.


    ¡°If I have to,¡± she groaned, ¡°I will kill you with my bare hands!¡±


    But then Ainash leaped forward from behind me,nding with her feet square on Ripley¡¯s chest, kicking her right back to the ground with a metallic <em>ng</em>.


    It seemed like she¡¯d finished her fight with the enemies in the rubble of the wall.


    <em>¡°Why not killing bad guy?¡±</em> she asked, drawing her ming whip. <em>¡°Okay if I kill bad guy?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Give it a second,¡±</em> I said. <em>¡°She seems like she¡¯s pretty high-up among the bad guys. She might be able to give us some information.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Then kill her?¡±</em>


    I sighed. <em>¡°Probably not, but we¡¯ll see.¡±</em>


    I got a notification that Crippling Chill wore off of Ripley, so I re-cast it to drain away the rest of her Stamina. I wasn¡¯t worried about her Health, since apparently I¡¯d barely been dealing any damage to her at all. And once her Stamina ran out, she¡¯d be forced out of the Berserk state and could finally listen to reason.


    Though I had no idea what this woman was like while not under the effects of Berserk, so who knew if she was reasonable to begin with. Despite just having had an extended fight with her, it seemed like Berserk took over a person¡¯s mind so much that I could barely say I knew a single thing about the woman.


    She opened her eyes, and for a moment, it seemed like she was about to try and get to her feet again to attack us, but then it seemed like that fire in her gaze faded away. Her scrunched up, enraged face got a little softer, the snarl in her mouth faded away, and her entire body seemed to lose the tension it¡¯d been holding.


    She blinked, and the color drained from her face.


    ¡°Oh, oh gods,¡± she said, ncing around to see that she was alone and surrounded by enemies.


    ¡°We aren¡¯t going to hurt you,¡± I said, ¡°we just want to ask some questions.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m against the Demons too,¡± she rushed to say, panting from what I was sure was the extreme exhaustion of having dangerously low Stamina. But despite her exhaustion, she continued. ¡°And I think there¡¯s something wrong happening in the kingdom. I¡¯ll tell you everything.¡±

 Chapter 116: A Berserker

    Chapter 116: A Berserker


    Ripley charged at me, and I set myself. I¡¯d change tactics now, going from defensive and focused on avoiding attacks to offensive, trying to drain her Stamina with Noxious Grasp.


    She swung her axe at me again, but with Expedite, which I was getting more and more used to over the course of my time with four stacks cast on myself, I was fast enough to dodge under her axe and tackle her.


    It wasn¡¯t just Expedite helping me hold my own against her, either. I¡¯d done the math a while ago, and in total, counting the Intelligence given to me with Trailzer, the random Stats from Recursive Growth, and the 4 additional in Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity given to me by Ainad¡¯s Bond, I had 216 total Stats. That was the amount of Stats someone Leveling normally would have by Level 30. And, of course, then I added on an extra 120 with four Expedites.


    Now, sure, many of that was invested into Conjuration, but even just looking at my physical Stats, I didn¡¯t have a terrible looking Status. Sure, Ripley still obviously dominated me physically, but it wasn¡¯t quite as severe as she must¡¯ve been expecting, considering I¡¯m supposed to be a Magic-Type.


    So when I lunged forward and tackled her, I wasn¡¯t surprised to see her stumble backward a bit. I didn¡¯t knock her over, but it wasn¡¯t like hitting a brick wall, either. Well, she <em>was</em> wearing metal te armor, so it¡¯d be more like hitting a metal wall either way.


    But still, Noxious Grasp did its thing, quickly draining Ripley¡¯s Stamina, and when I let go and stepped away, it left a five-second Fester behind, doubling all of her Stamina consumption for the duration.


    She snarled, clearly enraged¡ªthough I suspected she¡¯d be enraged anyway, considering she was under the effects of Berserk¡ªand stepped forward, swinging at me with her axe once again.


    One interesting thing Index had told me before about the Fester was that, by doubling all Stamina consumption, that also meant it¡¯d double the Stamina costs of any Martial Arts activated. Even for a Melee-Type, who¡¯d obviously have much more Stamina than someone like me, those Martial Arts typically carried a heavy cost. I knew that for Swordsman, at least, those Arts wouldmonly cost 30, 40, even upwards of 50 Stamina per activation¡ªand that was just at the lower Levels.


    So by doubling the costs of Ripley¡¯s already-costly Martial Arts, I was effectively locking her out of using them. Berserkers would already need to be careful about Stamina consumption because of Berserk¡¯s constant Stamina drain that came with it, but up against me, Ripley would have to be extremely conscientious about using any Martial Arts at all.


    Really, when I thought about it, I was kind of like a Melee-Type¡¯s worst nightmare, with my entire build focused on denying my enemies of a resource that they counted on so heavily.


    Ripley charged and swung again, her eyes feeling like they were close to catching ame. I backed away, but the de of her axe caught my bicep.


    You have been sliced. 4 damage.


    Your Health is 31.


    I was able to pull away with my boosted Dexterity, quickly enough that it only nicked me, but¡­


    You have been inflicted with Burning Blood.


    For the next 10 seconds, you gain the following effects:


    You lose 1 Health every second.


    Whenever you take damage from a physical source, that source deals an additional 50% damage, up to a maximum of 25 additional damage.


    Her axe was Enchanted. Each time I got hit, I¡¯d take a minimum of 10 extra damage, and that was assuming I could avoid getting hit again for the next ten seconds.


    With my entire arm feeling like it was warming up to feverish temperatures, I backed away and activated Gravity Well on Ripley, this time keeping it active as I tried to create distance between us while I waited out the weapon¡¯s Curse.


    My Stamina was at 61, so I <em>could</em> activate Regenerate if I needed to, but doing so would drop my own Stamina so low that I¡¯d have trouble moving as freely as I was right now.


    With Gravity Well increasing her weight by over 60%, Ripley trudged over to me as I scrambled back. The Spell was hefty in Mana cost, but helped as a panic button at times like these when I really needed to slow someone down.


    I heard an explosion and nced over to see a sting off of Astintash¡¯s scaly hide. It was still fighting over in the rubble of the ruined wall, and it looked like someone salvaged together one of the ballistas that¡¯d been used in defending the fort when it was still intact. Still, I doubted that bothered Astintash much at all.


    It seemed like most of the soldiers there had either died or fled, really. But the remaining ones were still fighting back, so Astintash and Ainash weren¡¯t done yet, it seemed.


    A grunt from Ripley pulled my attention back to her, just in time to duck under another swing of her de. She functioned remarkably well under 60% increased gravity, reduced Dexterity from Crippling Chill, and extra-drained Stamina from Noxious Grasp, really.


    She swung again, and I backed away, but then she spun all the way around, letting the battleaxe¡¯s momentum carry her in another swing that hit me in my ribs with the t end of the axe.


    You have been mmed against something. 9 damage.


    Your Health is 12.


    Your ribs have been fractured.


    You have been inflicted with Burning Blood.


    For the next 10 seconds, you gain the following effects:


    You lose 1 Health every second.


    Whenever you take damage from a physical source, that source deals an additional 50% damage, up to a maximum of 25 additional damage.


    It seemed like she¡¯d used some sort of Martial Art there, because I was sent flying backward¡ªmuch further back than I should¡¯ve been. And it seemed like, even if I didn¡¯t technically get my skin cut open by the axe, it still hit me with that Burning Blood shit.


    My ribs stung like the hells, too. With my already-low Health, I barely had anything that could protect me against blunt damage like that, leaving my body without a shield to prevent my bones from breaking. Which was exactly what happened.


    My hurting body rolled across the dirt path we were fighting on, and Inded on my back.


    Yeah, things were dire. I needed extra Health, even if it was at the cost of my dwindling Stamina.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 25.4 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    45.7 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 14.


    I still had Gravity Well active on Ripley, so she was forced to walk over to me, each stepnding heavily on the gravel pathway.


    But with my now-low Stamina, I was suddenly finding it difficult to stand up. I coughed. The metal te crushing my ribs definitely didn¡¯t help, either.


    I held up a hand and weakly fired off Rays of Frost at her, my shaky hand making it difficult to aim, but they only barely seemed to slow her down. Coughing, I managed to get to my feet, but I could still barely move.


    Ripley kept approaching, both of us exhausted, but unable to stop fighting. Ripley looked like she was about to copse right there on the ground, but the fire in her eyes refused to die out.


    But then, I heard a voice.


    ¡°Ripley!¡± it said. It was Asmo.


    I looked over and saw her. She had her bow drawn and aimed at a fallen piece of the wall that Erani was taking cover behind. I saw countless arrows embedded into the stone surface of the rubble. She was still staring down at Erani¡¯s cover, but she continued talking to Ripley.


    ¡°Command is messaging me. Most of the forces are dead. They¡¯re going to port us out.¡±


    Ripley snapped her head back at Asmo. The effects of the Berserk Talent didn¡¯t technically take away one¡¯s ability to speak, but apparently it did make someone so enraged they barely had the room in their mind for a long discussion. She just yelled out an angered ¡°No!¡±


    ¡°Yes. We¡¯re going to die if we stay. That Dragon will kill us. They¡¯re porting us out.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s almost dead!¡±


    ¡°Irrelevant. We can find another time to kill him. All living VIPs are to leave immediately. They¡¯ve already ported some.¡±


    ¡°No!¡±


    This time Asmo actually looked away from her opponent to stare Ripley down. She had a surprising softness in her eyes when she looked at the Berserker. ¡°You¡¯re not in your right mind. Let Berserk wear off and¡ª¡±


    ¡°No! If he stays alive, the Demons won¡¯t leave!¡±


    ¡°Ripley. They¡¯re porting us out, and you can¡¯t do anything about that. It¡¯s not your choice to make.¡±


    Erani, now that her enemy was fully not even looking at her, popped out from behind her cover and held out a hand to shoot off another Firebolt. The ball of mes formed, left her hand, and flew true, straight at Asmo, and then it collided¡ª


    Or, no, it didn¡¯t collide with her. Just before it would¡¯ve hit Asmo, a ring on the woman¡¯s hand glowed, shed a golden light, and then she was gone. And this time, she hadn¡¯t reappeared elsewhere on the battlefield. She was fully gone. The Firebolt continued on in its path, hitting nothing and fizzling out a dozen pacester.


    Ripley looked, wide-eyed at where Asmo had been standing. Then, she shouted, seemingly to nobody but herself, ¡°No!¡± And reached over to her hand, where a simr ringid on her finger. She grabbed it, frantically tugged it off of her finger, and tossed it aside.


    Just as it hit the ground, it glowed a brilliant golden light, and then shed away, disappearing just as Asmo did.


    Only this time, Ripley didn¡¯t disappear with it.


    She was still standing right there in front of me.


    She pointed her axe at me, breathing heavily, and said ¡°You will die <em>today</em>! I will make things right!¡±


    And, with renewed vigor, she charged.


    I backed away and raised my hand to shoot her with another Ray of Frost.


    But before I could do so, a Firebolt exploded against her, flinging her off to the side and tumbling to the ground, herself. Ripley¡¯s axe was flung from her hands, ttering to the ground just as Ripley¡¯s own body was mmed against the ground. Erani ran up beside me.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± she breathed, then gestured over at Ripley. ¡°Why didn¡¯t she leave like the Archer did?¡±


    ¡°I think they were wearing Enchanted rings,¡± I groaned, Health and Stamina still so low that it felt like I was dying, ¡°that could teleport them out when someone else activated them. She threw hers off right before it was activated.¡±


    ¡°What? Why would she do that?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s a Berserker,¡± I exined. ¡°I think she¡¯s not really in the right state of mind to retreat right now.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Erani blinked, then looked back at our enemy. ¡°Okay.¡±


    Ripley struggled to get up from the ground, covered in burns from the Firebolt.


    ¡°If I have to,¡± she groaned, ¡°I will kill you with my bare hands!¡±


    But then Ainash leaped forward from behind me,nding with her feet square on Ripley¡¯s chest, kicking her right back to the ground with a metallic <em>ng</em>.


    It seemed like she¡¯d finished her fight with the enemies in the rubble of the wall.


    <em>¡°Why not killing bad guy?¡±</em> she asked, drawing her ming whip. <em>¡°Okay if I kill bad guy?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Give it a second,¡±</em> I said. <em>¡°She seems like she¡¯s pretty high-up among the bad guys. She might be able to give us some information.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Then kill her?¡±</em>


    I sighed. <em>¡°Probably not, but we¡¯ll see.¡±</em>


    I got a notification that Crippling Chill wore off of Ripley, so I re-cast it to drain away the rest of her Stamina. I wasn¡¯t worried about her Health, since apparently I¡¯d barely been dealing any damage to her at all. And once her Stamina ran out, she¡¯d be forced out of the Berserk state and could finally listen to reason.


    Though I had no idea what this woman was like while not under the effects of Berserk, so who knew if she was reasonable to begin with. Despite just having had an extended fight with her, it seemed like Berserk took over a person¡¯s mind so much that I could barely say I knew a single thing about the woman.


    She opened her eyes, and for a moment, it seemed like she was about to try and get to her feet again to attack us, but then it seemed like that fire in her gaze faded away. Her scrunched up, enraged face got a little softer, the snarl in her mouth faded away, and her entire body seemed to lose the tension it¡¯d been holding.


    She blinked, and the color drained from her face.


    ¡°Oh, oh gods,¡± she said, ncing around to see that she was alone and surrounded by enemies.


    ¡°We aren¡¯t going to hurt you,¡± I said, ¡°we just want to ask some questions.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m against the Demons too,¡± she rushed to say, panting from what I was sure was the extreme exhaustion of having dangerously low Stamina. But despite her exhaustion, she continued. ¡°And I think there¡¯s something wrong happening in the kingdom. I¡¯ll tell you everything.¡±

 Chapter 117.1: Interviewing

    Chapter 117.1: Interviewing


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    Erani, Ainash, and I all stood around Ripley, who was sitting disarmed on the ground.


    She¡¯d said she was friendly to our cause in some form, but we still took the basic precautions, taking herbat gear, searching her for any Enchanted items, searching the surrounding area to ensure it wasn¡¯t a trap, and so on. Ripley stayed silent throughout the whole endeavor, simply allowing us to do what we needed withoutint.


    While we did this, Astintash came up to speak to us.


    ¡°I am gracious for your help,¡± it had said, ¡°and I am d we reached an agreement. Now that the enemy is dispatched, I will take my leave.¡±


    And with that, it just flew off. Really, part of me was expecting something more. But I supposed that, to a Dragon, killing massive swaths of life and taking part in gigantic battles was just like any other day. The only strange part of this whole situation to Astintash, I suspected, was the fact that it ended up forming a temporary alliance with a couple of Humans.


    And it didn¡¯t seem to want to keep that alliance, considering how soon it left. We held up our end of the bargain, and it held up its. Nothing more to it.


    After that, we took Ripley away from the battlefield. Even though we didn¡¯t find any soldiers tailing us or hiding in the shadows, we couldn¡¯t be certain there wasn¡¯t <em>anyone</em> around, so going to some other remote ce would probably be a good idea.


    Plus, even if there really wasn¡¯t anyone around, who was to say they weren¡¯t getting reinforcements as we spoke toe back and attack us? Sure, Astintash would probably be keeping an eye on the area to ensure nobody came back¡ªand the Demons most likely knew that¡ªbut we couldn¡¯t say for certain.


    But really, I just wanted to get away from all the corpses. I¡¯d be familiar with death ever since I¡¯d gotten the Minute Mage ss¡ªmuch more intimately so than I¡¯d have liked¡ªbut that didn¡¯t mean I liked it. Astintash wasn¡¯t exactly clean with its crushing of heads and burning of the masses, and even if I was somewhat used to the sight, I didn¡¯t feel like I could ever get used to the smell.


    So we continued further into the mountain valley with Ripley in tow as our prisoner.


    It took about an hour before we feltfortable enough to sit down again¡ªpartially because it took about an hour for everyone to get their Mana back and for me to get back enough Stamina for another activation of Regenerate¡ªbut once we decided to rest, it took all my strength not to just copse into the ground.


    The past day had been much, <em>much</em> longer than it had any right to be. Both mentally and in a literal sense. I¡¯d used Time Loop twice, each time going back four hours. That meant the day hadsted around thirty-two. And I¡¯d spent at least half of that time actively dealing with life-or-death scenarios. I wanted nothing more than to just fall asleep¡ªpreferably for at least a week.


    But we still had a prisoner with us, so I couldn¡¯t do that just yet. Hopefully Ripley wouldn¡¯t cause us any problems. She¡¯d been too low on Stamina for the past while to try and fight back, but taking some time for us to regenerate ourselves also meant she got to as well, and it was possible that she might do something like activating Berserk to try and fight us in ast-ditch effort to escape. So we needed to stay on guard.


    Ainash just wanted to kill her¡ªnot that I was particrly surprised by that¡ªbut she agreed not to. Definitely a step up from her prisoner-killing exploits of the past, though I wasn¡¯t sure if praising her for just <em>wanting</em> to kill someone was really all that much better than going ahead and doing it. Still, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit proud of her progress.


    While we walked, I¡¯d also been finishing up the practice for all of my Spells. I¡¯d Leveled up to 18 in the previous fight, earning me some Stat Points, a Spell Choice¡ªwhich I still needed to go through, once we got some time¡ªand a new Rank for my Soft Cap. That Rank was 10, meaning I could get all of my Spells up to the first Upgrade point without having to deal with the Soft Cap, now.


    Though I wouldn¡¯t actually be able to Upgrade them without Spell Crystals, which I had a distinctck of, currently. Still, I went through and at least got them all to the Spell XP threshold, if just for the sake of making my Status look nice and clean.


    Threshold reached. Ray of Frost XP has reached 355.


    Consume a Cold Spell Crystal or a Curse Spell Crystal to increase Ray of Frost Rank to 10.


    So I got quite a few of these notifications for all of my Spells, each informing me of the Spell Crystals I¡¯d need. Once I got all of them maxed out, I just went back to practicing Noxious Grasp.


    Once we were ready, we sat Ripley up against a rock and tied her hands behind her back with part of Ainash¡¯s whip¡ªshe was sure to turn off the ming aspect of it before we did that¡ªand then we got to the actual questioning part of our encounter.


    ¡°So, what is your exact rtionship with the Demons?¡± I started our interview out with. We¡¯d been secretlymunicating through Ainash and trying to figure out how we¡¯d conduct our interrogation, and ended up deciding on a basic line of questioning.


    Ripley gazed up at me. She seemed to have a mix of respect and anger in her eyes, though I wasn¡¯t sure how the two coexisted when directed at the same person. Shaking her head, she grunted. ¡°You had to start off with the hardest question, huh?¡±


    ¡°Just try your best to exin.¡±


    ¡°Well the problem is that I barely know, myself.¡± She sighed. ¡°As a kingdom, it seems like we¡¯re subservient to them, at this point. The king has ordered a ceasefire on all fighting against the Demons. Obviously some people refused to stop, but they were¡­ dealt with. Swiftly.¡±


    ¡°What about you, personally?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m their enemy. And if that makes me an enemy of the kingdom too, so be it. I¡¯m tired of fighting for their side. What happened here,¡± she gestured around, ¡°sacrificing all of those soldiers¡¯ lives against the Dragon, it¡¯s sick. They knew it would happen. Hells, we were briefed on it. They called us ¡®VIPs,¡¯ the ones that were supposed to survive. They knew that Dragon would attack, and so they told the soldiers to fight back, no matter what. Deserting meant torture, then death.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°So the VIPs¡­¡±


    ¡°We were given special rings to get teleported out once things got too dangerous. Everyone else was essentially supposed to distract the Dragon while we went and killed you. They wanted to get you alone. And apparently the kingdom felt like it was worth sacrificing the lives of a thousand good men and women to a gods-damned Dragon for that cause.¡±


    ¡°And you disagreed?¡±


    ¡°¡®Course I did. Couldn¡¯t really do much about it, though. I wasn¡¯t nning on doing anything, either. But when I was under Berserk, I wasn¡¯t really thinking straight. Made the decision there and then to just fuck ¡®em and get away.¡±


    ¡°So you don¡¯t n on going back, then?¡±


    ¡°Hells no. If they want to kill you, that¡¯s their business. And if you want to survive, that¡¯s yours. But I won¡¯t be dying for either of those causes. They don¡¯t have anything to do with me.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to help us take down the Demons, then? If we worked together¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just going to stop you there. This is your fight. I don¡¯t want to hurt you, and I sure as hells want to see those Demons sent back to where they came from, but¡­ I don¡¯t think you understand what you¡¯re up against.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you try enlightening us, then?¡±


    She just shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s hopeless to try and take them down. They made sure to beat that into me. And one day, it¡¯ll be beaten into you, too. I¡¯m not going back to the kingdom, and that includes fighting against them, as well as with them.¡±


    ¡°So then you¡¯ll be traveling to the Barinruth Empire with us, then?¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°As far as I know, I¡¯m still your prisoner. I assume that we¡¯re operating under ¡®what you say goes,¡¯ right? In that case, I don¡¯t think I have a choice.¡±


    I pursed my lips. ¡°Guess so. But I was hoping to establish a bit more of a friendly rtionship, if you¡¯re not going to be working against us.¡±


    ¡°If it was up to me, I¡¯d get the hells away from you as fast as I could. You¡¯re a ma for danger. The Demons may kill me on sight now that I¡¯ve deserted, but they¡¯ll be actively <em>looking </em>for you. And I don¡¯t wanna be near when they see you.¡±


    I grunted. ¡°That¡¯s fine, I guess.¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Ripley said, her face suddenly growing much more serious, ¡°down to what I wanted to tell you in the first ce. Something¡¯s wrong with Koinkar. The kingdom is corrupt, sure, but the king, too. He¡¯s different.¡±


    ¡°The king is different?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but he¡¯s not acting right. Something more serious is going on than just some extortion. I think they¡¯ve infiltrated us to our core.¡±

 Chapter 117.2: Interviewing

    Chapter 117.2: Interviewing


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    Erani, Ainash, and I all sat around Ripley as she spoke.


    ¡°The king is different?¡± I asked.


    She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but he¡¯s not acting right. Something more serious is going on than just some extortion. I think they¡¯ve infiltrated us to our core. We¡¯re supposedly ¡®working together¡¯ with the Demons, but anyone around can tell that¡¯s bullshit. King Koinkar, he¡­changed. Used to at least try to fight back against what those damn Demons said. Now he willingly goes along with their ns without a word against. Hells, he almost seems enthusiastic about following along. Not like someone working under threat of being invaded if he doesn¡¯t follow theirmands.¡±


    ¡°When did this change ur?¡± I furrowed my brows. Had something happened to the king? I wouldn''t be surprised, really.


    ¡°I was¡­ imprisoned. For some time. The day I went in, he was fine. Day I came out, he¡¯d changed.¡±


    I nodded, and Erani stepped in. ¡°How did those changes manifest? Did he look different at all? Did his clothing change? Even just an additional piece of jewelry, or a single item swapped out? Anything you didn¡¯t recognize?¡±


    She pursed her lips, pausing to think. ¡°Well, mainly his actions. What he says, what he does, the way he talks, it¡¯s all wrong. It¡¯s like I don¡¯t know him. And the changes are all in favor of the Demons. But looks¡­I don¡¯t think he changed his appearance at all. But he sits differently. I do remember that. You know him, he¡¯s old. Ancient. He slouches, can barely support himself even if he wanted to sit up. Now, it¡¯s like he isn¡¯t a day over forty. Wouldn¡¯t even think it was physically possible.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± I chewed on my lip, mulling over what she said. ¡°No idea how that happened, I assume?¡±


    ¡°Nah. But whatever those damned Demons did, they¡¯ve corrupted this entire kingdom, top to bottom. No way I could¡¯ve done what they said for long.¡±


    ¡°What about the other royal guard that was with you? Asmo? She seems to be just fine going along with the Demons. Think they¡¯ve ¡®corrupted¡¯ her, too?¡±


    Ripley shook her head, smiling in a strangely fond way, considering the subject matter. ¡°That girl¡¯s a lost cause. She wants to get to the top of whateverdder¡¯s in front of her. Right now, thedder we¡¯re climbing is the one where killing you is at the top. So she¡¯s just working her way up. Money and power, that¡¯s all she¡¯s been after.¡±


    ¡°Do you think you could convince her toe over to our side? You seem to work well together.¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°We do, but not in the way where I could change her mind on that. Hells, I¡¯m willing to bet she¡¯s out there forming a n to get <em>me</em> back to <em>her</em> side right now. We¡¯re good together, but we¡¯re both too stubborn for something like that.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°You seem pretty¡­okay with that. Aren¡¯t you two close? Wouldn¡¯t you be upset that you¡¯re fighting now?¡±


    ¡°Oh, we¡¯ll find our way back to each other¡¯s sides eventually. One of us will beat the other and then we¡¯ll be working together again. When we were kids, I told her she¡¯d be a royal guard with me, she said I¡¯d be an adventurer with her. I won that fight. Now we¡¯re just dancin¡¯ the same dance once again.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± I¡¯d gone off the basic script we¡¯d established before, but I felt like it was necessary to figure Asmo out, since I¡¯d more than likely see her again. Seemed like she and Ripley were entric, to say the least. Hopefully Ripley would win whatever fight they had going on, and Asmo would leave the Demons too, but it seemed like whether or not that happened wasn¡¯t exactly up to me. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just tell me what the next n is for the Demons?¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t so high up as to get info like that. You¡¯d have to talk to one of their core strategists. The merchant, the old man¡­pretty much any of the other VIPs. Though I¡¯m not sure how many of them survived the Dragon. I was considered one because of the numbers on my Status, more than anything else. So I was meat to be moved around and a Status sheet to fight for them, not the type of person to get valuable info.¡±


    ¡°Well, anything helps. Have any suspicions?¡±


    ¡°After this disaster, they might just let you leave. Their only hope to catch you before you get to Barinruth would be to set up <em>another</em> army of soldiers and mobilize them ASAP toe chase you through the canyon, but that Dragon friend of yours will probably stop them if they try moving suchrge numbers through here, so I doubt they¡¯ll go for it.¡±


    ¡°You think we¡¯re safe, then?¡±


    ¡°Oh, definitely not safe. Whatever those Demons are nning¡­ they¡¯re in it for the long haul. If you don¡¯t die today, they¡¯ll kill you tomorrow. And if you don¡¯t die tomorrow, they try again next week. And if you don¡¯t die then, they¡¯ll try next month, next year, next decade. They have control over King Koinkar, somehow, and they won¡¯t be letting that go. I know that for sure. If you make it to Barinruth, then they¡¯ll just change ns from hunting down a single person to waging war against the nation that houses you.¡±


    I sighed. That was what I was afraid of. Still, it seemed like, if they did that, the conflict would necessarily slow down quite a bit. So I¡¯d have some time to get my bearings, establish myself, stop living out of the woods, and maybe even anonymously warn the empire of the uing attack. ¡°But they¡¯ll let us get to Barinruth?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t think they have a choice. At least, I can¡¯t think of anything they could do to stop you. Not anything they¡¯re <em>willing</em> to do, at least.¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± I turned to Erani and asked Ainash to pass on a message. <em>¡°Hey, I think I¡¯m done asking her the main questions I had. You can talk to her now if you¡ª¡±</em>


    But I was interrupted by a screeching from above us. I snapped my head up and saw a Green Drake soaring overhead between the chasm walls. It spat down a glob of acid right where we were, and we all scrambled to get out of the way.


    Ainash, before I could even think to retaliate, leapt up and kicked off one of the stone walls next to us, jumping high up into the air, and shing up with her whip to slice open the monster¡¯s scaled belly.


    It screeched again in pain and flew off.


    I sighed. Drakes shouldn¡¯t have been too much of a problem, but with my rtively low Health and Stamina, I didn¡¯t want to take any more chances with these fights. One bad move could still end up with me dead, especially when I still didn¡¯t have Time Loop for a few more hours.


    I looked back down. ¡°Anyway, Erani, you wanna ask¡ª¡±


    I blinked. Ripley was gone. ncing around I suddenly saw her climbing up the mountain face with her muscly arms pulling her up and across faster than I could even run. She got up to the top,unched herself over, and sprinted off.


    <em>¡°I go catch her?¡±</em> Ainash asked.


    I sighed. Ripley was fleeing into the direction of the empire, not the kingdom. If she got away, it wasn¡¯t like she¡¯d be going back to the enemy. <em>¡°Could you even catch up to her?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Maybe. I am very fast.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, you sure are,¡±</em> I couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°Erani, you think we should send Ainash to go get her?¡±


    Erani pursed her lips. ¡°Seems a bit needlessly dangerous. We got the information we wanted out of her. And she doesn¡¯t seem hostile in the first ce. We¡¯d have to let her go eventually, so we may as well do it here. Sending Ainash out to find her, alone, would just be asking for trouble.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Yeah, I guess. Don¡¯t want to antagonize her.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s keep going for a bit to get out of this dangerous area, and then sit down and rest for a while? Also keep an eye out for that Ripley woman. She didn¡¯t <em>seem</em> dangerous, but who knows.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded. ¡°Hopefully we can find a ce to rest soon. I need to regenerate some Health. And manage a Level¨Cup.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you got one too?¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m getting a new Spell. What about you?¡±


    ¡°Well, with the help of the lovely Ainash,¡± Erani pulled her into a side-hug, making the child Draconiad look remarkably embarrassed, ¡°I actually Leveled up twice!¡±


    I raised my eyebrows. ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Eleven percent XP from her really helps out.¡± Erani smiled at Ainash. ¡°Good job with all the fighting! You did really well.¡±


    We¡¯d been getting into the habit of, whenever we spoke aloud to each other, also telepathically rying the conversation to Ainash. This way, not only would we keep her in the loop of what was going on, but she could hopefully begin learning our spokennguage, too. I mean, she was still a child, so it made sense that we should try to teach her some stuff.


    So, after Eraniplimented her fighting, Ainash grinned and hugged Erani back. I¡¯d have said it was a remarkably sweet sight, if not for the fact that we were praising her for her killing abilities. Considering the fact that her given name was technically ¡°Humanyer¡± Ainash, I didn¡¯t know if praising her even more for that quality was much of a good idea, really. But her smile warmed my heart regardless.


    Then, Erani suddenly frowned.


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°Hey An, you know how you mentioned the Bond with Ainash Ranking up before?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Well, it just happened to me.¡±

 Chapter 118: Bonding

    Chapter 118: Bonding


    Erani, Ainash, and I all sat down to look at our Statuses. Apparently Ainash Leveled up as well during the fight, so she needed to manage what she got, too.


    What, exactly, her Status looked like was something we still had trouble establishing. If I zeroed in on one specific aspect of it, I could normally get a decent answer out of her, but it seemed like her Status was more a general feeling than one of words and numbers. Which made sense, considering the way shemunicated with us. Still, it was strange to hear that, when I asked what her Health was, her answer was ¡°okay.¡±


    First, Erani and I went over the new Bond Rank she¡¯d gotten.


    ¡°So the Rank went from 11 to 12,¡± she said. ¡°Stats went from 22 to 24, and XP gain went from 11% to 12%, as we expected, and the heat resistance went from 49.4% to 52.4%.¡±


    ¡°Gods,¡± I shook my head. ¡°24 in every Stat. Absolutely ridiculous.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll get there one day, if the Bond continues to Rank up like it has been. Speaking of, I think I may have a theory about how it decides to increase.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°pretty sure I¡¯m thinking the same thing. It seems like, somehow, the Bond can measure the emotional bond that Ainash has with each of us, and the strength is determined by that.¡±


    Erani nodded. ¡°Kind of weird to think about, but it makes sense, considering how we¡¯ve seen it act until now. It¡¯s a higher Rank with me because I¡¯m closer with her, and it¡¯s Ranked up with each of us closely following some sort of encounter or conversation we have with her.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I pursed my lips. Honestly, I¡¯d been suspecting that was the case for a while now, and now that we¡¯d gotten more proof, it seemed pretty certain. Though I wasn¡¯t really happy about it, if it was true. Assigning Stats and XP to my literal rtionship with someone¡­It just felt a bit dehumanizing. To me <em>and</em> Ainash. What, was I just supposed to be extra nice to her from now on to make sure I got extra Bond Ranks? Was I supposed to hold my tongue whenever I disagreed with her, only ever say yes to everything she did? That felt like the opposite way to build a bond with someone.


    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to happy about it,¡± Erani noted.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not. It feels like it¡¯s encouraging us to build a fake rtionship with her, and that¡¯s not what she deserves.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it is,¡± Erani said. ¡°She can sense our emotions, remember? If we fake moments or lie to get closer to her, she¡¯ll be able to tell.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess,¡± I said. That was pretty true. If I treated her like some sort of vessel through which I could get stronger, I supposed she¡¯d easily see through me. But then, that just meant I¡¯d have to watch my own thoughts to make sure I didn¡¯t sink into feeling like that in the future. One more thing to watch out for. ¡°You think the Bond Ranks can go down if we upset her, or something?¡±


    ¡°No idea. If it¡¯s measuring our real emotional bonds, maybe? But it could be measuring something different, just simr. Maybe it¡¯s just time spent together, or time spent using the mental connection. I don¡¯t think we know enough to tell for sure.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, seems like it. I¡¯ll have to try to test it somehowter.¡±


    I nced over across the canyon. We were currently in what was effectively a wide hallway of stone, either side of the path surrounded by smooth walls of rock that were easily dozens¡ªmaybe even hundreds¡ªof paces tall. So we just sat and rested on one side, leaning our backs against one wall.


    ¡°This pass through Kingdom¡¯s Edge,¡± I said, ¡°it was made by a single person, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what they say. Don¡¯t think anyone around has been alive long enough to remember when it was made, though.¡±


    ¡°Even Koinkar? He¡¯s been alive for, like, hundreds of years, right?¡±


    ¡°Guess so. Someone must¡¯ve made it a long time ago.¡±


    I sighed and stared upward. This massive chasm, carved through one of the most dangerous ces in the entire kingdom. Someone had gone through and just cut it out themselves. Who knew why? Maybe they wanted to do something for the world. Or maybe they just had a sick kid or something, needed to get them to a Cleric, and this was the fastest way through. Or maybe they just felt like it. Did it on a whim.


    I shook my head. ¡°I want to do something like this in my life.¡±


    Erani looked over at me. ¡°What, cut a path through a mountain range?¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± Iughed, ¡°like, I want to do something big. Leave my mark on the world.¡±


    ¡°Oh, good, because I was about to say, I¡¯m not going to help if you want me to just start randomly blowing up rocks for you.¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°You know what I mean. I don¡¯t want to sound like one of those psychos who are totally power-hungry, but just¡­That level of influence over the world. The capability to do whatever you want, whenever you want. It¡¯s intoxicating to even think about.¡±


    ¡°What, you want to start your own empire or something? That¡¯s how they¡¯ve started historically, you know. One person with a high enough Level starts telling some other people what to do, and they pretty much have to listen. Soon enough, they¡¯ve got walls and territory and an army.¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d want to do that. Really, it¡¯s kind of the opposite of what I want. I feel like, normally, life is so full of worries.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, we¡¯ve got an army of Demons that want us dead.¡±


    ¡°But even ignoring that. Before you ever met me, I¡¯m sure you had plenty of times you got stressed out, right?¡±


    ¡°Sure. I didn¡¯t stress over money too much, but obviously I dedicated a lot of thought to my ss and trying to make the right decision with that. I guess even with little stuff, like dealing with some annoying client with adventuring. Or just politics. Taxes going up, tensions with other countries that I couldn¡¯t do anything about, hearing about a nearby vige that got attacked by monsters and hoping we wouldn¡¯t be next, stuff like that.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, exactly. I guess my ideal life would be one without those worries. The little stuff. I don¡¯t want some sort of overwhelming source of power to bend others to my will, or whatever some of those other ssers seem to be going for. I just want to wake up in the morning¡ªevery morning¡ªand not have to worry about anything. No dreading going to work even though I don¡¯t want to, no stressing about a sick loved one, no dealing with someone who can tell me what to do. I just want to live somewhere, put some time into my hobbies, and evade those petty problems.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like a modest life,¡± Erani nodded. ¡°What does carving a path through a mountain have to do with it?¡±


    ¡°I told you, it¡¯s not about a mountain,¡± Iughed again. ¡°It¡¯s about having the ability to do what you want¡ªwhat you need¡ªwithout worry. Whoever did this, they had some sort of reason for it. And we don¡¯t know what it is, but they had a reason. Maybe they needed to carve a path so that their vige could escape some great threat, or maybe they were just tired of walking around the mountain range. But either way, they wanted something done, so they just¡­did it. No issues.¡±


    ¡°Well, you said you wanted to leave your mark on the world, too. Wouldn¡¯t a big project like that get in the way of rxing?¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t about just doing nothing all day, it¡¯s about not doing the things <em>others</em> want to make you do. If I want to build the tallest pir of stone, I¡¯d be able to do that. Or if I wanted to nt enough trees to turn a desert into a forest, or if I wanted to drain an ocean, or whatever. I could spend my life doing that thing¡ªwhatever it is¡ªthat I <em>want</em> to do. Something that I think will help people, or help myself, or that just looks damn cool. Whatever. The point is that I¡¯m not doing it because someone <em>else</em> told me to.¡±


    Erani nodded. ¡°Yeah, I get that perspective. Personally, I¡¯m not sure that I want to spend all my time on some great, life¡¯s-work project. But being able to rx for a bit and not have to worry about regr obligations seems nice. Like a life-long vacation.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°One day. But for now, let¡¯s just manage our Statuses. You Leveled twice, right?¡±


    ¡°Yep. I have some Stat Points and a Spell Strengthening to assign.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re still putting those into Firebolt, huh?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah¡ªI don¡¯t even have the option to put them into Angelic Shield until I get a Spell Crystal. After this one, it¡¯ll be up to Rank 17. And I¡¯m getting close to another natural Rank-up, which will push it to 18.¡±


    ¡°Damn. I like having my versatility, but there¡¯s definitely something to be said about going all-in on one single strategy. That thing¡¯s damage must be getting pretty high by now, right?¡±


    ¡°Yep. That¡¯s what Sorcerer¡¯s all about,¡± Eraniughed.


    ¡°I feel like you¡¯ll get powerful enough to kill Infernals in a single hit sometime soon.¡±


    ¡°Maybe not on their own, but Signature Magic can absolutely boost damage numbers to an absurd amount,¡± she nodded. ¡°Right now, assuming I get a one-hundred percent boost from that, plus the fifty percent boost from Primal Might, at Rank 17¡­ the Spell currently can deal upwards of around 500 damage in a single hit.¡±


    ¡°Good gods,¡± I coughed. ¡°Seriously?! I knew it was high, but it¡¯s at that much already?¡±


    ¡°Mhm,¡± she nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what you get in return for having literally two Spells at Level 17.¡±


    Iughed and shook my head. ¡°I guess that sort of makes up for it. Anyway, speaking of Spells, I should probably look at mine.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll assign my Strengthening and Stat Points too.¡±


    I nodded and closed my eyes, sinking into the familiar feeling of meditation.


    Once ten minutes had passed, I pulled up my Status.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    22 (18 + 4)


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>18</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>42 </strong>(<strong>38</strong> + 4)


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>341</strong>/<strong>2.2k</strong>


    Dexterity:


    <strong>24 </strong>(<strong>20</strong> + 4)


    Health:


    <strong>92</strong>/<strong>420</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.152</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>104</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>49</strong>/<strong>195</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>1.28</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>24</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>1.16k</strong>/<strong>1.16k</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>62.8</strong>


    <strong>Stat Points:</strong>


    <strong>6</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>[Spell Choice Avable]</strong>


    Exponential Remation


    Devastator


    Expedite 9 - XP 355/355


    Regenerate


    Trailzer


    Ethereal Armor 9 - XP <strong>355</strong>/355


    Recursive Growth


    Gravity Well 9 - XP <strong>355</strong>/355


    Time Loop <strong>18</strong>


    +Extended Loop


    Ray of Frost 9 - XP <strong>355</strong>/355


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP <strong>355</strong>/355


    Noxious Grasp 12 - XP <strong>513</strong>/844


    +Venomous Grasp


    My breath caught in my throat at the sight of the Spell XP counts for all of my Spells. All at 355, just waiting to be Upgraded. This moment, more than any other, I felt a burning desire to get some of those Spell Crystals. Just a few of them¡ªI could even reuse the ones I got with Time Loop. Hells, I still had that old Poison Spell Crystal from back when I¡¯d Upgraded Noxious Grasp, I just didn¡¯t have any other Poison-School Spell to use it on. I¡¯d been keeping my eye out during my Choices, but none hade.


    We were closer than ever to getting some Crystals, though. Just a bit more, and we¡¯d be back in civilization. Protection, Spell Crystals, damn, I¡¯d settle for just some regr food and a bed to sleep in. It felt like so long since I¡¯dst had even that.


    I¡¯d also forgotten that I actually had 6 Stat Points this time, not 3. It felt like it¡¯d been so long ago, I¡¯d almost forgotten that I Leveled up once before, from 16 to 17, and hadn¡¯t had the time to manage that one. It¡¯d just given the 3 Stat Points to assign, though, so I didn¡¯t need to do anything else for that Level.


    But enough about that. My current Level, 18, had given me something much more important. It was time to look over my next choice of Spells.


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Wild Might


    School: Alteration, Nature


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 430 Mana


    ¡ª


    Causes yourself or up to one willing being you are touching to enter Wild Form. While in Wild Form, the being¡¯s Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are set to 70, 50, and 60 respectively. Additionally, the being¡¯s Health/Minute and Stamina/Minute are multiplied by 50 while in Wild Form.


    After 15 minutes, the being exits Wild Form, and they lose Stamina equal to thebined amount of Stamina and Health regenerated while in Wild Form.


    Defy Gravity


    School: Arcane


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 20 Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    Decrease the effects of gravity on yourself by 10% while active.


    Sanguine Bond


    School: Arcane, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 190 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a being you are physically touching. You begin Siphoning energy from it for the next 10 seconds. For as long as you are Siphoning energy from it, it loses 4 Health, 5 Stamina, and 6 Mana <em>(if it has Mana)</em> each second, and you gain 1 Health, 2 Stamina, and 3 Mana each second.


    This effect automatically ends if the being is ever further than 10 paces from you.


    <em>Okay,</em> I thought, <em>now to actually choose what to go with.</em>

 Chapter 119: Choosing

    Chapter 119: Choosing


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Wild Might


    School: Alteration, Nature


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 430 Mana


    ¡ª


    Causes yourself or up to one willing being you are touching to enter Wild Form. While in Wild Form, the being¡¯s Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are set to 70, 50, and 60 respectively. Additionally, the being¡¯s Health/Minute and Stamina/Minute are multiplied by 50 while in Wild Form.


    After 15 minutes, the being exits Wild Form, and they lose Stamina equal to thebined amount of Stamina and Health regenerated while in Wild Form.


    Defy Gravity


    School: Arcane


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 20 Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    Decrease the effects of gravity on yourself by 10% while active.


    Sanguine Bond


    School: Arcane, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 190 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a being you are physically touching. You begin Siphoning energy from it for the next 10 seconds. For as long as you are Siphoning energy from it, it loses 4 Health, 5 Stamina, and 6 Mana <em>(if it has Mana)</em> each second, and you gain 1 Health, 2 Stamina, and 3 Mana each second.


    This effect automatically ends if the being is ever further than 10 paces from you.


    I was a bit taken aback at first by theck of Trailzer telling me what my next Spell names would be, but then I remembered that I had something new to rece that.


    ¡°Index,¡± I said, ¡°What can you tell me about these choices?¡±


    ¡°Well, I can tell you quite a lot of things,¡± was what I got in reply. ¡°Y¡¯know, you¡¯ve been misusing me quite a bit.¡±


    ¡°What, are you angry at me for it?¡±


    ¡°No, I just feel like you don¡¯t know how I¡¯m <em>intended</em> to be used. It¡¯s all reconnaissance and telling you what I see. I¡¯m supposed to be what I¡¯m named after. An index of information! You¡¯re supposed to ask me specific questions, and I¡¯ll answer when I can.¡±


    ¡°Okay, but why not just tell me everything you¡¯re allowed to say?¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯ll take forever! Y¡¯know, you¡¯ve gotten by fine doing stuff like that until now, when I was just telling you stuff about the people you were fighting. But Spell Choices? This is what I was made for! That means I¡¯ve got a lot, lot more stuff in the ol¡¯ books.¡±


    ¡°Wait, do you physically have books that you tell me this stuff from?¡±


    ¡°No, dummy! It¡¯s an expression.¡±


    ¡°...Sure. Well, okay. I¡¯ll ask you some specific questions, then. But if I¡¯m still undecided afterward, I¡¯m just gonna ask you to start listing off everything you know until I¡¯m satisfied.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see Index, but I still felt like I could feel it rolling its eyes at me. ¡°Fine. Ask away.¡±


    ¡°Alright. So, with Defy Gravity, it¡¯s a percent reduction. Last time I saw one of those, it was with Ethereal Armor, which Ranked up in a specific way. Does Defy Gravity work the same? Or does it Rank up using some other methods?¡±


    ¡°Pretty much the same. Though it actually decreases by 10%, not 5.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± I nodded. ¡°So if I get it to the Soft Cap, that¡¯ll be¡­¡±


    I started doing the math in my head, but Index cut me off. ¡°It¡¯d end up as a 65% reduction of gravity on yourself, yes.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I nodded. I could see where Index wasing from. It was nice to just have free answers to all of my questions. ¡°What about Wild Might? What, exactly, does it¡­do?¡±


    ¡°I mean, you can read the description. It¡¯s right in front of you.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, but I mean, what does it do outside of that? From what I can tell, it seems like it¡¯ll set your Stats to a decent level, boost your Health and Stamina regeneration, and then, after fifteen minutes, revert you to normal with a bunch of your Stamina missing. That¡¯s all oddly specific. Does it do something else that it doesn¡¯t mention?¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah. It alters your physical appearance quite a bit.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±


    ¡°ws, sharpened teeth, stuff like that.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°ws and sharpened teeth?! Does it turn you into a monster, or something?¡±


    ¡°No, no, you still look vaguely Human.¡±


    ¡°Vaguely?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, for the most part. Just, y¡¯know, a bit wilder.¡±


    ¡°...Mhmm.¡±


    Yeah, I wasn¡¯t too sure about that one. Index was being quite cryptic with its clues, and really I just wasn¡¯t too big of a fan of its effects. As-is, it¡¯d be an overall increase in Stats, but because of the way the Spell worked, it¡¯d only get less effective as I got more powerful. Right now, setting my Strength to 70 would be an increase of 48, but after a few Levels? Sure, the Spell would also Rank up topensate for that, but with Recursive Growth, that rtive gap would only shrink as I Leveled..


    As for the idea of casting it on others, it¡¯d obviously not work well on Ainash, and ironically, it wouldn¡¯t be a good fit for Erani, either. She had so much of a boost from the Bond that it¡¯d be even less effective on her than it¡¯d be on me.


    The extra Health and Stamina regeneration was nice, but then, that got counteracted by the fact that it took all the regeneration back once the Spell ended, which would probably leave me with a t 0 in Stamina, paralyzing me until I got some of it back. Not exactly ideal.


    It seemed like the Spell was best used on Unssed people. I could envision someone else wielding the Spell, casting thousands of Mana worth on random peasants to create an unstoppable army of what had effectively be mid-Level ssers. But in my circumstances, something like that wasn¡¯t too possible.


    ¡°What about Sanguine Bond?¡± I asked. ¡°That one¡¯s got a bunch of different numbers in its description, I could imagine it Ranking up in a few different ways. What does it do when Ranking?¡±


    ¡°Uh, let¡¯s see here¡­ Ah, yes. It gets the standard additional 2.5% Mana Cost, and then a 5% boost in the Health, Stamina and Mana drain, as well as the Health, Stamina and Mana regeneration.¡±


    ¡°Alright. So no boosts to the range or duration.¡± That Spell was interesting¡ªit wasn¡¯tmon to see a Spell that both cost Mana and regenerated Mana. Really, why would there be a Spell that, say, cost 30 Mana and regenerated 10? Why not just cost 20 and cut out the middleman?


    But in Sanguine Bond¡¯s case, I understood it. The Mana regeneration was effectively a reward for keeping the Siphon going for the whole duration, that way you could re-earn a bit of the Mana you spent on it.


    One very interesting thing with that, though, was that it was technically possible for the total Mana earned to eventually outpace the Mana Cost of the Spell itself. Sure, currently you could only effectively reduce the cost from 190 to 160, but as Index said, the Mana regeneration increased by 5% per Rank, while the cost only increased 2.5%. So, after getting it to my current Soft Cap¡ª


    ¡°Mana¡¯d be 238 and regeneration would be 4.65,¡± Index said, apparently reading my thoughts.


    Right. So after getting it to the Soft Cap, the previously 30 Mana discount would be around a 47 Mana discount. And that <em>really</em> started getting interesting when looking at things in the context of Light te.


    Light te would reduce the cost of the Spell, but it <em>wouldn¡¯t</em> reduce the amount of Mana regenerated. So, after taking Light te into ount¡­


    I paused deliberately, at this point knowing Index would do the math for me.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± it said. ¡°Light te ounted for, original cost would be 108 and Rank 9 cost would be 135.¡±


    Right. So when you subtracted the regenerated Mana from those new costs, suddenly the Spell would effectively cost a total of 78 at Rank 0, and 88 at Rank 9. Only 10 extra Mana in effective cost, and I still got 9 Ranks worth of boosted effectiveness! And it would only get better as both of those Spells Ranked more. It really wasn¡¯t absurd to imagine that I could eventually have a Spell that¡¯d <em>gain</em> me Mana by casting it.


    But then, was the Spell actually good, all of that considered?


    Obviously, considering its cost, the Spell seriously underperformed in the department of dealing damage¡ªor even draining Stamina. Even considering the refunded Mana, it just didn¡¯tpare to Spells like Noxious Grasp, or even Crippling Chill. And I wasn¡¯t sure that the conditional Mana draining effect would make up for that.


    But then, the Spell had another function. In addition to gaining me back Mana, it¡¯d also regenerate Health and Stamina. So, if I considered this to be both a damaging Spell and a healing Spell all rolled into one, it was seriously efficient. I could cast this and put pressure on my opponent to end the battle soon or else have their Stamina quickly drained away, while at the same time regenerating my own Health, making it even harder for them to end the battle in the first ce. And the extra Stamina regeneration could also be fed into more Health using Regenerate.


    But then, that was assuming I¡¯d always get the maximum effect of the Spell. If I cast this and then let the enemy get away from me, the Siphon would be broken and I¡¯d have wasted all of that Mana. I wouldn¡¯t even get the refund. The worst-case scenario with this thing was pretty awful.


    I could see why this Spell came after Expedite, though. It worked well with it. If I cast this and my enemy started getting away from me, I could boost my Dexterity with Expedite to ensure I¡¯d keep up with them. Still, there were many scenarios where you just couldn¡¯t stay within ten paces of an enemy for a full ten seconds. It¡¯d be a risky y in a lot of situations, that was for sure.


    And the other Spell being offered to me besides those two was Defy Gravity. That Spell was a weird one, too. Reducing gravity¡¯s effects on me? It was almost the exact counterpart to Gravity Well¡ªthe only thing it was missing was the ability to use it on others. Though I could see why I wouldn¡¯t be able to do that¡ªironically, <em>reducing</em> someone¡¯s weight would probably be a lot more detrimental than increasing it, in terms ofpletely ruining their coordination in a fight.


    But even just considering it could only be activated on myself, I could see quite a few uses for it. As long as I got used to the feeling, reducing my weight couldbine nicely with Expedite to pull off tricky moves inbat, like running along walls or leaping up into trees.


    Just imagining the possibilities, I almost took the Spell then and there. I mean, it just seemed so <em>cool</em>. But then¡­ it wasn¡¯t very practical, was it? Really, when was thest time I needed to run along a wall? Maybe it could be useful, being able to jump high up and take cover from an attacker, but ssers with high enough physical Stats could do that already, so against a powerful enemy it wouldn¡¯t be likely to buy me much time.


    Plus, by the time it got to Rank 9, Index said the reduction would already have gotten to 65%. That seemed like a good thing, at first. It got way more powerful, way more quickly than anything else. Wasn¡¯t that a point in Defy Gravity¡¯s favor? But the Spell¡¯s description was missing something very key to making that true. The phrase ¡°up to.¡±


    ¡°There it is,¡± Index said. ¡°Right on the money.¡±


    ¡­Was it adding colormentary to my own inner monologue?


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Index admitted.


    ¡°Y¡¯know, sometimes I wish you weren¡¯t living inside my head.¡±


    ¡°Just go back to thinking. I wanna see where this ends up.¡±


    I rolled my eyes. Right.


    Anyway, the Spell didn¡¯t say I could reduce gravity¡¯s effects by ¡°up to¡± a certain amount. It just said it¡¯d reduce gravity by that amount, exactly. That meant once it got to, say, 99%, I wouldn¡¯t be able to decide to just reduce gravity by 80%. It¡¯d be all or nothing.


    Sure, gravity reduction was nice to a certain point, but once I was jumping hundreds of paces into the air? That was effectively impossible to control. Not to mentionnding¡ªI¡¯d have to keep the Spell active the whole time I was in the air or risk falling to my death, and I wasn¡¯t sure I appreciated dedicating that much Mana to a single leap.


    ¡°Is there a Spell Upgrade that mitigates that or something?¡± I asked Index. ¡°Because otherwise, it¡¯s borderline useless.¡±


    ¡°Uhh¡­Alright, since you guessed the exact Upgrade¡¯s effects, I can tell you. Yes, the Rank 10 Upgrade offers a choice that¡¯ll allow you to modte the exact amount you reduce gravity by.¡±


    Okay, well that was good to know. Still, I wasn¡¯t sure that I appreciated being forced to use the Spell¡¯s first Upgrade on just making it usable. Comparing it to Sanguine Bond, I¡¯d be getting an already-usable Spell, <em>plus</em> a Rank 10 Upgrade to add on top of that. Considering how useful Noxious Grasp¡¯s had been, I didn¡¯t want to pass that up.


    Yeah, I felt like things were decided, at this point. Sanguine Bond was the pick. The healing it offered¡ªand at such a low rate, if I could actually pull off the challenge the Spell presented to me¡ªwas just too much to pass up.


    So with that, I made my choice.


    You have learned the Spell Sanguine Bond.


    I also assigned my Stat Points.


    You have used 6 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 110.


    After the points in Conjuration, my new Mana/Minute was around 70¡ªwhich meant I¡¯d be getting close to 1.2 Mana per second. And with my new Spell active, that number would jump up to 4.2 Mana. Every single second.


    I felt like my build was reallying together. And once I got my hands on some Spell Crystals, it¡¯d get so much better.

 Announcement (plus free Chapters) (but this, itself, isnt a Chapter)

    Announcement (plus free Chapters) (but this, itself, isn''t a Chapter)


    Hello everyone!


    So, to start off, I''m uploading an extra, free chapter for everybody tomorrow, at the normal time!


    Why, you ask? Well, to celebrate the introduction of even more extra chapters! These chapters will be on Patreon, where I''ve decided to increase my upload schedule from 3 per week to 4 per week. The upload schedule on RoyalRoad will stay the same (other than the extra free chaptering out tomorrow), but Patreon will start seeing an additional chapter on Saturdays at the normal time. This will go on for at least a few months since I''ve been able to write a lot more now that it''s summer and I get a break from sses, but depending on the reception I get I may be able to keep it going for even longer!


    Here''s another link to the Patreon, please check it out and consider supporting my writing if you like getting those sweet, sweet extra chapters!


    Thanks everyone for your support, you all make writing worth it! And I''ll see you tomorrow with the extra chaptering out for everyone :)

 Chapter 120: Theorizing

    Chapter 120: Theorizing


    After we were all done with our Level-ups, we decided to just camp out for the night.


    It was getting to be pretty dark by now, and even if we ignored our general exhaustion, moving through a ce as dangerous as Kingdom¡¯s Edge while you could barely see was sure to end poorly. I¡¯d almost forgotten, since the Demons were my main worry for so long, but this ce was renowned for its dangerous monsters.


    Sure, we could survive a Drake fight, but if several Drakes showed up at once? We could only beat those things because we outnumbered them. Besides, even though we could take down the lower-Leveled ones, I still wasn¡¯t sure I liked our chances against one of the older, high-Leveled Drakes.


    Also, Astintash wasn¡¯t the only Dragon around. If we saw another one, we wouldn¡¯t have the bargaining chip of the Demons to convince it not to kill us the moment it saw us. I still remembered our first encounter with that massive monster. It¡¯d seen us climbing up its mountain and promptlynded on us, killing everyone pretty much instantly. Yeah, they weren¡¯t exactly famous for weing neers into their territories.


    It wasn¡¯t fully nighttime though, and despite my general feeling of exhaustion, I felt like my nerves were still too shot to actually sleep. Erani and Ainash seemed to be in the same mental situation as me, so we just sat and talked while Erani and I absent-mindedly practiced our Spells.


    I went ahead and Ranked Sanguine Bond to the Soft Cap while we spoke. The Cap had gotten high enough that it wasn¡¯t really possible to Rank it to the top in just a minute or two anymore¡ªat 2 Mana per 1 Spell XP, it¡¯d end up taking close to my fullplement of Mana to Rank a Spell to 9, when taking my Light te into ount.


    But the Mana wasn¡¯t the specific reason it took so long. Since Sanguine Bond was a Spell that required a target, it meant I needed to have something to hit in order to practice. Luckily, with Index¡¯s help, I found some Lava Slugs to use the Spell on. It was a bit freaky getting so close to those tiny animals that could cause so much pain, but I eventually got over it once I realized I could safely tap their backs to activate Sanguine Bond without risk. Each one died pretty much instantly, but there were enough hiding around for me to have enough to fully Rank the Spell up.


    At 0, the Spell had drained 4 Health, 5 Stamina, and 6 Mana per second, and regenerated 1, 2, and 3 of each, as well. This was its first Rank-up notification:


    Threshold reached. Sanguine Bond XP has reached 10.


    Sanguine Bond Rank has increased to 1.


    Due to Sanguine Bond Rank reaching 1, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 190 to 195


    Health Drain: From 4 to 4.2


    Stamina Drain: From 5 to 5.25


    Mana Drain: From 6 to 6.3


    Health Regeneration: From 1 to 1.05


    Stamina Regeneration: From 2 to 2.1


    Mana Regeneration: From 3 to 3.15


    Definitely a longer Status screen, with seven separate aspects of the Spell being modified. It was pretty exciting to see so many numbers increase with just a single Rank. But it got even better. Once I was donebing the area for Lava Slugs, this was what it ended up as, eight Rankster:


    Threshold reached. Sanguine Bond XP has reached 130.


    Sanguine Bond Rank has increased to 9.


    Due to Sanguine Bond Rank reaching 9, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 232 to 238


    Health Drain: From 5.91 to 6.21


    Stamina Drain: From 7.39 to 7.76


    Mana Drain: From 8.87 to 9.31


    Health Regeneration: From 1.48 to 1.55


    Stamina Regeneration: From 2.96 to 3.11


    Mana Regeneration: From 4.43 to 4.65


    Unfortunately, since the Slugs barely had any Health to begin with, the Siphon didn¡¯tst long enough for me to see any real healing from the Spell, but it was fully Ranked now, which was what mattered. After killing them all, we just sat and talked for a couple hours, taking sce in the peace and quiet to regenerate our Stamina and Health, and to recover mentally.


    And while we spoke, I decided to take that moment to try and experiment with Ainash¡¯s Bond. I¡¯d tell her about how we suspected it worked soon¡ªshe probably had suspicions of her own¡ªbut if what Erani and I had discussed before was true, then Ainash not being aware of my intentions would make the experiments more sessful in yielding good data. I¡¯d try to get it to trigger a Bond strengthening one more time to prove what we thought.


    <em>¡°Hey,¡±</em> I said to Ainash during a lull in conversation, <em>¡°I just wanted to say I¡¯m really thankful for you helping out back there. I really appreciate you.¡±</em>


    She looked over at me with a frown. <em>¡°You just saying that because you feel like you have to.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°W-what? No, I¡¯m not just saying it for that reason.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I feel it.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, you can also feel that I genuinely think it¡¯s true, right?¡±</em> I sent to her. And I did genuinely feel what I said I felt. I <em>was</em> appreciative of her, and had hoped that just voicing what I truly thought wouldn¡¯te off as feeling ¡°fake¡± to her. Apparently not.


    <em>¡°Yes. You truly feel it. But you saying it for some other reason.¡±</em>


    I sighed. This damned Bond. Just by me knowing that it existed, it somehow poisoned all interactions I had with Ainash. Any time I spoke to her, I involuntarily thought about the Bond¡ªhow could I not? It was hanging over my head every interaction, like it was saying ¡°you better not mess things up,¡± over and over in my ear. How could I act normally with that happening?


    <em>¡°Are you worrying?¡±</em> Ainash said, apparently sensing my frustration. <em>¡°Do not be sad. Did not mean to hurt your feelings. Appreciate your kind words, even if you are weird.¡±</em>


    Iughed, but it was a sadugh. This poor thing. She deserved so much better. A better life, better experiences. Every time she talked about her life goal of killing all the ¡°bad guys,¡± I felt my chest tighten just a bit more. Stuff like that¡­It wasn¡¯t what a kid should¡¯ve been worrying about. And now she was worrying about me, too? I was the one that was supposed to beforting her.


    She scooted forward, glowing eyes illuminating her face in the dark. She seemed determined, like she¡¯d just decided she was going to do something. <em>¡°Um¡­I sorry for saying mean things to you.¡±</em>


    I blinked. <em>¡°No, it¡¯s fine. You just apologized, anyway.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No. Sorry for long time ago. Saying you are mean or you are bad Human. You are not bad. I sorry.¡±</em>


    Oh, that was what she was apologizing for? When she¡¯d first gotten the ability to talk to us? <em>¡°Why are you apologizing for all that now? You haven¡¯t said anything like it in a while.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But you are sad now. Are you sad from me?¡±</em>


    I could help butugh again, shaking my head and cing it in my hands. <em>¡°No, no. You didn¡¯t make me sad. Thank you for thinking to apologize, though, you¡¯re totally forgiven. I¡¯m sorry too.¡±</em>


    She tilted her head curiously. <em>¡°For what?¡±</em>


    I looked downward. What could I say? For dragging you into a life of suffering? For being the reason your actual mother died? For, after all that, not even being able to take up the mantle of parent, for not being able to really take responsibility, for not being able to be an actual emotional rock for you to rely on? For forcing you to grow up way too much, way too fast?


    I knew what it was like to lose parents early in life. The way it forced me to be an adult in a single instant. The years it stole from me. And for Ainash, that¡¯d happened directly in front of her¡ªat least I wasn¡¯t there when my parents lost their lives.


    And despite seeing it happen, she didn¡¯t even know what she¡¯d really lost. What was stolen from her. She probably wouldn¡¯t realize for a long time. That she was meant to have a normal childhood.


    So how could I articte <em>that</em>¡ªall of that¡ªinto a proper apology to her? How could I say ¡°you will never be the same, and it¡¯s my fault¡± to a kid?


    It was like all of that hit me¡ªlike I really, truly understood it¡ªall in the same moment.


    Threshold reached.


    Your Bond with Level 30 Draconiad has deepened.


    Due to your Bond being deepened, it has undergone the following changes:


    Stat Increase: From 4 to 6


    XP Gain: From 2% to 3%


    Heat Resistance: From 11.6% to 16.9%


    I looked up, surprised at the sudden notification. Ainash was still looking at me in the same way¡ªhad she really felt all of those thoughts and feelings through her empathy? No way it was that advanced for her to really get what I was feeling¡ªfor her to feel them specifically and urately enough to actually deepen the Bond.


    So then, why had the Bond Ranked up? If her attitude about me didn¡¯t change, then what did?


    ¡­Wait.


    I¡¯d been thinking about this Bond thing all wrong. Our theory was that it measured the literal rtionship between me and Ainash, right? Sure, that would take into ount the way she felt about me¡ªthat was absolutely a part of it. But a rtionship between two people wasn¡¯t just about the way one of them felt about the other¡ªit went both ways.


    Wouldn¡¯t the way <em>I</em> thought about <em>her</em> be just as important? If it measured the rtionship between us, it¡¯d make sense if that was true.


    In a way, that soothed my worries quite a bit. If I thought about things in terms of just talking to her for the sake of increasing the Bond Rank, then obviously it¡¯d harm the way I thought of her, and the Bond wouldn¡¯t deepen¡ªno matter whether or not she believed me. But if I just treated her normally, the Bond would deepen naturally. When I thought about it, there was effectively no way to force it, because the moment I started trying to, I¡¯d also be harming our rtionship.


    So I just had to ignore it, then? No experiments, no intentionally saying things to get her to like me, just do what I¡¯d already been doing? Suddenly, it felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.


    ¡°Index,¡± I muttered to myself, ¡°when I was trying to pick a Spell, you said that, when I guessed what one of the Spell Upgrades would be, it allowed you to tell me whether I was correct, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Though it¡¯s not like you can just go through, saying everything you can think of to see if it¡¯s correct. You have to genuinely arrive at a conclusion naturally for me to be able to confirm it.¡±


    ¡°Well, am I right?¡±


    ¡°About the Bond stuff? Yeah, totally.¡±


    I sighed. Thank the gods. The thought of effectively being forced into manipting some kid into liking me just so I could be stronger made my stomach churn, and now I had confirmation that I wouldn¡¯t be asked to do it.


    ¡°Erani,¡± I said, <em>¡°And Ainash, too. I¡¯ve figured out the exact way the Bond works.¡±</em>


    ¡°Huh,¡± Erani said once I was finished exining. ¡°Yeah, that makes sense. If it measures rtionship, a one-sided rtionship would definitely be viewed as pretty weak. Still, kind of strange to imagine the System rooting around in my mind, reading my thoughts.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve had Index with me for a while now,¡± I shrugged. ¡°You get used to it.¡±


    <em>¡°Yes,¡±</em> Ainash said, presumably transmitting her thoughts to both me and Erani, <em>¡°I thought worked like that. I think mother is less weird, so she is stronger Bond. Father is more weird, though. Still not too weird, so medium Bond.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Uh, sure,¡± </em>I said. I wasn¡¯t sure if ¡°weirdness¡± was the most correct way to think of it, but it was close enough.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ so if we¡­¡± I heard Erani muttering next to me, staring off into space.


    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, if the Bond measures the ways we feel about Ainash the same way it measures the ways she thinks about us, I thought I¡¯d try to alter the way I think about her.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure it works that way,¡± I said. ¡°If you¡¯re doing it on purpose, you won¡¯t genuinely believe what youe up with. It has to happen naturally.¡±


    ¡°Right, and I¡¯m just going to force it to happen naturally.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Iughed.


    ¡°Like¡­¡± she pursed her lips, pausing to think. ¡°It¡¯s like meditation. When you meditate, you¡¯re supposed to clear your mind, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°But if you¡¯re thinking about how you need to clear your mind, you won¡¯t actually clear your mind. You¡¯ll still be thinking, it¡¯ll just be about how you <em>want</em> to have a clear mind. Or if you¡¯re trying to go to sleep, and you can¡¯t. If you think about how much you want to go to sleep, and how tired you are, and how you¡¯re going to need to wake up early, so you really need to fall asleep <em>right now</em>, you¡¯ll never actually fall asleep, because you¡¯ll be so preupied with thinking <em>about</em> falling asleep.¡±


    ¡°...Uh-huh¡­¡±


    ¡°So what¡¯s the answer? How do you fall asleep, or enter a real meditative state?¡±


    ¡°Well, the way I do it is I just stop thinking about it. I just let my mind wander normally.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure where she was going. Didn¡¯t this prove my point?


    ¡°Mm, no, not really. If you let your mind wander while trying to meditate, you¡¯d never end up meditating, right?¡±


    I frowned. ¡°I guess it¡¯s more like I let my mind wander with the intention of having it clear out on its own, or something? It¡¯s hard to exin.¡±


    ¡°I think you exined it perfectly. You don¡¯t <em>force</em> it, exactly, but you probably have it somewhere in the back of your mind that the goal is to end up clearing your mind, or falling asleep, or whatever. You maybe catch yourself when your mind starts going down some wild tangent that¡¯s sure to keep you upied for hours, or you try to control your breathing while you think, or whatever. Everyone has their own methods. Eventually, it¡¯ll empty out, because you have that vague, subconscious intention.¡±


    ¡°So what, you¡¯re doing the same thing, but with trying to think better about Ainash?¡±


    ¡°Basically. It¡¯s like, if I just try to keep the topic of my thoughts generally focused around her, and curb any tangents that go off course, it¡¯ll probably help me sort out my thoughts about her, right? If I just consider my future with her in my care, or remember things she¡¯s done, or whatever. It probably has a limited amount of usefulness¡ªyou can¡¯t just think about someone a bunch and then suddenly be super close to them, you have to actually spend some time with them, too¡ªbut I thought I could maybe take some time to consider the exact ways I think about her, especially since I¡¯ve been a bit too busy to think about smaller stuff like that,tely.¡±


    <em>¡°Do not know what you two are talking about,¡±</em> Ainash said, <em>¡°but will try to not call you mean names anymore.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, kiddo, that¡¯ll probably work just fine,¡±</em> Iughed. Then I turned back to Erani. ¡°I guess your method makes sense. I might do that too, while I¡¯m on watch or something.¡±


    Erani nodded, then nced around. ¡°Speaking of watch, it¡¯s getting prettyte. Thought we should probably be heading to sleep soon. You want me to take first watch?¡±


    ¡°Nah, I got it,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not too tired yet, anyway.¡±


    ¡°Alright, wake me up in a few hours.¡± Eraniy down, resting her head on her arms.


    ¡°Yeah, will do,¡± I said.


    Ainashy down and closed her eyes soon after, leaving me alone in the dark, the only light my white, inexplicably-shining armor, and the smoke that seeped out of its cracks whenever I cast Noxious Grasp. The Spell was only about 100 XP away from another Rank, which was a surprisingly attainable amount, now that I had Exponential Remation.


    So I just sat my head back and rested. Bond Ranks, Spell XP¡­I eagerly anticipated getting plenty of those over the night¡ªplus a good bit of well-needed rest.

 Arlans Fully-Expanded Character Sheet as of Chapter 120: (Not a Chapter)

    An''s Fully-Expanded Character Sheet as of Chapter 120: (Not a Chapter)


    Minute Mage Basic Progression Path


    -Every 1 Level: +1 Endurance, +2 Conjuration, +3 Stat Points, Time Loop Rank Up


    -Every 3 Levels: Spell Choice


    -Every 5 Levels: Talent Choice


    -Every 10 Levels: Time Loop Usage Increase, Time Loop Upgrade


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    <strong>24</strong> (18 + <strong>6</strong>)


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    18


    Endurance:


    <strong>44 </strong>(38 + <strong>6</strong>)


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>348</strong>/2.2k


    Dexterity:


    <strong>26 </strong>(20 + <strong>6</strong>)


    Health:


    <strong>199</strong>/<strong>440</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.161</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>110</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>96</strong>/<strong>207</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>1.36</strong>


    Intelligence:


    24


    Mana:


    <strong>1.22k</strong>/<strong>1.22k</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>69.9</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>Sanguine Bond 9 - XP 355/355</strong>


    Exponential Remation


    Devastator


    Expedite 9 - XP 355/355


    Regenerate


    Trailzer


    Ethereal Armor 9 - XP <strong>355</strong>/355


    Recursive Growth


    Gravity Well 9 - XP <strong>355</strong>/355


    Time Loop 18


    +Extended Loop


    Ray of Frost 9 - XP <strong>355</strong>/355


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP <strong>355</strong>/355


    Noxious Grasp 12 - XP <strong>513</strong>/844


    +Venomous Grasp


    You have a Bond with Level 30 Draconiad.


    For as long as you are within 1000 paces of Level 30 Draconiad, you gain the following effects:


    -Your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are each increased by <strong>6</strong>.


    -Whenever Draconiad gains XP, you also gain <strong>3</strong>% of that XP.


    -You gain <strong>16.9</strong>% Resistance to all heat-based damage.


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Sanguine Bond Rank <strong>9</strong>


    School: Arcane, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>238</strong>


    Choose a being you are physically touching. You begin siphoning energy from it for the next 10 seconds. For as long as you are siphoning energy from it, it loses <strong>6.21</strong> Health, <strong>7.76</strong> Stamina, and <strong>9.31</strong> Mana <em>(if it has Mana)</em> each second, and you gain <strong>1.55</strong> Health, <strong>3.11</strong> Stamina, and <strong>4.65</strong> Mana each second.


    This effect automatically ends if the being is ever further than 10 paces from you.


    Exponential Remation


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Time is warped around your Mana receptors, greatly increasing Mana/Minute the more Conjuration you have. For every point you have in Conjuration, your Mana/Minute is increased by 1%. This effect multiplies with itself. <em>(Currently multiplies Mana/Minute by </em><strong><em>2.99</em></strong><em>)</em>


    Devastator


    <em>You have taken a risk and killed enough enemies that, in a single minute, you have gained three or more Levels. For many, gambles like that cost them their lives. For you, it paid off. Greed is good.</em>


    All enemies you contribute to killing provide 25% more XP.


    Expedite Rank <strong>9</strong>


    School: Alteration


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>68.7</strong>


    ¡ª


    Increases the Dexterity of up to one being that you are touching by <strong>31.1 </strong>for <strong>46.5 </strong>seconds.


    Regenerate


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 20 Stamina, plus twenty minutes worth of Stamina regeneration. <em>(Currently </em><strong><em>47.1</em></strong><em> Stamina)</em>


    ¡ª


    Greatly increase your body¡¯s recovery speed, at the cost of your Stamina. When activated, your Health/Minute is multiplied by 1,000 for 10 seconds, then returns to normal.


    Trailzer


    <em>You are the only person in the world with your ss, and as such, cannot rely on the findings of others to make your decisions. Instead, you must forge your own path.</em>


    If you do not already have it, you gain ess to the Intelligence Stat. It will improve the information given to you by the System regarding your ss and what might be of it in the future.


    Whenever you Level up, gain 1 Intelligence


    Ethereal Armor Rank <strong>9</strong>


    School: Arcane, Summoning


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>187 </strong>Mana


    ¡ª


    You summon one of two sets of magical armor ¨C Dark te or Light te. You may dismiss it at any time. It will be automatically dismissed after 60 minutes.


    While wearing Dark te, you cannot take more than 50% of your maximum Health in damage in a single hit <em>(</em><strong><em>220</em></strong><em> damage)</em>. Preventing damage this way breaks the te, making it unusable for <strong>37.9</strong> seconds until it reconstructs itself.


    While wearing Light te, your other spells cost <strong>43.4</strong>% less, though still gain Spell XP as though they weren¡¯t discounted.


    Recursive Growth


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Whenever your Level increases, you gain 4 additional Stat increases, chosen at random.


    This Talent improves every tenth Level you reach, incrementing the number of random Stat increases you gain each Level by 2.


    Gravity Well Rank <strong>9</strong>


    School: Arcane


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: <strong>12.7</strong> Mana/Second per Being Affected


    ¡ª


    While active, increase gravitational pull by <strong>61</strong>% for any number of beings within 30 paces of you.


    Time Loop ¨C Rank <strong>18</strong>


    +Extended Loop


    Type: Activated


    Go up to <strong>5 hours</strong> back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other Talent cooldowns ¨C as well as the rest of the world ¨C but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.


    This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.


    This Talent may only be activated twice per day.


    Ray of Frost Rank <strong>9</strong>


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>25</strong> Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a beam of icy energy from your hands, traveling up to 25 paces and dealing up to <strong>62.1</strong> damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being. Upon being hit, targets are cursed with Frostbite for 5 seconds. While they are frostbitten, their Dexterity score is lowered by <strong>7.76</strong>.


    Crippling Chill Rank 9


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 56.2 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a being within 40 paces of you. It bes coated in frost for the next 15 seconds. For as long as it is coated in frost, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    Noxious Grasp Rank <strong>12</strong>


    +Venomous Grasp


    School: Curse, Poison


    Type: Toggle


    Cost:<strong> 4.94</strong> Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    While active, any being you are physically touching loses <strong>18 </strong>Health and <strong>8.99</strong> Stamina per second.


    Noxious Grasp Festers beings it damages. While they are Festered, beings lose double Stamina from all sources. The Fester remains for 5 seconds after you stop contact with the being.

 Chapter 121: Welcome to Hell. You’ve Been Terminated.

    Chapter 121: Wee to Hell. You¡¯ve Been Terminated.


    A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. He was, in a turn of character, actually doing the copying work he¡¯d been neglecting for so long now. Though it wasn¡¯t because he suddenly felt remorseful about forcing his co-workers to pick up his ck, or anything along those lines.


    No, it was because he was terrified.


    He¡¯d just gotten word back. An Nota was confirmed alive. And the wall was destroyed. The soldiers were all either dead, retreating, or deserted, leaving the Devil with absolutely nobody left to kill the fugitive.


    He¡¯d lost, in and simple.


    The war against An Nota wasn¡¯t over¡ªfar from it¡ªbut the Devil knew that his superiors wouldn¡¯t be looking at this with a charitable view. They wouldn¡¯t be considering it as a simple temporary setback that the Devil could still save if he got some more time.


    He¡¯d proven himself, time after time, to simply not be good enough for the job.


    And so he had no doubt he¡¯d lose that job.


    Some may think he¡¯d have been ecstatic about that. The An Nota case was what caused him so many problems in the first ce¡ªwouldn¡¯t it be great if he didn¡¯t have to worry about that anymore? But he knew what it¡¯d mean if he proved himself useless to the Demons.


    In the massivemon room he worked in¡ªhundreds of paces long and wide, filled wall-to-wall with desks¡ªthe walls were lined with doors. Most of those doors led to hallways, where one would be taken through a series of rooms with Hall Monitors in them to guide Demons to their destinations. The life of a Hall Monitor was seen as the lowest of the low¡ªsitting around, doing absolutely nothing for hours upon hours upon hours on end except for <em>maybe</em> giving one or two Demons directions on where the nearest officeplex was, or something.


    The life of a Hall Monitor was effectively being condemned to a death of boredom. A mind-numbing existence of nothingness.


    But there were some doors that didn¡¯t lead to hallways. Some led to private offices, like the Devil¡¯s old office, located through door 214.6b, that was now upied by his recement, Plindakin¡¯porbindondimoni¡¯aasiindorkaanpondindindodondi¡¯papossin. All of the 214 doors led to offices.


    But some of the doors led to other things. Door 999, for example.


    That door led to the execution room.


    When an underling misbehaved, refused to follow orders, or underperformed to such an extreme degree that they proved themselves useless in all circumstances, the Seventh Circle of the Underworld decided that they had no more use for that Demon. And they were dealt with thusly.


    The Devil had, in effect, done all three of those things. He¡¯d acted in an extraordinarily impolite fashion toward his superiors, he¡¯d failed to uphold his copying work deadlines several times, and now he¡¯d failed to uphold his most important duty: kill An Nota.


    So he was working as hard as he could to try and prove his worth in some other fashion. Namely, his ability to copy. It was low, tedious, boring, humiliating work, but at this point, it didn¡¯t matter. He didn¡¯t want to die, and if this was what it¡¯d take, he¡¯d do it.


    So he worked as quickly as he could, writing down the same documents over and over. This eleven page document needed nine copies so it could go out to the nine general officer second ss secretaries in order to get confirmation on an order for new materials being used in the pins some army colonels wore on their shirts. This fifteen page document needed twenty-one copies so it could go out to all newly-assigned employees at a manufacturing nt to show them the exact guidelines and regtions for assembling said pins.


    He had about three hundred more documents like those to copy over, and they were due in not enough time for him to actually get them done. Not even close. But perhaps, he thought, he could get enough done that his superiors would understand he could at least be of basic use as a copier. It would be a meek, worthless existence, but an existence nheless.


    It didn¡¯t take long for him to be interrupted.


    As he worked, scribbling as quickly as he could on a sheet of paper, he heard a series of stompsing up from behind him. He almost didn¡¯t want to look back out of pure fear, but curiosity won him over, and he nced back.


    A Devil woman¡ªhis direct superior¡ªand a security detail of a half-dozen Nefariors approached down the narrow hallway. Nefariors were the direct evolution past Infernals, and their bodies showed it well. They were taller, beefier, and looked even more misshapen and deformed. Their muscled bodies bulged out so much that they almost didn¡¯t have necks at all, their massive shoulders taking its ce, and their thighs and calves shifted and flexed with each movement so much that it looked like they¡¯d explode at any moment.


    These were the soldiers used as front-linesmen in the wars the Seventh Circle fought against the other circles. The regr Infernals were effectively trainees, borderline civilians still moving through the equivalent of boot camp before they could really get some action in the constant wars with the other Circles of the Underworld. That was why it was so easy for the Devil to get his hands on such arge contingent of them for the Overworld invasion¡ªsomething that, byparison, was of very little importance.


    The ¡°boot camp¡± of the Underworld was very different from the military training Humans got in the Overworld, which the Devil had, of course, researched while nning his assault against their military. Where the Humans seemed to operate under the strange idea of preserving the lives of their fellow men during training, the Demons operated under another idea: if you died during training, you were too weak to fight in the main conflict anyway.


    And so, Demon boot camps typically sported a mortality rate of around 97.63%. Of course, that number varied¡ªeptable rates fell between 97.61% and 97.65%¡ªbut that was the general rate. And it was set at that number so as to weed out any and all weaklings from the pack.


    It wasn¡¯t as though the Demons killed all of these young Infernals for fun, of course¡ªthat would simply be inefficient¡ªbut rather it was out of necessity. It wasn¡¯tmon for a Demon¡¯s species to change like that, from one to another. This was because, unlike most monsters of the Overworld, they didn¡¯t evolve through Level-ups. Instead, specific species had the ability to, through consumption of a specific substance, change into another.


    Some of them were like the meling, which evolved into its next form¡ªthe Ashlocke¡ªthrough consuming something rtivelymon¡ªfor the meling, it was a charred corpse. Or the Zelus, which evolved into a Salvite through consumption of another Zelus. Infernals were quite different, however. Because what they needed to consume was much, much rarer.


    To be a Nefarior, an Infernal needed to drink a God¡¯s blood.


    That was, of course, not something the Seventh Circle had an infinite amount of. In fact, they¡¯d only ever acquired a single piece of a God¡¯s corpse, and had been using it to sustain their battle efforts for millenia. They were just lucky that Lunae¡¯s ring finger wasrge enough to contain so much blood.


    So it made sense for them to be so careful in who, exactly, they gave that limited supply of God blood to. Any time a new Infernal spawned, it was thrown straight into the Demon¡¯s military training camp to ensure it was of good mettle.


    What did that training camp consist of? Well, the Devil didn¡¯t know the fine details, but he was aware of the general idea. Newborn Infernals were tossed into the Ten-Million-Pace River of Lava, which ran for long enough for them to spend around their first year in. After about eighty percent of the Infernals were culled through that method, the surviving ones were thrown off a cliff, then got all of their extremities amputated in order to test their regeneration, then they¡¯d be asked to stab themselves in the heart to test their willpower.


    And then, once they¡¯d been cut down to around six percent of their original numbers, the Infernals would begin actualbat training. They¡¯d do that for some more years, until the very end, where they¡¯d be asked to each spar against a partner to the death. That cut the survivors down to the appropriate figure. After living through all of that, the Infernals were given one drop of Lunae¡¯s blood to drink.


    And those Infernals turned into what was standing in front of the Devil now.


    Six of them. Their skin was technically red, but their blue-blooded veins ran so thick, all across their bodies, that they almost seemed purple. They all approached, stomping along and knocking aside desks, workers, and anything else that happened to get in their way.


    And they nked the Devil¡¯s superior, who spoke to him in a curt, official voice. ¡°Greeting, Xhag. You wille with me, now.¡±


    ¡°A, a, a most formal expression of greeting, Superior Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki,¡± the Devil hurriedly stood from his seat and gave a bow to his superior. ¡°As you can see, I was just working very hard on my copying work. You can see that I¡¯ve gotten quite a bit of it done in just the past few hours. In fact, if you look here¡ª¡±


    ¡°With me. Now.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s face paled.


    ¡°Nefarior number four. Grab him and take him with me.¡±


    One of the Nefariors stepped forward and wrapped its massive hand around the Devil¡¯s shoulder, dragging him along as the superior turned and walked away. The Nefarior followed, pulling the Devil along with them.


    ¡°L-listen,¡± the Devil begged as they walked, ¡°I offer my sincerest, most formal expression of apology for my failure with the An Nota project. But please, I can offer my uses in some other way. You¡ªyou saw how I was copying back there, right? I could be one of them! Please! Just let me¡ª¡±


    His superior stopped and looked back, up at the Nefarior that had him detained. ¡°Take him through Door 999.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°No, no, please, you can¡¯t do that. I¡¯m not some Gargoyle, you can¡¯t just execute me! I¡¯m a Devil! A fucking Devil! You can¡¯t just execute someone of your own kind! Do you understand me?!¡±


    She stayed turned away from the screaming Devil as he was dragged toward the door. He pushed and wed at the Nefarior¡¯s hands and arms, trying his damndest to pry himself from the thing¡¯s invulnerable grip. He used his magic, despite knowing fully well that they had resistance to it. He tried screaming, punching, biting, <em>anything</em>, to get away from that door.


    But despite it all, he was dragged, pace after pace, to his death. Nothing he did even slowed the Nefarior down.


    ¡°Please,¡± the Devil cried, tears falling down his face, ¡°don¡¯t. Have mercy. I know I messed up. I know I did. But I¡¯ll do better. I¡¯ve learned my lesson. I won¡¯t ever¡ª¡±


    He was cut off by the Nefarior putting its hand over his mouth and opening Door 999. He had his head forcibly turned toward the door as the Nefarior reached its other hand forward to turn the knob and open the stone b.


    The funny thing about Door 999 was that nobody knew what was through it. Because if you went through, you died. And you couldn¡¯t see through it, either. It wasn¡¯t really a ¡°door¡± at all. Well, there was a physical door there, but through the door was actually a teleporter that took you somece else. A rectangle of space that linked up to some mystery location.


    The Devil had heard what felt like an infinite number of theories about what was through that door. Some said it took you to the bottom of ake ofva, where you¡¯d either burn to death, or if you had the heat resistance to survive it, suffocate. Some said it took you to the top of some massive cliff, where you¡¯d fall straight down for a full year before reaching the bottom of the pit and dying on impact. Some said it was actually a grid of tiny teleporters, and each little square of your body would be teleported somece else, neatly dividing your entire body into chunks of meat.


    He¡¯d never taken part in that theorycrafting, instead wanting to focus on his work. But now, he regretted it. It wouldn¡¯t have done anything to save him, but at the very least, all he wanted was some sort of certainty. Some sort of knowledge of what kind of fate he¡¯d meet.


    The Nefarior opened the door, and the Devil saw the familiar ck void of a teleporter. It was what all of the Seventh Circle¡¯s teleporters looked like¡ªvoid-ck squares in space that connected to some other teleporter, somewhere else in the Underworld.


    He¡¯d gone through teleporters thousands¡ªor maybe even millions¡ªof times in his life, but this time it feltpletely different. It was like he could feel a cosmic coldness of death radiating off of this one, the air being sucked out of his lungs in real time as he was pushed toward it.


    ¡°Please!¡± he shouted onest time, voice muffled by the Nefarior¡¯s hand. ¡°I don¡¯t want to die¡ª¡±


    The Nefarior gave him onest shove, he flew straight through the teleporter of Door 999, and¡ª

 Chapter 122.1: Welcome to Hell. Where Are You?

    Chapter 122.1: Wee to Hell. Where Are You?


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    A Devil was alive.


    He was alive.


    He was alive?!


    How was he alive?


    He opened his eyes, having shut them tightly in anticipation of the death that was inevitablying.


    And when he opened them, he saw something¡­how could he even express the feeling? Amazing? Breathtaking? Awe-inspiring? Or maybe the correct term was closer to terrifying. Enlightening?


    It was an empty expanse of stone. An infinitelyrge expanse of stone. Rock floors, bumpy, with massive craters embedded in the surface.


    And nothing above.


    The Devil had never truly set foot outside of the Underworld. Sure, he¡¯d been Projected into the Overworld, but he was never really <em>there</em>. He was seeing the sights and hearing the sounds, but his true self still resided in the Underworld that whole time. It wasn¡¯t the same¡ªnot at all, he now realized.


    But now. His full, real self was standing in a room without a ceiling. There was just¡­sky. Over his head, there was nothing but a sea of stars.


    His first thought was that he was in the Overworld. But he quickly realized that he was not there. First, this ce obviously had a different environment. Not only was it visually different¡ªa field of gray rock as far as the eye could see¡ªbut it felt different, too. It was cold¡ªlethally cold, to any normal being. And the air¡­it was different, too. Could a Human even breathe here?


    Finally, up in the sky, there was a clear difference. It was pitch dark, as a first point. Complete ck above his head, nothing but the stars to tell him that there was anything above him at all. He could see the sun, which should have meant it was daytime, but it wasn¡¯t turning the sky that familiar blue color he knew the Overworld to have. It was still ck, just¡­bright.


    And finally, there was another object in the sky. Out there, with the stars and the sun, there was one more celestial body. It was a strange one, bright blue and green, moving steadily above. What was that ce? The Devil had seen the sun and the stars from the Overworld, but he¡¯d never seen this thing up there. Had he just missed it? Admittedly, he hadn¡¯t paid much attention to what was upward during his short visits.


    He looked back down and around himself. Nothing. Just emptiness. Not even the teleporter was behind him. Not a single sign that another being had ever been here. At least, not in a long, long time.


    ¡°Hello?¡± He called out.


    No response.


    ¡°Anyone? Are you there?¡±


    Nothing.


    ¡°Is this some sort of test?¡±


    The void did not answer.


    ¡°Was I supposed to die? Did I somehow survive? Where is this ce?¡±


    Nobody was there.


    ¡°Am I alone?¡±


    A minute passed.


    ¡°Is there anyone out there?¡± The Devil wandered.


    An hour passed.


    The Devil wandered some more. Stone. Nothing but stone.


    ¡°Please,¡± he muttered.


    Another hour passed.


    ¡°Anyone?¡± He asked. ¡°Am I going to die here?¡±


    How long would it take? He wasn¡¯t some Human. He wouldn¡¯t die of thirst, or of starvation. Maybe, given a couple years, he¡¯d die from the cold? Would he just have to wait?


    Another hour passed.


    The Devil sat down on the edge of one of the many craters that dotted the surface of this strange ce. Should he just¡­sit there? Until he died? There was nothing to do. No task to work on. It was just nothing.


    Another hour passed.


    The Devil wondered if An Nota had been killed yet. Well, it¡¯d only been a few hours. And that was from his perspective. Since time flowed differently in the Underworld, it wouldn¡¯t have even been an hour in the Overworld yet. Or, was the Devil even in the Underworld, anymore? This was the same sky he saw in the Overworld, so maybe he¡¯d been transported through realms.


    Another hour passed.


    The Devil tried to sleep, and failed.


    Another hour passed.


    The Devily down and stared up at the sun in the dark sky, trying to see how long it would take for his eyes to burn.


    Another hour passed.


    The Devil shouted for a while, just to see if he could make an echo. What else was he to do? Nothing? Something? What did it matter? He was going to die anyway. This was an execution, right? He¡¯d been condemned to die, it was just going to take a long, long time for the guillotine to sever his neck.


    Another hour passed.


    Another hour passed.


    Another hour passed.


    The Devil¡¯s hopes that perhaps this was some sort of test faded away. At first he thought that maybe they were just trying to scare him. Perhaps this was just some intimidation tactic, a ¡°this is what will happen <em>for real</em> if you don¡¯t seed this time.¡± Perhaps it was just them saying ¡°this is what we have the power to do. Don¡¯t forget that.¡± Perhaps it was just them saying ¡°don¡¯t fail us again. You are mortal.¡±


    It didn¡¯t seem to be what they were saying.


    It seemed like they just wanted him to die. For real. If it was a test, he failed it somehow. If it was an intimidation tactic, he¡¯d been sufficiently intimidated an hour in. Really, they¡¯d sufficiently intimidated him by the time they started dragging him toward Door 999. They wouldn¡¯t have even had to throw him through to get him to work a bit harder.


    No, this was just an execution.


    He didn¡¯t feel fear anymore. Just certainty. He was going to die.


    What was this ce? Who knew. Who cared. It didn¡¯t matter. It was his gravesite, that was what it was. It was a ce Demons went to die, and that was all that was important to the Devil.


    Another hour passed.


    Another hour passed.


    Another hour passed.


    The Devil wondered what that blue and green sphere in the sky was. What were the stars? What was the sun? Were they gods, their radiance so brilliant that they impressed light upon a dark world? Were they the Demon Kings of old? Having finished their rule of the Underworld and ascended into a new form? Were they just some meaningless balls of fire?


    But no matter what he decided the sun and the stars were, he still couldn¡¯t decide on what the blue ball was. If the others shined because they were Demons or Gods, why was that one dim? If the others were made of fire, what was that one made of? Why was it colored? What was it doing there?


    Another hour passed.


    Another hour passed.


    Another hour passed.


    Surely, the Devil would die sooner than he¡¯d first assumed, right? Surely, he¡¯d die in a matter of days, not years, right? Would he just have to kill himself? But why would he kill himself, when he still had life left to live? But why would he live the rest of his life, if it was full of nothingness?


    Another hour passed.


    Another hour passed.


    Another hour passed.


    The Devil got back up and kept wandering. Maybe he could find a way back to the Underworld. If another Demon got pushed through a teleporter in another Door 999, maybe the Devil could slip back through in that very moment. Even if he couldn¡¯t, at least then he¡¯d have someone to talk to.


    Did anyone know where those teleporters led to? He didn¡¯t know, his colleagues didn¡¯t know, his underlings didn¡¯t know. Who would? Did his superiors even know? Maybe they did. <em>Someone</em> had to have put the teleporters there. But maybe the people who put the teleporters there were all dead by now. Maybe everyone just knew that Door 999 was where you put someone when you wanted to kill them, so when a Demon wanted to kill someone, they just used Door 999. No questions asked.


    But surely the higher-ups had to know, right? Teleporters required maintenance asionally, or they¡¯d break down. Someone had to fix them.


    Ironically, the Devil knew that <em>someone</em> out there knew where Door 999 led. He did. In his lowest moment, the lowest of Demons knew where it went. He just couldn¡¯t tell anyone.


    Another hour passed.


    Another hour passed.


    Another hour passed.


    The Devil stopped wandering. He didn¡¯t find anything, as he thought he wouldn¡¯t. Why would he find something? Why would he think he¡¯d find something? Hey back down and stared back up at the sky.


    The blue sphere continued to move across his sight.


    Twenty-four hours passed.

 Chapter 122.2: Welcome to Hell. Where Are You?

    Chapter 122.2: Wee to Hell. Where Are You?


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    The Devily there for a while, trying to see how long he could stay still. Maybe if he stayed unmoving for long enough, he¡¯d get swallowed up into the ground, or something. Maybe one of the things that had made all of these craters woulde by and crush him. But nothing happened. As usual. Nothing happened for twenty-four hours.


    Why was there nothing up here? Surely, if Demons were regrly teleported into this ce, they¡¯d leave <em>some</em> sort of sign that they were there.


    Well, it wasn¡¯t like there was anything around to make an office with, or whatever, but maybe they¡¯d arrange the rocks into their name?


    Though, the Devil hadn¡¯t done anything like that, himself. Why would he? Tofort the <em>next</em> Demon that got pushed through Door 999? It wouldn¡¯t offer him any sce to help out some other person he¡¯d never see. He wanted to help <em>himself</em>.


    Though, if he was out here for another six months, surely he¡¯d eventually get bored enough to make some sort of rock formation. Or, at least, that was what the Humans he¡¯d watched had done. He hadn¡¯t always known that people did that sort of thing¡ªthe Humans were the first to show him. What had the Humans called it? ¡­Art?


    Yes, he¡¯d make art. Heughed, thinking to himself. A Demon! Creating art! Apletely pointless, worthless activity that aplished absolutely nothing of note! Such a Human thing to do.


    He sighed. Those Humans had grown on him. Like little rats running around in his hallways that he¡¯d eventually be fond enough of to call his pets. They were still rats, and he still thought they were gross and disgusting and stupid, but couldn¡¯t he appreciate the inanity of their little lives sometimes?


    Art. What a silly concept, heughed. What was the point of such a thing? A Human gets bored and paints a picture of themselves. Then what, they sell it to the other Humans for some money? Okay, perhaps then it was time worth spent, if they got some money out of it. That raised the question of why the <em>other</em> Humans were buying it, but still.


    But why would a Human make art if they weren¡¯t going to sell it? He¡¯d used divining tools, he¡¯d watched their little lives as they ran around. He knew some of them still did that. Why? For status? To impress themselves upon others? Maybe, maybe¡­


    But some of them still did it for no reason other than for the satisfaction of making a piece of art. To leave their mark on the world. So that, after they died, or even just when they weren¡¯t in the room, someone out there would think of them. Someone out there would look at the thing that they created and think, ¡°Wow. What a work. What expression of skill. What expression of creativity. What was the artist thinking when they made this choice? I¡¯d love to speak with them about it.¡±


    Was that why Humans created art?


    ¡­Maybe. It seemed usible enough. Really, the Devil could see the appeal in it, to a certain extent. Maybe¡­


    He looked around. There were some loose stones, all scattered throughout the ce. Maybe he could do something with them. Not because <em>he</em> wanted to make art. Of course he didn¡¯t. He would never want to leave something out there, so that maybe someone who came after him, someone in his same scenario, would have a bit of an easier time. He didn¡¯t want someone to see what he made and think, ¡°Woah, I love what he did when he put that stone there. Ooh, when he ced that stone in that spot, it really brought the whole piece together for me.¡±


    He would hate that. Of course.


    He was just doing it for¡­science. Or something. Just to see what would happen. Maybe he would arrange the stones in the correct formation to open a doorway back to the Underworld, or to summon an ancient deity.


    Or something.


    He began gathering stones.


    An hour passed.


    Then, once he had enough, all piled up in a crater, he began arranging them. He was a Demon, of course he¡¯d want things to be orderly.


    An hour passed.


    An hour passed.


    Once all of the stones were in perfect order fromrgest to smallest¡ªhe measured this by weight, obviously¡ªhe got started. Working in a big, t area¡ªnot that there was any other type ofndscape out here¡ªhe grabbed some rocks and started arranging them. First, he got some of therger stones and put them in some basic locations to create the thing he had in mind.


    A big, t b here, and then he put a slightly smaller b on top, to create some depth. He looked back to what he was trying to create a replica of. Yes, yes, that looked correct. Another b over, across from it, with a bit of a gap in between. Another b to the south of them both, and another b beside that one, creating four little masses, just how the real thing looked.


    Then, he got some of the smaller stones and used them to start decorating. Adding details, bumps and ridges where there were supposed to be bumps and ridges. He even used his fingers and teeth to carve the stones into the perfect size and shape when there wasn¡¯t any that fit what he had in mind.


    An hour passed.


    An hour passed.


    An hour passed.


    Finally! The Devil had finished up the detailing. By the end, he really hit his stride and began to truly feel like he improved. He¡¯d even gone back and retouched on some of the first things he¡¯d done, using his newfound basic proficiency to make things look a bit better.


    Finally, he just had to add on thest bit. Using a special pile of stones he¡¯d set aside just for this, he went in and created arge circle around the whole thing, the four inds of rock surrounded by a perimeter, making it a big ball with the inds on the inside.


    It was the ball in the sky. The blue one, that he was still somewhat confused by.


    He didn¡¯t know what it was, but it had a certain beauty to it. The pale blue, the lush green, it rippled and waved as it moved along the sky, like greeting an old friend. The replica of this strange cosmic body that the Devil had made was imperfect, of course¡ªit was his first ever work¡ªbut it was something he was proud of.


    Maybe the next Demon that came out here to die woulde across this replica of that blue sphere, and they¡¯d see that someone out there cared. Even if the Devil was long gone, they¡¯d see a legacy he left behind. In a way, he would never truly die, right?


    The Devil blinked. W-well, he wasn¡¯t creating the art for that reason, of course. It was an experiment. To see if he could understand why the Humans did what they did.


    Oh well, he told himself. Experiment over. And since the experiment was over, and he didn¡¯t care about the art¡ªnot one bit¡ªhe would destroy it.


    He would destroy it.


    He would destroy it.


    The Devil looked at his replica of the blue ball. He¡¯d spent so many hours on it. The painstaking detail. The little bumps and ridges in the stones to recreate the green parts that seemed to be raised up above the blue parts, everything with its own texture.


    He wished he could go there. He wished he could explore the blue sphere, instead of this ce. Surely, dying out there would be infinitely more enjoyable and interesting than dying here, in this empty, gray wastnd. There was nothing here. Nothing to see. No color, or variations in the terrain. No people.


    But he wasn¡¯t there. He was here.


    So he destroyed the replica.


    It was imperfect. Not the blue ce. It was just some awful wish to have what he didn¡¯t have.


    He tore it apart, tossing everything away and shattering therge rocks into pieces. It would never be created again. A curse of his life. He would never create art again.


    Twenty-four hours passed.


    The Devil tried his hand at creating art again, just to pass the time. He wanted to see if he could make something else. This wasn¡¯t because he <em>wanted </em>to, of course¡ªthat would be ridiculous, for a Demon to waste his time on something worthless and pointless. But just to test his skill. Yes, that was why. He wanted to test his skill at creating something.


    Creating that sculpture before, it had taken lots of fine motor movement, see? And he had noticed that his proficiency had increased quite a bit while working. So he wasn¡¯t ¡°creating art¡± like the Humans did, he was just training. He was working on his motor movements, and his abilities of visualization. That was what he was doing. It was really one of the most productive things he could do, out in this wastnd.


    This time, he decided to create a replica of his own hand. How more appropriate could things get, creating a portrait of the thing that was creating the portrait.


    Twenty-four more hours passed.


    And the Devil worked some more.


    Maybe eventually, he thought, he would create something worthwhile. Perhaps he could even find out where he was.

 Chapter 123: Watching

    Chapter 123: Watching


    During my time on watch, I continued to practice Noxious Grasp with the help of Ethereal Armor¡¯s Light te, as well as continuously activate Regenerate whenever my Stamina got high enough in order to help heal up some of my still low Health. It¡¯d been a while since I¡¯d actually practiced Noxious Grasp; back when I¡¯d gotten Exponential Remation, I¡¯d also gotten Expedite at the same time, and that was the Spell I¡¯d spent most of my Mana on since then. Any time we were traveling, everything was put toward that. So, really, I hadn¡¯t had much time at all to use this newly-acquired Mana/Minute on the Spell.


    But now that we had some downtime to rest, when we weren¡¯t as worried about the time limit of the Demons, I could finally spend some time practicing it. Especially now that the rest of my Spells were at their Rank limits for now, it seemed like Noxious Grasp would be what got most of my attention in terms of practice until we reached the Barinruth Empire.


    It didn¡¯t take more than two hours for it to get to its thirteenth Rank, the notification popping into my mind as the smoke left my skin through my fingers and seeped through the glowing-white armor covering my body.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 844.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 13.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 13, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 4.94 to 5.06


    Health Drain: From 18 to 18.9


    Stamina Drain: From 8.99 to 9.44


    The new Rank wasn¡¯t much on its own, but the extra efficiency was always appreciated. Especially with the Venomous Grasp Upgrade, that Stamina Drain moving upward was especially important. Draining close to 20 Stamina in a single second with the Spell was backbreaking in most encounters, especially when it barely cost anything to use¡ªaround five seconds of Mana regeneration, and that was without taking Light te into ount.


    Plus, it just took me one Rank closer to 20, which woulde alongside a new Upgrade for the Spell. Getting my first Upgrade for the rest of my Spells was great¡ªit¡¯d increase all of their effectiveness by an extreme amount¡ªbut a <em>second</em> Upgrade for Noxious Grasp was even more exciting. Thanks to that new Fester aspect of the Spell, it¡¯d be a staple of my fighting style, punishing my opponents for fighting recklessly to me while simultaneously demanding they finish the battle quickly. And a new Upgrade would allow me to add yet <em>another</em> aspect to that. Just what would it entail?


    While I pondered that, I also tried what Erani had talked to me about, focusing inward on myself and essentially meditating on the topic of Ainash. I hadn¡¯t known her for long, and really, we¡¯d been so busy that I hadn¡¯t really had the time to consider what I really thought about her. I¡¯d made plenty of heat-of-the-moment decisions, sure, but what were my real, long-term ns?


    One thing I knew for certain was that we couldn¡¯t abandon her. That was non-negotiable. We hadn¡¯t had her in our care for long, but I knew that Erani agreed with me¡ªAinash was with us, and we¡¯d make sure she had a good life. No way we were just dropping her off somewhere when we got to Barinruth.


    But that was something we had to consider. We were approaching Barinruth soon, and we¡¯d need to figure out what to do once we got there. Really, entering the Empire would cause some problems of its own right, which was something we¡¯d have to solve.


    First, there was the very obvious issue that we were fugitives of the Demons. They were hunting us, and the Barinruth Empire would sooner let us die than risk angering them. But that wasn¡¯t an unsolvable issue. We could sneak in somehow, or maybe disguise our identities. There were plenty of ways to figure that out.


    We wouldn¡¯t have many money problems, I anticipated, because of the high Levels Erani and I had acquired. We weren¡¯t world-ss by any means¡ªor anything even remotely close to it¡ªbut at this point, we were clearly above the Levels of your average adventurer. We¡¯d be able to take on harder, better-paying jobs in whatever ce we entered, exterminating problematic monster poptions or even just doing basic maintenance for people that required someone with some high physical Stats. Both Erani and I would fit that requirement, at this point, so I doubted finding some basic work would be much of a problem.


    Ainash did pose some issues, though. It was one thing that she wasn¡¯t Human. Trying to bring a monster of any kind into a Human settlement was obviously a problem¡ªwe, as a species, historically did not work well with others. The simple fact that Humans didn¡¯t get any XP for killing other Humans was, in my opinion, one of the reasons we were able to band together and create societies in the first ce. We had no real incentive to kill each other, but all the incentive in the world to fight off anything else.


    Ainash would not be afforded that basic courtesy by the System. No matter how friendly she was, people would see her and see a potential number in their notification box. And it wasn¡¯t just an issue that some fanatic may try to kill her for XP. Just the simple fact that she wasn¡¯t Human would be enough to scare most people off in an instant. Even mostly Humanoid monsters, like some types of Faeries, weren¡¯t wee at all in the Human settlements I knew of, despite the fact that they were perfectly capable of speaking, interacting, and helping out in all the ways a Human could.


    And that was the other issue. Ainash couldn¡¯t even do that much. She couldmunicate with us just fine, but my easy time speaking with her reminded me of the fact that pretty much anyone else wouldn¡¯t be able to. Now, from what I understood, she¡¯d be able to open upmunication channels with others just fine, as long as there weren¡¯t too many, but that wasn¡¯t the issue. Really, what would the average person think if a me-eyed forest monster walked up to them and started beaming words into their head. It¡¯d be seen as an attack nine out of ten times. They wouldn¡¯t even give her a chance.


    So we were dealing with a mute monster that didn¡¯t understand our spokennguage, didn¡¯t look remotely like a Human, and¡ªthe real kicker¡ªdidn¡¯t even look like a monster anyone would recognize. She was a Draconiad, now. Not amon Nymph, not a rarer Dryad. Either of those, at least <em>some</em> people would see what she was. Really, if she was still a Nymph, people might actually understand that she was just an especially cooperative one. But Ainash was aplete unknown to people¡ªa borderline mythical species at this point.


    Yeah, she¡¯d face some problems integrating with society, that was for sure. It was crushing to think about¡ªshe¡¯d been uprooted from her own home, run halfway across the kingdom by people she didn¡¯t know, fighting other people she didn¡¯t know, and now, when Erani and I finally got sce, she¡¯d be the one to bear the further burden of integrating with a Human society for the first time.


    Not to mention the fact that she didn¡¯t have very good experiences with Humans. Would she even be able to mentally deal with seeing so many at the same time? Any other time she saw a dozen people at once, it meant she¡¯d need to draw her weapon and start killing. Sure, we could easily establish that that behavior wouldn¡¯t be necessary by telling her, but it wouldn¡¯t be that simple. In cases like these, instinct often trumped reason. Even if she didn¡¯t attack, I doubted Ainash would be able to rx while around people. Would she ever be able to ovee the numerous traumatic experiences that¡¯d been piled onto her in these past couple weeks?


    But Erani and I¡­if she couldn¡¯t do it on her own, we¡¯d help her through it. At this point, I wasn¡¯t just fighting for survival, or to have an easy life one day. Sure, that was part of it, but I also knew that I¡¯d fight to give this kid a brighter future. These Demons, the corrupt Humans doing everything they said, they needed to go. Whether that was by convincing them to leave us alone, or by killing everyst one of them like Ainash wanted, they wouldn¡¯t keep terrorizing the world any longer.


    I¡¯d been shown in my own life that I couldn¡¯t really rely on people. I didn¡¯t like relying on people. I relied on my parents, and they died. Then I shut myself in. I decided ¡°never again,¡± and lived my life to never have to force myself on another person again. I¡¯d be a sser, someone who could protect themself, work for themself, and get stronger by themself. So I forced everyone else out. I sat, put my head down, and spent every waking moment on work, training, or studying. I¡¯d be a perfect, self-sufficient machine. That was what I¡¯d wanted, as a kid. This teenager who fancied himself a total loner.


    And then I realized I¡¯d have to rely on people one more time in order to get my ss. It was just one more time, and then I¡¯d be good to go. And I did. I paid those two people, Dorrn and Feiya, to help me onest time, and then I¡¯d be good on my own forever. And so I paid them to help me get my ss. And then they died. And I was forced out into the woods on my own, tested on those same skills I¡¯d trained for all those years.


    To be honest, at the time, it was a bit validating, in a sick way. I¡¯d spent all my life saying that, if I ever relied on others, they¡¯d just die on me and leave me stranded in life like had happened before. And so, when I worked with Dorrn in Feiya, putting my trust into them, and they ended up dead, it was like I¡¯d been proven right. And all of that training and learning was put to use.


    But then, the Demons came. And I was forced to work with Erani. And sure, I¡¯d already gotten to know her before, and we were even working together, but that wasn¡¯t true reliance. It was a business rtionship and a date. I wasn¡¯t leaning on her¡ªif she fell, I¡¯d stay standing. But when we both fell during that invasion, we had to help each other up. And suddenly I was relying on someone again. And this time, it didn¡¯t backfire. That awful theory, that I could never work with another person, it¡¯d somehow been proven wrong.


    When I looked at Ainash, I saw a bit of myself in her. She had her mom killed in front of her. That was sure to force any kid into a bit of a fugue state. Just like I¡¯d been put into. But where I¡¯de up with the coping theory, ¡°I can never rely on someone else again,¡± she¡¯de up with the idea that all ¡°bad guys¡± were inherently evil. And Humans were a part of that category. She¡¯d be able to work with me and Erani, sure, but we still came from that fundamentally evil people. Hells, my attitude toward her back then probably contributed toward her feelings.


    But now, I felt like I could see the beginnings of her shedding that idea. That maybe, just maybe, she didn¡¯t need to give up on Humanity yet. Perhaps there were some good people in us. And I just knew that giving her a whole town¡¯s worth of people to interact with¡ªpeople who had nothing to do with the ¡°bad guys¡±¡ªwould either make or break that progress. Either they¡¯d act withpassion, or with hatred.


    It was my job to make sure she saw the good in Humanity. I wouldn¡¯t let the enemy break her. Even if she killed every singlest one of them¡ªworking with us to rid the world of the Demons¡ªif Ainash came out of it a broken shell, never able to trust another person again, constantly on-edge and waiting for another attack, I¡¯d have lost the war. And I wouldn¡¯t let myself lose.


    Ainash could fend for herself in a fight, but she was still a kid at heart, and it was my job, as surrogate parent, to make sure she could have a childhood. Some sort of innocence had to be preserved. Some optimism. Even if it was just a sliver leftover from a broken child¡¯s heart. I wouldn¡¯t let the Demons take that away from her, too.


    Threshold reached.


    Your Bond with Level 30 Draconiad has deepened.


    Due to your Bond being deepened, it has undergone the following changes:


    Stat Increase: From 6 to 8


    XP Gain: From 3% to 4%


    Heat Resistance: From 16.9% to 21.9%


    I opened my eyes, looking around and seeing that the moon had crested the sky. Sensing inward, my Status told me that I¡¯d regained my two uses of Time Loop for the day, and I let out a breath that I must have been holding in for hours. We were finally safe. Really, truly safe.


    And then Iid my head back on the hard rock and dirt below me. I was tired, and my watch was about over. I¡¯d wake Erani up and have her take her turn, and then I¡¯d go to sleep.


    We were maybe a couple more days away from Barinruth, and then we¡¯d be through. But for now, I just needed some rest. It¡¯d been a long, long day.


    Ideally, the next few days would be nice and uneventful.

 Chapter 124: Traveling

    Chapter 124: Traveling


    When I woke up in the morning, one of the first things I did was check my Status, looking at Noxious Grasp. Over the night, it¡¯d garnered an extra 667 Spell XP! Up to around 700/1.13k, which meant I was already pretty close to Rank 14. But that new Spell XP requirement of 1.13k was getting pretty steep. Even with Exponential Remation, a four-digit requirement for my next Rank was quite a massive amount. Still, if I kept going at my current pace, I¡¯d most likely be able to finish this Rank by the end of today.


    I¡¯d used the same method from before to gain as much Spell XP as possible throughout the night, having Erani and Ainash, while they were on watch, wake me up whenever they saw Light te disappear from my body so I could put it back on.


    Really, they said it helped them out too, since Light te allowed them to see in the dark night. Normally, the only source of illumination was the moon, which naturally put them at a distinct disadvantage against the nighttime predators that¡¯de out when it got dark.


    We didn¡¯t get attacked by anything during the night, though, thankfully¡ªI suspected the Demons had probably gone out and ughtered all of the monsters around their wall during its construction, so I wasn¡¯t too surprised at that. But as we continued to leave the site of the wall, I was sure we¡¯d start seeing some more monsters. Especially once we began entering the territories of the other Dragons.


    So, we got up and got moving. Our goal was to get to the Barinruth Empire within the next couple days, and we couldn¡¯t do that while stationary.


    It took a few hours before we encountered our first monster. This one wasn¡¯t one of the Drakes that¡¯d be familiar in this mountainousnd¡ªand it luckily wasn¡¯t a Dragon, either. Instead, it was a monster that was only really seen deeper into Kingdom¡¯s Edge. A Shadow Panther.


    Because of the high stone walls on either side of us¡ªthe path we walked having been cut straight into the mountains¡ªwe were almost constantly in shade, only ever seeing direct sunlight during noon. And Shadow Panthers seemed to use this fact to their advantage.


    They looked how they sounded like they¡¯d lookrge, feline creatures with dark fur covering their bodies. Their fur was so dark, in fact, that it allowed them topletely blend in with the shadows the tall stone walls around us created. It seemed like they had some sort of invisibility-adjacent ability to make them almost impossible to perceive while they were cloaked in shade.


    I hadn¡¯t heard of them before, but Index filled in the nks where I couldn¡¯t quite intuit things. They didn¡¯t like hanging around the outskirts of Kingdom¡¯s Edge, near the wastnd, because of the Ghouls that resided there. Since Ghouls sensed with smell instead of sight, it made the Shadow Panthers¡¯ invisibility near-useless against them. So it seemed like they stuck around over here, where the Ghouls rarely wandered out to.


    Still, despite their near-invisibility, they weren¡¯t too difficult to fight. It made them hard to spot at first, but once they attacked and made themselves known, I could pretty easily keep track of their movements. The additional Stats I¡¯d been building up with Recursive Growth¡ªspecifically, the extra Dexterity¡ªgave me the enhanced senses necessary to be able to spot the small distortions in the air and soft patter of its paws on the stone ground. And Erani¡¯s explosion-based magic didn¡¯t really need her to have a perfect idea of where our enemies were, anyway.


    I did decide to use the Shadow Panthers as an opportunity to experiment with Sanguine Bond, though. I¡¯d Ranked it up all the way to 9 already, but I hadn¡¯t used it in truebat yet. So I felt that fighting against some agile opponents would give me good practice with what the Spell would demand me to do.


    The thing about Sanguine Bond was that it¡¯d break and prematurely end if I ever let my enemy get more than ten paces away from me. And it was expensive enough that a single failed cast of the Spell could mean big trouble for me. Of course, a sessful cast of it was good enough that it was worth the risk, but I¡¯d need to get used to keeping people within that radius.


    Now, my build was pretty catered toward doing just that. With Crippling Chill, Ray of Frost, and Gravity Well to slow my enemies down and Expedite to speed me up, as long as I had the Mana for it, I could always ensure I was more mobile than my opponent. And if I had better mobility, I could be the one in control of who was positioned where.


    So I started my practice against one of the Shadow Panthers. I let Erani and Ainash know that I wanted to try using the next monster that came to work with the Spell, and to keep from engaging unless it seemed like I was in trouble.


    Within an hour, we had a hit. I caught a rippling in the wall next to me¡ªa sign of the Panther¡¯s imperfect camouge¡ªand readied myself for an attack. The moment it saw that I¡¯d noticed it, it pounced straight at me.


    Once it got within a pace or two of my Light te, the invisibility from the shadows melted away, and revealed the monster¡¯s looks¡ªpitch ck fur and beady eyes, with razor-sharp fangs and ws shining in the newfound light.


    I¡¯d activated three Expedites on myself in preparation, so despite the creature¡¯s own blistering speed, I was still able to sidestep and narrowly avoid its swipe. Then, keeping my eyes on it as itnded and turned back around toward me, I hit it with both a Crippling Chill and a Ray of Frost to push its Stats down to a more manageable range, keeping Gravity Well ready to be activated at any time.


    The Panther, after being hit with both of the Spell effects at the same time, seemed to realize it was outmatched, and instantly turned to try and flee. That <em>was</em> the issue with trying to use a wild animal to train my skills against; if it realized I was effectively toying with it, it¡¯d obviously run off. But that was why I had Gravity Well ready to activate.


    The moment it attempted to run off, I toggled the Spell on, crushing the Panther under a 60% increase in gravity. Then I charged in and turned the attack back on it. While it swiveled around to face me, I tapped it quickly and cast Sanguine Bond¡ªand Noxious Grasp too, while I was at it.


    You have cursed Level 14 Shadow Panther with Sanguine Bond. For the next 10 seconds, or until Level 14 Shadow Panther is further than 10 paces away from you, the following effects are true:


    It loses 6.21 Health, 7.76 Stamina, and 9.31 Mana per second.


    You gain 1.55 Health, 3.55 Stamina, and 4.65 Mana per second.


    135 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 882.


    One thing I knew about curses was that, generally speaking, the person being cursed would be informed of the curse effects, duration, and, most importantly, any conditions under which the curse would be prematurely ended. Well, other than the usual method of killing the caster. And anyone, Human or monster, could understand the System. Meaning the Shadow Panther would know that it needed to get away from me if it wanted to stop getting its Health drained.


    It attempted to flee once again, burdened by the extreme Dexterity penalty, gravity increase, and now thebined Stamina-draining effects of both Crippling Chill and Sanguine Bond, both being doubled by Venomous Grasp. Altogether, the Panther was losing around 28 Stamina every single second, not counting the Stamina it spent on physical activity. That¡¯d bottom me out from my maximum in less than eight seconds, not to mention an Unssed person, who would lose the entirety of their 60 Stamina in barely over two seconds. Though, they¡¯d also be paralyzed already from Crippling Chill¡¯s effects, so that was a bit of a moot point.


    But either way, the Panther was at least attempting to run off, no matter how easily I could keep up with its pace and keep it in my ten-pace radius of effectiveness. One thing I hadn¡¯t realized when I was getting it to max Rank before, casting it on those Lava Slugs that it¡¯d instantly kill, was just how <em>good</em> it felt to have my Health, Stamina, and Mana all being magically refilled at the same time.


    My Health was already at 460/460, so I didn¡¯t feel the effects of that, but the feeling of instant rejuvenation of having my Stamina restored¡ªmy body literally regaining all of its expended energy over the course of seconds¡ªwas amazing. It was like sleeping while running, somehow expending my energy while feeling the effects of resting.


    Not to mention having my Mana regeneration suddenly quintuple. Spending too much Mana too quickly could sometimes result in headaches¡ªsomething that I¡¯d trained out of myself, for the most part¡ªbut it seemed like <em>regaining</em> that Mana would effectively have the opposite effect. My mind was suddenly clearer, I didn¡¯t feel distracted, and all of the slight mental cloudiness that naturally happened from focusing your mind on casting disappeared in an instant.


    And I was sure the Panther was having the exact opposite experience, having all of these things drained out of it.


    It turned and started running off toward the cliff faces that surrounded us. I could¡¯ve probably killed it already with Ray of Frost, or tackled it and finished it off with Noxious Grasp, but this was practice, not a real fight; I wanted it tost as long as I could so I could get the most out of the monster. However, once it leapt up onto the wall, using its sharp ws to cling into the stone and try climbing up the vertical surface, it seemed to me like the practice session was over.


    So I grabbed its leg that was still in my reach and yanked it back down to the ground, where it snarled and tried biting at me. I had Noxious Grasp active from the moment my hands touched it, and I could tell the Stamina drain was already starting to tire the monster out. Its movements were slowing, the attempt to get away from me weak and sluggish, and I could see the light fading from its eyes.


    Before it could even take a second swipe at me, it stopped moving, falling limp. I took a breath, keeping my hand on it while I drained away the rest of its Health. Generally speaking, most beings had less Stamina than Health because of the way two values were calcted, so when I almost exclusively used abilities like Crippling Chill and Sanguine Bond, that drained away more Stamina than Health, or Noxious Grasp, which, thanks to its Upgrade, drained the same for both, my opponent would almost always fall to paralysis before death. Leaving me with the awkward job of finishing what I¡¯d started.


    ¡°Gods, An,¡± Erani said as she approached me, ¡°I¡¯m starting to barely be able to even keep up with what you¡¯re doing in a fight, at this point.¡±


    I frowned and looked up at her. ¡°What do you mean? Why not?¡±


    ¡°You barely even did anything that fight! The thing jumped at you, then you touched it once, and suddenly it started running off and slowing down with every step. It was moving all awkwardly, and then it tried jumping up to a wall, where you just pulled it off and suddenly it was dead. I mean, really, Magic-Types are well-known for being a bit difficult to follow the fights for, but at least <em>some</em> of their Spells fire off projectiles. To me, it just seems like you look at something wrong and then it just dies.¡±


    ¡°...Huh.¡± I hadn¡¯t really thought of it that way, to be honest. I had Status screens and notifications to give me feedback for all my Spell casts, but I supposed to a bystander, Spells like Crippling Chill and Gravity Well were effectively invisible. Even Sanguine Bond and Venomous Grasp only needed me to tap someone once for their effects to take hold for the next while. When I thought about Erani¡¯s fighting style, with the bombastic, ming explosions, it definitely struck the difference into me.


    You have in Level 14 Shadow Panther.


    You have earned 112 XP. Your XP is 562.


    ¡°Ah, there we go,¡± I took my hand off of the Panther. Compared to the required 2200 XP for my next Level, they didn¡¯t give too much, but it added up. My days of getting enough XP for an entire Level by killing a single monster or two were most likely behind me, at this point. At least, until the day I decided to start hunting down Dragons.


    ¡°You done?¡± Erani looked down at the corpse.


    ¡°Yep, it¡¯s dead,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s keep going.¡±


    Over the next few hours, we continued to travel, with me practicing Noxious Grasp along the way. I also decided that it¡¯d probably be a good idea for us to all use the time to try and get used to a few more stacks of Expedite¡ªespecially me, considering I felt like I was always pushing my limits with the Spell during fights.


    I still spent most of my Mana practicing Noxious Grasp, but every now and then, when we were sure there weren¡¯t any monsters nearby, we¡¯d all take turns with as many stacks of Expedite on us as we could handle.


    We also tried casting the Spell on Ainash for the first time. Because of her already high Dexterity, it hadn¡¯t been necessary for us to waste my limited Mana on her in the past, but for now, we were dealing with some slightly lower levels of danger, so I felt like it was justified to at least try to experiment with her.


    Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ainash seemed like she was able to handle just about as many I tried to throw at her. She barely felt a difference at one stack, same with two, and still felt totallyfortable with three, four, and five. At the levels of six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, we started seeing noticeable improvement in her abilities, but at that point, it didn¡¯t really seem worth it. Really, if it was going to cost me 400 Mana just to increase her speed from ¡°extremely fast¡± to ¡°even more extremely fast,¡± I could probably find better uses for the Mana.


    The thing about Stats was that, especially when considering their physical effects, they had diminishing returns. Going from 10 to 20 Dexterity would feel like a massive change; even though they only added on to one¡¯s base abilities, getting that addition doubled would still be huge for just about anyone. But going from 50 to 60? From 100 to 110? It wouldn¡¯t feel like too much of a big deal. So for Ainash, who already had such extreme levels of Dexterity, she wouldn¡¯t actually get much from Expedite until my Mana rose to much higher levels.


    We did still see improvement for me and Erani, though. I managed to push the limit I wasfortable with up to around five¡ªmy Dexterity was equal to 184, at that point¡ªwhile Erani could only push herself up to three stacks.


    ¡°Really?¡± Iughed as Erani got up from tripping over her feet, still unable to walk with four Expedites on her. ¡°I feel like you¡¯ve been stuck at three for a while now.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not my fault,¡± she grumbled, ¡°it¡¯s the damn Bond.¡±


    I stoppedughing. ¡°Oh? Is the Stat gain from it still bothering you that much?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah, pretty much. I¡¯m still just trying to get used to the Ranks it gained overnight. A bit rough to deal with that alongside the extra Dexterity from Expedite.¡±


    ¡°It got a Rank overnight?¡± I asked. ¡°Nice, it seems like what you were thinking about worked. I also had it deepen doing the same thing.¡±


    ¡°Um, not just one,¡± Erani said awkwardly.


    I furrowed my brows. ¡°How many, then?¡±


    ¡°...Eight?¡±


    I stopped in my tracks, looking at her with wide eyes. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, <em>eight?!¡±</em>


    ¡°Uh, yeah. The Stat boost went from 24 to 40.¡±


    I was speechless. How in the hells did that happen? Was I just terrible at working with the Bond? At this point, her physical Stats were all at 50. That rivaled even mid-Level Melee-ssers! My highest Physical Stat was Endurance, and it was only 46, <em>after</em> the 8 extra I got from my own Bond.


    In the end, I just managed a shocked sigh.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t really expecting it, either. I guess this type of thing justes naturally?¡±


    ¡°Seems so,¡± I said. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s possible for you to raise it even more doing the same thing?¡±


    ¡°No, probably not. Most of those came in my first couple hours of watch. The rest didn¡¯t really do anything.¡±


    I nodded. With her having so many more Stats, we¡¯d work so much more effectively as a unit now. Angelic Shield helped, but Erani was always weak in circumstances where we fought up-close. Now, as long as we could get her used to these new Stats, she could probably rival me as a front-lines fighter¡ªespecially when dealing withrger groups of opponents.


    <em>¡°Ainash, you were aware of this, right?</em> I asked. Since we¡¯d made it a habit to passively ry our conversations to her, she was normally filled in on whatever was happening, but she seemed to be content just listening unless we directly addressed her.


    <em>¡°Yes!¡±</em> She eximed back. <em>¡°Mother loves me so much!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah,¡±</em> Iughed, <em>¡°she sure does.¡±</em>

 Chapter 125: Warning

    Chapter 125: Warning


    We continued traveling throughout the day. Thankfully, due to everyone¡¯s raised Stats, we didn¡¯t need to take many breaks anymore. Our Stamina/Minute values were all high enough to significantly lower how much Stamina we actually lost in an hour of travel, not to mention the fact that we all started out with a much higher bank of Stamina in the morning.


    I also continued practicing Noxious Grasp, which Ranked up yet again over the course of our journey.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 1.03k.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 14.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 14, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 5.06 to 5.19


    Health Drain: From 18.9 to 19.8


    Stamina Drain: From 9.44 to 9.91


    My confidence was slowly climbing higher and higher as time passed and we kept making progress. The only monsters we really encountered were more Shadow Panthers, which were easy to deal with. Since we weren¡¯t climbing into the mountains themselves, we didn¡¯t see many Drakes defending their territories, and it didn¡¯t seem like we¡¯d stumbled into any Dragons yet, so it was possible we¡¯d overestimated the trouble Kingdom¡¯s Edge would give us.


    Well, we¡¯d obviously been given quite a bit of trouble from this ce, but that was from the Demons, not from the actual wildlife. So maybe we could make it through without much more danger.


    I still had two uses of Time Loop as the sun began to set in the distance, meaning we were quite safe from any danger that we did end up encountering. Though we still had a good ways to go, and I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if we ended up passing through the territories of two or three more Dragons before we did.


    So we¡¯d made a general n for interacting with Dragons, just in case. If we ever saw one flying around in the distance, we¡¯d continue approaching until we were generally within the monster¡¯s sphere of influence, and wait there all day. If it saw us and attacked, I¡¯d use Time Loop, go back, and we¡¯d move backwards outside of the Dragon¡¯s territory, and from there we¡¯d be able to figure out a n. Maybe we could quickly rush through, or try to hide somewhere. If the Dragon didn¡¯t attack us by the end of the day, we¡¯d just continue moving.


    But so far, we hadn¡¯t needed to put that n into motion. Mainly just Shadow Panthers and the asional Drake¡¯s fly-by. In total, I¡¯d ended up getting around 400 additional XP over the course of the day from the monster attacks, putting me up to 953. I was already at Level 18, meaning that I was just two Level-ups away from 20, getting me an additional Talent, Time Loop use, and an Upgrade for it, too! So I was pretty eager to get to such a massive boost in power.


    But for the time being, we just continued moving through the mountains.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said to Erani as we chatted to pass the time, ¡°so what¡¯s your n, once we get to Barinruth?¡±


    She looked over at me. ¡°What do you mean? I thought we already had a general n of action once we got there.¡±


    ¡°No, no, not like that,¡± I said. ¡°I mean more of a personal n. Like, ignoring the Demon threat, what do you want to do once you get there?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s really possible for us to ignore the Demons,¡± she chuckled.


    ¡°Right, I get that, I guess I was just thinking. Like, I¡¯d always nned on getting out of my small vige at some point after getting my ss. Sure, I hadn¡¯t wanted to leave the kingdom, and I definitely hadn¡¯t anticipated leaving so soon, but heading out and finding a new home was always something I¡¯d wanted to do. This just elerated things a bit. But you¡¯d already kind of made a life, back in Ordensville. I mean, you had a home, an ie¡­a family. Do you know what you¡¯re going to do now?¡±


    She sighed and shook her head. ¡°To be honest, I haven¡¯t really thought about it. Purposefully. I don¡¯t <em>want</em> to think about it. At least for now, I¡¯m kind of just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, ensuring I don¡¯t die tomorrow. Maybe I took your advice to focus on survival, what you said to me right when all of this started, a bit too seriously. Maybe I just hoped that things would magically return to rtive normalcy after the Demons weren¡¯t a threat anymore.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I gripped her hand. ¡°I get what you mean. I know what I <em>want</em> my life to end up as, but I¡¯m not sure that I know how I¡¯ll actually get there.¡±


    ¡°I guess,tely, I¡¯ve been trying to think about us three¡ªyou, me, Ainash¡ªas a unit. <em>I</em> don¡¯t have to figure something out, <em>we</em> can figure something out. Unless, um, you¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, that¡¯s probably a good way to think of things,¡± I said. ¡°At the very least, I don¡¯t think there are many people out there that any of us will be able to fully trust. Not for a long time. So it¡¯s a good idea to stick together.¡±


    Erani nodded.


    ¡°Besides,¡± I said, giving a halfheartedugh, ¡°we¡¯ve got a kid to worry about now. Can¡¯t split up and leave her hanging. I¡¯m sure she would be very sad if mother and father got a divorce.¡±


    Eraniughed, too. ¡°Oh? I wasn¡¯t aware we¡¯d gotten married.¡±


    ¡°We may as well be in Ainash¡¯s eyes. I don¡¯t think she¡¯d let us split apart, even if we wanted to.¡±


    <em>¡°I would not,¡±</em> Ainash cut in, no hint of humor in her tone.


    Iughed and shook my head, giving Erani¡¯s hand a squeeze. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re the most functional family unit.¡±


    ¡°To be fair, I think that¡¯s been the case ever since we became national ouws together.¡±


    ¡°I would¡¯ve thought that would just bring the family closer together. A nice little bonding moment.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Erani rolled her eyes.


    I started to say something else, but suddenly stopped, seeing movement up in the mountain ridge above us.


    Erani, seeing my expression, furrowed her brows. ¡°What is it?¡±


    I kept staring up at where I¡¯d seen the movement. ¡°Not sure. I thought I saw something up there.¡±


    She looked up, too. ¡°Panther?¡¯


    ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t dark enough to be one of those.¡±


    ¡°Drake? Or a Dragon?¡±


    ¡°No, too small.¡± It¡¯d disappeared right when I looked up at it, so I didn¡¯t get much of a good look. ¡°Maybe it was just a Shadow Panther, though. I wouldn¡¯t expect it to be up there in the sun in the first ce, but who knows. Index, was that in your range to see?¡±


    ¡°No, too far away,¡± it said.


    ¡°Hm. Index says it didn¡¯t see anything, either.¡±


    Erani nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s just keep moving. Whatever it was, it probably wouldn¡¯t hurt to put a little distance between us and it.¡±


    Another hour passed uneventfully, and I continued training Noxious Grasp until its Spell XP reached around 300. The next requirement was 1486, so I was at around a fifth of the total, at this point. Erani also apparently Ranked her Firebolt up, with it reaching Rank 18 now.


    But despite the progress, I couldn¡¯t get my mind off of what I¡¯d seen up in the stone walls before. Was it really nothing? Maybe I was just getting paranoid, anticipating the next fight in fear since we were in such a dangerous area. It waspletely possible I¡¯d seen nothing. Just a trick of the light, or some Panther walking along the edge of the cliffs.


    But then, as we walked, I saw movement up in the cliffs again. And this time, the figure didn¡¯t disappear when I looked up at it. Instead, it vaulted right over the cliff face, falling straight downward dozens of paces into the ravine with us, mming into the ground with a metallic <em>thud</em>.


    When the dust settled, I saw who it was.


    ¡°Ripley,¡± I called out at the woman in the royal guard¡¯s te armor. Though she wasn¡¯t technically a royal guard anymore. ¡°What are you here for?¡±


    The moment we saw something approaching, we¡¯d all gotten ready forbat, Ainash with her whip drawn, Erani with her hands out, ready to st off a series of Firebolts, and me readying my slew of curses to cast on our opponent. But Ripley herself didn¡¯t seem like she was looking for a fight. Her axe was on her back, and she stood in a rxed stance. That didn¡¯t quite rx any of us, though.


    ¡°I¡¯m just here to talk,¡± she said.


    ¡°Why¡¯d you run away from us before?¡±


    ¡°Like I said back then, being a prisoner isn¡¯t my thing. But just because I wanted to be released from your custody doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m against you.¡±


    I hesitantly let out my bated breath, and Erani put down her hand. Ainash still held her whip, though.


    ¡°Listen, I¡¯m just here to give you some information. Free of charge.¡±


    ¡°What kind of information?¡±


    ¡°About the Demons. I think they¡¯re nning something.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t you have told us about this n before? You said they wouldn¡¯t be entering Kingdom¡¯s Edge.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯d thought. But I¡¯ve got some new info now.¡±


    ¡°From what source?¡±


    ¡°I had a few Enchanted items the kingdom had given me to keep in contact with them. One of them was called a Communication Crystal. Seems like they¡¯d forgotten to disconnect themselves from mine, since it allowed me to listen in on their conversations for a while. By now they¡¯ve cut me out, but I could hear them talking for long enough to figure out that they¡¯re at least going to try something. I figured that I¡¯d at least give you some notice.¡±


    ¡°Alright. What¡¯d you hear?¡±


    ¡°Well, the kingdom¡¯s Demon contact, he¡¯s this nasty Demon named Xhag¡¯duul¡¯ini-something. Long-ass name. But he¡¯s pretty much the only Demon I¡¯ve ever seen actually making decisions. In fact, I have a feeling that he¡¯s directly in charge of Koinkar. Whatever they did to make the king listen, he reports directly to that Demon.¡±


    ¡°Okay, so what, you heard him saying something?¡±


    ¡°Just the opposite. I heard the voice of <em>another</em> Demon. Her name was something totally different, Quinmorada-something. Dunno. But when she called in and I listened to the conversation, she said that the previous Demon had been ¡®dealt with.¡¯ She¡¯d be running the show now, apparently. No idea why.¡±


    ¡°And what, she¡¯s making changes in how they deal with things?¡±


    ¡°Not sure. But I know she <em>did</em> say she¡¯d be sending in some sort of special agent. Some Demon, seems like. Said they had¡­ What was it? Right, it was something like ¡®we have an underling being disposed of, and have decided to make one final use of him.¡¯¡±


    ¡°I mean, if it¡¯s just one Demon, how bad could it be?¡±


    Ripley shook her head. ¡°Seems like you don¡¯t know what those Demons are capable of. Those Infernals? They¡¯re child¡¯s y. Nothing,pared to what the higher-ups can do. One of ¡®em came in and killed Cami in one hit.¡±


    I blinked, shocked at the sudden revtion. ¡°Cami? The woman who leads the royal guard squad?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Died pretty soon after she let you go. That Xhag¡¯duul Demon that¡¯s being reced, he¡¯s the one that killed her. Just marched right in and hit her, faster than I could see. You¡¯d better hope they don¡¯t use something that¡¯s as powerful as he was.¡±


    I set my jaw. ¡°Yeah, alright. I¡¯ll be on the lookout. Thanks for the information.¡±


    Ripley nodded, and turned to leave. As she did so, Ainash spoke to me. <em>¡°Tell the Human I want to fight her.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What, now? Why?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°She is a bad guy. Want to see if I am better than powerful bad guy.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, she isn¡¯t a bad guy anymore, is she?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Will not be death fight. Just practice fight. To see who is better.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Hm.¡±</em> I supposed a little spar couldn¡¯t hurt at some point. At least, maybe Ainash could learn some restraint if she actually had to fight someone without killing them.<em> ¡°I¡¯ll let her know. But not right now, alright? I don¡¯t want you to be tired only for us to get ambushed by some special, powerful Demon.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Fine,¡±</em> Ainash pouted.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I called out to Ripley.


    She stopped and turned back to look at me.


    ¡°Uh, mypanion, Ainash,¡± I gestured over to her, ¡°wants to spar against you sometime.¡±


    ¡°That thing can talk?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s not a thing.¡± I scowled. ¡°We have our methods ofmunication. Just wanted to let you know, in case you ever wanted to take her up on her offer.¡±


    Ripley grinned. ¡°I dunno, I wouldn¡¯t want to snap her in half.¡±


    Since I was rying the conversation to Ainash, I instantly got something from her when Ripley said that. It wasn¡¯t so much words as it was an intense feeling ofpetitiveness. She wanted to prove Ripley wrong.


    ¡°Yeah, I wouldn¡¯t worry about that. I beat you, didn¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°Hey, our fight was interfered with before I could finish you off. Besides, I wasn¡¯t in my top fighting shape. Wasn¡¯t a fair, one-on-one fight at all.¡±


    ¡°Real life rarely offers you the opportunity to fight fair,¡± I said with a shrug. ¡°Maybe you¡¯ve lived a bit too sanitized a life.¡±


    She just chuckled and shook her head. ¡°Tell your pet that I¡¯ll dly take her on someday. But don¡¯t think I¡¯ll go easy on her.¡±


    ¡°And you don¡¯t think she¡¯ll go easy on you. Honestly, I¡¯d say watch out for your life. She¡¯s known to be a bit careless with those of her enemies.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll have to see.¡±


    And with that, Ripley walked over to the cliff face she jumped down, and, using her likely massively-inted Stats, leapt and climbed up, quickly reaching the top. Just before disappearing over the edge, she shed a wave goodbye.


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, letting out a breath, ¡°apparently the Demons are giving it onest effort. Who knows what they¡¯re actually sending, though.¡±

 Chapter 126: Welcome to Hell. Do You Want to Live?

    Chapter 126: Wee to Hell. Do You Want to Live?


    A Devil sat on a stone in a cold, rocky wastnd.


    It¡¯d been around eight more days since he¡¯d arrived here. In that time, he¡¯d tried his hand at many more creations. Part of him was doing it out of genuine interest, the other part just trying to keep himself busy.


    It was a strange feeling. On one hand, he knew he was going to die soon. The long, long life he¡¯d lived, cut so unexpectedly short. How could that not be a distressing thought? Sure, he¡¯d probably have a while until he actually died, but it was still way sooner than it¡¯d have ever been otherwise. And besides, being up here was a death in and of itself. He couldn¡¯t talk to anyone, affect anyone¡¯s life, do anything of real meaning. He was faced, in short, with his own mortality.


    On the other hand, he was also faced with the one and only time in his life when he actually felt <em>rxed</em>. For the first time, he had nothing he actually had to do. No deadlines, superiors, or Humans. Just himself and his thoughts. Sure, he couldn¡¯t really rx due to the previous thoughts about his own imminent demise, but, if he was being honest with himself, it was at least a more pleasant feeling than the extreme stress he was under when he was still managing that An Nota case.


    Though who knew how those feelings would change as the days continued to pass and he continued to get closer and closer to his death.


    Right now, he was just passing the time, sitting on a rock and staring up at the blue-and-green sphere in the sky. He¡¯d made a couple rock sculptures this ¡°day,¡± though the days up here were more just him counting the time and approximating the twenty-four-hour segments, but he thought he¡¯d take a break. He was running out of ideas on what to make.


    He was also suffering from a bit of ack of motivation. The sculptures had been interesting to make at first, just because of the novelty of the idea, but it was getting somewhat old now.


    Or, no. It wasn¡¯t that making them was getting old. It was more like something was missing. Something core to this whole ¡°making art¡± thing. He couldn¡¯t really express it, truthfully. He had no idea, no reference point. He¡¯d observed the tendency in the Humans of the Overworld, but he didn¡¯t really know why they did it, at their core. Most of them could keep going for months, years, even decades. Why was he getting so sick of it so soon?


    He just had no drive to make another. He enjoyed making them, and enjoyed looking at the finished products even more, but there was just <em>something</em> not there that he felt would push him to keep going. Like some sort of reinforcement, validation. Something to let him know that what he was doing was worthwhile. But he had no idea how to get that. What was different between the Humans and him?


    Before he could think on this problem for too long, he heard a sound. It was a strange sound. Really, any sound was a strange sound, out here. There was nothing alive, nothing that could move, other than him. And so there was nothing that could really make noises other than him. And it wasn¡¯t just a normal sound, like a falling rock, it was more like¡­


    ¡°Xhag. Are you dead, or something?¡±


    A voice.


    He sat up from his previous position of lying on his back and turned around, finding himself facing a person. A Demon. His superior. She was standing right in front of him, with a portal behind her. A portal back to the Underworld.


    It was shock alone that kept him from bolting for the portal back to the Underworld, in that moment. Instead, he just sat there, staring with wide eyes.


    ¡°...Are you there? Have you gone insane already?¡± His superior stared at him curiously, bending over and squinting as if to get a closer look at his shattered expression.


    ¡°N¨Cno,¡± he eventually got out.


    ¡°Hm. Well at least you understandnguage.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯vee to talk to you.¡±


    ¡°Are, are you taking me back?¡± He asked, his mind only now beginning to catch up with what was going on.


    ¡°Depends on how useful you are.¡±


    He just looked at her. Or, really, looked through her at the portal. He¡¯d had enough time to ovee his shock to understand that the portal was the gateway through which his normal lifey, but he also had enough sense to understand that he couldn¡¯t just walk through. His superior would stop him, not to mention the guards that would no doubt throw him back out here the moment he stepped through. No, the only way for him to make it back to his life was if his superior allowed him to.


    She shook her head. ¡°Have you been out here for longer than I thought? Did I miscount the days? Respond to me, underling.¡±


    ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry,¡± the Devil said.


    ¡°Again with that ridiculous Overworld speak!¡± she growled. ¡°Talk like a Demon, or I¡¯m leaving you here to die.¡±


    ¡°R-right,¡± he shrunk back. ¡°Expression of apology. F-formal expression of apology. What can I do to be useful?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be honest, Xhag, I didn¡¯t ever really intend to kill you.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Really?! Then I¡¯ming back?¡±


    ¡°Hm. It¡¯s more that I just wanted to show you that I could. Or, it¡¯s that I wanted to show you what our methods were. What you¡¯d go through. Sitting out here, totally useless. In the Underworld, you were a drain on society, out here, you¡¯re a drain on yourself. It¡¯s poetic, isn¡¯t it? Your body needs heat, it needs air to keep itself alive. It doesn¡¯t get that out here. Now, you¡¯re a powerful Demon, so you¡¯ll be able to survive for a while, but you¡¯ll eventually sumb to the cold. And the reason you will is that your body just refuses to stop consuming the resources it doesn¡¯t have ess to anymore. It¡¯s a perfect portrayal of what a useless Demon does to the Seventh Circle. It drains, and drains, and drains, and keeps taking our resources, until it kills us. That¡¯s why I¡¯m hard on you, Xhag.¡±


    The Devil nodded.


    ¡°Do you understand that?¡±


    He nodded again.


    ¡°Say it.¡±


    ¡°I understand, superior.¡±


    ¡°No, no.¡± She stared at him. ¡°Say the whole thing.¡±


    ¡°I-I¡¯m a drain on the Seventh Circle.¡±


    ¡°Yes. You were. But I think I¡¯ve found a way for you to be useful to us again. Isn¡¯t that exciting?¡± She spoke with no excitement in her own voice. Every word was cold and calcted, like she was speaking from a script. Not that the Devil could recognize this at the time, with his mind so fried at the concept that he was finally seeing and speaking with another person.


    ¡°I-it is. What can I do toe back home?¡±


    ¡°I really think you need to understand that we did this to help <em>you</em>, Xhag. The demotions, the death threats, they were all to make you a better worker. Someone who can better do his job. You were really underperforming back there, Xhag. You understand that, don¡¯t you?¡±


    He hesitantly nodded once again. ¡°C-can we talk back in our home? Can we go through the portal, and then we can¡ª¡±


    ¡°Do you know where we are?¡±


    The Devil blinked. ¡°No, Superior. I don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your best guess?¡±


    He paused to think for a moment. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know for sure. But I think it has to be somewhere close to the Overworld. That, over there, that¡¯s the sun, I think. At least, in the Overworld, I saw something that people called the sun that looked just like that. But other than that, I¡¯m not really sure.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°I¡¯m trusting you with a lot of information by telling you this, Xhag. Do you understand that?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Superior.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m trusting you with this as an apology for hurting you like I did before. You deserved it when I went hard on you, but I think you ought to be rpensed a bit for the pain you went through. Because you¡¯ve been so respectful, and I know you¡¯ll continue to be respectful in the future. And I know you¡¯ll follow orders in the future. That¡¯s why I¡¯m trusting you.¡±


    The Devil nodded shakily. She was saying something nice. So why did that sound like a threat? ¡°Yes, Superior.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re still in the Underworld, right now.¡±


    He blinked. ¡°We are? Then why can I see the Overworld¡¯s sun? Is it just that the Underworld has one that¡¯s simr?¡±


    ¡°No. That¡¯s still the same sun in the Overworld. Tell me, Xhag. If you know about the sun, then surely you also know about the moon?¡±


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s another thing in the Overworld¡¯s sky.¡±


    ¡°That is where we are, right now.¡±


    The Devil blinked once again. This time, though, the silence stretched out for much longer. Eventually, he spoke. ¡°We¡­we¡¯re on the moon? The Underworld is the moon?¡±


    ¡°That is what the Overworlders call it, yes.¡±


    ¡°Do they know?¡±


    ¡°No, not for the most part. I¡¯m sure some have figured it out, but it¡¯s notmon knowledge. Not among the Humans, at least.¡±


    ¡°Then how¡­ Why¡­¡±


    ¡°Do you know what that is?¡± The Devil¡¯s superior pointed upward, up at the brilliant blue-and-green sphere that still moved steadily through the sky. His breath caught every time he looked up at the beauty, and this time was no exception.


    But then he began to think about what had just been revealed to the Devil. While on the Overworld, he could see the Underworld¡ªthe moon¡ªand the sun. And now, on the Underworld, he could still see the sun, but not¡­ ¡°That¡¯s the Overworld?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s eyes widened. He lost control of his breathing. That was the <em>Overworld?!</em> How could it have been? Why was it so¡­ Why did it look so¡­


    But his superior continued on, apparently unconcerned with this world-shaking revtion. ¡°Where we are¡ªthe surface of the Underworld¡ªis where the First Circle used to reside. As you can see now, they¡¯ve been all but wiped out. Forced to migrate underneath the surface. Or, at least, what was left of them.¡±


    ¡°W-why?¡± The Devil still shook, trying to distract himself from his previous thoughts.


    ¡°Well, they did just fine up here for some time. But then, the Overworld¡ªthe Humans¡ªfigured something out. They figured out that they could summon Demons. Something to do with their sses. I don¡¯t remember what they called it, but one of those sses, if they picked their choices correctly or whatever, they got a Spell that could steal us away from our homes. Teleport us straight to the Overworld under control of the caster.¡±


    The Devil had heard of as much. At least, he¡¯d heard that, at some point in time, the Humans had been able to summon Demons. But then the Demons had developed countermeasures against that. That was the extent of most of the talking done about the Overworld, for the vast majority of the Devil¡¯s life.


    ¡°That was what forced the First Circle underground, with the rest of us. The Spell the Humans have, it only works if they have direct line of sight, see? So as long as we¡¯re all underneath the surface¡ªor if the Underworld has turned around, so we¡¯re on the other side, away from the Overworlders¡ªthey can¡¯t get to us. And then, once we protected ourselves for long enough, the Humans just stopped trying. They couldn¡¯t take our people anymore, so they didn¡¯t choose the Spell anymore. Now it¡¯s more or less safe for us to be up here.¡±


    The Devil frowned. There was just so much, all at once. ¡°How is this possible?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Any of it. H-how is time different for us when we¡¯re in the Underworld? If I can see the Overworld with my own two eyes¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh, that was another countermeasure made against the Humans. We needed more time, our people were getting taken so quickly to be the ves of the Humans.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Disgusting. Anyway, the Demons pleaded for the God Lunae to save us, and it did that.¡±


    The Devil reeled back at the mention of the dead God. ¡°Lunae? How did¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything, Xhag. All I need is for you to do me a favor.¡±


    ¡°W-why?! Why are you telling me all of this? And how do you know? Doesn¡¯t this break protocol?¡±


    ¡°No, it goes exactly ording to protocol. After all, I¡¯m just onboarding a newly-promoted Demon.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s voice caught in his throat. ¡°D-does this mean¡ª¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not promoted yet. But I¡¯ll restore your ranks and give you even more if you just do us a favor.¡±


    ¡°What? What¡¯s the favor? What do you need?¡±


    The Devil¡¯s superior crouched down, lowering her eyes to be parallel with the Devil¡¯s. She got close, and spoke with a low, sinister voice. ¡°I want you to kill An Nota.¡±


    His enthusiasm instantly deted.


    He couldn¡¯t. Not with the resources he¡¯d been provided. Not with the time ticking away. It was just impossible. Going back to that old life? Stress, worry, overwork? He couldn¡¯t go back.


    His superior seemed to sense his mood. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. He¡¯s not in that empire yet. He isn¡¯t safe. It may have been over a week for us, but for them, they¡¯re still in that mountain range. You have one more chance at this. If you don¡¯t seed, you¡¯re worthless. But if you do, you¡¯ll have everything. Don¡¯t you want everything?¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± the Devil couldn¡¯t get it out. ¡°I want to, but¡­with what I have, with my resources¡­¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t finished,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to give you an army. I don¡¯t want to give you soldiers. I want to give you one single person.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°W-what? Who?¡±


    ¡°A Projector Demon.¡±


    ¡°But who¡¯s the fighter it will be projecting? Who will actually y him?!¡±


    ¡°Xhag. Listen to me.¡± She reached out a hand, cupping her wed fingers around the Devil¡¯s chin. ¡°I want you to kill An Nota.¡±


    He fell silent, realizing now what she was asking him to do. Fall as low as amon footsoldier. But, how could he get even lower than he¡¯d been? And if that was what he had to do to get his old life back¡­


    ¡°Do you ept my offer, Xhag?¡±

 Chapter 127: The Arrival

    Chapter 127: The Arrival


    Erani, Ainash, and I all continued to move through the mountains of Kingdom¡¯s Edge. It was the morning after Ripley hade and given us a warning. Apparently the Demons were nning on sending something after us. But we had no idea what it¡¯d be, or when it¡¯d be sent. We just needed to be on-guard, it seemed. Not that that was any sort of change from our normal life.


    So we continued to move through the valley. Maybe we could get to the empire before whatever elite Demon that was hunting us arrived. Then the Barinruth Empire¡¯s soldiers could help us take it out, ideally with no casualties.


    Since I hadn¡¯t used Time Loop at all the previous day, that night I waited until just before midnight to ensure I wouldn¡¯t regret using the Talent up, and then used it to re-do killing the same Shadow Panther for the XP. A single Panther didn¡¯t give too much on its own, but tripling that number definitely made it pretty significant, bringing me from 953 to 1.53k XP, out of the required 2.2k.


    Also, over the course ofst night and this morning, Noxious Grasp¡¯s XP had risen quite a bit, from 256 to 1369. Not enough for a Rank-up, but I was getting there. Currently, it was a couple hours before noon, so we were fully in our stride, traveling through the mountains and making steady progress. The cliff faces around us had shrunk back down to actually scaleable sizes, at this point, but we had no actual reason to move off the path, so we just continued as usual.


    One thing that <em>had</em> happened was we saw a Dragon in the distance. Not very close to us, but it was enough to put us on edge. Out in the mountains, we¡¯d just seen it fly from one peak to the other. I doubted it would actually spot us, and doubted even more that it¡¯d care if it did, but it was still a monster that could kill us all in an instant if it wanted to. We needed to take heed of that.


    So, especially considering there was also apparently some special Demoning up to the Overworld, I went ahead and switched my Ethereal Armor from Light te to Dark te. It¡¯d make my training much less efficient¡ªand my Spells cost way more in a fight¡ªbut inbat against a Dragon, I wasn¡¯t too concerned about my Mana-to-damage ratio, but rather with just surviving its attacks.


    Erani looked over to me, seemingly about to say something, but she jumped in surprise when she saw me, interrupting herself. She shook her head. ¡°Gods, I can¡¯t get used to that armor.¡±


    ¡°What, the Dark te?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I guess I¡¯m just so used to the Light variation, every time I see you I think you¡¯re a monster. It doesn¡¯t help that this form blocks me from seeing your face, unlike the other.¡±


    ¡°Ah, right.¡± There <em>were</em> quite a few differences between the two types of armor, most noticeably the fact that Dark te was much thicker, showed much less skin, and also sucked in all light around it, opposite to Light te¡¯s light-emitting behavior. ¡°Well, hopefully you¡¯ll get used to it soon, I guess. Wouldn¡¯t want to randomly catch a Firebolt to the chest.¡±


    ¡°That probably won¡¯t happen. But I doubt I¡¯ll ever get used to seeing you in it. You just look so¡­ evil<em>.¡±</em>


    I looked over my body. The armor certainly didn¡¯t look <em>friendly, </em>that was for sure. The dark, heavy te was constantly cloaked in shade, and its thick metal made me seem measurablyrger than I actually was. And, like Erani said, the fact that it covered my face in a shadowy, slotted b of steel certainly didn¡¯t help.


    ¡°...No offense, of course,¡± Erani said after I didn¡¯t respond for a moment.


    Iughed. ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. I kind of get what you mean. You think it¡¯ll cause any problems once we get to the Barinruth Empire?¡±


    ¡°Hopefully not.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Though, if I ever wear it while fighting a monster and some random adventurers see me, I might end up getting attacked by them or something.¡±


    ¡°Well ideally the te will keep you from dying in that event,¡± sheughed. ¡°Besides, you¡¯ll have me there to protect you, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I smiled. ¡°I guess you¡¯re right.¡±


    A couple more hours passed, and my practice with Noxious Grasp paid off once more.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 1.49k.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 15.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 15, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 5.19 to 5.32


    Health Drain: From 19.8 to 20.8


    Stamina Drain: From 9.91 to 10.4


    It¡¯d only been around four hours since we¡¯d woken up by now, so I was d to have made some progress so early in the day. I was officially past double effectiveness with Noxious Grasp! Well, double the numerical effectiveness¡ªI also had the Venomous Grasp Upgrade, which was arguably more valuable than the entire damagingponent of the Spell, at this point.


    But I could see Noxious Grasp going back to bing my main damage-dealing Spell if I could raise the Health Drainponent high enough. It was at 20 per second for now, but since the damage increased exponentially, it¡¯d get to 30 in half as many Ranks, and 40 woulde even sooner.


    Then again, the XP costs also piled on themselves, so it¡¯d definitely take some time to get there regardless. The next Rank said it¡¯d take 1.92k Spell XP¡ªalmost 500 more than the previous Rank cost. But hey, give me some time and I¡¯d be able to do it


    The Dragon hadn¡¯t given us any trouble yet, but we still saw it asionally flying across the nearby mountains. Seemed like it hadn¡¯t seen us yet¡ªand ideally, it never would. We still had a couple Shadow Panther attacks, but it was nothing we couldn¡¯t easily handle.


    As we walked, I nced behind myself and saw something strange. The path we were headed down was rtively straight for this stretch, and the hills lining the path were lower in this section. So, when I looked back, I could see pretty far away. And in the distance, just barely crossing the horizon, there was a cloud of dust.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I tapped Erani on the shoulder, pointing at the kicked up dirt floating through the air. ¡°Do you see that?¡±


    She furrowed her brows. ¡°...Huh. Yeah. What¡¯s that in the middle?¡±


    I squinted and looked more closely. She was right. In the center of the dust cloud, still a few hundred paces away, was¡­ ¡°A person?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s making the dust? Are they running toward us?¡± Erani¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Oh, gods, they¡¯re moving fast. Way too fast. I think they¡¯re hostile.¡±


    I nodded. If someone was out here at all, chances were that they were here to kill us. And considering we knew some sort of special Demon was on its way out here¡­


    ¡°Lets go,¡± I said, grabbing Erani and Ainash by the arms and activating Expedite several times on all of us. It drained my Mana considerably, but we needed to move.


    With the stacks of Dexterity buffs on us all, we sprinted down the path. The asional Shadow Panther leapt out at us, but a Firebolt from Erani or Crippling Chill from me was enough to deter them into not pursuing. For now, we had more pressing concerns than battling it out against invisible cats.


    ncing back as we ran, I could see that the figure was still fast-approaching. With Expedite, we were certainly faster, but clearly not fast enough.


    <em>¡°Should stand ground and fight,¡±</em> Aniash said as we ran. <em>¡°Outnumber bad guy. Could kill easily.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°We don¡¯t know how strong it is,¡± </em>I responded. <em>¡°It might be way more powerful than us. Like the Dragon was.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Still too close. It is faster. Will catch us eventually. Do not have enough time to run.¡±</em>


    I frowned. She made good points, despite how much I¡¯d rather favor caution here. If we ran, we¡¯d just tire ourselves out before fighting. Whatever this thing was that was creating the dust cloud, it clearly wouldn¡¯t just give up and go back to where it came from.


    ¡°An, I think Ainash is right. We should just stop and fight on our own terms.¡±


    After a moment, I nodded. We still had several safetys, so fighting here wouldn¡¯t be too risky of a maneuver. If we lost the fight and I had to go back with Time Loop, we¡¯d just know better next time and could figure something out with better knowledge of its abilities. It was like back when Astintash had crushed us, the longer I could fight against it, even if I was destined to die, the more information I¡¯d have for next time.


    ¡°Fine,¡± I said.


    We all stopped running and turned to face the quick-approaching entity. Erani took a few steps back, so she had Firebolt at the ready behind the two front-liners¡ªme and Ainash. I prepared my myriad of debuffing Spells to hopefully keep our enemy at a manageable speed, and Ainash¡¯s whip lit ame. Whoever this person was, they were about to catch a massive amount of damage aimed straight at them the moment they stepped within a few dozen paces of us.


    And speaking of the person approaching us, I could tell that they were obviously pretty Human-looking. At the very least, it wasn¡¯t one of those massive, hulking Infernals. It didn¡¯t seem like it was an actual Human either, though. The proportions were just slightly off enough that the silhouette gave that away. But due to the thick dust, the silhouette was all I could see for now.


    And as the person approached more and more, that silhouette got closer and closer, and I got more and more prepared for a fight. Two hundred paces. A hundred and fifty. One hundred. Seventy-five. Fifty. And¡­


    ¡°Go!¡± I shouted and activated as many effects as I could in such a short timeframe. It was difficult to switch between so many Spells so quickly, but I¡¯d been mentally preparing to do so beforehand, so I was able to fire them all off in quick session.


    Crippling Chill. Gravity Well. Ray of Frost. All three hit at once, alongside the explosion of a Firebolt and several inhumanly-fastshes of Ainash¡¯s ming whip.


    The st from the Firebolt flung the dust away, finally allowing us to see who was hunting us down.


    It was¡­someone I didn¡¯t recognize. Obviously a Demon, with the deep red skin and glowing blue veins, but I wasn¡¯t familiar enough with the different species of Demons to be able to immediately identify it.


    But one thing stood out to me. Despite the debuffs, explosions, and ming thorns that struck its skin, it looked¡­rtively unfazed. It stopped, and was standing there pretty calmly. Examining me. No, not really examining, more like¡­finding the small details. The way someone might look at a celebrity that they¡¯d heard a lot about, and maybe seen some drawn depictions of, but had never actually seen in person. Well, it was like that, but minus any of the admiration.


    But it just <em>stood</em> there. Like it hadn¡¯t just sprinted what was probably several thousand paces to get to us. It could easily close the distance and start fighting, but it just <em>didn¡¯t</em>.


    I hesitated for a moment, both out of curiosity and out of fear. But then I came to my senses and raised my hand again to start shooting a barrage of Rays of Frost. Whatever had caused it, I¡¯d take advantage of this moment of vulnerability in my enemy.


    But then the Demon opened its mouth, and began to speak. And that caused me to hesitate for a moment longer.


    ¡°Hm,¡± it said in a smooth voice. One that I¡¯d almost say would be charismatic and suave, in other circumstances. ¡°Seems like you haven¡¯t yet seen me in any other timelines.¡±


    I blinked and instinctively took a step back. How did it know? Did it have some sort of power to see through Time Loop?


    ¡°Thought I¡¯d do some introductions before this whole thing. Well, you don¡¯t need to introduce yourselves, I know who you all are. An Nota, Erani Wos,¡± it pointed at each of us, ending on Ainash, ¡°and, y¡¯know, I don¡¯t actually know your name. They just call you ¡®the Dryad,¡¯ normally. Well, my reconnaissance is pretty old, at this point. And it seems like you¡¯ve undergone a pretty significant change recently, so maybe they call you something else by now.¡±


    I was still standingpletely in shock of what was going on. Why was this Demon standing here talking to us, as though we hadn¡¯t just attacked it with everything we had? Erani was obviously also taken aback by its words, too.


    I hesitantly opened my mouth. ¡°...Are you hostile? Are you just, like, a messenger, or something?¡±


    ¡°Hm. A messenger. Yeah, I suppose you could say I¡¯m a messenger.¡±


    I breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Oh, okay. What¡¯s your message?¡±


    It lifted its hands and tucked them into fists, finally leaving thepletely casual pose it¡¯d been in this whole time. ¡°The message is, ¡®I¡¯m here to kill you all.¡¯¡±

 Chapter 128: The Killing Spree

    Chapter 128: The Killing Spree


    ¡°The message is,¡± the Demon said, hands lifted into fists, ¡°¡®I¡¯m here to kill you all.¡¯¡±


    For a moment, I stood frozen, shocked at the sudden deration of intent. But Ainash clearly wasn¡¯t deterred. In an instant, she lunged toward it, whip twirling around her in a whirlwind of mes.


    The Demon sneered and leaned back, dodging one strike, lifted its arm, parrying the second, and then at the third, it reached out and grabbed the whip out of the air. It all happened so quickly I could barely follow. Then it yanked the whip toward him, and Ainash was pulled toward his grasp.


    I immediately broke from my stupor, shooting off a couple Rays of Frost and running forward to Ainash¡¯s rescue. However, only one of the Rays hit, and it didn¡¯t seem to do much to deter the Demon. But my mind <em>was</em> drawn toward one specific element of the damage notification I got.


    You have struck Level 61 Devil for 58 damage using Ray of Frost.


    <em>Level 61</em><em>Devil.</em>


    Fuck.


    I had no time to ruminate on that number, though. Ainash was moving quickly toward the Demon, and I had a feeling she wouldn¡¯t do well against this thing in hand-to-handbat. But just then, a Firebolt from behind impacted the side of the Demon¡¯s head, blowing up right against it. I slowed down, relieved.


    And then the smoke cleared, and I could see again. The Demon was still standing perfectly still, and Ainash¡¯s head was in its hand. She screamed aloud as I saw its fingers flex, squeezing her face with incredible pressure.


    <em>Crack</em>. Was that¡­was that her skull, fracturing under the pressure?


    ¡°No!¡± I yelled and continued my charge.


    The Demon nced over at me, looking slightly annoyed, and held her wincing head to face me. I could see her give me a pleading look.


    ¡°Stop,¡± it said in a calm voice. ¡°Or the thing dies. One squeeze, a simple movement of the fingers, and it¡¯s over for her.¡±


    Reluctantly, I slowed to a stop just a few paces away from it. From behind me, I could hear that Erani, who had apparently been running at it too, also stopped moving. I didn¡¯t dare take my eyes off of our enemy to look back at her, though.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± I asked, trying to keep panic out of my voice.


    It shrugged. ¡°Not really sure, to be honest. Man, y¡¯know, when they said they could only get me a ten percent Projection, I was a bit worried. I mean, I got that it was short notice, but was I really going to be able to beat the people who had evaded our forces for so long? At ten percent power?¡±


    I just looked at it. What was it even talking about?


    ¡°And really, they didn¡¯t have to rub it in. Seriously, telling me that, even if a better Projection was avable, they wouldn¡¯t allow me to use it? Fucking assholes. ¡®Xhag isn¡¯t authorized for a forty percent projection, he isn¡¯t mentally stable enough.¡¯ Fuck off.¡±


    He? I didn¡¯t even know Demons <em>had</em> genders.


    ¡°But now, I¡¯m not too worried. I mean, sure, you¡¯ve still got your little time travel powers. One look at your face when you saw me for the first time told me you hadn¡¯t seen me before, that was obvious. So you¡¯ve probably got one more timeline you can flee to, or something.¡± He looked at me and seemed to sense the fear from my eyes, looking through the gaps in my helmet. ¡°Yes, we <em>do</em> know about your time travel. I mean, we don¡¯t have <em>perfect</em> knowledge of what that little ss of yours can do, but we aren¡¯t those dumbass Humans with the Koinkar kingdom. They don¡¯t know shit. You can tell them fucking <em>anything</em> and they¡¯ll eat it up. You know we told them you eat the souls of your victims?¡± Heughed. ¡°Can¡¯t believe they bought that.¡±


    I stood, still tense despite the Demon¡¯s rxed tone. Or, rather, <em>because</em> of his rxed tone. How could someone act like they¡¯re just making conversation while literally holding a child hostage? ¡°Why are you telling me all of this?¡±


    He shook his head and rolled his eyes, looking genuinely irritated at my question. ¡°Y¡¯know, I haven¡¯t been able to talk to anyone for weeks. Fucking <em>weeks</em>. Much less anyone who¡¯s actually good at conversation. Fucking bureaucratic Demons. And now, I finally get to talk to someone who¡¯ll actually listen, and you ask me <em>why </em>I¡¯m talking to you? Because I want to, jackass. Fuck, I didn¡¯t realize how irritating you were going to be. This is going to be <em>so</em> fun.¡±


    ¡°What is? Why are you holding her hostage?¡±


    ¡°Why? Well, mainly, I just wanted to be sure I saw your eyes.¡±


    I blinked, feeling him peer into me. ¡°W-what? Why?¡±


    ¡°Eyes are the center of Human emotion, right? If I see your eyes, I can see how you feel?¡±


    I looked at the Demon, still panicked, but now confused as well. ¡°Uh, yes? I guess? P-please, if you want to know more about Humans, just let her go and we can¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, no, you¡¯re mistaken.¡± He squeezed Ainash¡¯s skull even harder and I could feel her pleas for me to save her flood into my mind. ¡°I just wanted to make sure I had it right. I wouldn¡¯t want to miss your expression. Even if you <em>do</em> reset all of this, it honestly just seems so cathartic to see.¡±


    ¡°My expression? For what? What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°I want to see your expression when I do this.¡±


    And then Ainash¡¯s head imploded. Just like the Demon had said, a simple flex of the fingers, and he crushed her skull in on itself. I instinctively leaned back as a few droplets of sap-like blood were flung onto my face.


    I refused to look down at it. At the corpse. I refused. I refused. I refused. Shaking, I kept my eyes trained straight on the Demon. I heard Erani scream behind me. But I refused to look. I refused to think about it. She wasn¡¯t dead. Not really. I could go back. I could. I could go back and she¡¯d be okay. But rationalizing that thought did nothing to quell the fear of knowing this Demon could do that. Of seeing the gory sight, even if it was just out of the corner of my eye. The flecks of bone that now scattered the ground beneath us.


    But I didn¡¯t look. I could not look. I had to stare straight ahead at our enemy. My hand shook. My entire body shook.


    And while all of this was happening, the Demon wasughing. Cackling. Doubled over, arms wrapped around his stomach, out of breath. Heughed, andughed, andughed. He looked back up at my face with a wild smile, and onlyughed even harder.


    ¡°You¡­¡± I could barely get words out of my mouth, much less think coherent thoughts. I could barely understand what¡¯d just happened. He just¡­killed her. Like that. In an instant.


    ¡°The look on your face!¡± the Demon yelled through itsughter. ¡°I was totally right! It¡¯s all in the eyes!¡±


    Unconsciously, I took a step forward. Then another, and another. I walked right up to the giggling Demon. ¡°I¡¯m going to fucking kill¡ª¡±


    Suddenly a hand was wrapped tightly around my throat.


    You have been constricted. 81 damage.


    Your Health is 379.


    I couldn¡¯t get air to my lungs. The Devil, in an instant, had stood straight up and reached out, strangling me and lifting me off of the ground. His face waspletely serious.


    ¡°No,¡± he said, ¡°you won¡¯t.¡±


    And then I was flying through the air, apparently having been flung away. And then I mmed into a stone wall, harder than I thought was physically possible. The entire surface I struck shook, like a localized earthquake.


    You have been mmed against something. 1.6k damage.


    Dark te has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 230.


    Your Health is 149.


    I felt myself fall t on the ground, out of a physical indent my body had made in the rock from the extreme impact. I could barely move from the pain and surprise of it all. The Demon, that fast, it¡¯dpletely disabled me and then thrown me so hard it dealt enough damage to kill me several times over. The only reason I was alive was because of Dark te.


    I slowly raised my head, up to where the Demon had been standing. But it wasn¡¯t standing there anymore. My eyes widened. Where was it? Was it behind me? Was it about to kill me?!


    But then a sickening impact came from the right. I looked over and saw Erani¡¯s corpse a dozen paces away. There was a hole the size of a fist in her stomach. She crumpled to the ground, with the Demon standing above her. Now both of mypanions were dead, and I should have been already.


    Blood covered the entire battlefield. Between the mutted corpses of Ainash and Erani, and also my own injuries from the force of hitting the wall so hard, it¡¯d all mixed together and painted the rocks.


    The Demon walked toward me. He was also painted by blood. But honestly, I could barely tell what was from his victims, and what was just the natural pigment of his skin. The red of the blood on his hand¡ªthe same one that¡¯d killed Ainash and now Erani¡ªblended into the already blood-colored hue of his fist.


    ¡°Wh¡­¡± I muttered, trying to keep my eyes open, ¡°what is¡­ what¡¯s¡­¡±


    He bent down and threw the helmet of Dark te from my head, peering down at my face and drinking in everyst detail. It felt like he was trying to soak in the look of my face at this moment.


    ¡°Y¡¯know,¡± it said, ¡°I think I was right about the eyes being important to see, but honestly, I really think you just have to see the whole face to be able to appreciate it all.¡±


    ¡°W-what are you talking about?¡± I coughed. ¡°See what?¡±


    ¡°The pain.¡± Its expression quickly turned to anger. Fury. ¡°The emotional torment. The fear of being in a situation so fucking awful, so inescapable, of seeing someone with absolutely infinite power over you. Of seeing someone like that use that overwhelming power <em>just to see you suffer</em>. To punish you. For something you barely even had anything to do with. For something that isn¡¯t even your fucking fault! You did <em>nothing</em> wrong. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And now you¡¯re going to die. To lose everything you cared about. And for what?! Because someone else made a mistake?! Because someone else decided they wanted you dead?! Because someone else decided that they wanted to use their power to hurt <em>you</em> today?! I want to see you realize how fucking unfair it is! To see you realize that you could never win, in their eyes! You had no chance, from the start. Nothing. There was nothing you could have done to prevent them from killing you. Nothing you could have done to appease them. Their ravenous<em> fucking</em> appetite for power over someone else. Every single day you lived, you lived so you could die right now. And not a single choice you could have made would¡¯ve changed this oue. They would have always killed you. One way or another.¡±


    I stared at the Demon. Its face showed an indescribable expression of rage. Honestly, I felt a bit of whish from the constant, quick changes in his mood, back and forth between calm, hysteria, and now anger. But his fury didn¡¯t seem to be aimed at me. Not really. He looked straight through me, like he was ranting to himself and I was just the audience. He seemedpletely deranged.


    ¡°Who¡­ are you?¡± I got out.


    He blinked, his eyes refocusing on me now. ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± He paused, as if thinking for a moment. Then he started speaking again. ¡°My name is Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep. That is my full, unneutered, unrestrained name. It <em>is</em> my name.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°I¡­¡±


    ¡°But you don¡¯t need to know that. My name? You Humans would never get it. You don¡¯t understand what it means. I know you won¡¯t remember it, anyway. Just call me¡­ Xhag¡¯duul. That¡¯s around how short your Human names normally are, right?¡±


    I took a breath. Just keep him talking. ¡°Okay, Xhag¡¯duul. Can I ask you something?¡±


    He pursed his lips. ¡°Actually, no, you can¡¯t. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything you need to ask me. There isn¡¯t anything you need to know. All you need to know is that I¡¯m going to be the one to kill you.¡±


    I coughed in pain. He was still unbearably close, hot breath on my face as he leaned down over my body on the ground. But I smiled regardless, croaking out somest words. ¡°Y¡¯know¡­ a lot of people have killed me before. You won¡¯t be the first. However, I suspect you also won¡¯t be thest. I don¡¯t stay dead that easily.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± it grinned in what seemed to be a mixture of frustration and satisfaction. ¡°I know. I know all too well how hard it is to kill you. But trust me. I <em>will</em> be the one to kill you.¡±


    ¡°Would you at least mind telling me why?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind, but I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll like the answer.¡±


    ¡°Try me.¡±


    ¡°Answer¡¯s simple, actually. I want something. And if you die, I get it. I get it all back. I don¡¯t really give a shit who you are, or what you¡¯ve done, what you say, or what you want. You could be anyone. Any background, any personality. Thief, king, murderer, phnthropist, beggar, doctor, sinner, saint. It¡¯s all irrelevant. You just need to die if I want to be happy. I don¡¯t make the rules. I don¡¯t give the orders.¡± He took a breath. At this point, whatever rage he¡¯d been feeling before seemed to have petered out. Now, he looked more somber than anything. ¡°Really, I have no reason to want to kill you. Other people do, but not me. Not personally. I¡¯ll take joy in your death, because you¡¯ve caused me so much pain. But you didn¡¯t mean to, and you didn¡¯t do it on your own. It¡¯s more that other people cause me pain because you exist. So I want to tell you, in the most sincere, genuine way that I possibly can, one that I don¡¯t think any other Demon could ever say¡ªI¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry that I have to do this to you. I wish we could part ways amicably. But I want something, so you have to die. It¡¯s that simple. So, I guess if I had to put it in a phrase¡ª¡±


    The Demon, Xhag¡¯duul, gripped his hand around my head. His fingers covered my face. And, as he leaned forward, eyes peering down through the gaps in his fingers to look straight into me, he smiled and shook his head.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing personal.¡±


    You have been crushed. 1.2k damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have died.

 Chapter 129: The Frantic Retreat

    Chapter 129: The Frantic Retreat


    And then I was back, five hours beforehand, asleep. Of course, I instantly jolted awake, hands instinctively going to my face to make sure it was all intact. Yes, yes, all there. Then I opened my eyes, heart pounding from the sudden wake-up.


    <em>¡°Father, what is it?¡±</em>


    I looked over to see Ainash, who was currently taking her turn for watch, looking over at me.


    <em>¡°Did you have bad dream? It okay, I normally have those too.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No, no,¡±</em> I said, <em>¡°there¡¯s somethinging. A dangerous Demon. He¡¯s going to kill us if he catches us. Come on, let¡¯s wake up mother.¡±</em>


    I leaned over to shake Erani awake¡ªit was still a bit dark, but the sun was close to rising, so I could see fine. By this point, it was around seven in the morning. That Demon, Xhag¡¯duul, had attacked around noon. Was he already on his way over to us? Sprinting through the canyon at superhuman speeds?


    Erani groaned as I shook her as gently as I could, despite my desire to urgently get going. She opened her eyes and squinted up at me. ¡°What is it, did I sleep too long?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a Demon on his way to kill us. We¡¯ve got five hours until he gets here.¡±


    She raised her eyebrows. ¡°Five hours? Alright. Give me a second to wake up. Are we going to, uh, prepare an ambush, or something?¡±


    ¡°No, I doubt that¡¯d work. He¡¯s¡­¡± I sighed and shook my head, remembering what¡¯d happenedst time. He killed us all in a single hit. Me in two, but only because of Dark te. Ainash, Erani¡­If they ever got close to that damned thing, he¡¯d kill them instantly. It was impossible to fight and survive, even if I technically had a safety. ¡°It¡¯s not possible for us to beat him. We need to run.¡±


    Erani sat up, stretching and getting ready to travel. ¡°So should we hide, then?¡±


    <em>¡°Could find another Dragon to help,¡±</em> Ainash suggested.


    ¡°We could¡­¡± I muttered, trying to slow my mind down to think. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if hiding would even work, honestly. With his absurd power, I¡¯d be surprised if he didn¡¯t have some way to find us instantly. As for finding a Dragon, I don¡¯t know about that, either. I mean, we really don¡¯t have the time or resources to do that right now, and we also have no bargaining power with one, this time. We were really only able to get Astintash¡¯s help because the Demons were actively invading its home. One single Demon,ing in for an assassination and leaving immediately? What reason do they have to help us then?¡±


    ¡°So then, what do we do?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to rule out hiding just yet. But we have quite a bit of time before he arrives. So I say we use that to run.¡±


    ¡°Just run away?¡±


    ¡°Not just away, but toward the Empire. We¡¯re close by now. Probably only a bit over a full day¡¯s travel, I¡¯d bet. If we use Expedite to keep our speed up, I think we may be able to get there within a few hours. And I¡¯d be surprised if they didn¡¯t have some powerful guards stationed near Kingdom¡¯s Edge to make sure nothing came through to attack them, right? Maybe we could use their help and defeat the Demon.¡±


    <em>¡°I not think that will work,¡±</em> Ainash said. <em>¡°What if Humans betray us? What if Demon tells lies, tells them we are the bad guys?¡±</em>


    ¡°Humans trust other Humans, much more than Demons,¡± I said. ¡°As long as we get there first, and we have some time to exin ourselves, I¡¯d be willing to bet they¡¯ll help. And hopefully, a whole squad of ssers strong enough to kill Drakes, or even Dragons, will be enough to take the thing down.¡±


    ¡°And if we don¡¯t get there in time?¡±


    ¡°Then we change our n and hide. If it seems like we won¡¯t be fast enough, we just turn and run up into the mountains, and hope he can¡¯t find us in there.¡±


    Erani sighed and looked down, thinking for a moment. After a few seconds, she looked up and said, ¡°Yeah, that seems like our best bet. You ready to go?¡±


    ¡°When you two are.¡±


    With the help of Expedite, which I continually kept active on myself and Erani, we moved at quite a quick pace along the path. Keeping a stack of it active on two people was a bit too much for my Mana to be able to support doing one hundred percent of the time, but I could still keep it active for a good portion, and with thatbined with us trying to keep a generally quick pace, I hoped it would be enough for us to find safety soon.


    So we moved quickly along for several hours, and I could almost feel the time ticking away, every beat of my heart sending anxiety through my mind. With the extra space we put between ourselves and the entrance to Kingdom¡¯s Edge, we probably also bought ourselves a bit of extra time, but knowing how fast Xhag¡¯duul was moving back there, I didn¡¯t suspect it¡¯d be more than a few minutes.


    As the time passed, we grew more and more eager to get to the end. When Expedite was active, we ran at top speed to make use of the extra Dexterity, and when it wasn¡¯t, we just walked as quickly as possible. It took a toll on my Stamina to move like that over such an extended period of time, but tiring myself out was just fine if it meant I could live to see another day.


    However, as the hours passed, the end of the mountains continued to evade our sight. The range of crags and rocks seemed to be slowly getting less intense and less wild as we moved, suggesting we were probably <em>approaching</em> the Barinruth Empire, but I was forced to confront the possibility that we may just not get there in time. My guess that we may have been able to arrive within five hours was just that¡ªa guess.


    By the time hour four rolled around and we still saw no end on the horizon, I held out a hand to signal everyone to stop, leaning over and catching my breath.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Erani said, panting heavily.


    After a few deep breaths, I responded. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll make it in time. We probably only have around an hour left, and I¡¯m not seeing any end to these mountains.¡±


    ¡°So what, n B then?¡±


    ¡°Seems like it. Let¡¯s move out into the mountains, and hope that Demon can¡¯t track us in there. At the very least, it might be able to buy us enough time to actually get there.¡±


    We found a low ledge in the stone walls of the cut-out path and climbed up, into the wild mountains that surrounded us. We¡¯d have to be wary of the typical Drakes and Dragons, moving into their territory, so hopefully any encounters we had wouldn¡¯t slow us down too much.


    I dipped a bit into my Mana reserves to keep Expedite active more often that my regeneration allowed, helping us climb far and high into the various peaks and valleys of the mountain range. asionally we¡¯d hear a Drake¡¯s screech of warning¡ªone that I¡¯de to learn meant ¡°get out of my territory, right now,¡± and I¡¯d instantly give us a further push with the Spell to get us away and keep us from dying ourselves with pointless fights against the wildlife.


    Thankfully, our climb was easier than I¡¯d experienced before, when we¡¯d first ventured into the wild mountains to try and get help from Astintash. Back then, we were lower-Leveled and didn¡¯t have the Bond to raise our base Stats. But now, with a much higher Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity¡ªespecially so for Erani¡ªmoving up the cliffs and across the unsteady rocks was much easier. We needed to take fewer breaks, fewer detours around impassable obstacles, and we could generally move with much more ease than before.


    ¡°Must be a pretty surreal experience, huh?¡± I asked Erani.


    ¡°What do you mean? Not going to lie, I¡¯m a bit limated to the whole ¡®running for my life¡¯ thing by now.¡±


    ¡°No, not that. I mean climbing these mountains again.¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°I mean, thest time we were in the wilderness of Kingdom¡¯s Edge was just a few days ago, right? Back then, you had a 10 in every physical Stat.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± she nodded. ¡°Yeah, can¡¯t say I ever imagined climbing a mountain would be this easy. It feels like I¡¯m living in someone else¡¯s body.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t imagine what it¡¯s like for you.¡± I chuckled and shook my head.


    ¡°I mean, haven¡¯t you basically gone through the same thing with Recursive Growth?¡± she asked. ¡°You¡¯ve gained a bunch of physical Stats, too.¡±


    ¡°Right, but that was over a much longer period of time. I really only had to get limated to small changes that urred over several days of time. And even then, my Stats are still lower than yours. I mean, I doubt many ssers out there could ever boast about having <em>quintupled </em>their base Stats in a day, much less a few hours. Seriously, you went from being no stronger than someone who was Unssed into someone who could probably beat a decent-Level Melee-Type in a fistfight.¡±


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s not exaggerate things. I still have absolutely no training in meleebat, so I doubt that¡¯d be the case.¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Stop being modest. Regardless, you said yourself it was difficult to move around at all for a while, right? So like I said, it¡¯s gotta be surreal to climb the same mountains as before, but this time with it being several times easier.¡±


    She sighed and nodded. ¡°Yeah, it definitely is. Been getting me thinking about future ss options. I mean, pretty much every single piece of theory and strategy put toward the Sorcerer ss is predicated on the idea that you¡¯ll have low physical Stats. It¡¯s a pretty core part of the ss that you¡¯ll be focusing your Stats on Mana production. So suddenly, pretty much all of that traditional knowledge is useless. I mean, especially with Angelic Shield, I¡¯m definitely a lot less useless up close as I was before. So any Spell choices that are based on keeping enemies away are way worse, now.¡±


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s a lot of literature on the subject, right? Couldn¡¯t you find some book from someone talking about some niche Sorcerer strategy that assigns its Stat Points into the physicals?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure there¡¯s stuff out there on that, but then for them, most of their choices will probably be predicated on the fact that they won¡¯t have much Mana avable to them. I¡¯m sure the Signature Magic Talent choice is out of the question for them, for example, not to mention some of the Spell choicesing up. Ugh, I really am on my own in this aren¡¯t I¡­?¡±


    I looked over to see her with her head in her hands, muttering to herself, andughed, wrapping my arm around her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯ve got us, right? So you aren¡¯t totally on your own.¡±


    ¡°Right, sure, you let me know when you somehow find a god and get it to change your ss to Sorcerer, and we can all figure it out alongside each other.¡±


    ¡°Ironically, if I could do that, we wouldn¡¯t be in this mess in the first ce.¡±


    Eraniughed, and began to say something else, but suddenly cut herself off, looking up with fear in her eyes. I nced up, too, andpletely understood her reaction.


    A sight that instantly seized my body soared across the sky. Giant, leathery wings, a long, scale-covered body, and a throat that no doubt housed the ability topletely incinerate us all.


    The Dragon flew close above our heads, and I felt the rushing wind from its wings hit against my back. Close call, I thought, but it flew past. We¡¯d just need to look out for whatever mountaintop it made its home in, and keep away from that.


    But then it turned around midair, eyes locking onto us.


    As it moved back in our direction, gliding down to the ground, any hope that we were dealing with the familiar Astintash left my mind. Not only were we far from Astintash¡¯s territory by now, but this Dragon was a clearly different beast from its looks¡ªwhere Astintash¡¯s scales were reddish-purple, a deep royal color, this new Dragon was a shining white. Honestly, with the near-noon sun reflecting its light off the silvery scales, the monster was almost blinding to look at.


    It crashed to the ground just a couple dozen paces from us and I barely managed to keep myself standing from the resulting shaking of thend. I was still trying to process what was happening, unable to formte any sort of proper n of action. What was this Dragon here for? Why was iting to us? And why hadn¡¯t it killed us right away, like Astintash had done in the past?


    I felt the burning breath of the beast as it breathed a sigh, raising its head to look at us from above, the sun forming a sort of halo around its head.


    ¡°Greetings, Humans,¡± it spoke in a deep rumble of a voice, with a strange ent that almost made it sound like a fancy noble speaking to me. ¡°I am Peacekeeper, Compassiongiver, Hearthaver, Homeholder, Gracegiver, Knowledgegainer Paiiniak. Why do youe to my domain?¡±


    I blinked, processing what it¡¯d just told us. Specifically, the titles before its name. Peacekeeper? This was almost <em>too</em> perfect. If it kept the peace, maybe it could help us with that Xhag¡¯duul Demon! They were invading and starting wars, how could this Dragon <em>not</em> want to intervene?


    ¡°We¡¯re having trouble with a Demon,¡± I spat out, eager for its help. ¡°He¡¯s trying to kill us, and tons of other Humans! They¡¯re starting a war. Could you intervene? Stop them from attacking us?¡±


    It looked down on me with a slight smile. I¡¯d almost say it was smug, if I didn¡¯t know any better.


    ¡°Ah, simple Human,¡± it said, ¡°have you not tried simply <em>asking</em> the Demon to stop attacking you? Do not be so quick to solve conflicts with violence.¡±


    I paused after hearing its words. Was that a joke or something? But it lookedpletely serious, like it genuinely thought we were too stupid to try something as simple as asking the Demons to stop. ¡°W-what? You don¡¯t understand. It¡¯s trying to kill us for no reason, and the Demons have already killed thousands of other Humans. One¡¯s hunting us right now, as we speak! Could you help us at least immobilize it, so we can escape?¡±


    ¡°But by running away, are you not simply proving the Demons right? Perhaps they are only attacking because they are upset by your assumption that they mean harm in the first ce.¡± It chuckled an irritatingugh to itself. ¡°You silly Humans and your simple minds. Now run along and go make friends with that Demon. I have solved your problem once again.¡±


    ¡­Okay. It seemed like this would be a bit harder than I¡¯d originally thought.


    But still, my mind was hard at work trying to figure out how to use this to our advantage. Even if we couldn¡¯t get the Dragon to help directly, maybe there were other ways to use its power.

 Chapter 130: Welcome to Hell. Can I Kill You Again?

    Chapter 130: Wee to Hell. Can I Kill You Again?


    A Devil sprinted through a chasm in a barren, gray mountain range. He was on a mission. Onest mission, to kill An Nota himself.


    ¡°Alright,¡± he said. ¡°Let¡¯s finish this.¡±


    ¡°Did you say something, Xhag?¡± the voice of his superior spoke into his ear.


    ¡°No, Superior,¡± he said. ¡°Just eager to get back home.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure you are. Just think of everything you¡¯ll get back once this is done.¡±


    He nodded. Everything woulde back. All he wanted was for things to go back to being the way they were. He just wanted some of that respect he was once afforded, some of that stability, some of that basic level of fulfillment. This would bring it all back to him. ¡°Is An Nota still moving in the same direction?¡±


    ¡°Hold on, let me get one of the Diviners to check.¡±


    There was a shuffling sound, and then silence. The Devil was speaking to his superior over a Communication Crystal, with her remotely giving him orders from the Underworld. The general n of action was simple. She¡¯d locate An Nota, then send the Devil to take him out. It was quick and easy¡ªsomething the Devil wished he could have done when he was in charge.


    But he couldn¡¯t have done it back then. That ¡®locate An Nota¡¯ part had proven extremely difficult time after time, considering the resources given to him. The main method to locate someone was using Diviners; that was how they¡¯d found the Human in the first ce. But using Diviners took time, and the only way to speed up that process was to add more Diviners to the group doing the locating. And, unfortunately, the Devil had been denied each and every time he attempted to ask for more to add to his teams.


    So, the first time they were trying to find An Nota, it was rtively easy; they had plenty of time, he wasn¡¯t moving around too much, and there was nothing else the Devil had to worry about managing at the time. But after that, it was suddenly borderline impossible to use those same teams to find him. The couple days that had once been an eptable time to take trying to find him were way too long to wait now that they had a fugitive on the run, and even if they did take that time to find him, by the time the Diviners¡¯ results hade back, An Nota would have been long gone from the location they found him in.


    However, the Devil¡¯s superior didn¡¯t have to deal with those problems now that she was in charge. All she had to do was use her own authority to simply get more Diviners on the team. A request that had been denied time and time again when the Devil was in charge. He waspletely aware of the unfairness of the situation, but he pushed it out of his mind. If he could get his old life back, he¡¯d deal with whatever it took.


    And dealing with whatever it took was what he was doing. Working as a simple footsoldier, fighting on the ground of the Overworld, it wasn¡¯t exactly a morous position. In fact, it was borderline sphemous for the Devil to so tantly work in a position that was unbefitting of his Race. Working on the same level as the Infernals and Hellions? Something like this was normally punishable by death¡ªor at least demotion to being a hall monitor. But his superior had explicitly asked him to do it, so he supposed she didn¡¯t care.


    So he continued to move through the mountain valley, pushing any thoughts about whether this was a good decision out of his mind. At the end of the day, it was either doing it or dying. He was just protecting himself.


    ¡°Xhag, I have word back from the Diviners,¡± his superior spoke to him. ¡°An Nota has abruptly left the trail. He moved into the mountains in the west, so he should be to your northwest.¡±


    ¡°Do you know where he is specifically?¡±


    ¡°No, just that general direction. He is most likely hiding. Find him.¡±


    The Devil nodded, though nobody could see him nod, and climbed up out of the path he¡¯d been running through, into the wilderness. It would be irritating to move through because of the wild monsters out here, but as long as he avoided anything too dangerous he should have been fine. Most Drakes wouldn¡¯t be an issue, but the higher-Leveled ones and the Dragons would obviously pose a problem if they set their sights on him. He may have been strongpared to many beings in the Overworld, but there were some things he simply could not beat alone. Or, at the very least, that would slow him down if he was forced to fight them.


    But, ideally, those same monsters would pose the same threat to An Nota. It seemed like they were taking a gamble here, running the risk of dying to monsters to avoid the certainty of dying to him. And it did seem like they knew that was a certainty. Why else would they randomly flee into the wilderness? The Devil didn¡¯t know exactly how the Human¡¯s powers that he stole from Temporus worked, but he did know that the kid could move through time. Seemed like the Devil had already killed him at least once, then.


    That put some confidence into him. He just had to do what the alternate him had already aplished. Though he <em>did</em> wish he could have remembered doing so. He understood that An Nota hadn¡¯t technically done anything to him¡ªreally, the Human probably barely even knew who the Devil was.


    And the Devil even forgave the boy for killing Temporus and stealing its powers. After his time interacting with the Humans, he now understood the perspective they had. It waspletely natural for a Human to go out and acquire power that they weren¡¯t born with¡ªthat they were never meant to hold¡ªand then learn and grow until they fit that position. It felt a bit backwards, sure, but if it worked for them, who cared? An Nota didn¡¯t know he was stealing from the Demons, so, while the Devil still thought they should try to take back what was theirs, he also didn¡¯t hold a grudge against the Human. They were simply two groups with opposing goals. Nobody had the moral high ground here.


    But still, despite those feelings, he <em>really</em> wanted to see the boy die. Just on a basic, emotional level, seeing the person who had been the source of his suffering, of him losing all hope, of him borderline losing his own mind, seeing the source of all of that lose his own hope in turn? Seeing that person go through everything the Devil had gone through? It would be beyond cathartic.


    He ran through the mountains, valleys, hills, and rocks of the wilds, paying close attention for any sign of the fugitives. Strange sounds or smells, seeing a hint of clothing behind a bush or even a half of a footprint would be all he needed to begin tracking them. Unfortunately, the wilderness was prettyrge. But with his superior¡¯s help, he knew it was just a matter of time before he found them.


    As he nced around, he looked up and saw something in the distance. Perched up on one of the rocky spires poking through the sky was a Dragon. Its shimmering white scales glinted in the ufortably-bright sun as it red around the range of mountains encircling it.


    ¡°You said he was northwest?¡± he asked, looking up at the distant Dragon.


    ¡°Yes. Is there a problem?¡±


    ¡°No problem, just a roadblock. There¡¯s a monster I¡¯ll have to go around if I want to go that direction.¡±


    ¡°Just be sure you don¡¯t miss the fugitive if you¡¯re going around something. He could be hiding near that monster.¡±


    ¡°No way he is. It¡¯s a Dragon. And I can¡¯t think of any reason he could convince another Dragon to help him. If I go and confront it, it¡¯ll just attack and slow me down. I¡¯ll move around and keep going until I find him.¡±


    If he got too close to the Dragon, there was a likely possibility it¡¯d attack him on sight, which would either end in his projected body¡¯s death or with him having to flee, neither of which would be good. And there was no way it was guarding An Nota, or anything. Why would it be? Agreeing to fight off their enemies for them? It would have nothing to gain, and everything to risk. No, An Nota had probably just intentionally moved to position the Dragon in between the Devil and them to try and get the Devil to antagonize it and die. He wouldn¡¯t be falling for that.


    So he began moving in a wide arc around the massive beast atop its crag, looking around and surveying the terrain around itself. He marched through the rocks and shrubbery, half hiding from the monster and half looking for his target. As he moved, though, the monster suddenly pped its wings and took flight. After a moment¡¯s fear, thinking it may have spotted him, he was relieved to see it was moving <em>away</em> from the Devil, not toward him.


    It turned and moved in the direction of the Empire, which wasn¡¯t actually too far away, at this point. Maybe it was leaving to go to its home, which was in that direction? But wait, no, just as the Devil thought it¡¯d fly up and disappear into the skies, it suddenly moved back down andnded on another cliffside, only about a hundred paces away from its starting point. And then it simply continued surveying thendscape below it.


    Huh. Weird. The Devil wasn¡¯t totally sure what had caused the Dragon to move to some random other nearby mound of rock just to continue sitting around and doing what it¡¯d done before, but it didn¡¯t matter. At least now, it wasn¡¯t in the way of his attempt to get to An Nota.


    So he just continued on, no longer forced to move in such a wide arc. Although he was still in range of eyesight of that massive thing, so it wasn¡¯t like he could totally ignore caution.


    He continued on for a few more minutes, until he saw the Dragon out of the corner of his eye p its wings and take flight again. Watching it, he saw as it moved along yet another couple hundred paces, perching itself again on a random mountain ledge and doing nothing.


    He stopped. This was getting weird. What was it doing? What was the point? His suspicions that this Dragon had something to do with An Nota began to mount higher and higher. Why would it move like that?


    ¡°Superior,¡± he said, ¡°what direction from me is An Nota now?¡±


    ¡°The fugitive is north, slightly northwest.¡±


    He looked upward to the sky so he could orient himself with the cardinal directions¡ªsomething he¡¯d learned how to do recently when speaking to the Human subordinates he¡¯d hired. Yes, it was as he¡¯d suspected. The direction the Dragon had moved perfectly lined up with the direction An Nota was in.


    There was something going on here, and he didn¡¯t like it.


    He waited a couple minutes, and like he¡¯d suspected, the Dragon flew up once again to fly just around a hundred paces away, perching itself once again.


    ¡°He is still in the same direction?¡± the Devil asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    That confirmed it. The Dragon, for some reason, was following An Nota. Or maybe the Human was following the Dragon. Whatever it was, it seemed he could follow the monster to find the fugitive. The Devil had no idea how the man had convinced that damn thing to not kill him, but whatever the method, it seemed like An Nota had somehow grouped up with a Dragon, following them in their travel to the Empire. If the Devil had just passed the thing by, he¡¯d effectively had been led on a wild goose chase through the wilderness, trying to find the fugitive while never being able to actually approach him because of the Dragon guarding him.


    But was the Dragon actually guarding them? The Devil couldn¡¯t think of a world where that was the case. They had absolutely nothing to offer in exchange. So why was it helping? And if they had gotten it to follow them, why would they do it if it <em>wasn¡¯t</em> to get it to guard them? He was stuck knowing exactly where the damn man was, butpletely unable to approach because they¡¯d somehow convinced the strongest beast in the mountain range to kill him if he did.


    He frowned. Maybe that was the point. Maybe it wasn¡¯t guarding them at all. Or, at least, not knowingly. They could havee up with some random bullshit reason for the Dragon to follow them¡ªleading it to some valuable made-up treasure, or something¡ªin an attempt to make it <em>look</em> like the Dragon was their guard. It¡¯d scare the Devil off without even knowing it was doing so.


    He grinned. Clever tricksters. He¡¯d always known the Humans were crafty little fuckers, but this was the first time he¡¯d been the one on the receiving end of their deceptions. But he¡¯d seen through it.


    So he walked straight forward toward them, intent on confronting his target directly.

 Chapter 131: The Confrontation

    Chapter 131: The Confrontation


    The n was simple. The Dragon Paiiniak wanted to keep the peace between Xhag¡¯duul and us. So all we had to do was go along with that. A simple ¡°Yes, clearly you are wiser than us. Please help us aplish peace,¡± and Paiiniak went along with it.


    And what did it do to help? Well, it refused to do much, but it could do what Dragons normally did: sit around and do fuckall. It perched up high above us, as visible as it could be, to signal to Xhag¡¯duul where we were. Something so obvious, he would have toe to us, right?


    Obviously, I was taking advantage of the Dragon¡¯s kindness a bit there. But I was also taking advantage of its ego and utterck of perspective. It seemed like it was sopletely out of touch with reality that not only could it not understand the idea that maybe peace wasn¡¯t possible here, but it also didn¡¯t realize that Xhag¡¯duul would probably want to stay <em>away</em> from a massive Dragon, not go near it.


    That was the main thing we were banking on, at least. The gamble was that, if Xhag¡¯duul saw the Dragon, he would avoid it. But it was the best chance we had. If he had some way to know our general location¡ªknowing that we left the road, where we left the road, and in what direction we left the road would all require that¡ªthen the Dragon would be ourst hope. If he didn¡¯t have any of that basic information, he wouldn¡¯t have had any way to see the Dragon anyway, so it wasn¡¯t like we were taking some huge risk, either. Effectively, if Xhag''duul was close enough to us to see the Dragon and have our location signaled to him, he''d be close enough to find us anyway.


    So in that situation, we wouldn''t be able to hide. Therefore, scaring him off was our best bet. Otherwise, he¡¯d easily zero in on us. It also served to ward off any other predators.


    So, with Paiiniak getting attention for our ¡°peace meeting,¡± we set off and continued forward to the Barinruth Empire. We had to be close by now, I practically begged whatever gods were watching. I didn¡¯t expect the Dragon to buy us an infinite amount of time, but if we could just get a bit more, maybe we could get there. We, of course, exined to Paiiniak that we were just running in an attempt to find Xhag¡¯duul ourselves, too, and to just stick above us if we ever moved too far away.


    As we swiftly moved through the forest, we tried our best to keep an eye out for any threats and cover up the tracks we left behind. I kept track of the time, too. When we¡¯d died in thest timeline, it had been around noon. Then I reset time and went back a few hours, but by this point, enough time had passed that it was a bit past noon now. That meant the Demon had probably gotten to where we¡¯d been before. If he had any way to track us, he¡¯d be close on our tail by now.


    Stressful minute after stressful minute passed as we traveled through the rocky mountains as quickly as possible while also being as stealthy as possible. Every now and then, Paiiniak would swoop through the air to keep itself above us, which I was thankful for because of the protection, but it also startled me beyond belief every time because of the noise. Despite my heightened nerves, though, we didn¡¯t have any hostile encounters. Maybe our strategy with the Dragon was actually working. At the very least, it seemed to be deterring the nearby Drakes; every time it moved, I could see a couple more of the smaller-scaled beasts fly off from their resting points, away from its intimidating presence.


    Who knew how long it¡¯d take until that Demon saw through our ruse, though.


    Another minute passed. And another, and another. Every hill we climbed, every corner we turned, I hoped more than anything we¡¯d see a sign of civilization. And every time we didn¡¯t see it, I lost yet more hope. If we couldn¡¯t reach them in this timeline, while we were not only moving as quickly as we could, but also buying extra time with this Dragon, how could we ever hope to survive the Demon in the next? I had exactly one more try after this. If we found out it was impossible to reach now, what could we even attempt next time? No, this was effectively ourst shot. We <em>had</em> to seed now.


    I climbed through a gap between two boulders, squeezing through the wall and tumbling out the other side. And once I was through, I looked around at my surroundings, trying to figure out where to go next. But when I nced ahead, I saw something that almost made me cry with joy.


    Civilization.


    Not anything huge¡ªno city, or even vige. But it was a small outpost, probably around a thousand paces away. From my perspective, it was a tiny dot in thendscape, but I could see some figures moving around on it. Were they guards? It made sense that the Barinruth Empire, whose borders were nestled up close to Kingdom¡¯s Edge, would need to keep guard outposts near the mountain range that housed Drakes and Dragons nearby. And if they did employ these guards, they¡¯d obviously have to be seriously high-Leveled in order to repel such monsters.


    In short, it was our salvation. So close! It wouldn¡¯t take more than a few minutes to get there.


    I looked back and hurriedly helped Erani and Ainash through the gap between the boulders, too, silently messaging Ainash and asking her to pass the word along to Erani. <em>¡°Guard outpost! A thousand paces or so ahead, right where those paths cross!¡±</em>


    I watched as both of their expressions lit up in joy and relief and they gazed upon the same sight of salvation that I¡¯d seen. There was the slight issue of the Dragon above us and how it¡¯d probably follow us right up to the guards employed precisely to repel such a monster, but that problem was much preferred to the Demon chasing us. We just needed to get help from them, and our lives would be saved.


    Taking care not to trip and fall, I quickly began making my way down the steep slope of the mountain range, beginning what seemed to be ourst journey alone in this gods-forsaken valley. But just as I took my first steps, I heard movement from above. ncing upward, I saw the Dragon, Paiiniak, shift its head to look over behind us. What was it looking at? It squinted its eyes, like it was trying to confirm what it saw, and then¡­


    ¡°Ah!¡± it eximed in a thunderous boom of a voice. ¡°A Demon! You must be here for the peace treaty.¡±


    Blood drained from my face. I couldn¡¯t even yell up at Paiiniak to shut up, because to do so would give my position away regardless. I mentally screamed at Ainash to please ask the Dragon to shut its mouth¡ªmake up some sort of lie, quick, to get it to feign aggression and scare it away, or act like it was some peace treaty involving people other than us, or something. But as I did so, I heard a muffled voicee up from behind us, shouting up at the Dragon. I couldn¡¯t make it out, but I recognized the tone.


    ¡°Yes, yes, with those two Human fellows and the Nymph,¡± Paiiniak responded to the voice¡¯s question. ¡°They¡¯re right down here, below me! I do hope you can hash out your differences.¡±


    With that, I simply made the decision to sprint away as quickly as I could, Erani seeming to arrive at the same conclusion as I did and running alongside me, pulling Ainash along by the arm. We were so close¡ªso gods-damned close¡ªto safety. If we could just make it a bit further, we¡¯d get there.


    I activated Expedite on all of us time after time after time, pushing every one of us to our limits with the Spell in order to squeeze out as many paces of distance as we could until the Demon inevitably saw us and approached.


    And, as if on cue, I heard a smashing sound and looked back to see the two boulders we¡¯d squeezed through sted apart, shards of stone exploding across the mountainside to reveal a familiar Demon, sadistic grin on his face. He nced back and forth until he locked eyes on me, and his smile grew wider.


    ¡°Take care not to hurt each other!¡± Paiiniak shouted from above, watching us both with a self-satisfied smile. Fucking idiot! I¡¯d even asked it <em>not</em> to call out to the Demon if it saw him. Why couldn¡¯t it just listen to what I said?!


    ¡°Sure, sure,¡± the Demon¡ªXhag¡¯duul¡ªcalled back up to it. ¡°We¡¯re just going to have a little spar. Prove who¡¯s stronger, just for fun. Thanks again for pointing him out to me. Huge help.¡±


    I looked back at our destination. We¡¯d barely made any progress. It was still probably nine hundred paces away, at least. With how much faster this thing was than us, there was no possibility we¡¯d even make it to the halfway point before he ughtered us all.


    So I made a split-second decision.


    I stopped in my tracks and turned to face my opponent.


    ¡°An!¡± Erani turned to me, trying to tug me along.


    ¡°Go!¡± I said. ¡°Get help, now! I have Dark te and Expedite, I can probably hold him off for a bit of extra time.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave Ainash to help you¡ª¡±


    ¡°No!¡± I said, remembering the grisly sight of her head being crushed between the monster¡¯s fingers. I didn¡¯t care if I could reset things, I couldn¡¯t watch it happen again. ¡°Take her along. Protect her. Just get help, ande back for me.¡±


    Ainash, no doubt feeling the emotion I felt in that moment, looked at me with teary eyes.


    Threshold reached.


    Your Bond with Level 30 Draconiad has deepened.


    Due to your Bond being deepened, it has undergone the following changes:


    Stat Increase: From 8 to 10


    XP Gain: From 4% to 5%


    Heat Resistance: From 21.9% to 26.6%


    I suppressed augh at the notification. What a constion prize. Maybe the two extra Stats would help me with the Demon that could one-shot me?


    Erani took a fraction of a second to get onest look at me, and then turned and ran, tugging Ainash with her and continuing down the hill and toward the outpost.


    ¡°How sweet,¡± I heard a voice directly behind me.


    I jumped and turned to face Xhag¡¯duul, who was standing with his face right up to mine. I felt the breath from a sigh escaping his mouth and leaned back, putting maybe a single pace of distance between us. He¡¯d really crossed all that distance in the time I¡¯d just exchanged a few words with Erani.


    ¡°At least, I¡¯d say it was sweet, if it wasn¡¯tpletely idiotic,¡± the Demon continued. ¡°You think you can hold me off? For that long?¡±


    I took a few steps back, trying to control my breathing. Just keep him upied. I knew from experience that he liked to talk. Maybe he¡¯d lose track of time if I kept him going.


    ¡°I mean, you¡¯ve fought me before, right? Well, I assume that¡¯s what this was all about,¡± he gestured all around himself. ¡°You¡¯ve died to me once before, and now that you know you can¡¯t beat me, you¡¯re trying to run? It¡¯s pathetic. But at least I get to know for sure that you¡¯re weak enough to know, yourself, that you can¡¯t do anything to kill me. Boosts my confidence a little. Tell me, how many times <em>have</em> you died to me so far? It¡¯s been my little theory so far that you only get one reset per day, but maybe it works more like Temporus and you get a couple?¡±


    I just looked at him as he peered through the gaps in my helmet, saying nothing.


    Then he shrugged. ¡°Fine. If you don¡¯t want to have a little conversation, we don¡¯t have to. Let¡¯s just get this over¡ª¡±


    ¡°Once,¡± I spat out, desperate to keep him from initiatingbat. ¡°I¡¯ve died to you once.¡±


    ¡°Just the one time, huh?¡± he nodded. ¡°Makes sense. You fight and die, so your next n is to just run. You got any more lives in that little ss of yours? Or is this yourst? Will this version of me get the pleasure of keeping the memories of your death?¡±


    Mind racing, I began to form a n in my head. Something that may be able to put him on the backfoot. If my goal was just to keep him talking, keep him upied, maybe this could work. And¡­ I thought to myself, going over all of the different possibilities. Yes, yes, I could even spin this around. I could get him on <em>my</em> side with this. If I yed my cards right here, I wouldn¡¯t just stall the threat, I¡¯d neutralize itpletely! With what little knowledge I had of this guy, he may have given me just enough to pull this off.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got more resets,¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh? How many?¡±


    I straightened my back, trying to show as much false confidence as I could. ¡°One hundred.¡±


    Xhag''duul''s face went ck.

 Chapter 132: The Conversation

    Chapter 132: The Conversation


    ¡°I¡¯ve got more resets,¡± I said to Xhag¡¯duul, trying my best to buy time as Erani and Ainash went to get help from the guard post in the distance behind me.


    ¡°Oh?¡± the Demon said. ¡°How many?¡±


    I straightened my back, trying to show as much false confidence as I could. ¡°One hundred.¡±


    He blinked, and for the first time, I saw this unbeatable being actually show a bit of fear. ¡°One¡­ hundred?¡±


    I nodded, getting a bit more confident. ¡°Yeah, a hundred. How else do you think I got past your forces every time? They werepetently set up, you know. Killed me a few dozen times each. But it isn¡¯t really fair when your opponent gets that many tries. Wasn¡¯t your fault, really.¡±


    Hands shaking, he snarled at me. ¡°You¡¯re lying. That¡¯s absolute fucking bullshit. No fucking way it¡¯s that powerful. I¡¯m aware of your sses, you know. They don¡¯t give you so much power right away.¡±


    ¡°Mm,¡± I nodded. ¡°Sure, you know about themon sses, but you don¡¯t know about the rare ones. My sses from killing a one-of-a-kind monster. It obviously rewards you for that.¡±


    ¡°No, no!¡± He shook his head. ¡°No fucking way!¡±


    I nodded. It was working even better than I¡¯d expected. I knew from the previous timeline, he seemed to feel like it wasn¡¯t his fault that he¡¯d failed to kill me for so long. At least, his whole rant about wanting to see me feel the same way he¡¯d felt seemed like it portrayed that. So I was basically just validating all of his fears and frustrations. His whole operation was doomed from the start, I was telling him. He¡¯d never had any chance of beating me. And maybe, if I pull this next part off, I could convince him that he didn¡¯t need to fight me at all.


    ¡°I get it,¡± I said. ¡°You probably had nothing to do with this in the first ce. It sucks that you got pitted up against me. I¡¯m sorry for anything the people who forced you into this did to you for failing. But, I mean, I¡¯m actually a bit surprised they expected you to win in the first ce.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°How the fuck were any of us supposed to know you could just get out of any fucking situation we put you in?! We all got unlucky, nobody could have known!¡±


    ¡°No, I mean, Demons have a longer lifespan than Humans, right?¡± I said. ¡°Plenty of people have gotten this ss in the past. We¡¯ve got it in some of our history books. I looked into them and found some basic info. So wouldn¡¯t most Demons already know about the things the ss got?¡±


    He looked into my eyes. ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°I mean, I get that most of you guys wouldn¡¯t know. It was a long time back, after all, and it isn¡¯t all that well-documented on our side, either. But I¡¯d be willing to bet that <em>some</em> of the Demons would¡¯ve lived long enough to have encountered the people who stole this ss from the Underworld, too. They¡¯d definitely know it¡¯s basically impossible to beat the ss.¡±


    ¡°...No,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous. I haven¡¯t heard of anything like this. Not from my superiors, not from any of the Diviners, not from the underlings who worked closely with the Overworld¡­¡±


    ¡°Weird,¡± I shrugged, trying to find the perfect time to hit him with the biggest part of all this. Putting all the pieces together, I understood a basic idea of what had happened with this Demon. When Ripley had warned us about all of this, she said that she used to be given orders by one Demon, whose name was something along the lines of ¡®Xhag¡¯duul.¡¯ And then, he was reced with another Demon whose name started with ¡®Quinmorada.¡¯ And she was the one who both said she was ¡®dealing with¡¯ the first Demon, and the one who announced the fact that they were sending in ¡®special forces¡¯ to kill me now.


    Obviously, that first Xhag¡¯duul Demon was this one, who was standing right in front of me. The second one, though, must have been someone who was in charge of him. If she got to make the decisions over what he did, she must have been. And considering the number of times he¡¯d derided the people above him, he probably held some resentment toward her. In fact, it seemed like he felt like she was just lording her power over him and forcing him into unwinnable situations. That¡¯d been what he¡¯d said in the previous timeline. So, if that was the case¡­


    ¡°In the books, they actually said the Demon who the most recent user of this ss fought against,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe she¡¯s already dead, though. Could¡¯ve been too long ago.¡±


    He looked at me. ¡°What was her name?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t remember that,¡± I shrugged, trying to keep myself from shaking. ¡°You know how Demon names are, I¡¯m sure. Us Humans just don¡¯t get them.¡±


    ¡°Just¡­¡± he closed his eyes and shook his head again. ¡°Do you remember something, <em>anything</em>, about it? Tell me the name.¡±


    I put a hand to my chin. ¡°I think it started with a¡­ K? Something like Kwit¡­ or, no. Was it a Q? Right, right, it was something like Quitnorda, or, or was it something like¡­ Quinmorada?¡±


    His eyes lit up with rage the moment I said the name. ¡°That name. Wh¡ªwhere did you hear it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I think it was Quinmorada,¡± I said, nodding. ¡°Why? Do you recognize it?¡±


    He shook his head,ughing in frustration. ¡°I fucking <em>knew it!</em> I knew she was pulling some shit! That fucking <em>bitch</em>. She just set me up for fucking failure. She hasn¡¯t even beaten these bullshit fucking powers, either! She lost, and she <em>knew</em> it was impossible to beat. She knew it wasn¡¯t my fault, any of the fucking times you got away. She just wanted to get rid of me. Just wanted to berate me, demote me, try to fucking kill me.¡±


    I did my best not to sigh in relief. He¡¯d bought it. It was a gamble, that was for sure, but he¡¯d actually bought it. People believed what they wanted to believe, and it seemed like, whatever was going on with this guy, he desperately wanted to believe that none of this was his fault. He wanted a scapegoat. And I¡¯d given him one.


    He continued rambling about how he¡¯d been set up, and I fought my urge to look back at Erani and Ainash, still on their way to the outpost. It¡¯d been a while. Had they gotten there? Were they on their way back yet?


    ¡°Were there any other names?¡± Xhag¡¯duul¡¯s voice snapped me back to our conversation.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Did those history books mention anyone else who knew?¡±


    ¡°Uh, no. No, just the one.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± He nodded. He seemed a lot moreposed now. Ideally, he¡¯d conclude that he just needed to go back down to the Underworld and kill the people that¡¯d wronged him, or whatever. Or just desert from their forces and live on his own, away from me. ¡°I honestly thought a couple more would be in on it, but I guess it makes sense if it¡¯s just her.¡±


    ¡°R-right,¡± I said. ¡°So, truce?¡±


    He squinted at me. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I mean, if you have this enemy in your ranks, why would you want to follow along her ns?¡±


    He sighed and shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think you get it. I <em>have</em> to do what she wants.¡±


    ¡°What? No. No, you can beat her, right? I mean, she wants you dead, remember what you just said? Why would you go along with her ns?¡±


    Heughed bitterly. ¡°Yeah, you definitely don¡¯t get it. Y¡¯know, I didn¡¯t ever think I¡¯d say something like this, but you Humans are lucky. You have no idea how good you have it down here. I don¡¯t <em>want</em> to go along with her ns. I <em>have</em> to operate within the bounds ced around me. It¡¯spletely impossible for me to survive otherwise.¡±


    ¡°But don¡¯t you understand it¡¯s impossible for you to survive if you do? I mean, even if you <em>do</em> kill me, you still have to face her. She¡¯s plotting against you, right? There¡¯s no way she¡¯ll just let you go.¡±


    ¡°But there¡¯s an even lower probability I¡¯ll be let go if I don¡¯t kill you,¡± he shrugged. ¡°Simple game of odds. And I intend to win.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to¡ª¡±


    You have been mmed against something. 1.31k damage.


    Dark te has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 240.


    Your Health is 240.


    I was interrupted by an impact to my chest, and my body went flying. I ragdolled through the air, hitting the ground and rolling downhill as I struggled to control my iling body.


    ¡°Don¡¯t hurt each other, you too!¡± I heard the voice of Paiiniak halfheartedly call out as I tumbled along the rocky ground.


    Eventually, I came to a stop, sick to my stomach from the pain and from the fact that my vision had been spinning the whole way down.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 29.6 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    50 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 141.


    <em>C¡¯mon</em>, I mentally urged the Dark te. <em>Fix yourself</em>.


    After triggering, the te would be ¡®broken¡¯ and unable to trigger again for around the next forty seconds. It still stayed on me, though, so as long as I could survive that off-period, the armor would be able to protect me again afterward. And with Regenerate, I was able to get my Health back up to a point where I¡¯d be able to survive another hit equal to half my maximum Health.


    The problem was surviving the next forty seconds.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care if I have to kill you ten times,¡± Xhag¡¯duul said, marching slowly down the hill. ¡°I don¡¯t care if I have to kill you a hundred. Fuck, I don¡¯t care if I have to kill you a thousand times. It¡¯ll happen.¡±


    ¡°But don¡¯t you¡­¡± I coughed, trying to pull myself back to my feet as he approached. ¡°Don''t you realize you can escape the people above you? It doesn¡¯t have to be this way. You can live the life <em>you</em> want to live.¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± he said, ¡°that¡¯s not on the table for me. And I don¡¯t suspect it¡¯s on the table for you, either. I¡¯ll kill you. And you know I will. Your little show back there, trying to convince me to spare you? It proves it. I don¡¯t know how much of what you said was a lie. Probably most of it. But at the very least, you don¡¯t seem to be very confident in your abilities to beat me. If you were, you¡¯d just get rid of me and be done with it.¡±


    ¡°What, I can¡¯t try to solve things peacefully?¡±


    Heughed. ¡°Peacefully? We both know you would never do that willingly. I¡¯ve killed thousands of your species. I¡¯ve destroyed your home. I¡¯ve made your life a living hell¡ªnearly as bad as the one I live every day. And I know damn well that I¡¯d take any chance I got to kill the people who made my life the way it is. Hence why I¡¯m not passing up this opportunity to end you. And you¡¯re the same as me.¡±


    He reached out his hand and snapped his fingers.


    You have been cursed with Inferno.<em></em>You have been set on fire.


    Instantly, my body burst in heat and me.


    You have been burned. 18 damage.


    Heat Resistance has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 13.


    Your Health is 243.


    I dropped to the ground, trying to ignore the agony of the fire and roll around in my clunky armor to extinguish it. It didn¡¯t work, though. I knew it wouldn¡¯t¡ªyou couldn¡¯t end magical fire through mundane means. But my mind wasn¡¯t thinking rationally as I attempted to stop my skin from melting.


    ¡°There¡¯s something you don¡¯t seem to get here,¡± Xhag¡¯duul said, continuing to calmly approach.


    You have been burned. 18 damage.


    Heat Resistance has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 13.


    Your Health is 230.


    ¡°No matter how many tries you get, no matter how many attempts you make,¡± he said.


    You have been burned. 18 damage.


    Heat Resistance has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 13.


    Your Health is 217.


    ¡°No matter how clever you are, or what ideas youe up with.¡±


    You have been burned. 18 damage.


    Heat Resistance has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 13.


    Your Health is 204.


    ¡°If someone is stronger than you, and they¡¯re faster than you, and they¡¯ve got big enough numbers.¡±


    You have been burned. 18 damage.


    Heat Resistance has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 13.


    Your Health is 191.


    ¡°Then you simply can¡¯t beat them. No matter what. You need to learn what I did long ago, Human. Sometimes, it¡¯s just hopeless.¡±


    <em>¡°Talking with guards now!¡± </em>I got a message from Ainash. The signal was faint, probably because she was so far away, but I could still barely pick up what she was saying. <em>¡°Hold on little longer, and wille with help!¡±</em>


    But it was toote.


    Xhag¡¯duul stepped over my body as the mes began to die out. He lifted his foot above my face and sighed. ¡°You just gotta learn when to quit.¡±


    You have died.


    And then I was back, five hours before. No more uses of Time Loop left. This was myst shot.


    We were all moving down the road, currently. We¡¯d probably only recently left after I woke everyone upst time.


    Erani turned to me, seeing that my expression had changed. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    But before I could respond, I saw Ainash. She was wide-eyed, staring off into the sky with a shocked expression on her face. She¡¯d stopped in her tracks the moment I arrived in this timeline. This didn¡¯t happen before; what had changed?


    <em>¡°...You okay?¡±</em> I asked.


    She frantically turned to me. <em>¡°Memories! Have memories, from future! Know what will happen! Need to get to the outpost, with Humans, they will help!¡±</em>

 Chapter 133.1: The Goodbye

    Chapter 133.1: The Goodbye


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    Ainash frantically turned to me. <em>¡°Memories! Have memories, from future! Know what will happen! Need to get to the outpost, with Humans, they will help!¡±</em>


    For a moment, I stood there, trying to process what she was saying. Memories? From the future? How in the hells¡ª


    Erani spoke, breaking me from my thoughts. ¡°An, did you hear her? What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°I¡­I don¡¯t know,¡± I shook my head. I was still reeling from the recent death, and now this? I couldn¡¯t think. ¡°I just got back. Xhag¡¯duul killed me, and¡ª¡±


    ¡°Wait, you had to go back again? So our new n didn¡¯t work? We¡¯re on ourst try?¡±


    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Just let me¡ª¡±


    <em>¡°There was this bad guy Demon, and he broke a big rock, and there was this big Dragon, and it told on us! And then I went and talked to Humans, and mother, you were there too, and you said ¡®please help¡¯ and the Humans said something and I couldn¡¯t understand them but I could tell they wanted to help but they were scared and so were we and then¡ª¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Please just hold on!¡± </em>I said. Her mental words were loud and frantic enough that I physically couldn¡¯t hear anything else. I took a deep breath and sat on the ground, trying to calm myself.


    <em>¡°Father, why are you sitting? We have to go! There is a bad guying! He killed you!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I¨C I know,¡± </em>I said. <em>¡°Just please give me a moment. I have to think.¡±</em>


    Ainash pouted, but relented in her speech.


    ¡°Index,¡± I said, ¡°why is this happening? Why can she remember?¡±


    ¡°Well, think about it. What happened differently in thest loop that hasn¡¯t ever happened before?¡±


    I tried to calm my still-racing thoughts and remember the events that¡¯d transpired. What had happened that hasn¡¯t ever happened before? It couldn¡¯t have had anything to do with the Demon Xhag¡¯duul, we¡¯d already met him and it didn¡¯t seem like he¡¯d done anything. And I couldn¡¯t think of anything Paiiniak could have done, either. What else was new?


    No, I was thinking about this wrong. Something had happened to Ainash, not me. What had happened with <em>her</em> that had never happened before? My mind instantly went to those other Humans she¡¯d met. Could they have done something? I don¡¯t know, cast a Spell that Ainash hadn¡¯t noticed?


    ¡°Check Time Loop¡¯s description again for me,¡± Index said, clearly trying to steer me onto the right track.


    I looked over the description.


    Time Loop ¨C Rank 18


    +Extended Loop


    Type: Activated


    Go up to 5 hours back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other Talent cooldowns ¨C as well as the rest of the world ¨C but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.


    This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.


    This Talent may only be activated twice per day.


    Yeah, everything looked normal. But apparently there was something here that was supposed to tip me off to what happened? I looked over it again, eyes drawn to the phrase ¡°your memories and the rest of your Status.¡± If something was happening, it had to have been happening there¡ªit was what talked about what it preserved.


    So, my memory and the rest of my Status. Obviously, my memory was being preserved as intended. What about my Status? I looked it over, too. Yes, yes, everything seemed to be in order. Even the next Rank of the Bond I¡¯d gotten in the previous timeline was there.


    Wait. The previous Bond Rank? How did that work? It made sense that it was preserved, I supposed¡ªTime Loop said it would preserve my Status, so if it was a part of my Status, it would be preserved.


    But the Bond wasn¡¯t a simple arbitrary number, like my Level or Stats. It represented something real. The actual emotional connection between me and Ainash. And that emotional connection was made up of¡­memories. Memories that, in the System¡¯s attempt to preserve my Status, it preserved, too.


    And so, since at least some of those memories were housed in Ainash¡¯s mind, that meant that the System decided to allow her to keep them. That all made sense. Except¡­


    ¡°You¡¯re wondering why she kept <em>all</em> of her memories of the past loop, right?¡±


    Index was spot-on. Sure, she kept her memories of what increased the Bond Rank. But why did she also keep her memories of what¡¯d happened after? She only spoke to the Humans after the Bond Rank had increased, after all.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re pretty much there, so I can take you thest bit. Basically, memories are really, reallyplex things. And the System¡­doesn¡¯t really likeplexities. It operates in numbers, right? And sure, it can sometimes make programs like me that can better understand your little minds, but it¡¯s one thing to understand something, and a whole other thing to <em>change</em> it. To selectively keep some memories while deleting others? That just isn¡¯t something it¡¯s meant to do. So, instead, it just keeps the whole lot of them.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, thinking about the implications of this. ¡°So if I ever reset time to a point before I increased our Bond Rank, then she¡¯ll keep <em>all</em> of her memories, no matter what?¡±


    ¡°Precisely.¡±


    That was certainly good to know. I mean, the implications of the many ways this could be abused practically flooded my mind, threatening to keep me locked in ce forever just pondering the opportunities. But I got myself back on track. That was neat and all, but I needed something that could help <em>now</em>. It was good that she remembered everything, but without any more uses of Time Loop, I couldn¡¯t abuse that quirk of the Talent any further. I needed to make due with what I had.


    ¡°Index, do you know what we can do to escape that Demon? You said before that you get a bunch more information you can tell me once I¡¯ve died to something, and I¡¯ve died to him twice. Does he have some great weakness, or something? Something I can exploit to kill him, or at least make him go away?¡±


    ¡°Well, I definitely have a lot I can tell you about him¡ªI can tell you about Devils as a species, about that one¡¯s specific abilities, and about some of the general societal concepts of the Underworld. But as for some great weakness that¡¯ll kill the thing instantly? I¡¯m not sure.¡±


    ¡°Fuck,¡± I said aloud. ¡°Fuck!¡±


    Erani put a hand on my shoulder. ¡°An? Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not. We¡¯re fucked. We¡¯re going to die. That thing¡ªthat Demon. He¡¯s way too strong. We can¡¯t run, we can¡¯t hide. And for some gods-damned reason, he has it through his dumb fucking head that the <em>only</em> way he will ever be happy is by killing me. So I can¡¯t do shit to convince him to leave us alone.¡±


    <em>¡°Are not going to die!¡± </em>Ainash said. <em>¡°Have visions! Can go to Humans and ask for help.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°We don¡¯t have time to get to them,¡± </em>I said. <em>¡°Those visions came from my Talent. I know as well as you do. By the time you got to them, it was toote. I was already dead.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Just needed little bit more time!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°The Demon killed me the moment he knew you were talking to them. The only reason it was so close was because he </em>let<em> it get so close. We¡¯re fucking putty in his hands.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I¡­¡±</em> Ainash paused, brows furrowed in thought. <em>¡°You go with mother, I will fight Demon.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What?! No. Absolutely not.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°If I fight Demon, you get help, you will not be hurt.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But you will. And he¡¯ll end up killing us all anyway. In fact, he¡¯s probably quick enough that he¡¯d just go right past you and still attack me. It¡¯s me he wants, not you. You wouldn¡¯t do anything but be an obstacle he has to run around.¡±</em>


    ¡°An.¡± Erani looked into my eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t talk to her like that. We¡¯re going to survive, because that¡¯s what we do.¡±


    I sighed and shook my head. She was right; I didn¡¯t need to be so harsh. <em>¡°I¡¯m sorry. But we can¡¯t fight that Demon and win. It¡¯s obvious.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Then what can we do?¡±</em>


    I rubbed my temples, wracking my brain for some semnce of an answer. We couldn¡¯t fight, we couldn¡¯t run, we couldn¡¯t hide, and I was the only one who even had a chance of stalling the Demon for time. And even if I did stall him for a bit, he¡¯d still just end up killing me and then he¡¯d¡­ he¡¯d¡­


    He¡¯d go home.


    He¡¯d leave if I died. It was obvious. He didn¡¯t give a shit about Erani or Ainash. He didn¡¯t want them dead. They were just obstacles in his goal to get to me. That was why I worked as a distraction in the first ce.


    ¡°Erani, Ainash, I do have an idea,¡± I said. ¡°I just don¡¯t think you¡¯re going to like it.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the one he¡¯s looking for. He wants me dead. So if I¡¯m with you two, I just endanger you both. We need to split up. You two go ahead, and I stay here to keep him busy.¡±


    ¡°You just said you¡¯d die if you did that.¡±


    ¡°I¡­I have an idea. Something to keep me alive,¡± I lied. Of course I didn¡¯t have anything. They just needed to get away from me. ¡°If I can stay alive for long enough, you two can get help ande back, and then you can fight him off and we¡¯ll all survive.¡±


    ¡°What? What are you talking about? What could possibly keep you alive?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you,¡± I said. There was no way they¡¯d let me leave them otherwise. They had to believe I wouldn¡¯t be in danger. But if they went to the Barinruth Empire while I was fighting Xhag¡¯duul, they¡¯d be safe. And by the time they got back, Xhag¡¯duul would be long gone, and so would I. I didn¡¯t intend to justy down and let him kill me¡ªI¡¯d fight for my gods-forsaken life¡ªbut I didn¡¯t expect to win. At the very least, if I had a bad read on the thing and he <em>did</em> want to kill Erani and Ainash after he killed me, I¡¯d make sure they¡¯d have a bit more time to escape.


    ¡°An,¡± Erani said, ¡°what is this n? I can¡¯t just go along with it without even knowing what you¡¯re talking about.¡±


    ¡°Just trust me,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ll be safe. This is the only way.¡±


    Ainash looked at me strangely, but didn¡¯t protest.


    ¡°Listen,¡± I continued, ¡°we¡¯re wasting time standing around and arguing. He¡¯s already on his way. We need to move as far as possible before he gets here, so it¡¯s a short distance for you to travel when you get help.¡±


    She exhaled. ¡°Fine.¡±

 Chapter 133.2: The Goodbye

    Chapter 133.2: The Goodbye


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    Hours passed. Hours where I went over everything I knew about my enemy. And hours where I came up with nothing better than just letting him kill me and fuck off forever. After everything, aftering so damn far, I was going to die here. Minutes from safety. Minutes from being able to live the rest of my life. But the effort wasn¡¯t wasted. I¡¯d tried to save myself, and I¡¯d failed. I made my peace with that. But if I could save the people I cared about, I¡¯d do it in a heartbeat.


    And that was what I intended to do.


    Erani tried asking several more times what I nned to do over the course of the first couple hours, which I of course denied telling her each time, but after a bit she stopped asking. Both she and Ainash were quiet for that time¡ªI supposed they both understood some of the gravity of the situation, even if I was hiding most of it.


    I also spoke with Index some more about Xhag¡¯duul, trying to extract as much information as I could about him and his species as I could. There wasn¡¯t much of use it could tell me, unfortunately. Well, there was certainly lots of information it could give about Devils and their fighting capabilities, but ironically, I didn¡¯t have too much use for that sort of thing. When I only had around 400 Health, there wasn¡¯t much of a difference between 1000 and 2000 damage, after all.


    The most interesting things it could tell me were about the Underworld as a whole. Index technically couldn¡¯t tell me about Underworld society¡ª-not because it was forbidden, but because it literally didn¡¯t know anything about that; as a being that knew about the System and only the System, it wouldn¡¯t have any idea about social or cultural norms, or even what the ce looked like.


    However, that didn¡¯t mean it couldn¡¯t make guesses. If it knew everything about the System, that meant it knew about every species, every ability, every numerical thing there was to know about every type of Demon there was. So it could tell me things like all the different types of Demons there were, and what the likely hierarchy there was between them. Well, it couldn¡¯t actually tell me <em>everything</em> about all of this¡ª-some of it was forbidden, as I only had experience dealing with some types of Demons, and that didn¡¯t extend to the rest¡ª-but I got a nice, long lecture about a good bit of it.


    Still, though, I heard nothing that could save me.


    Eventually, it got to be time. Around ten minutes before the Demon had arrived in the previous timeline. I stopped, and motioned for them to stop, too. I¡¯d been using most of my Mana to keep us moving quickly with Expedite, and I needed to stop now if I intended to regenerate it all in time¡ªI wasn¡¯t going to put myself in any sort of weakened state before the fight. If there was anything I could say, it was that the timeline Xhag¡¯duul remembered killing me in would not have him remembering it as an easy fight. He wouldn''t get to feel good about it, he wouldn¡¯t get to feel proud. It¡¯d be a beatdown both ways, one where I did my damndest to kill him, too.


    ¡°Erani, Ainash, you two still have your invisibility rings, right?¡± I asked. I¡¯d used both of mine back in the fight alongside Astintash, so I didn¡¯t have any left. But Erani and Ainash had only used one each, so they still both had one remaining.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Erani said, looking at me strangely. Ainash confirmed, as well.


    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°Use them now, when you leave to go to get help. That way, if Xhag¡¯duul manages to slip past me or something, he still won¡¯t be able to find you.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Erani said, nodding. I was d she wasn¡¯t arguing anymore, at least. My worst-case scenario would be her and Ainashing back after leaving and realizing I was going to lose the fight, trying to interfere, and then dying themselves. No way I would let myself lose my life for nothing.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. Then I sighed. ¡°Then this is where we part ways.¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± she said with a hesitant nod. ¡°Don¡¯t die, okay? I¡¯ll kill you if you do.¡±


    <em>¡°Father, if you get in trouble, try to sever the Demon¡¯s head from his body. It will kill him.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Sure, kiddo,¡±</em> Iughed and patted her head, though it ended up being somewhat awkward, with her being taller than me. ¡°Erani, I¡¯ll do my best to stay alive.¡±


    ¡°You say that like you don¡¯t know whether you¡¯ll seed.¡±


    ¡°Everything¡¯s a risk.¡±


    ¡°But you shouldn¡¯t take any unnecessary ones.¡±


    ¡°But sometimes you just have to.¡±


    ¡°An.¡± Tears were welling in her eyes. ¡°You absolutely cannot die, okay? Don¡¯t y with me like that. You just can¡¯t. It¡¯s not allowed.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware you made the rules,¡± Iughed. I didn¡¯t want to cry, but I couldn¡¯t do much to hold back tears of my own, either. ¡°But if you say so. I¡¯ll try not to break your rule.¡±


    ¡°Promise me?¡±


    I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her. Our faces were close enough that I could see the salty tears roll down her cheeks and fall to the ground. ¡°...Yeah. I promise.¡±


    ¡°And if you break that promise?¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll be dead if I break it,¡± Iughed. ¡°Not sure I can do anything about it then.¡±


    ¡°Then you¡¯ll just have to pay it forward. Give me something. Call it coteral.¡±


    ¡°What, you won¡¯t give it back to me if I die? Don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be using anything at that point.¡±


    ¡°Just humor me, dammit,¡± she chuckled, body pressed against mine, shaking more tears from her cheeks.


    ¡°Fine, fine. Tell you what. I think I have a great idea of what to give you. If I live, you have to give it back to me, though.¡±


    ¡°And what¡¯s that?¡±


    I leaned forward and pushed my lips against hers.


    For a moment, a brief moment, it was like nothing was happening but that. But that small, insignificant kiss. A brief moment that meant everything in the entire world. Everything and more. Something that consumed my mind and my worries, refusing to allow me to think about anything else.


    She froze for a second, then leaned into it, herself. A few seconds passed, and then she pulled away. Our cheeks had pushed together and made watery messes of both of our faces, and we were each blushing hard enough to make it look even worse. My heart was beating faster than it had during any fight for my life, and I could feel hers pulsing to the same rhythm.


    ¡°I expect you to give me that back if I live,¡± I said.


    She smiled a bittersweet smile. ¡°I guess that makes for some good encouragement. But it just makes it worse for me if you die, too.¡±


    I sighed. Telling her this one lie over and over felt like it¡¯d kill me before the Demon would. ¡°Trust me. I¡¯ll live.¡±


    ¡°Okay. You better.¡± She took a deep breath, and I could feel her hands tightly clench the fabric of the back of my shirt. ¡°I love you, An.¡±


    And then she vanished into invisibility. I looked over, and Ainash was gone, too. I wasn¡¯t sure if she could hear me, but I said quietly, ¡°I love you too. Goodbye.¡±


    And then I turned around, looking toward the empty stretch of road I¡¯d just traveled, canyon walls on my either side.


    ¡°Alright, you Demon motherfucker. Do your worst. Because I sure as the hells just did mine.¡±

 Chapter 134.1: The Last Stand

    Chapter 134.1: The Last Stand


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    Seconds passed. Then a minute. Then two, three, four, five. I stood there, waiting for the Demon that would be my death toe to me. I had 480 Health, 231 Stamina, and 1220 Mana to my disposal, and I intended to use everyst point, everyst Stat, everyst Spell and Talent, everyst muscle in my body, thought in my mind, and droplet of determination left in my soul to bring that Demon¡¯s home ne up to the Overworld and make him experience a living hell. I didn¡¯t care if I died. He would not get to enjoy it.


    I feltpletely paranoid in my time waiting. There were a few boulders around me, fallen from the sheer cliffs making up the walls of the canyon, and it was like I kept hearing footsteps or movement from around them. But when I checked my surroundings for the hundredth time for some sort of ambush, I saw nothing. It was only a few minutes, but evidently waiting any amount of time for your certain demise didn¡¯t seem to be exactly healthy for the mind.


    So when I saw, over the horizon down the road, a cloud of dust approaching me, it almost felt like a relief. Followed directly by what seemed like a heart attack as I realized that, realistically, I probably only had a minute or two left before I was dead. I¡¯d experienced death before¡ªseen my Health drop to 0, seen the ¡°You have died¡± notification, everything¡ªbut I¡¯d never experienced that feeling of losing consciousness and never regaining it. Seemed like I¡¯d finally get to know what the full package was like.


    The cloud of dust approached closer and closer, and I saw more and more detail in the familiar sight. The silhouette sprinting at supernatural speed. It was him.


    Step after step he traveled pace after pace. Closer and closer, until¡ª


    You have cursed Level 61 Devil with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, he loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and his Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1077.


    You have struck Level 61 Devil for 58 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 61 Devil with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 7.76.


    25 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1052.


    I unleashed my barrage of curses on the Demon the moment he was in range, and then sprinted forward, myself. Crippling Chill, Ray of Frost, Gravity Well¡ªall of the effects tore into his Status and weakened his immensely-powerful body. Not a terribly impactful effect, but every bit counted.


    ¡°Right into it, huh?¡± I heard himugh right before I got into striking range.


    <em>Index</em>, I thought, <em>I want live readouts on whatever you can tell me about this guy. Health, Stamina, abilities he might activate, stuff like that.</em>


    ¡°Health? Well, after that Ray of Frost and about a second of Crippling Chill, we¡¯re at, what, ny-nine point¡­ eight percent? Not much to tell you in that department.¡±


    <em>Just tell me if it starts falling low!</em>


    I knew about some of his abilities from experience, and Index had given me a bit more specific knowledge while I¡¯d waited for him to arrive. I knew he had two main pieces to his arsenal: first, his physical power. That much was obvious. One hit from him was enough to kill most low- to mid-level things. Second, his ability to set pretty much anything he wanted on fire at will. Honestly, despite the fact that his physical attacks dealt so much damage, that was what scared me most about him.


    The thing about the attacks was that I could at least control when he hit me. Sure, I couldn¡¯t control it very <em>well</em> considering his immense speed, but it was at least something I could attempt to protect myself from. The fire? That was at will. No defense, no countermeasures. And even if it would take longer to kill me that way, I would pretty much have nothing I could do about it the moment it started. I certainly couldn¡¯t fight against him while my skin was melting off, that was for sure. Maybe if that Bond with Ainash had Ranked up more, and I had a more sizable Heat Resistance to protect me from the fire, I wouldn¡¯t have had to worry about it. But as-is, I had basically no countermeasures against that ability.


    So, while being within melee range of him was absolutely dangerous, it was also my core strategy. If I kept him moving, dodging, and on his toes, he wouldn¡¯t have the time to stop and set me aze. I just needed to keep him busy. And maybe, just maybe, I could somehow chip away at his Health until he died. Or, more likely, I could at least force him to work a bit before he killed me. And maybe feel just a little bit of pain.


    The moment I got close enough, I reached out to try and grab his arm in an Expedite-boosted lunge, the spiked gauntlets of Dark te forming a w ready to grip him and activate Noxious Grasp. But just before I could reach him, he shifted his body to the side, leaving me nothing to touch but air.


    I stumbled past him and instantly turned to lunge again for another strike.


    ¡°Eager, are we?¡± He asked in an infuriatingly conversational tone. Why couldn¡¯t he just take this seriously?


    I once again fell past him as he easily dodged my strike. I turned around and, this time, tried a new strategy. I still needed to make physical contact in order to get that Fester with Noxious Grasp active, as well as initiate Sanguine Bond. Every piece of my arsenal mattered here. So I reached out in an attempt to grab him with my right hand once again, just like I¡¯d done before, but this time, as my left was moving back as I twisted my body for more reach, I turn my left hand¡¯s palm to face the Demon just before he dodged and shot a Ray of Frost straight into his eyes.


    You have struck Level 61 Devil for 60 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 61 Devil with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 7.76.


    25 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 968.


    ¡°I really thought¡ª <em>Ah!</em> You dick!¡± He shouted in pain at the sudden source of damage.


    And in that moment, my hand reached his arm and brushed past it.


    You have cursed Level 61 Devil with Sanguine Bond. For the next 10 seconds, or until Level 61 Devil is further than 10 paces away from you, the following effects are true:


    It loses 6.21 Health, 7.76 Stamina, and 9.31 Mana per second.


    You gain 1.55 Health, 3.55 Stamina, and 4.65 Mana per second.


    238 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 730.


    With a split-second activation of both Sanguine Bond and Noxious Grasp, I managed to hit him with both effects. At this point, he had five separate debuffs wracking his Stats, Health, and Stamina. Certainly nothing to scoff at, but he still seemed rtively unfazed¡ªonly a minor fleck of annoyance on his face. Maybe some of it was a ruse, though¡ªacting tough just to get under my skin. I hoped that was the case.


    I turned again with my hand raised, ready to cast Ray of Frost. At this point, my goal was just to keep him within 10 paces for Sanguine Bond, but far enough away that he couldn¡¯t hit me. And, whenever an effect wore off, I needed to approach again to reapply it. Not exactly an easy job, but maybe I could manage.


    Xhag¡¯duul turned toward me. ¡°Okay. It seems like you want to skip the formalities. If anything, I¡¯m pleased. At least you understand the gravity of what¡¯s about to be done to you.¡±


    And then he lunged forward. The moment he began to move, I activated three stacks of Expedite on myself and stepped to the side in an attempt to avoid his strike. And with the extreme boost in mobility, I actually managed to do so. In what felt like slow-motion, his open hand flew right past where my head used to be, a gust of wind blowing by my right ear in the wake of his arm. I backed away again.


    With my Mana running so low after all three activations of Expedite¡ªit¡¯d just run below 550¡ªI was forced to deactivate the constant drain of Gravity Well, or be forced to face running out of Mana very soon. And the moment I did so, Xhag¡¯duul stood up a little bit straighter. Though, honestly, whenparing his immense strength to his rtively light body weight, I doubted Gravity Well was doing much to actually hinder him.


    He sighed and shook his head. ¡°So you actually managed to avoid an attack, huh? It¡¯s fine, I guess you¡¯ve gotten some practice against me in a previous timeline. Though, really, that terrified look on your face really does make up for the extra effort I have to spend. It is just <em>so</em> cathartic to look at. Maybe you¡¯ve already heard me say that too, though? Say, where are those two others you keep hanging around? The girl and the pet?¡±


    I took a breath. With my passive Mana regeneration and Sanguine Bond running, I was getting back around 6 Mana every second that passed with him just standing around talking. ¡°Nowhere you¡¯ll find them. They¡¯re long gone by now.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so what, this is some sort of distraction, then? Hate to break it to you, but that¡¯s a pretty moronic n. I¡¯m not looking for them, dumbass. I¡¯m looking for you. It doesn¡¯t matter if they survive¡ªI still win. I¡¯m happy whether they live or die. Did you not even think about that?¡±


    What was he talking about? This wasn¡¯t some game with win and loss conditions. My goal wasn¡¯t to just make him unhappy as possible. Did he not even realize? He must¡¯ve had a pretty twisted view of me in his head.


    ¡°Oh well,¡± he shrugged before I could respond. ¡°I was looking forward to killing them in front of you, but I guess I¡¯ll just have to settle with seeing you scream in agony.¡±

 Chapter 134.2: The Last Stand

    Chapter 134.2: The Last Stand


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    ¡°Oh well,¡± Xhag¡¯duul shrugged. ¡°I was looking forward to killing them in front of you, but I guess I¡¯ll just have to settle with seeing you scream in agony.¡±


    He raised his hand in a familiar motion¡ªhe was about to try and use that Inferno ability on me! Before he could, I dashed forward in a desperate attempt to keep him upied. One, two, three Rays of Frost shot from my hands, all hitting his body as I sprinted at him.


    His hand continued to raise, his fingers closed together to snap, but just before he did, I tackled straight into him, body colliding with his in a rush of Dexterity-enhanced speed.


    And it was like hitting a solid stone wall.


    You have been mmed into something. 23 damage.


    Your Health is 457.


    My body crumpled up while he stayedpletely still, not relenting or moving a single bit despite my best efforts. I heaved out a grunt from the sudden, unexpectedly-solid impact of what could only generously be called a ¡°tackle.¡±


    I stumbled back with a groan.


    ¡°You still don¡¯t get it, do you?¡± Xhag¡¯duulughed. He took a step forward. ¡°I¡¯m ying with you. You¡¯re a <em>toy</em> to me. This is fun. What, you really think you can hurt me? You think you can stop me from doing something I want to do? You think you can <em>kill</em> me? You¡¯re even more of aplete fucking idiot than I thought.¡±


    Crippling Chill¡¯s timer wore off, and so did Sanguine Bond.


    ¡°Well?¡± he said. ¡°What do you have to say? Got any grand speech? Last words?¡±


    I stood up straight, looking into his eyes. He looked at me. Then I rushed back at him again, recasting Crippling Chill right before I reached him in an attempt to catch him off-guard. But, faster than he¡¯d been before, he sidestepped and mmed his fist into my back.


    You have been punched. 61 damage.


    Your Health is 396.


    I stumbled forward from the sudden impact, falling face-first into the dirt.


    ¡°Holy shit!¡± Xhag¡¯duulughed. ¡°You are trying <em>so</em> hard! It¡¯s pointless, man! Pointless! There¡¯s nothing you can do here. Total waste of effort.¡±


    I got back to my feet, breathing hard. Fuck. Why was I doing this? He wasughing. Laughing! And judging from the damage he¡¯d dealt, I knew he was going easy on me. Like he¡¯d said, he was a dog ying with an animal before he killed it.


    I knew I was going to die. And I¡¯d promised myself that, if I died, I wouldn¡¯t let this asshole enjoy it. But here he was having the time of his life.


    <em>What¡¯s his Health at?</em> I mentally asked Index.


    ¡°Uh¡­above ny percent.¡±


    I let out an exhausted sigh. <em>Stamina?</em>


    ¡°That one¡¯s below ny percent, but not by much. Closer to eighty.¡±


    At least I¡¯d made a dent. Still, seeing that his Stamina was still so high while my Mana¡ªthe main method I had of draining his Stamina¡ªwas already below half wasn¡¯t exactly encouraging.


    He wasn¡¯t immortal, sure, but my efforts to hurt him were clearly not working very well. I just didn¡¯t have the ability to deal any real damage to this guy. And the harder I tried, the more he seemed to enjoy it.


    Though that did make sense. Every time he fought me in the past, he took joy in my suffering. He killed people in front of me just to see how I¡¯d react, he pretended to believe my lies just to see me try and then burned me alive afterward, and now he was letting me fight in this sham of a battle just for the sake of the apparent hrity of it all.


    Or, no, not the hrity. He wasughing, sure, but I thought back to when he¡¯d first killed me. He was upset. He was stressed, and frustrated, and mad at the world, and he wanted to see someone else feel the way he did. He wanted to upset me, to hurt me, to make me feel hopeless, because that was what I¡¯d inadvertently done to him.


    So, to make him suffer, to make him look back at this moment and hate the memory instead of love it, wouldn¡¯t I just have to show him it was impossible to make me feel that way? Show him that his efforts were wasted?


    I took a deep breath and, despite the physical pain and the emotional turmoil of knowing my time alive was just about up, Iughed. And honestly, it was a pretty genuineugh. It may have been dark humor, but my situation was still objectively funny. Someone as close as I was to escaping, losing my life now? After everything, all of the enemies I¡¯d in, and some asshole I¡¯d never even met wasing to end it all. So Iughed.


    Instantly, I could see some annoyance sh across Xhag¡¯duul¡¯s face. ¡°What? What¡¯s so funny?¡±


    ¡°No, no, don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I said. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t get it.¡±


    ¡°What wouldn¡¯t I get? Have you just gonepletely insane, or something? Fucking dementia-ridden Humans. Maybe putting you out of your misery would be doing you a favor.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Iughed some more, settling with a simple smile on my face. ¡°I guess I just made my peace. I can¡¯t control this stuff, so you win. You did well, and you deserve the victory. Good job, man. You¡¯re strong, and you¡¯re a pretty talented fighter to boot. It just makes sense that someone weaker, like me, would lose to someone stronger.¡±


    ¡°W-well, yeah, that¡¯s true.¡± He seemed like he was trying to convince himself. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s true. You¡¯re weak and I¡¯m strong. It¡¯s ridiculous for you to resist. You¡¯re aplete idiot for even trying, actually.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± I nodded. ¡°I guess I¡¯m a bit dumb. Maybe I was an idiot, but at least I realize now that I can¡¯t fight fate. And I¡¯m not doing something so hubristic as trying to im my death isn¡¯t fair anymore. I mean, saying something like I don¡¯t deserve this, when that¡¯s just how strength works? It was pretty idiotic of me, I agree. I do deserve it. Everyst bit of suffering. Soy it on me.¡±


    Xhag¡¯duul furrowed his brow. And I knew why. Whatever his situation was, he felt like we were in simr predicaments. And he¡¯d said countless times how <em>his</em> suffering wasn¡¯t fair, or how <em>he</em> didn¡¯t deserve any of it. This whole time, he wasn¡¯t just trying to hurt me, he was trying to goad me into agreeing with him, by having me say the same things about my own life. All he wanted was someone to validate those feelings. And I refused to give it to him.


    ¡°Listen,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re trying to do, but it isn¡¯t working.¡±


    ¡°What? What am I trying to do?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re trying to¡­get in my head, or something. This is just some mind game to you. I know how you work. You trick people into helping you. That¡¯s how you got those royal guards to spare you, how you got the Faeries to cure you, and probably how you got your two littlepanions to like you in the first ce. You¡¯re a fucking liar and a fraud.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really see how that applies,¡± I shrugged. ¡°I mean, I can¡¯t really convince you to leave me alone, can I? I have literally nothing on you. You¡¯re above me in every way. To assume that I could ever hope to escape your grasp, get out from under your thumb, take any sort of retaliation, that¡¯d be pretty delusional of me, right? Even if you spared me, you¡¯d just lord that over my head for the rest of my life. That I owe you everything. I don¡¯t want to live in an existence so pathetic as one where I have to live every day worrying about what someone else wants me to do, what someone else thinks of me, worrying about if that someone else decides I¡¯ve outlived my usefulness, and they want to kill me now. I¡¯d rather just be free.¡±


    He snarled and began walking up to me. ¡°You know what? Sure. I think you <em>have</em> outlived your usefulness. Fucking asshole.¡±


    I tensed up as I knew what wasing. But I couldn¡¯t let the fear show. He¡¯d just enjoy it if I did. ¡°Sure. Go ahead.¡±


    He grabbed me by my neck and threw me into a wall. Hard. Harder than he¡¯d done before, apparently fueled by anger.


    You have been mmed against something. 2.1k damage.


    Dark te has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 240.


    Your Health is 156.


    I coughed out in pain as the Dark te crunched and took the blow for me. At least, it took most of the blow. I was still left with quite a bit of damage, though.


    I fell to the ground in the familiar scene, reminding me of the first time he¡¯d killed me. But this time, I knew not to give him anything to cheer him up.


    I looked up at him as I activated Regenerate, healing what I could. If nothing else, just to help relieve the pain. ¡°Nice arm.¡±


    ¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± He screamed as he approached me. ¡°Why the fuck aren¡¯t you dead?!¡±


    ¡°Got a Spell. Pretty useful sometimes. But feel free to try killing me again. Should work eventually.¡±


    ¡°Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up! Shut the fuck up!¡± The Demon stomped his foot into the ground over and over, causing a localized earthquake in what could only be called a child¡¯s temper tantrum. ¡°You¡¯re going to fucking die! Don¡¯t you get that? Die. You won¡¯t exist anymore. Are you so fucking stupid that you don¡¯t understand that?! How can you not be afraid? How can you not want to avoid it? How do you think it¡¯s fair?! It¡¯s not! It¡¯s not fair! I¡¯m killing you for literally no reason! You did <em>nothing</em> wrong, and yet you¡¯re still being punished for it! Wanna know something? It was my mistake that caused all of this. I was the one who didn¡¯t maintain our prisons well enough for Temporus to get loose. And because of that, all of this happened to you. <em>My</em> mistakes led to <em>your</em> suffering. How is that fair?!¡±


    ¡°Well, the powerful get to choose the punishments for the weak,¡± I said, trying to hide the fact I was gasping rasps of air through my lungs. I slid up, so I was at least sitting instead of lying on the ground. ¡°I¡¯m just not good enough to be able to defend myself. And it¡¯s my fault for that. Even if you made a mistake, I still mishandled the situation afterward. And if you decide to punish me for that, then you get to do so. You¡¯re probably wiser than me anyway.¡±


    ¡°You are so fucking stupid! You just don¡¯t get it! How in the fuck do you not understand how fucking horrible this is?! What I¡¯m doing to you is the worst thing a person could <em>ever</em> do to someone else!¡±


    I just shrugged. <em>Let it be over</em>, I thought. The pain from hitting that wall, even with Regenerate, was awful. Maybe it¡¯d get better in thirty seconds or so if I kept activating the Talent, but I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to go that long without another hit. All I hoped for was that the hit woulde before Dark te came back. That way I¡¯d at least die instantly.


    But there was one source of sce from the pain. From knowing I¡¯d disappear for good soon. From knowing that I wouldn¡¯t, after all, get that kiss back from Erani. From knowing I¡¯d leave Ainash with a dead parental figure a second time. At least, even if I caused all that suffering to the people I loved, I¡¯d get to cause all this suffering to the person I hated. It certainly wasn¡¯t worth it¡ªnot by a long shot¡ªbut it was something.


    ¡°Fuck! You!¡± Xhag¡¯duul screamed and marched toward me, fist clenched.


    <em>Guess this is it,</em> I nodded to myself. <em>End of the line.</em>


    But then, before he could reach me, Xhag¡¯duul exploded in a ball of fire.


    ¡­<em>What?</em>

 Chapter 135.1: The True Battle Begins

    Chapter 135.1: The True Battle Begins


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    I was sitting up against the stone wall Xhag¡¯duul had thrown me into, Dark te broken and sure that I wouldn¡¯t live to see the next ten seconds. The Demon marched toward me, fist clenched.


    But then, before he could reach me, Xhag¡¯duul exploded in a ball of fire.


    ¡­<em>What?</em>


    For a split-second, I actually thought he died. But I quickly shook the thought from my mind. There was no kill notification. And as I watched, the explosion dissipated, leaving the Demon staring off to his side with a scorch mark on his enraged face. Then something flew in from the side again¡ªa Firebolt, I recognized¡ªand impacted him, resulting in another explosion.


    I looked over at the direction the Firebolts hade from and saw nothing.


    ¡°An, you fucking idiot!¡± A voice shouted. ¡°You told me you¡¯d do your best to <em>not</em> die! What the fuck was that?!¡±


    ¡°Erani?!¡± I recognized the voice, the realization that she was here enough to spur me from my stunned position lying on the ground. I quickly pushed myself up to my feet, trying to ignore the pain in my body when I did so. ¡°Why are you here?¡±


    ¡°Ainash could tell you were lying, you moron,¡± she said. She was tearing up¡ªI could hear it. ¡°You never had any intention to survive. No way to survive. And I am <em>not</em> going to let you just give up like that!¡±


    Her voice wasing from my left, where I was looking, but I still couldn¡¯t see her. She was still under the effects of invisibility, I realized. ¡°Ainash is here too?¡±


    <em>¡°I am little bit far away,¡± </em>the familiar voice spoke into my mind. <em>¡°But do not tell bad guy! I am sneaking.¡±</em>


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have stayed,¡± I said. Relief cracked my voice, but also fear. It was one thing for me to lose my life to the hands of this Demon. But if they died, too? It would¡¯ve truly all been for nothing. ¡°You need to leave, before¡ª¡±


    A scream of rage interrupted me. I turned back to see Xhag¡¯duul swipe his fist through the cloud of smoke that enveloped him. ¡°You think you can kill me with some puny fucking Spells?! Where the fuck are you?!¡±


    I backed away, eager to put some distance between me and the clearly deranged Demon. Regenerate had finished doing its thing, putting my Health back up to 186, but it wasn¡¯t enough. Once Dark te was active again in around 30 seconds, I needed to be above 240 to survive another hit. So I activated Regenerate once again, praying that I¡¯d be able to buy enough time to at least survive a bit longer.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 29.6 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    50 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 111.


    Since Erani and Ainash were still invisible, they were mostly safe for now. I was still vulnerable, but thankfully Xhag¡¯duul didn¡¯t seem to care about me at the moment.


    ¡°Interrupting my fucking execution! What the fuck is wrong with you people?!¡± He stomped away, in the direction of where Erani¡¯sst Firebolt hade from. But I had no doubt that she was long gone from there by now.


    <em>¡°What¡¯s the n? How are we escaping?¡±</em> I mentally asked Ainash.


    <em>¡°We are not escaping!¡± </em>She replied. <em>¡°Are going to kill the bad guy!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay, please pass that question along to mom and tell me what </em>she <em>says, not what you want to do.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Mother says so! Says that running will only lead to bad guy catching up and killing us. So will kill the bad guy and then will be safe forever.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What? How would we even begin to do that?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°My job to kill bad guy!¡± </em>She said. <em>¡°Your job to get bad guy in right spot to be killed.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°And where¡¯s that spot?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Do not know yet. Will tell you.¡±</em>


    ¡°An Nota!¡± Xhag¡¯duul whipped around after searching the area and not finding Erani. ¡°What the fuck are you trying to do?¡±


    I continued backing away. Regenerate had finished again, Health was up to 216, so it was time to activate it again.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 29.6 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    50 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 61.


    ¡°Not sure what you mean,¡± I said, trying my best to stall for time. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything.¡±


    ¡°You called your fuckingckeys on me, huh?! I know you and your devious little fucking lies and maniptions. You can silently talk to those other two somehow. Probably have them stationed up in sniper positions somewhere.¡± He looked wildly around at his surroundings, up at the cliffs and at the few trees in sight. ¡°This whole time you were fucking mocking me to them. This was all nned out, huh? Thought you were so fucking sneaky? Thought you could n out all those little jabs andments just to your worthless ego? Well I figured you out, you stupid fucking dumbass!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not quite there,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t really know about any of this, either. Just got saved by some people who care about me. Think you¡¯re a little paranoid.¡±


    ¡°You smug motherfucker,¡± he growled, taking a step forward to me.


    Then another Firebolt appeared out of nowhere and sped forward, straight into Xhag¡¯duul¡¯s face, exploding on impact.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± He screamed, holding a hand to the cheek it impacted. ¡°I¡¯ll fucking kill you!¡±


    I held up a hand, shooting him with a couple Rays of Frost. 57 damage. 62 damage. Mana was down to 514. Just keep him from thinking. If he wasn¡¯t so angry in this moment, he¡¯d probably have understood that the correct course of action would just be to ignore the distractions and kill me anyway. It wouldn¡¯t take much time, and I highly doubted the Firebolts caused any more pain than something like a wasp¡¯s sting to us. Annoying, sure, and it would definitely leave a mark, but not anything that was actually concerning.


    But in his current state, he wasn¡¯t thinking about this logically. And all we had to do was keep him like that. Well, evidently that was the n Erani and Ainash had made. Ainash had some sort of method to kill him soon, but first we had to buy her time to prepare whatever it was she was doing.


    ¡°An Nota, I swear to the lord below,¡± Xhag¡¯duul growled at me, ¡°you will regret this so much. I will make you watch every single person you love die. I will keep you alive just so you can see them scream in agony. And then I¡¯ll do <em>everything</em> I did to them, to you. So that you know exactly how it felt when they died. So you know exactly how much <em>your </em>decisions made <em>them</em> suffer. I will fucking¡ª¡±


    He was cut off by another explosioning from yet another location. I kept backing away, trying to put enough distance between us that I¡¯d at least have <em>some</em> time to react if he ever made a move toward me. But ten paces, even twenty paces wasn¡¯t enough. Really, I wouldn¡¯t have any time at all.


    Once again, Regenerate wore off. My Stamina was pretty low by this point, so I didn¡¯t want to activate it again if I didn¡¯t have to. And since my Health was at 246, I technically didn¡¯t need to¡ªit was above 240, Dark te¡¯s threshold. And I¡¯d gotten another notification, too.


    Dark te is no longer broken.


    I was safe for one more hit, now. Though, even if Dark te saved me, I certainly wouldn¡¯t be in very good shape afterward.


    Xhag¡¯duul picked up a loose stone from the ground around as big as my head and threw it in the direction Erani¡¯sst Firebolt hade from. It slung so fast through the air that I couldn¡¯t even follow, but a chest-shaking <em>crack</em> told me that it¡¯d apparently embedded itself into the stone wall behind the area. At least it hadn¡¯t found its target.


    ¡°Where the fuck are those damn Spellsing from¡­¡± Xhag¡¯duul muttered, ncing around the area.


    Again, trying to keep him upied, I fired off a few more Rays of Frost, all of them hitting against his back. ¡°Hey bud, I¡¯m still here. You¡¯re not done with me.¡±


    ¡°Oh, believe me, I am <em>not</em> done with you,¡± he said, turning to face me. He seemed only somewhat hurt by the hundreds of damage I¡¯d done to him with the Spell¡ªand the probably thousands of damage he¡¯d taken from Erani.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Index confirmed my thoughts. ¡°He¡¯s still a bit above eighty percent.¡±


    We¡¯d certainly dealt a significant amount, but we were low on Mana, and I had a strong feeling that Xhag¡¯duul would just kill me instantly if he ever started to genuinely fear for his life. The damage was just a distraction. If it kept him talking, it was working.


    He continued, ¡°I just want to get rid of your annoying little friend, first. If you die before her, you don¡¯t get to see her in pain. So you¡¯ll just have to wait, <em>bud.</em>¡±


    ¡°Well good luck finding her,¡± I said. ¡°Lost cause, if you ask me. You can¡¯t do anything, so just give up.¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± Heughed. ¡°Give up? Yeah, sure. <em>I¡¯m</em> the one who should be afraid. <em>I¡¯m</em> the one who should be hopeless. Go fuck yourself. How¡¯d you even get ess to invisibility, anyway? Is this some other miraculous fucking Spell you got that can save the day? Is there anything you <em>can¡¯t</em> do?¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. He was still gazing across the edges of the cliffs and along the ground, no doubt looking for hints of movement from Erani. I wracked my mind for something to keep him talking. ¡°I¡¯ve definitely got a decent repertoire. What are your Stats at, anyway? You don¡¯t seem too hindered by my debuffs.¡±


    ¡°Enough,¡± he said absentmindedly, seeming to grow more and more frustrated as the seconds passed and he continued to see no sign of Erani. ¡°Oh, I remember now! You got those damn invisibility rings from the stupid fucking scout we sent! The one you murdered and looted the corpse of.¡±


    ¡°Not sure you get to be the one to criticize us for killing. You¡¯ve done more than enough. Tell me, how many people have you killed?¡±


    ¡°A few,¡± he said, squinting curiously and pausing for a moment. Then he shrugged and quickly turned to me. ¡°But I think I¡¯ll go ahead and add one more to my count.¡±


    And then he sprinted straight at me, crazed look of determination on his face. I tried to backpedal, raising my arms in defense despite knowing they wouldn¡¯t help at all. Fuck, I was using up myst lifeline already?! If he hit me here, I¡¯d¡ª


    But Xhag¡¯duul¡¯s advance was stopped short by an explosion at his feet. Two more followed, each Firebolt being thrown straight into his head. Xhag¡¯duul bent over in pain, crouching down and gripping his fingers in the dirt as he looked over at where the Spells hade from.


    Wait, what? How were they so painful that they stopped him in his tracks and even knocked him to the ground? Something wasn¡¯t¡ª


    ¡°There!¡± he shouted and flung his hands in the direction Erani was still in. A barrage of rocks and pebbles shot through the air, perforating the cliff face with the extreme force they¡¯d been thrown with.


    I heard Erani scream in pain and she suddenly appeared, mid-retreat from his attack. The damage from the stones had cut her invisibility short, and Xhag¡¯duul stared right at her with a look of deranged excitement.

 Chapter 135.2: The True Battle Begins

    Chapter 135.2: The True Battle Begins


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    Xhag¡¯duul flung a barrage of rocks and pebbles through the air, perforating the cliff face with the extreme force they¡¯d been thrown with, and Erani, who¡¯d been hiding in that exact area, screamed in pain. Evidently, she hadn¡¯t been quick enough with her dodging, as the damage from the stones had cut her invisibility short.


    Xhag¡¯duulughed and got back up to his feet. He shook his head. ¡°Stupid fucking Humans. Your wed, emotional nature always gets the better of you.¡±


    Reaching into my mind, I instantly went to activate as many curses on the Demon as I could¡ªmaybe I could slow him down. But before I could even cast a single Spell, he took a step forward so he could touch me, reached out, grabbed the bicep on my right arm, and squeezed. Hard.


    You have been crushed. 70 damage.


    Your Health is 176.


    Your arm has been broken.


    A snapping sound filled the air and a bolt of pain rushed through my arm, shoulder, chest, entire body. I screamed and recoiled away, trying to escape his grasp. And, surprisingly, it actually worked. I looked up and saw that Xhag¡¯duul had let go of me.


    Then, he reached up and pped me across the side of my face with the back of his hand, hitting me so hard I was tossed across the air and to the ground.


    You have been hit by something. 52 damage.


    Your Health is 124.


    I tumbled across the dirt. But in the instant he was touching me, I¡¯d managed to get off one Spell.


    You have cursed Level 61 Devil with Sanguine Bond. For the next 10 seconds, or until Level 61 Devil is further than 10 paces away from you, the following effects are true:


    It loses 6.21 Health, 7.76 Stamina, and 9.31 Mana per second.


    You gain 1.55 Health, 3.55 Stamina, and 4.65 Mana per second.


    238 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 201.


    Not much, but I was below the necessary threshold of 240 Health now. Maybe I could get enough Health regeneration to push me back above it. But that would take a lot of time. Time I didn¡¯t have. He was here, and he was going to kill me.


    Just as I thought that, my enemy turned away from me. I was still groaning in pain, unable to do much in terms of inquiring what he was up to. Then I remembered what he¡¯d said. He had just revealed Erani from her invisibility. And he wanted me to watch her die.


    ¡°Fuck,¡± I coughed weakly. ¡°No. No!¡±


    I raised my only good arm and pointed my hand at the Demon as he began to walk away, hitting him with a couple poorly-aimed Rays of Frost for a few dozen damage apiece. He ignored them, continuing in his stride toward her. I chased after him, trying my best to ignore the pain in my arm as it flopped uselessly by my side.


    Erani was backing away, hand raised in preparation to cast, but I could see the fear in her eyes. What could I do?!


    <em>¡°Ainash! Can you save her?!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What going on? Not watching fight right now!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What?! Where the fuck are you, then?!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Getting something to kill bad guy with! Stay alive for just little longer and then can kill him.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Please juste back! We can get her and run!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Cannot right now! Please help mother if she is in trouble!¡±</em>


    No! She wasn¡¯t going to die. I wouldn¡¯t let her die. But I couldn¡¯t <em>do</em> anything! My Spells were pointless, I¡¯d even lost use of an arm. I had no options. Nothing to hurt him with.


    ¡°Fuck you!¡± I could hear Erani shout, shooting off Firebolt after Firebolt at the approaching Demon. They did nothing to slow his progress.


    ¡°Stop!¡± I shouted after him.


    He kept going, running at a speed that just barely outpaced her¡ªseemingly deliberately, as if he wanted to draw out this moment as much as he could. At some point, he got past the ten-pace limit of Sanguine Bond, breaking it a few seconds early.


    ¡°Fight me!¡± I yelled.


    Nothing.


    ¡°You¡¯re here for me, not her!¡±


    He just kept moving. Only a few paces between them, now, and Erani had turned to run in a full-on sprint. He was still gaining on her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do anything!¡±


    The Demon reached out and caught her by the wrist. She pulled and tugged to get away from him, and as I watched, she even shot off a point-nk Firebolt straight into his face, enveloping them both in an explosion. But when the smoke cleared, he was still there, holding onto her. She¡¯d obviously taken some damage, but it seemed like the fire resistance from her Bond with Ainash had saved her from the majority of the damage. Not that Ainash was of any help now. Where the fuck was she?!


    ¡°You seem a lot less confident, now that you¡¯ve lost your invisibility,¡± I could practically hear the sneer in Xhag¡¯duul¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Let me go!¡± she responded. He didn¡¯t.


    It was only then that he turned back to look at me, and I could see the expression on his face. It was one of pure glee. Pure, insane happiness. Excitement that he¡¯d get to see me suffer, after all.


    ¡°Xhag¡¯duul!¡± I screamed. ¡°I will fucking kill you!¡±


    He actually paused at that. For a moment, I thought it was the threat, but then I realized I¡¯d never actually called him by his name yet, in this timeline. He was probably just somewhat shocked I knew it. But I did my best to capitalize on that.


    ¡°I know everything about you,¡± I grunted, stumbling toward them in spite of my pain. He was probably over fifty paces away by now, but I knew that, with his stats, he probably had the senses to hear me just fine. ¡°I know your name, I know what you want, and I know what you¡¯re afraid of. I know your boss, Quinmorada, and I know she thinks you¡¯re a failure. I know you can¡¯t stand how unfairly you¡¯ve been treated. I know you just want your life back. I know you <em>need</em> to have your life back. Please. I¡¯ll work with you. I¡¯ll help you get your life back. Just let her go. Let all of us go. We¡¯ll help you. We can work together.¡±


    ¡°Together?¡± he asked. His tone was almost hopeful. He began to walk toward me, pulling the still struggling Erani along with him.


    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I said, still pushing the words out through my pained grunts. ¡°I won¡¯t hold any of this against you. Promise. Just let her go. Please.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯m worried,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m scared of them.¡±


    ¡°I know. I can help,¡± I took a deep breath. We were close, now. Just fifteen paces away from each other. ¡°Just let Erani go, and we can talk about it.¡±


    ¡°But¡­but¡­¡± his expression suddenly changed, from the genuine, hopeful one, back to a dead face with a permanent half-snarl etched onto it. ¡°But I want to see you suffer.¡±


    He reached back with his other hand and grabbed the base of her forearm, so one hand was on her wrist and another just below her elbow.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± Erani yelled and shot off another desperate Firebolt straight into him, her own Angelic Shield protecting her, but it still did nothing to stop him.


    And so his arms tensed. And I realized he was pulling. One hand pulling her wrist away from his other hand, keeping her arm in ce. Erani screamed in pain, and he pulled harder. I shouted and stepped forward, trying to stop him.


    But I was toote, and he finished pulling.


    Erani¡¯s hand was ripped off of her arm.


    The fraction of a second felt like an eternity. I could see the image of the palm and fingers, half of her forearm still attached to the wrist, separated from the rest of her body. Her skin tore, the bone in her arm cracked in half, strings of muscle stretched and then snapped, and her hand, wrist, and the top half of her forearm were ripped away.


    And then the eternity of the moment ended, and time continued. Blood sshed against my face, the iron scent oozing into my nose. Xhag¡¯duul¡¯s wickedughter mixed with Erani¡¯s blood-curdling scream to make a horrifying cacophony of noise assaulting my ear. The pain of my own fractured arm faded into a dull hum as I saw the exposed white of Erani¡¯s stump turn red from the blood that squirted over it.


    And in that moment, I realized. I was going to kill that motherfucker. I didn¡¯t give a damn <em>what</em> was considered physically possible.


    He had to die.

 Chapter 136.1: The True Battle Rages

    Chapter 136.1: The True Battle Rages


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    I stood holding my broken arm steady, looking at Erani, who had copsed to the ground with her entire forearm ripped from her elbow. Xhag¡¯duul had let her go at this point, too busy doubling over, cackling with his hands on knees.


    I ignored him and rushed over to Erani. My hands were shaking. <em>What do I do?</em>


    Erani half-groaned, half-screamed in pain, her remaining hand holding onto the stump as it squirted out more and more blood.


    ¡°I¡ªI,¡± I stammered, frantically looking around, ¡°let me help you up. I¡¯ll get you away from here. Just¡ªjust let me¡­¡±


    Erani looked up at me, face white and forehead covered in sweat. She breathed shakily, gasps of air the only noise she made. She looked like she waspletely in shock. Difficulty breathing, pale skin, probably too in pain to speak at all.


    I knelt down, trying to wedge my one good arm under her arms to help her up. ¡°C¡¯mon¡­let¡¯s get up, and then we can¡ª¡±


    ¡°An,¡± Index suddenly said, ¡°behind you!¡±


    I looked back and saw Xhag¡¯duul, who had stoppedughing, standing behind me. He lifted up his foot, and stomped on my kneeling leg.


    You have been crushed. 89 damage.


    Your Health is 46.


    Your leg has been broken.


    I screamed and fell to the ground, dropping Erani with me. My leg was bent in the middle of the shin, and bleeding from the blunt impact of the Demon¡¯s heel.


    ¡°Oh, shut the fuck up,¡± he spat. ¡°You won¡¯t die. I made sure it wasn¡¯t enough to kill you. Because you need to see what happens next. Your insults and mockery, your fucking disrespect, this is where it allnded you. You¡¯re being punished. Take it like someone who actually respects themself. Not the whimpering fucking loser you are. At least <em>pretend</em> to be worth something in yourst moments.¡±


    He walked over and nudged Erani with his foot. She stirred, looking up at him. Hair matted her face. When she saw who it was, her eyes widened and she began to kick away from him. She held her hand up, shakily pointing at the Demon.


    ¡°Don¡¯t shoot him,¡± I coughed to her. ¡°Won¡¯t do anything. Don¡¯t lose any more Health.¡±


    With an injury bleeding as much as hers was, I knew she was probably slowly losing Health from the blood loss. She couldn¡¯t afford to lose any more shooting Firebolts that just ssh back to hit her.


    I didn¡¯t know if she heard me¡ªor if she even processed what I was saying¡ªbut she didn¡¯t end up firing anything off. Just frantically pushing herself away with her feet.


    Xhag¡¯duul looked back at me, shaking his head. ¡°It¡¯s like you still think you¡¯re going to live through this. What the fuck do you think is going to happen?! Some god is going to descend from the skies to kill me for being a bad guy? You¡¯re fucking delusional. It doesn¡¯t matter if she dies by my hand, or from the bleeding, or from a suicidal point-nk explosion. She will not make it out of this. Neither will you.¡±


    <em>¡°Father!¡±</em> Ainash¡¯s voice interrupted the response I was preparing to make. <em>¡°Am almost ready to kill the bad guy!¡±</em>


    I fought back a gasp of relief. Thank the gods. We were saved. <em>¡°Good! Please hurry, this motherfucker needs to die.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°He did </em>what<em> to mother?!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Wh¡ªno,¡± </em>I said. This was not the time for misunderstandings. <em>¡°Well, he did hurt her. But not¡ªlisten. Get over here quickly. We¡¯re in trouble.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay. But first, need you to put bad guy in very specific spot.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It is the n! Need bad guy to be in specific spot to kill him.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Why do¡ª¡± </em>I sighed. <em>¡°Where?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Do not know yet. But it will be close to cliff.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Which one?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Um. Do not know how to tell you. How do I tell you which cliff? Do not know what way you are facing, so do not know if it is in front of you or behind.¡±</em>


    Xhag¡¯duul shook his head, looking at me. ¡°Uh, hello? Are you even paying attention? Ugh, are you having a panic attack or something? Fuck, if you aren¡¯t even conscious of what¡¯s happening, there¡¯s no point.¡±


    <em>¡°Do you remember when I taught you the cardinal directions?¡±</em> I frantically asked. <em>¡°Which direction? East, or west?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Umm, umm¡­east! Need bad guy near east cliff!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay. Working on it. Tell me when you¡¯re ready.¡±</em>


    I pushed myself up to my feet, which was difficult, considering the broken arm and leg. I was pretty muchpletely supporting myself with the good one, which wasn¡¯t good for my bnce. And I was sure attempting to stand probably also wasn¡¯t good for my injuries. But we were almost there. I couldn¡¯t worry about pain right now. We were almost out of this.


    ¡°Oh?¡± Xhag¡¯duul watched me make my pathetic attempt at standing. Behind him, I could see Erani. Using her one hand and her teeth, she ripped off a strip of fabric from her shirt and was currently trying to tie a tourniquet around the still-bleeding stump on her arm. I needed to keep him away from her, and I needed to get him to the east cliff face, about ten paces behind me. Thankfully, that <em>wasn¡¯t</em> in the direction of Erani, so I at least didn¡¯t have to get him past her.


    I backed away, limping heavily, as he watched me.


    ¡°You¡¯re just going to abandon her?¡± he nodded his head back at Erani, who was still working on bandaging her wounds, wincing as she tightened the knot. ¡°I guess you don¡¯t care as much as I thought you did.¡±


    ¡°Xhag¡¯duul,¡± I said once I was leaned up against the cliff face, ¡°you¡¯re a worthless piece of shit.¡±


    Heughed. ¡°Name calling, eh? That¡¯s what we¡¯ve devolved to?¡±


    ¡°No. I mean it. Think about it for me. Can you name one person, one person who would disagree with me? Someone other than you that actually values your contributions to the world?¡±


    His face soured. ¡°I¡­I don¡¯t need to prove myself to you, Human. You¡¯re calling <em>me</em> worthless? What have you ever done to contribute to your little society?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t change the subject.¡± I coughed. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a rhetorical question. Seriously. Name one person. Someone who genuinely feels like you matter. I¡¯ve already told you, I know a lot about you. And I know you aren¡¯t very valued. Your boss would certainly agree with me. She hates you. And I¡¯d suspect whoever she got to rece your old position doesn¡¯t think very highly of you, either. So then, what, do your underlings think of you as some wonderful boss? Could you honestly tell me you¡¯ve been a good, effective leader for them?¡±


    ¡°What the fuck is your point? So what if people don¡¯t like me?¡± He took a step forward, scowling. ¡°They¡¯re fucking stupid, anyway. They don¡¯t get it. They don¡¯t understand what it¡¯s like to be in my position. You think it¡¯s easy?¡±


    ¡°My point is that you¡¯re ipetent,¡± I said. ¡°You can¡¯t do anything right. First, you let Temporus escape, and let me kill it. Then you botched the initial invasion, and let me get away. Then you fucked up every single attempt you made after that to kill me. You fucked up your rtions with the kingdom and had to take manual control over Koinkar just to get him to do what you say, you fucked up your little wall project because you forgot Dragons existed, and now you¡¯re fucking this onest objective up.¡±


    He squinted. ¡°How do you think I¡¯m failing here? Do you really believe you¡¯re somehow winning the fight? I¡¯m going to kill you. That¡¯s my objective. To kill you. Tell me, how is this not going <em>exactly</em> as nned?¡±


    ¡°You just said it. Your superior told you to kill me, right? So why the fuck are you not doing that? Seems like you¡¯re taking extra care to keep me alive, actually. You don¡¯t give a shit about actually doing what you need to do. You just want to satisfy yourself by making me mad. If you understand that makes you a horrible subordinate that isn¡¯t capable of following the most basic orders, then fine. Carry on. But I feel like you don¡¯t even understand how fucking useless you¡¯re being right now.¡±


    ¡°If you die in the end, it doesn¡¯t matter, moron. You die, you suffer and then die, it¡¯s all got the same end. Who said I couldn¡¯t enjoy myself first?¡±


    ¡°So then you¡¯ll tell your boss exactly what happened when you¡¯re done? You¡¯ll give a report talking about how you disobeyed orders to ¡®enjoy yourself?¡¯¡±


    His frown deepened. ¡°You know what? Maybe you¡¯re right. Maybe I <em>should</em> just kill you right now. Seems like that¡¯s what you fucking want. But understand that you aren¡¯t saving anyone. I¡¯ll be sure to take the time to kill everyone you care about afterward. All you¡¯re doing is just quickening your own death.¡±


    ¡°No.¡± I leaned my head back, breathing heavily. Staying standing like this was taking a lot out of me. ¡°I¡¯m not quickening my own death. I¡¯m not going to die. I¡¯m going to escape because you¡¯re too ipetent to kill me. You¡¯re too stupid to actually do it. You can¡¯t do anything right, and you¡¯re going to have to say exactly that to your boss when you¡¯re telling her about how I got away once again.¡±


    Xhag¡¯duul gave a low chuckle as he walked toward me. ¡°You know, you are somehow <em>really</em> talented at convincing people to kill you. You¡¯re just this perfect fuckingbination of arrogant and irritating and idiotic. What the fuck makes you think you¡¯re escaping this?¡±


    He stood close to me, now, pinning me to the wall of the cliff. But that was perfect¡ªhe was right where I needed him. And just in time, I got word from Ainash.


    <em>¡°Father, I see you, and I am ready to kill the bad guy!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Perfect. Let¡¯s¡ª¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But first, need you to get him to the right spot. You are on the correct side, but need him to be about¡­um¡­ten paces to your left.¡±</em>


    I fought back a groan. He was just about ready to kill me right now. Not ready to go for a walk together. How was I going to get him to move <em>again?!</em>

 Chapter 136.2: The True Battle Rages

    Chapter 136.2: The True Battle Rages


    <strong>PART 2</strong>


    I let out a mental groan at Ainash''s deration that we needed Xhag''duul to move once more, this time ten paces to the left.


    <em>¡°Sorry!¡±</em> Ainash said, apparently sensing my frustration. <em>¡°Can¡ªcan move over to where you are. Just give me couple minutes¡­¡±</em>


    <em>¡°We don¡¯t have a couple minutes,¡± </em>I said. <em>¡°I¡¯ll get him to the right spot. Hang in there.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay, will¡ªwait. What is wrong with mother?!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°She¡¯s hurt,¡± </em>I said. This was probably her first time seeing her, now that she was done doing whatever she¡¯d been doing to prepare. I understand her reaction to seeing. Erani was currently finishing up her makeshift bandage,pletely covered in blood, and asionally, I saw Angelic Shield pulse on for a moment around her wound, only to flicker back off right after. She was probably out of Mana, having spent it all on the Spell protecting herself from the bleeding, and so it was spending each and every point of Mana she regenerated on the Spell as she got it.


    She was still breathing heavily, but I was d she was at least moving. Losing as much blood as she had would be enough to put anyone out ofmission soon enough. Even with a barrier of Health and Mana to stem the damage, they¡¯d each eventually run out.


    <em>¡°You have that ability from being a Dryad, the ¡®touched by the grace of nature¡¯ thing, right? What saved me from the Banestinger venom. It can heal wounds? Can it help her?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°D¡­do not know. Will try as soon as possible, though! Hurry and help kill bad guy!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay, I will.¡±</em>


    ¡°...You¡¯re a fucking idiot, and you¡¯re weak. Do you understand now?!¡± Xhag¡¯duul finished a rant he¡¯d been on for the entire time Ainash and I had been talking. I¡¯d basically tuned it all out.


    I nodded, just trying to keep him going while I wracked my mind for a solution. How did I get him to follow me? I only needed him to move a short distance, but ten paces to my left was a massive ask when he had his hands pinning me to the wall, just about ready to kill me. How could I convince him to move without making it obvious?


    ¡°Say it!¡± he screamed. ¡°Before you get the pleasure of me ending your fucking misery, I need to hear you admit how fucking worthless you are. To think you¡¯d <em>dare</em> call me ipetent when you¡¯re so helpless, yourself.¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± I coughed out a breath. Sweat beaded my forehead, the stress of standing on my own two legs almost too much to bear at this point, even after the pain-mitigating qualities of my Endurance Stat. ¡°I¡¯m still going to escape you.¡±


    His eyes widened and heughed incredulously. ¡°Are you fucking serious? How do you expect to do that?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s help nearby. So I¡¯m just going to run and get them.¡±


    I ducked down, underneath the arm he¡¯d put up against the cliff wall, and activated as many stacks of Expedite as my Mana would allow¡ª5, bringing my Dexterity up to a staggering 185. But it didn¡¯t matter if I could actually move very adeptly under the effects of the Spell, it just mattered that I was fast.


    I dashed off, pushing myself off the ground with my one good leg.


    One step.


    Xhag¡¯duul snarled and looked down at me. ¡°Are you fucking stupid?¡±


    Two steps. I stumbled slightly from the weight I put on my broken leg, but the massive boost in Dexterity helped.


    He leaned away from the wall and turned to face me as I continued to sprint away.


    Three steps.


    He moved way faster than I could ever hope to, reached out, and grabbed me by my broken arm. I could feel the two ends of the bone scraping together inside my body, and let out a gasp of pain.


    You have irritated an open wound. 19 damage.


    Your Health is 27.


    I hadn¡¯t even moved three paces.


    ¡°How braindead are you?¡± Xhag¡¯duulughed. ¡°You think you can escape me by running somewhat fast?¡±


    I tugged and pulled on his grip, ignoring the intense pain that red in my arm with every jerk, and activated Noxious Grasp with the few points of Mana I had left. Hopefully I could annoy him into action.


    ¡°Holy shit, can you just stop trying for one fucking minute?!¡± He growled, grabbed my hand tightly, and then threw me in the opposite direction I¡¯d been running. I tumbled ten, fifteen, twenty paces across the ground. It seemed to be his favorite thing to do¡ªshowing his dominance over someone by just throwing them across the area. He¡¯d done it in every timeline, every chance he¡¯d gotten. So of course he¡¯d throw me directly away from the direction I¡¯d shown so much desperation trying to reach.


    And that was exactly why I¡¯d gotten myself caught on purpose. Ainash needed me to go to the left. So I ran to the right, got caught by Xhag¡¯duul, and had <em>him</em> do all the heavy lifting by having him literally throw me to my destination.


    I sat up and watched as he slowly walked his way over to me. Trying to keep a smile off my face, I feigned horror as I kicked away. It wasn¡¯t hard to fake being afraid and in pain, though, considering how afraid and in pain I was. I was already past the point Xhag¡¯duul needed to be in, so it was just a matter of him crossing the area while trying to get to me.


    <em>¡°Are you ready?¡± </em>I asked Ainash.


    <em>¡°Yes! Tell me when he is in position. Cannot see.¡±</em>


    He marched slowly toward me, obviously relishing in my terrified expression. ¡°Everything seems to go wrong for you, doesn¡¯t it, An Nota? You can¡¯t catch a break. Y¡¯know, at first, I actually felt bad for you. Well, not at first. At first, I thought you were a disgusting piece of sub-sentient filth like the rest of the Humans. But I learned a bit more about your kind after forming that opinion, and discovered that Humanity isn¡¯t actually as bad as the Demons make it out to be. So when I thought about it, you really seemed to just be a particrly unlucky one. You needed to die, but I didn¡¯t think you <em>deserved</em> it. You were just an unfortunate being ced in unfortunate circumstances. An object of pity.¡±


    He took step after step, pace after pace.


    ¡°Now? I¡¯ve changed my mind. You deserve everything that¡¯s happened to you. It¡¯s not that everything goes wrong for you, it¡¯s that you <em>make</em> it go wrong. You¡¯re a disrespectful, stupid, conniving little weakling who can¡¯t do anything without his unfair tricks. And now you¡¯re all out of them, An Nota. You have nothing left. Nothing to help you. And what are you reduced to? This sniveling little whelp. Humans are trash, but you¡¯re even worse. You¡¯re somehow subhuman. I¡¯d almost say it¡¯s an aplishment, how awful you manage to be. You¡¯re going to die at your worst, lowest moment. This is how I¡¯ll remember you. I just want you to know that.¡±


    He took one more step, cing himself perfectly in position.


    <em>¡°Now!¡±</em> I mentally screamed to Ainash.


    <em>¡°Good, just keep bad guy in ce for couple seconds!¡±</em>


    Instantly, I screamed something to shock him enough that he¡¯d stop in his tracks¡ªthe first thing that came to mind. ¡°You¡¯re going to fucking die!¡±


    ¡°How?!¡± He stopped and screamed back with equal intensity. Up in the tops of the cliffs, something rumbled, but he wasn¡¯t paying attention. ¡°How are you going to aplish that?! You keep saying you¡¯ll kill me, you keep saying you¡¯ll escape, and yet you haven¡¯t <em>once</em> shown me how you¡¯re going to do so. Show me or face it! This is yourst moment! You will die here, and I. Will. Live. So show me! Show me how I die! Because you are not going to kill me! I¡¯ll kill you! I will not! Fucking! Die!¡±


    And then the rumbling stopped, and I nced up and saw it.


    And then Xhag¡¯duul fucking died.

 Chapter 137: The True Battle Ends

    Chapter 137: The True Battle Ends


    I looked up as Xhag¡¯duul ranted at me. Ainash was putting her n into ce to kill the Demon. As he screamed at me, there was a rumbling up in the tops of the cliffs. Slowly, something came into view.


    Something that rolled over the edge of the cliff. Something massive. It was¡­a boulder?


    I limped back, away from the area it would impact, but Xhag¡¯duul didn¡¯t notice.


    The rumbling stopped as the boulder left the edge of the cliff and entered freefall, meteoring down to the ground. It plummeted further and further, going faster and faster, the massive stone that was at least twice as wide as I was tall. A hunk of a mountain. A shadow formed around Xhag¡¯duul¡¯s feet, and he squinted at me.


    And then he looked up, and for a split second, his eyes widened and I saw his face show fear.


    And then the boulder crashed directly into him, shaking the entire earth with it. An ear-splitting <em>BOOM</em> rang throughout the entire canyon¡ªthe entire mountain range¡ªfrom the hundred-pace drop of such a massive object. It literally split the earth as it sunk deep into the ground. The destabilization pushed me to the ground, unable to support myself through the veritable earthquake with my broken leg.


    Blue blood, brown dust, and gray stone shrapnel scattered through the air, covering everything nearby. I could barely see through the debris in the air, and dirt filled my lungs, forcing me to cough it back up as Iy on the ground.


    Seconds passed, and the chaos settled. Silence filled the air. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the sight in front of me. The stone had sunk at least half a pace into the ground, crushing the gravel and dirt beneath it, as well as its intended target. The glowing blue blood that sttered against the ground around the impact was enough evidence of that.


    He was dead.


    The absolute behemoth of a stone had killed him.


    But¡­no. He didn¡¯t die. I hadn¡¯t gotten a kill notification. I¡¯d obviously contributed to the damage dealt, so I should have gotten one. But there was no way he¡¯d survived that. Maybe¡­maybe the System was just running behind? I¡¯d get the notification in a bit?


    Seconds passed. Nothing.


    <em>¡°Ainash,¡± </em>I said, <em>¡°did you get any¡ª¡±</em>


    I was cut off by a noise. A groan. Coming from underneath the boulder. No. No, no, no. He was alive?! How?!


    ¡°He is,¡± Index said. ¡°Still has a decent bit of Health.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡± I muttered.


    Slowly, I saw the gigantic stone begin to shift. A tiny shake. Then arger one. Then, to my horror, the boulder was shakily lifted up. And I saw Xhag¡¯duul underneath it. Covered in cuts and wounds, more blue than he was red from the blood that covered him, but he was there. And his eyes showed nothing but unbridled fury. He groaned as he pushed himself up with his arms, lifting the boulder with his back.


    <em>¡°Ainash! He¡¯s alive!¡± </em>I said, frantically.


    But she didn¡¯t seem afraid. <em>¡°Will fix it!¡±</em>


    And then there was another rumbling sound. This time, Xhag¡¯duul seemed to recognize it. His eyes widened, and he looked up at me. He lifted up a hand, his other arm falling down so he was just on a single elbow, the boulder pushing him back down, and he brought his shaking fingers together in an attempt to snap them and set me aze.


    But before he could, another boulder fell from the skies, and smashed straight into the first one, pulverizing it and crashing right into the crater the other had made. Another impact that shook the earth, filling the air with yet more dust. I could barely see, now, but when I looked, I could still make out the scene of the destruction in front of me. The second boulder was slightly smaller than the first, but not by much. Its rough edges had cracked straight through the first, splitting it into pieces and recing it to fill the crater.


    He <em>had</em> to be dead by now. Or at least put out ofmission. But before I could even ponder that, I nced up and saw the silhouette of yet another object being pushed over the edge of the cliff. Where in the hells was Ainash getting all of these?!


    It tipped over the edge and fell. I could only barely make it out because of the dust filling the air, but I felt the impact all the same. The third boulder crashed into the sizable crater that¡¯d already been made, full of shrapnel and rubble and blood. Once again, I was left coughing as dust filled the air.


    I opened my eyes yet again and looked onward. The entire crash zone was a mess, no longer filled by a single stone, or even a stone that¡¯d been split by another. It was just shards of rock piled on top of shards of rock, no discernable ¡°main¡± piece that filled the hole in the ground. Everything was destroyed.


    But there was still no kill message.


    ¡°He¡¯s alive,¡± Index confirmed. ¡°Low now, though. Extremely low. And unconscious. He had to use some sort of ability to keep himself alive, but it drained pretty much all of his strength.¡±


    I grabbed onto the rough cliff wall and pulled myself up with my one good arm, standing on my one good leg, and limped forward, over to the crash site.


    <em>¡°Heal mother,¡±</em> I said to Ainash. <em>¡°I¡¯ll take care of him.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay, will go and help mother!¡±</em>


    Step after step, pace after pace, I moved closer and closer to the pile of rubble that buried Xhag¡¯duul alive. It was at least five paces wide, itself, the massive hole that was full of rock. Each of the stones could, in itself, be ssified as a boulder¡ªmany wererger than my entire torso¡ªbut none of them were so massive as to bepletely immovable by me.


    So I fell to my knees and began digging. I gripped my hand around the rocks and tossed them away, my own red blood mixing with the glowing blue of Xhag¡¯duul which covered the rocks already.


    For some of the stones, I was forced to leverage my entire body to roll them aside, using my boosted Strength to lift the weights I¡¯d normally never be able to budge. But slowly, I was able to dig deeper and deeper into the hole, until I saw it. A scrap of red beneath it all. Not from my blood, but from the Demon.


    I brushed more rocks and dust aside, and was left staring down at the bastard¡¯s face. His mouth was half-open, leaking blood, and his eyes were in a daze, looking off at nothing. His hands and legs were syed out, beaten and battered, bent in too many directions to count. His body waspletely broken. But I didn¡¯t waste time appreciating the damage that¡¯d been done to him. I needed to finish things.


    So I reached down, and ced my hand on his chest. And I activated Noxious Grasp.


    Seconds passed. I¡¯d emptied out my Mana pool earlier, when I cast all those stacks of Expedite, but enough time had passed by now that it¡¯d refilled quite a bit. So I silently drained away the monster¡¯s life.


    He blinked and his eyes came into focus, as I was sure the steady damage woke him from whatever stupor he was in. He looked over at me, but didn¡¯t move otherwise. Must¡¯ve been paralyzed, with whatever ability he¡¯d activated, plus the drain of Noxious Grasp active on him. But he could still talk, just barely.


    ¡°P¡­please,¡± he gasped. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­don¡¯t¡­¡±


    I just stayed silent and continued draining. I didn¡¯t even meet his eyes.


    ¡°Please¡­spare me,¡± he got out. ¡°You don¡¯t¡­you don¡¯t understand. What they¡¯ll do to me.¡±


    I just took a breath and kept casting.


    ¡°I won¡¯t die,¡± he coughed. ¡°I¡¯ll be sent, sent back to the Underworld. They¡¯ll know I failed. You dont¡­you don¡¯t understand what they do to failures there. It¡¯s a fate worse than death.¡±


    I only barely listened to what he said.


    ¡°We live for so long in the Underworld,¡± he coughed yet again. ¡°We experience time differently. They¡¯ll keep me alive forever. They¡¯ll torture me. You don¡¯t understand what it¡¯s like¡­to be seen as useless to them. They don¡¯t ever let you forget it. How useless you are.¡±


    You have struck Level 61 Devil for 449 damage and drained 449 Stamina over the course of 21.6 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    115 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 0.


    My Mana ran out, and Noxious Grasp shut off automatically. So I retracted my hand.


    His eyes widened as I did so, mistaking my action for one of mercy. ¡°Th¡­thank you! Please, let me go, and I¡¯ll leave you alive. I''ll stay in the Overworld and hide. I won¡¯t ever do anything to you again. Thank¡ª¡±


    You have struck Level 61 Devil for 29 damage using Fist.


    I interrupted him with a punch to the face. His head was forcefully turned to the side, and he spat out a glob of blue blood. I drew my hand back again.


    You have struck Level 61 Devil for 27 damage using Fist.


    Another hit. He coughed and looked up at me, now with a snarl on his face. ¡°Y-you¡­you¡¯ll regret this. You can¡¯t just kill someone like me and get away with it. I know things, too. The Faerie Queene, I made a deal with her. She¡¯s going to destroy the kingdom unless <em>I</em> do something. Nobody else knows what to do to prevent it. If you kill me, she¡¯ll go on a rampage. And the Demons, too. I don¡¯t care if I die, the rest of the Demons will never forgive you. It won¡¯t even be about Temporus anymore. It¡¯ll be about revenge. You hear me? Revenge. You will <em>never</em> live another peaceful day in your¡ª¡±


    You have struck Level 61 Devil for 26 damage using Fist.


    He was interrupted with another strike, coughing up more blood.


    You have struck Level 61 Devil for 29 damage using Fist.


    And another.


    You have struck Level 61 Devil for 28 damage using Fist.


    And another.


    He gasped for breath as his Health was chipped away. And the less Health he had, the less of a shield there was to protect him from bodily harm, and from pain. As low as he was right now, this was probably the most he¡¯d been hurt¡ªthe most pain he¡¯d felt¡ªin a very, very long time.


    You have struck Level 61 Devil for 30 damage using Fist.


    He looked up at me, breathing heavily. Blood dribbled down his chin from his mouth, and down the cheek I¡¯d been striking with my one good hand, several cuts and bruises having formed by now.


    ¡°You will regret this every day. For the rest of your life,¡± he coughed. ¡°You can¡¯t¡­you can¡¯t kill me.


    My Mana was back. So I grabbed onto his face from the chin and the same cheek I¡¯d been hitting, and activated Noxious Grasp again. He gasped out in shock and pain the moment I toggled the Spell on.


    ¡°You can¡¯t¡­please¡­I don¡¯t¡­I don¡¯t want go back. Not back there. I don¡¯t want to go back to them. They¡¯ll¡­they¡¯ll¡­¡±


    He sobbed, though if it was from the pain or from the fear, I didn¡¯t know. Nor did I care.


    Smoke seeped from my fingers as I kept the Spell active for as long as my Mana would allow, forming a steady stream that rose into the air, mixing with the kicked-up dust that already filled the skies around us.


    You have struck Level 61 Devil for 114 damage and drained 114 Stamina over the course of 5.5 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    29 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 0.


    Mana ran out again. I drew my hand away from him. This time, he didn¡¯t react at all. He knew what wasing.


    ¡°He¡¯s just about there,¡± Index said. ¡°Maybe forty, fifty Health left. A Ray of Frost should do it.¡±


    I nodded wordlessly and stood up, looking down at him.


    He gazed up at me.


    I waited for a few seconds for my Mana to regenerate up to 25¡ªenough for a Ray. In that time, I just stared into his tear-filled, begging eyes.


    ¡°I can be useful to you,¡± he sobbed. ¡°I don¡¯t¡ªI don¡¯t have to be your enemy. I¡¯ll do anything! Anything! Don¡¯t make me go back!¡±


    I breathed. Mana was up to 10.


    ¡°Please! Don¡¯t do this! Don¡¯t! You don¡¯t have to! This¡ªthis isn¡¯t self defense anymore, it¡¯s an execution! Don¡¯t you have some form of empathy, Human?! Don¡¯t you care?! All you¡¯re doing is hurting someone, someone who doesn¡¯t deserve it. For no reason. Leave me be! Please!¡±


    Up to 20.


    ¡°Please, please, please! Don¡¯t do this!¡±


    25. I raised my hand and pointed at him.


    For a moment, I considered saying something. There was a lot I could say. Some sort of eloquent diatribe, exining the exact reasons he was such a terrible being. I could point out the hypocrisy in his actions, trying so hard to make me suffer, only to turn around and cry when he was faced with the same fate. I could give a witty monologue, quoting him and turning his own words back at him. Something to humiliate him, turn him into aughingstock, destroy his entire sense of self-confidence. I could give some rousing speech, something to show the pure evil of the Demons to everyone in the vicinity¡ªto inspire Erani, Ainash, even me, into dedicating ourselves to fighting off the vile fiends.


    There was a lot I <em>could </em>say. But, in the end, there was only one thing I wanted to tell this Demon.


    ¡°Please, spare me!¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 61 Devil.


    You have earned 3.1k XP. Your XP is 4.93k.


    Level 32 Draconiad has offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 61 Devil.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 155 XP. Your XP is 5.09k.


    Threshold reached. 2.20k XP.


    Your Level has increased to 19.


    Due to achieving Level 19 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Endurance, 2 Dexterity, and 1 Intelligence.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 19.


    Threshold reached. 2.50k XP.


    Your Level has increased to 20.


    Due to achieving Level 20 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has improved from reaching a tenth Level. You now gain 6 random Stats each time your Level increases.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 3 Strength, 1 Endurance, 1 Dexterity, and 1 Conjuration.


    -Soft Cap has increased to Rank 11.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 20.


    -Time Loop has received a Usage Increase.


    -You may choose an Upgrade for Time Loop.


    -You may choose a Talent to obtain.

 Chapter 138: The Finished Journey

    Chapter 138: The Finished Journey


    Threshold reached. 2.20k XP.


    Your Level has increased to 19.


    Due to achieving Level 19 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Endurance, 2 Dexterity, and 1 Intelligence.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 19.


    Threshold reached. 2.50k XP.


    Your Level has increased to 20.


    Due to achieving Level 20 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has improved from reaching a tenth Level. You now gain 6 random Stats each time your Level increases.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 3 Strength, 1 Endurance, 1 Dexterity, and 1 Conjuration.


    -Soft Cap has increased to Rank 11.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 20.


    -Time Loop has received a Usage Increase.


    -You may choose an Upgrade for Time Loop.


    -You may choose a Talent to obtain.


    The icy beam impacted straight into Xhag¡¯duul¡¯s face, killing him instantly. His head fell back into the dirt, and I received my notifications. Thousands of XP, two separate Level-ups, everything. With the fact that the XP was split between three people, <em>and</em> the fact that XP rewards scaled less quickly than XP requirements, it was honestly unexpected that I¡¯d have even gotten the XP for two whole Levels from a single kill. That sort of thing would typically only happen at the lower Levels.


    But my mind was upied by none of that. Instantly, I turned and stumbled over to where Erani was lying. She was alone, but as I approached, I saw Ainash suddenly appear out of thin air and run up to her. She must¡¯ve just gotten down from the mountain and deactivated her invisibility.


    At this point, Erani had tightly wrapped the wound from her missing hand in fabric torn from her shirt, which slowed the bleeding somewhat, but clearly didn¡¯t do enough. The stump ending halfway down her forearm was still leaking blood despite the makeshift bandage and tourniquet she¡¯d used, and her mmy, halfway-conscious face did nothing to make it look any better.


    I¡¯d gotten a Usage Increase for Time Loop from Level 20, and my first thought was that maybe I could go back and redo the fight to prevent her from getting hurt. But, honestly, I didn¡¯t trust myself very much to be able to actually do that fight any better than I already had. Really, it was a miracle that we were alive. Getting through uninjured would be impossible.


    Besides, the idea wouldn¡¯t work even if I wanted to try. I remembered from my first Usage Increase, I had to wait until the next time Time Loop refreshed at midnight to actually get ess to the new use of the Talent, so I still had zero uses remaining. I¡¯d just have three tomorrow.


    Ainash knelt down next to Erani as I continued to stumble over. With a broken right arm and left leg, I didn¡¯t exactly have much mobility, and my Health, down to 27, was low enough that it didn¡¯t assist me in dealing with the injuries at all.


    My Stamina was still low, at 59, but I desperately needed the healing from Regenerate. The moment I got over to Erani, I copsed down next to her and activated the Talent.


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 32.2 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    52.6 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 6.


    Ainash looked over at me, and, upon seeing my own various injuries, began to panic. She kept looking back and forth between me and Erani, hands shaking as they hovered above us.


    <em>¡°C¡­can only use ability to heal one person in week,¡± </em>she said. <em>¡°If heal mother, cannot heal father.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± </em>I responded, breathing heavily. <em>¡°My wounds aren¡¯t lethal. And they¡¯ll heal eventually. Use it on her.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°B, but do not know if¡ª¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Just do it!¡± </em>I said. Erani was losing more blood and more Health every second. Now wasn¡¯t the time for uncertainty.


    Ainash nodded and gingerly reached down, removing the makeshift bandage Erani had wrapped around her stump. Erani barely reacted, staring off into space with only a slight wince when Ainash pulled the cloth away to let me know she was still alive.


    When the patch of fabric fell from her wound, I felt a wave of nausea overtake me as I gazed at the horrific injury. Strings of flesh hung down, still barely attached to her main body, blood continued to leak from the ripped-open veins, and the white of her exposed bone stared at me like the eye of some horrific monster.


    Ainash slowly ced her hands on the messy mass of flesh, and closed her eyes.


    Seconds passed, and I waited with bated breath. <em>Please,</em> I thought. <em>Please work</em>.


    Suddenly, a sh of light red around Erani¡¯s arm. I saw the various cuts and wounds covering her skin close up. Her face regained its color. And her arm¡­it began to mend!


    The stringy bits of flesh dangling from her arm patched themselves together. The bleeding stopped. And, as I watched, the wound itself began to cover itself. Skin grew around the stump, slowly closing the open wound, covering the red tissue, and eventually covering the bone. It¡¯d healed the wound, now it just needed to regrow the lost limb. The light seemed to glow especially brightly around her arm, and I held my breath, waiting for the ability to work its magic.


    But then¡­it stopped. The glow faded. It was done. Erani had no more bleeding cuts or purple bruises. But she was left with a single hand.


    Her eyes fluttered, and she seemed to regain the half-lost consciousness now that she¡¯d been healed. Her breathing quickened and she looked around, clearly trying to find the enemy we once thought unbeatable.


    ¡°He¡¯s¡­¡± I coughed. Regenerate had helped with my own injuries, but it didn¡¯t do much to heal the worst of them. At least now I wasn¡¯t as susceptible to further damage. But I took a breath and continued, trying to calm her fear, ¡°he¡¯s dead. We killed him.¡±


    Erani took a breath, and I could visibly see the tension leave her body. ¡°Thank the gods. I didn¡¯t know if we were ever getting out of that.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I chuckled as Iy in the dirt.


    She looked over at me, and suddenly her eyes went wide when she saw my rough shape. My right arm and left leg, each bent in one too many ces, the rest of my severely beaten body, I was sure I didn¡¯t exactly look healthy.


    ¡°An! Are you okay?¡± She rushed to get up and bend over, reaching out to grab me. ¡°Ainash, why did you heal me and not¡ª¡±


    She stopped when her arms got close to me, and I saw her eyes. They were staring at her left hand¡ªor rather, where her left hand should have been. At the arm that ended in nothing.


    ¡°I¡­¡± I breathed out, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We couldn¡¯t¡ª¡±


    <em>¡°Mother! Am so, so, so, so, so sorry!¡± </em>Ainash flung herself at Erani, tackling her with a hug and knocking her to the ground. <em>¡°Could not, was not able to, the ability¡­I failed! Am so sorry! You, I, I will, I am, I will try to fix it! Will use ability next week, as soon as is avable, to heal you. Will see if it works. I¡­¡±</em>


    ¡°We¡¯ll figure something out,¡± I nodded.


    Erani didn¡¯t respond. Her eyes showed the same far-off look now as they did before, when she was only barely half-conscious.


    With a grunt of exertion, I sat myself up, holding myself up with my good hand nted in the ground. The adrenaline had faded by now, and the bolts of pain began radiating through my injured limbs once again, but I still couldn¡¯t worry about that. There were more important things at stake, for now.


    ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s get moving. Those boulders made a lot of noise, and other monsters might be on their way now to investigate. We¡¯re close to Barinruth, we should get there while we can.¡±


    Ainash nodded and stood, with Erani hesitantly following soon after. She still didn¡¯t say anything. Ainash bent down to help me stand, letting me wrap my arm around her shoulder so I didn¡¯t have to put pressure on my leg. If I used Expedite on myself, I could probably keep myself standing and walking for at least long enough to get us to safety. Then I could rest.


    ¡°Erani, are you good to move?¡± I asked. I knew she was probably physically fine, but mentally¡­losing an arm would be a big shock for anyone. I also had another motivation for asking¡ªgetting her to talk at all. She¡¯d beenpletely silent ever since she noticed.


    She looked over at me, and I looked back. I wouldn¡¯t move until she confirmed she was okay to continue. A few seconds passed, before she muttered, ¡°Y¡­yeah.¡±


    ¡°Okay. We¡¯ll get you some help as soon as possible.¡±


    ¡°I¡­We should get help for you, first.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure I don¡¯t die,¡± I chuckled, pain radiating from my broken arm when I did so from the slight shake. ¡°But just know that this isn¡¯t permanent. We can do something, somehow. Alright?¡±


    She was silent after that.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, taking that as her telling me she needed some time to think. ¡°Let¡¯s get moving. Shouldn¡¯t be too far until we get to safety.¡±


    A few minutes passed as we traveled, and eventually the battlefield behind us faded out of sight. We were moving much, much slower than normal, due to my injuries¡ªI had to be constantly supported by at least Ainash, if not Ainash and Erani together, and even then I could only stumble along¡ªbut we were still making steady progress. It¡¯d probably only be a couple hours before we got to the nearby outpost we¡¯d seen before.


    <em>¡°Keep an eye out for monsters,¡±</em> I said to Ainash as we moved. <em>¡°You¡¯re our main defense against them. Don¡¯t worry about dropping me if you need to defend us. Both Erani and I are really low on Health, so keeping any attackers far away is a must.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay. But will try not to drop you. That would hurt.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Thanks,¡±</em> Iughed. <em>¡°If something unbeatable attacks like that Dragon we saw before, though, then, I don¡¯t know, we can figure something out. Try to run off with Erani and I¡¯ll hide, or¡ª¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Do not think that will be problem,¡± </em>Ainash cut me off. <em>¡°Dragon was who helped me kill the bad guy!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Wait, what?¡±</em> I asked. <em>¡°How? What even happened back there?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°When you first came back with time power and said you could survive attacks from bad guy, could feel that you were lying. Knew you nned on dying to save us. So told mother what you were nning, and we made n, too. Did not leave when we turned invisible. Mother stayed with you to make sure didn¡¯t die, and I went to get help from Dragon. Knew where it was because of knowledge from future!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But I never even saw it during the fight. How did it help you kill the Demon if it never showed up?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Dragon was one who brought boulders to kill bad guy with! Could not convince it to fight bad guy with us, but could convince it to bring very heavy boulders. Did not tell it that I would use boulders to kill bad guy, but it does not need to know!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Oh, huh.¡± </em>Yeah, I supposed it made sense that she¡¯d have needed to find those massive boulders somewhere. No way she just found them lying right by the cliff edge, at least. <em>¡°Well, I¡¯m d you were smart enough toe up with a n like that. Thanks for saving me.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It is okay. But only if you promise not to do that ever again! It made mother very sad. And me too.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯m sorry. I won¡¯t. At least, I¡¯ll consult you two before trying to let myself die like that again.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Apologize to mother, too!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I will.¡±</em> ncing over at Erani, I saw that her gaze was cast downward, watching the dirt as we walked. ¡°Hey.¡±


    She looked up and over at me.


    ¡°Sorry for, uh, not keeping my promise. I shouldn¡¯t¡¯ve kept you in the dark like that. You didn¡¯t deserve it.¡±


    ¡°Um,¡± her voice rasped, and she coughed to clear her throat. ¡°Uh, it¡¯s okay.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll make it up to you, alright? Take you out on the nicest date once we get to Barinruth. Good food, maybe we can see a y¡­¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°As nice as that sounds, I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll have the money for that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll make some, then.¡±


    ¡°Okay, sure,¡± she rolled her eyes.


    ¡°No, seriously. I¡¯m taking you on that date. I think we¡¯re long overdue for one. And we could probably both use some cheering up. Just a bit of regr life to break up the¡­all of this,¡± I did my best to gesture all around myself with one arm broken and the other hanging around Ainash¡¯s neck as she helped me walk.


    ¡°Well¡­okay. Yeah, that sounds nice. Thanks.¡±


    ¡°Besides, I also need to get back my coteral,¡± I smiled. ¡°I stayed alive, didn¡¯t I? You gotta give it back, now.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± she smiled back, ¡°I suppose that <em>was </em>the deal.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, though it¡¯ll probably have to wait. Not exactly in good enough shape to go exploring a city right now.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°We can find you a Cleric. Maybe that outpost you found at the end of this road has one?¡±


    ¡°Ainash is the one who remembers what was there,¡± I nodded to my side, where she was helping to support me. <em>¡°Did you see anything like that?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Um, no, do not think so. Mother was one talking, and only talked to some Humans. Do not know what ¡®Cleric¡¯ Human looks like.¡±</em>


    Yeah, that made sense. Though even if we didn¡¯t find anyone, Regenerate would eventually heal me. It would bring my Health back to full, at least, and having a high Health value would elerate and strengthen my body¡¯s natural healing process. It¡¯d still definitely be easier to just get someone to heal me instantly, though.


    As for Erani¡­well, she clearly didn¡¯t want to talk about her injury. But there were ways to work around it. Powerful magic could do just about anything, as long as you could find someone to do it for you, so I was confident we could solve that problem.


    We continued traveling in rtive silence for a while longer. Slowly¡ªand painfully¡ªwe continued to make our way through the canyon. My Stamina/Minute was at 1.63 after my most recent Level-ups¡ªwhich I was still hoping to make my choices for, after we got to safety¡ªand that high amount of regeneration seemed to more than make up for the amount of Stamina I spent on my slow, careful walking.


    It was nice to travel and <em>gain</em> Stamina while doing so, feeling slightly more refreshed as the time went on, though the amount of Stamina I gained after the expenditure from movement was pretty miniscule. I still desperately wanted to sit down so I could give my broken leg a break, but with Ainash helping me walk, it wasn¡¯t too bad.


    But despite the fact that I was slowly gaining rest as I limped through the mountain pass, I was suddenly made aware of how exhausted and vulnerable I was when I saw something.


    A trio of figures approached in the distance,ing from the direction of the Barinruth Empire.


    ¡°Halt!¡± One of them shouted. I could tell they were probably guards, with their crested armor and weapons in-hand. They were still pretty far off, though, so I couldn¡¯t make out many details. The speaking one stepped forward. ¡°Who are you, and why are you here? We heard a disturbance earlier, did you have anything to do with that?¡±


    Ainash instantly reached for her whip, but I squeezed my supported arm around her to stop her. These weren¡¯t enemies. At least, they didn¡¯t seem like they were.


    I cleared my throat, preparing to respond. But before I could, the same lead guard continued, ¡°don¡¯t bother answering yet. We have Truth Stones, and want to make sure you aren¡¯t telling any lies. Either turn away and leave this ce, ore with us so we can verify your statements.¡±


    I looked over at Erani. Seemed like the guards at the outpost came to us after hearing those boulders fall. ¡°Should we go with them?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we have any choice,¡± she said. ¡°Unless you n to head back to Koinkar.¡±


    Yeah, seemed like it. Though the Truth Stones would be an issue. I, for one, didn¡¯t exactly want my identity getting out. They probably didn¡¯t know my face, but I was sure that at least my name had probably gotten to the neighboring countries. And even if these guards didn¡¯t recognize it, <em>someone</em> would.


    We needed to figure out a n for that, and fast. But for now, there was only one real thing I could say.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I called out. ¡°Just get us some medical attention first.¡±

 Chapter 139: Welcome to the Kingdom: Demons and their Hostility

    Chapter 139: Wee to the Kingdom: Demons and their Hostility


    Asmo sat at a desk in a repurposed King Koinkar¡¯s quarters. ¡°King Koinkar,¡± of course, had no need for these quarters anymore, so she was allowed to live in them instead. Well, what she considered ¡°allowed to live in¡± others would consider ¡°imprisoned in,¡± but what others thought was of no matter to her. She technically wasn¡¯t allowed to leave while not under supervision, now that she was privy to such tightly-held secrets about the conspiracy surrounding the kingdom, but as far as she was concerned, that just meant she had more of an opportunity to push herself up in the ranks of the Demons.


    Right now, though, she wasn¡¯t actually doing any of that work. She was sitting at her desk, waiting.


    Her new boss¡ªQuinmorada-something-something¡ªhad just introduced herself as the recement to her old boss. And apparently, that old boss had been sent on a mission to kill the fugitive himself. That certainly seemed like an airtight n; Asmo had seen that monster of a Demon fight, and there was no way someone as weak as the fugitive could fairly beat him. However, Asmo had also seen the fugitive fight. And she knew <em>he</em> never fought fair.


    So, while she had faith in the raw power of her old boss, she also had a glimmer of doubt. There was a chance this wouldn¡¯t be the end of things.


    Ideally, the fugitive would die here. What that would mean for Asmo would be that the Demons would have much less of an interest in micromanaging the Koinkar Kingdom. There would be no real reason to spend many resources in keeping a foothold in the Overworld, when they had wars to wage in the Underworld, so what would they do? Well, it wasn¡¯t like they¡¯d just pull out for good¡ªwhy waste a perfectly fine opportunity to passively keep some influence in this realm? Especially if it didn¡¯t cost anything.


    And Asmo was the reason it wouldn¡¯t cost anything. Even if the Demons decided to pull every single one of their troops out of the Overworld once the fugitive was dead, they¡¯d have to leave Asmo here since she was Human. So, as the only one left, she would be the de facto leader of their entire branch dealing with the Overworld. If the Demon ying the part of King Koinkar left, too, there¡¯d be nobody else to y ruler than her.


    In short, she¡¯d be the monarch of the entire kingdom.


    Sure, she¡¯d have some superiors above her making sure she never stepped out of line, but with no direct goal other than expanding the influence of the kingdom, she¡¯d effectively have free reign. This was her shortcut to absolute power.


    And all it took for her to get it was for one man to die in these next few minutes.


    One thing that kept poking into her mind was the thought of Ripley T, the woman that¡¯d abandoned her. While under influence of her Berserk Talent, Ripley had stayed behind to continue the fight with the fugitive. Certainly not very surprising, given how Berserk affected the mind, but what <em>was</em> unexpected was the fact that Ripley never came back. If she just retrieved that ring she¡¯d thrown offter, once Berserk had worn off, she would¡¯ve been teleported back instantly. But she never did. Asmo came back to the destination and waited for her partner, but she never came.


    The logical part in Asmo was screaming at her that Ripley was simply dead. The woman stuck behind to fight someone, she lost the fight, she didn¡¯te back. Pretty simple argument. But¡­that just couldn¡¯t be the case. Asmo knew Ripley. No way she¡¯d just let herself die like that. She survived, for sure.


    As for why she decided not toe back¡­well, there would¡¯ve been plenty of reasons for that. Namely, the fugitive did the exact thing to Ripley that he¡¯d done to Cami before. He somehow convinced her to defect. One thing Asmo was kept in the dark about was what ss the fugitive had. She¡¯d asked several times about it before enteringbat with him¡ªit was important to know things like that before battle¡ªbut they¡¯d refused to tell her every time. All they told her was that it was Magic-Type, and some of the basic Spells and abilities he had.


    Presumably, it was some sort of special or unique ss, and they didn¡¯t trust her with that information yet. But she assumed his seemingly-silver tongue had toe from that. No way he just so happened to luck himself into saying <em>exactly</em> what would convince Cami to spare him, and now, he apparently did the same with Ripley. Probably had some sort of way to see into the minds of his victims, or something. She wasn¡¯t sure about that whole soul-stealing rumor that was floating around about him, but maybe it had some truth to it. Maybe he could steal peoples¡¯ memories, or something. How else would he gain this impossible knowledge?


    But her mind was wandering. Back to the topic at hand, Asmo needed to get Ripley back. She knew that, if Ripley was aware of the full truth, she probably wouldn¡¯t <em>want</em> toe back¡ªmaybe that was what the fugitive had told her about to get her to defect in the first ce¡ªbut Asmo didn¡¯t care. Ripley would being back, and that was final. It was the only demand she¡¯d made to the Demons when agreeing to work with them¡ªRipley had to stay safe and by her side.


    Asmo stood from the wooden chair that¡¯d been thrown into the room when she moved in, scooting it back along the pearly-white marble floor. Enough waiting. Whether or not the fugitive died, she needed to talk to the Demons about Ripley. She¡¯d just do that now and get them moving as soon as possible. So she exited her room and swiftly moved through the many hallways, aiming for the audience hall. That was where ¡°Koinkar¡± spent most of his time, mainly holding meetings with underlings and random nobles.


    When Asmo opened the door, entering through the back of the throne room, she saw that Koinkar was, indeed, in the middle of a meeting. He sat on his throne in a perfectly-fake posture, feigning the physical feebleness that was characteristic of the old king. Sitting at the end of a table set in the middle of the hall was some well-dressed man with a trimmed beard. She walked up and stood next to Koinkar where he sat, nonverbally telling him she wished for a word.


    He gave a miniscule nod, and looked back at the nobleman. ¡°If you require more food, simply tax your peasants more. The higher taxes will encourage them to work harder to pay them and thus produce more.¡±


    ¡°If I raise taxes, the citizens of Willowdale will surely riot! I have already had trouble containing the vigers¡¯ anger after <em>your</em> kingdom-wide tax increases, and they will not stand for another.¡±


    Asmo watched as Koinkar gave a hint of a sneer at the man. ¡°Remember your ce, and remember who I am. As the king, it is my duty to ensure the <em>entire</em> kingdom prospers. Not to serve the interests of one puny settlement. You will receive no food rations from our stores, and if you continue to bother me about this, then perhaps another round of the draft will visit Willowdale Vige. We always have a need for more soldiers, after all.¡±


    The nobleman''s face contorted with anger and disbelief. His eyes flitted to Asmo, as if asking for some form of assistance in this discussion. But she said nothing. She could sense his rising frustration, and wondered if the man would dare to challenge the king''s words.


    But then, to her surprise, the nobleman bowed and backed away, his eyes never leaving Koinkar¡¯s face. ¡°Of course, your majesty. I understand. I will see to it that my vigers work harder to meet their obligations.¡±


    Koinkar nodded curtly. "See that you do. And if you fail, you know the consequences."


    The nobleman turned to leave, and for a moment, Asmo¡¯s heart threatened to give a pang of sympathy for him and his vigers, who would surely see their lord return and demand greater work and greater sacrifice from them. More would starve, more would die, and more would lose their family members to an uncaring leadership.


    But in the end, she didn¡¯t really care. It was only a temporary feeling that subsided soon enough, anyway. Of course, citizens dying was never <em>good</em> for a kingdom, but in this case, it was necessary. At least, there was nothing that the kingdom could have done for that vige of Willowdale, even if they wanted to help. And the reason for that was simple. The food stores had run out. There was nothing to give.


    Normally, using some magical preservation methods, the Koinkar Kingdom held a decent supply of food in several storages, kept in case of disease or famine. In emergencies, this food could be distributed into the economy at a low price to both stimte any stagnant workforce, and to keep the citizens fed. However, this store of food had been sold already, and not to the citizens of the kingdom. All of the food had been sold off to neighboring countries to help fund the war efforts. Equipment, weapons, hired mercenaries, training, that was where the bulk of these resources had been going for some time now.


    This was, of course, a horrible idea if the goal was to raise a healthy kingdom. The Demons clearly didn¡¯t care about that, though, so they didn¡¯t mind if the kingdom fell into ruin, as long as they aplished their goal.


    That was what¡¯d been exined to Asmo during her debriefing. While she understood the logic, she didn¡¯t really agree with it. Sure, it would work as long as the fugitive was killed in the next day or two, but if he wasn¡¯t? Suddenly, the kingdom would be forced to fight a longer-term war after having destroyed all prospects of any long-term prosperity. Everything would be spent. And, of course, even if the fugitive was killed here and Asmo was left in charge as was her n, she would also be left to clean up the mess that was made. So she didn¡¯t exactly appreciate the Demons seemingly making as big a mess as they could.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± The being running Koinkar¡¯s body said, breaking her out of her thoughts. Once the nobleman had left, he¡¯d shifted his posture from the hunched, feeble slouch it was in front of others to the way the Demon actually preferred to sit¡ªstraight up with a scowl on his face.


    Asmo frowned at the indignant acknowledgement. ¡°Do not speak to me like I am one of yourckeys. We are equals in this war.¡±


    The Demon snorted. ¡°Sure. Listen, you can pretend you¡¯re on par with us, but I¡¯m not going to pay into your delusions that Humans could ever be equal to Demons. You¡¯re a tool at best.¡±


    Asmo just rolled her eyes. The Demon ying the part of Koinkar had this attitude for a while now, ever since it¡¯d be clear that Asmo intended to actually y a role in this new chain ofmand and not just act as a mindless pawn. But their new superior, Quinmorada-something-something, at least acknowledged that Asmo had the same potential of any Human. At least, she did whenever she actually took the time to step in. Which wasn¡¯t often. Normally, Asmo was stuck talking to this one.


    ¡°So, what are you here for, Human? As you can see, I¡¯m in the middle of some very important meetings. If you have nothing significant to say, I¡¯d suggest you allow me to get back to them. You are, after all, only hindering the cause you <em>im</em> to support for every second you keep me upied.¡±


    Asmo fought back an audible sigh. ¡°I am here to ask you about Ripley. If you have any soldiers to spare, it may be wise to send out a search team to¡ª¡±


    ¡°Uh, expression of apology, but who is Ripley?¡±


    ¡°...Ripley T. The other former royal guard, who went into battle alongside me. You have interacted with her on several asions.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yes, yes, I think I may remember her. You Humans all look alike, anyway.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Anyway, she is currently missing in action after a fight gone wrong against the fugitive. We should send out a search team to¡ª¡±


    ¡°Apology, she fought An Nota?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And didn¡¯t kill him?¡±


    ¡°...Yes.¡±


    ¡°So why do we care about recovering her? She seems rather useless to us, as far as I¡¯m concerned.¡±


    Asmo grit her teeth. ¡°Her ¡®use¡¯ is of no concern. When I made my initial agreement with you, you promised that Ripley would be kept safe and kept unknowing of what is going on here. By allowing the fugitive toe into contact with her, you are threatening to break <em>both</em> of those promises.¡±


    ¡°So you n to harm our cause just for your own personal interest?¡±


    ¡°I n to hold you to our deal.¡±


    ¡°Hm. I¡¯ll look into it. Maybe, sometime, if we can spare the manpower, I might decide to send out a soldier or two to look around.¡±


    ¡°Do not act like you can treat me like this. Do not act like there will not be repercussions for your attitude here. You may not think I am your equal, you may even think I can do nothing to harm you. But believe this: I <em>will</em> ensure¡ª¡±


    Asmo was cut off by a familiar chime, and a bright lighting from beneath Koinkar¡¯s robe. They both looked down at it¡ªthat was Koinkar¡¯s Communication Crystal. It was ringing.


    He reached into his robe and withdrew it, answering the chime. ¡°Hello, superior Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodon¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother,¡± the voice of their superior cut him off. ¡°We need to talk. Xhag is dead. And as such, there are going to be some rearrangements in the chain ofmand.¡±

 Chapter 140: Welcome to the Kingdom: Humans and their Schemes

    Chapter 140: Wee to the Kingdom: Humans and their Schemes


    A Subus sat on a throne in arge, bright audience hall. The Subus, currently using its shapeshifting powers to take the ce of thete King Koinkar, had been cut off in the middle of an argument with some idiotic Human named Asmo by a call from its superior. At first, it had assumed the call would be a short one with some basicmands, and then it could get back to putting Asmo in her ce.


    And then, its superior said, ¡°We need to talk. Xhag is dead.¡±


    The Subus blinked. ¡°W¡­what? He is? So does that mean¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes. An Nota will likely make it into the Barinruth Empire. We do not have more Demons to expend trying to reach him.¡±


    The Subus sat for a moment, shell-shocked by the revtion. An Nota had¡­survived? How did a puny Human like that beat a <em>Devil?!</em>


    ¡°So we will move to long-term ns, then?¡± Asmo spoke calmly in its stead, and it barely noticed.


    ¡°Ah, Asmo, you are here?¡± The superior said. ¡°Good. We can get this meeting done all at once. To answer your question, yes, we will be moving to the previously-made long-term ns. That means no more selling crops, disregarding citizen happiness, or over-drafting the popce. For now, you will have at your disposal the Infernals and Hellions that are still alive in the Overworld. No reinforcements will be avable for some time. As such, Humans will be your main soldiers. Keep them alive and well, otherwise you will have no army to wage a war with.¡±


    The Subus was still reeling at the news that An Nota had somehow survived. What was that Human doing to be able to beat Demons in a fair fight? He must have been using some sort of trick or cheat, even more than the Humans already seemed to love cheating. Maybe¡ª


    ¡°Subus. I am speaking to you. Acknowledge.¡±


    ¡°Y-yes,¡± the Subus said. ¡°Expression of apolo¡ªformal, formal expression of apology, superior. I understand. But, er, we may be too low on resources to effectively wage a war, currently.¡±


    ¡°What? Why?¡±


    ¡°Well, food stores are currently extremely low. That is, er, we have none. I made the decision to sell the food and draft the farmers, as I believed the war would onlyst a couple more days. So¡ª¡±


    ¡°Who told you to do that?¡±


    ¡°Well, er¡­¡± the Subus had technically done that of its own volition, since its previous superior, Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook, had effectively given it free reign, for the most part. So, if one looked at it in a certain way, wasn¡¯t it technically that Devil¡¯s fault? Yes, yes, clearly the Devil was ipetent if he allowed himself to be killed by some Human. So it wasn¡¯t the Subus¡¯s fault. ¡°It was the fault of Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook, superior. He told me to do it.¡±


    ¡°Ugh. Even after dying, that cretin still seems to make problems.¡±


    The Subus¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°He is dead, then? I thought he was Projected into the Overworld like normal.¡±


    ¡°Oh, well yes, he¡¯s technically not dead yet, but you know how getting killed as a Projection goes. He¡¯s currently unconscious, and we¡¯ve decided not to make any efforts to revive him. So he¡¯ll either die unconscious without the medical attention, or he¡¯ll wake up in an Underworld month or two, and then we¡¯ll just throw him somewhere to keep him upied.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± the Subus nodded. ¡°Well, I will do my best to rectify <em>his</em> mistakes, as he clearly made quite a few while in power. He was tyrannical, forcing me to do all kinds of things against my better judgment.¡±


    ¡°If I recall correctly,¡± Asmo began, ¡°he only spoke to you once or twice in the time¡ª¡±


    ¡°Well, you clearly didn¡¯t hear all of the calls!¡± the Subus interrupted. ¡°Stupid Human. Go clean something somewhere, or whatever. We more intelligent beings are having a discussion.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± the superior said. ¡°Stay here, Asmo. This conversation involves you. And Subus, do keep in mind that Asmo is currently your <em>equal</em>. Do not speak to your coworkers that way. Sowing dissent in our ranks only harms our cause. Do not allow your own personal interests to harm our organization as a whole.¡±


    The Subus¡¯s face whitened involuntarily, making its facade of King Koinkar look quite inhuman for a moment. ¡°Y-yes, superior.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, I was calling to inform the two of you of your newly-divided responsibilities. How many of the ¡®VIP¡¯ strategists that Xhag had appointed survived the Dragon attack?¡±


    ¡°Oh, a few. I believe most of them ended up living, but there were some injuries. Do you want me to kill them off? Hiring them was another of Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯s idiotic ns. Relying on Humans to make decisions¡­no wonder that wall fell.¡±


    ¡°No. In fact, I believe it was one of his better ideas. Division ofbor is important, and offloading as much work as possible from Demon hands onto the Humans was quite skillful, on his part. I intend to promote them to higher positions, directly under you two. That way, you can worry about high-level decisions while they carry out the smaller things. You said a few survived? Which ones?¡±


    The Subus blinked. ¡°Uh, er, yes, of course. I was simply¡­making a joke. A-Asmo was the one who thought the idea was stupid. I was mocking her, you see.¡±


    ¡°Noted. Answer my question.¡±


    ¡°R-right. The ones who survived were, um¡­uh¡­ ugh, Human names are impossible to remember. I¡¯ll go find them. Give me a minute.¡±


    ¡°No need,¡± Asmo interjected. ¡°I spoke to them recently. The names of the ones who survived were Winic Vigandoth, Carison Aakbi, Keiki Umesai, and Jon Mourn. They were the mage, merchant, warrior, and healer, respectively. Though Jon is upset about the failure. I can speak to him and try to calm him down, if needed.¡±


    ¡°It would be great if you could speak to Jon Mourn, actually, Asmo, since you will be in charge of their squad from now on. They will answer directly to you. I believe your being a Human should allow rapport to be built more quickly and efficiently, and you should be able to anticipate the Human-specific problems they may face more quickly than the Subus.¡±


    ¡°I, I,¡± the Subus spluttered. ¡°I could anticipate Human problems just fine! Give me some time, and I could be more familiar with them than they are themselves!¡±


    ¡°Negative. Subus, you will continue in your duties as they are now. Manage the kingdom, and keep everyone happy. You will take a short break from waging active war in order to rebuild and consolidate your power. Focus on research of new warfare technologies and strategies. Doing so will most likely require high morale among the popce, as well as a growing poption with abundant resources. So try to end whatever famine is going on.¡±


    The Subus furrowed its brows. Rebuild? That was effectively impossible. Trying to make all of these Humans happy andfortable? Pointless. And how could it even do so in a reasonable time? There was no way it could solve this food shortage. ¡°Would it¡­be possible for the Underworld to lend more manpower? Perhaps if we used Infernals¡ªor, or perhaps Nefariors¡ªas manualborers, we could¡ª¡±


    ¡°Negative. As I said before, no reinforcements are avable to be sent to the Overworld. The Fourth Circle is making moves¡ªwe believe they¡¯ve joined in with the alliance group run by the Second, which is of course a problem. As such, most armies require as many soldiers as they can get. We do not have the soldiers to waste ying around in the Overworld. So make due with what you have. If you need advice in running a Human kingdom, feel free to ask Asmo, or perhaps one of the advisors. Asmo, you said Carison Aakbi is a merchant? So he should be more than able to¡ª¡±


    ¡°I will handle it,¡± the Subus interjected. ¡°Please, there is no need to get hasty recing my duties. Give me¡­a month. No, half! Half of a month, and this entire famine shall be no more. The kingdom will prosper infinitely!¡±


    ¡°...Sure. Do that. But there is no need to operate on such a tight schedule. We are moving to long-term ns, remember. From what I¡¯m aware of the Overworld, solving a famine in such a short period will most likely be impossible. Take your time, and avoid being rash with your actions, as that will only lead to further mistakes.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± the Subus rushed to answer. No way it would let itself get reced. What did its superior even want with these Humans, anyway?! If it lost its job, and to a <em>Human</em>, no less¡­ ¡°There will be no mistakes on my part.¡±


    ¡°Noted. Get that solved, and then move to research. Asmo, you and the Human subordinates that have been appointed to you will be tasked with managing intelligence on An Nota and his location. For now, do not attempt to attack the Barinruth Empire, but rather gather information on things like their military power, local geography, possible points of assault, and any weaknesses you may be able to identify. Also, feel free to assist our acting king in repairing damage done to the kingdom. However, keep the facade going that Koinkar is leading alone, and nothing has changed in the way leadership is managed.¡±


    ¡°Acknowledged,¡± Asmo responded. ¡°I am aware that a criminal underbelly has been growing in influence in the kingdom. Perhaps I may be able to use a subordinate to infiltrate their ranks and control them from the inside. From there, we could carry out internal assassinations on dissidents and stimte the economy via the ck market.¡±


    ¡°Perfect, that¡¯s a great idea.¡±


    ¡°And I will manage this criminal underside once you have infiltrated it!¡± The Subus said. No way it could allow Asmo to freely manage things like that. She could not be allowed to have that kind of power.


    ¡°With all due respect, my <em>coworker</em>,¡± Asmo sneered, ¡°I believe you would best befit continuing in your current duties, instead of adding on more responsibilities to your already-cluttered job. I know how hard it is for you to even do as much as you are currently tasked with.¡±


    The Subus looked over with a stare worth a thousand suns, certain Asmo would shrink back immediately. The bitch couldn¡¯t talk to it like that! But she just looked back with a faux-professional gaze.


    Their superior responded, ¡°Yes, it would most likely be best for Asmo to manage any criminal organizations she is able to infiltrate. Again, operations of subtlety would most likely fit a Human, rather than a Demon, as Humans will be better at naturally blending in. Acting as Koinkar seems to only have worked as well as it has so far because Koinkar already had a reputation for being somewhat strange, so inconsistencies in behavior have gone unnoticed. Rather, <em>mostly</em> unnoticed, as can be evidenced by Asmo here instantly seeing through your identity. I do hope you learned from that mistake of yours.¡±


    ¡°I will regret it every day of my life,¡± the Subus said through clenched teeth, ring at Asmo.


    Asmo wasn¡¯t looking, though, as she spoke to their superior through the Crystal. ¡°Also, superior, would it be at all possible for us to send out a rescue team for one other VIP? She is currently missing in action after a fight with the fugitive. However, I do suspect she is still alive. She may hold valuable information after interacting with him.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Seems like it could be useful. But your coworker here is the one who handles things like troop assignments. Speak to it about that.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± the Subus smiled a poisoned grin. ¡°We have already spoken about it, and I said I would get to it as soon as possible. It should not be an issue.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± the superior said. ¡°If that is all, I will leave you be. From here on out, you will each need to give daily reports to me so as to ensure everything is going smoothly. Call me when you have those ready. Do well, subordinates.¡±


    ¡°Yes, superior,¡± the two said in unison. With a chime, the Communication Crystal¡¯s light faded, and the room went silent.


    ¡°Damn this shit!¡± The Subus spiked the crystal into the marble floor and it bounced up with a high-pitched <em>ng</em>. It stood from its seat. ¡°What is she thinking?¡±


    ¡°Something wrong?¡± Asmo asked, still calmly standing by the throne.


    ¡°Oh, of course the idiot Human can¡¯t figure out what the issue is,¡± the Subus rolled its eyes. ¡°Get out of my sight.¡±


    ¡°Certainly,¡± Asmo said, a grin threatening to spread onto her face. ¡°Before I leave, though, I do have a request of you.¡±


    ¡°What? I¡¯m not sending out some squad to save that Human. She failed, she should die.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d like to be given some Message Papers,¡± Asmo said. ¡°I will need to speak with my new subordinates often, and some Enchanted papers will do just fine in that endeavor. That way, we can write back and forth without needing to worry about long distances.¡±


    ¡°Message Papers? Aren¡¯t those just like, worse, slower versions of Communication Crystals?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it is true that they take longer to send messages the further apart one is from another person, but that shouldn¡¯t pose any issues. Besides, since Communication Crystals can only be made by Demons, I felt that the Message Papers should be easier to acquire.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± the Subus rolled its eyes. ¡°You have four new subordinates, right? I¡¯ll just give you one for each.


    ¡°Hm. Well, yes, but it would do best to have some redundancy. Perhaps give me ten or fifteen, instead?¡±


    ¡°Yes, whatever. I¡¯ll grab an Enchanter or something to make some. Just get out.¡±


    Asmo smiled and turned to leave. ¡°Great. Get them to me as soon as possible, please. Wouldn¡¯t want word of your ipetence to spread to our superior.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t even know her name, Human scum!¡± the Subus screamed back as Asmo. But she was already walking away.


    **********


    As Asmo marched through the hallway leading out of the audience chamber, her face fought between a frown and a grin. That amateur Demon wanted to fight over power with her? So be it. But that thing had no idea how much of a world of hurt it was in for. After all, it¡¯d already signed its own death warrant.


    Fifteen Message Papers? Who would believe she¡¯d need to use that many to talk with a few people? But the extra was exactly enough for what she was actually nning. And with the ability to work with some others in the criminal side of the kingdom, out of the knowledge of that Demon, it wouldn¡¯t take long before she was done.


    This whole kingdom would be hers, whether ¡°Koinkar¡± willingly gave it up or not.

 Chapter 141: The Anticipated Future

    Chapter 141: The Anticipated Future


    The guards beckoned us over, down the road toward them.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got medical personnel, right?¡± I asked as I limped forward alongside Erani and Ainash.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± one of them said. ¡°We¡¯ve got¡ªwoah! Hold on!¡±


    I stopped short.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got min¡¯ monsters with you?! The Hell¡¯s wrong with you?! Get back!¡±


    Confused, I looked over at Ainash. Was she¡­on fire? What was this guy talking about?


    ¡°Uh,¡± I waved with my unbroken arm, unsure of what to do, ¡°we¡¯re friendly. She¡¯s friendly, too. Just got out of a really bad fight, and we could really use some medical attention. If you have Clerics, or potions, I¡¯d be more than willing to pay back any sort of debt¡ª¡±


    ¡°Dry yourself! And stay there!¡± the guard yelled, and then turned to his twopanions, whispering among them.


    I frowned. Dry myself? After so long not really talking with anyone other than Erani and Ainash outside of strictbat negotiations or interrogations, I suddenly feltpletely out of my depth in a normal conversation with a weirdo.


    I turned to Erani. ¡°Do you know what¡¯s up with these guys?¡±


    ¡°Not really,¡± she shrugged back. ¡°But I guess they want us to wait?¡±


    <em>¡°Father, what happening?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I don¡¯t know. Don¡¯t think they want us here. You remember talking to them in the previous timeline, right? Were they like this then, too?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Do not know much, mother was one who spoke to them. But they are same people, and seemed much more friendly. Can sense¡­fear, nervousness, hostility from them.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°They¡¯re probably on edge because of the noise from the boulders dropping. Assuming there¡¯s some sort of monster attack going on, or something, and now they see us. A monster and a couple Humans lookingpletely beaten up, they might think we¡¯re just leading more monsters to them.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°These Humans do not like me or you. Seem okay with mother.¡±</em>


    Yeah, my Dark te was probably causing some issues. It was apparently pretty scary-looking, if Erani was to be believed. I¡¯d kept it on just to ensure we¡¯d be safe in case of an ambush, but suddenly I was regretting that decision.


    Or¡­no. No, maybe it was helping more than it hurt. The Demons had publicized my name and face around the Kingdom, and some of that information may have spread to neighboring countries. But Dark te covered my face. And, considering I¡¯d only actually used it in front of Xhag¡¯duul¡ªwho was now dead, and assumedly not in good standing with the Demons anymore¡ªthey almost certainly <em>hadn¡¯t</em> spread any depiction of that armor. Light te showed my face, but Dark te didn¡¯t.


    So, as long as I didn¡¯t lose the armor in front of anyone, I could probably appear in public as long as I had it on. And people like Erani and Ainash would probably have been spread around much less than me, since I was really the only one they were actually looking for. Plus, Ainash had also recently gone through an evolution that changed her appearance. Erani was really the only one who might have been recognized, but I doubted she¡¯d be remembered as much as I was.


    After a moment of the three guards talking among themselves, they turned back to us. ¡°Listen! You are in the presence of three high-Level, trained guards of the Barinruth Empire. Do not try to attack, do not try to fight.¡±


    High-Level, huh? Yeah, I probably didn¡¯t want to get on these guys¡¯ bad side. I furrowed my eyebrows at their suddenbativeness, calling back, ¡°Uh¡­are we under arrest? What¡¯s going on here?¡±


    ¡°We just want you to know, you should <em>not</em> try anything.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re not going to,¡± I said, trying to both convince them we were safe ande up with some sort of story about our identities. ¡°We¡¯re hurt. We can¡¯t fight anyway. Listen, just please get us some help. We were attacked earlier by a, uh, Demon.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Erani cut in, ¡°we¡¯ve been fleeing from the Koinkar Kingdom because of the Demon invasion. Please, we¡¯re desperate. We only barely fought off the Demon that chased us, but it¡¯s dead now. Please let us pass.¡±


    ¡°Then what in min¡¯ hell do you have a monster with you for?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s friendly,¡± Erani practically begged. I could tell she was desperate to just finally get to safety by now. I was too.


    ¡°Yeah. She¡¯s like a¡­¡± I tried to figure out a way to exin things to them that¡¯d just get us by as quickly as possible. ¡®Surrogate daughter¡¯ would probably do nothing but raise even more suspicion. ¡°A pet. Or something.¡±


    Since we were still mentally rying all of the conversation to Ainash, she heard what I said, and sent a general feeling of annoyance to me afterward. But I knew she understood that I was just dumbing things down for them. Not that I assumed she was happy about it¡ªI wouldn¡¯t be either.


    ¡°Pet?¡± one of them asked. ¡°What kind of monster even <em>is</em> that?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s a¡ª¡± I stopped myself. ¡°Listen, now isn¡¯t the time. We¡¯re standing in the middle of Kingdom¡¯s Edge. Let¡¯s get to safety, and we can talk.¡±


    ¡°You mean Empire¡¯s Edge?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I shook my head, exasperated. ¡°You said you had Truth Stones back at your outpost, right? Let''s just head there and you can test us on everything we say.¡±


    The three soldiers shared a nce once again. ¡°Fine. Come along. But can¡¯t you take off that helmet? Your armor¡¯s¡­creepy.¡±


    ¡°No. It¡¯s Enchanted.¡±


    ¡°Ugh. Okay.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I sighed.


    The guards walked alongside us as we moved through the tall stone walls of the mountain path. The three of them were obviously still on-guard, with them standing on the side opposite Ainash, so Erani and I were stationed between them. I supposed that made sense; her stature of being a full head taller than anyone present definitely made her cut an imposing figure. But I still felt like it was pretty rude. She was nice.


    And that standoffish demeanor extended toward me and Erani, as well. During the long walk, they made no attempt to make conversation with us. Though I somewhat weed that, since I was constantly talking to both of mypanions through Ainash¡¯s mental link throughout the walk.


    The one who looked most like a leader among them¡ªat least, he was the one who¡¯d done most of the talking¡ªintroduced himself as Bon. I deliberately responded with nothing more than a ¡°nice to meet you,¡± not wanting tomit to any story regarding my name or who I was before we got to the interrogation stage with a full n of what we were going to tell them.


    Once I¡¯d gotten a closer look, I took basic note of our ¡°escorts.¡± They wore some basic chain armor with leather andyered cloth beneath, and each had melee weapons that gave me a decent idea of their sses. Two of them, including Bon, had swords¡ªso probably Swordsmen¡ªand the other had a two-handed warhammer strapped to his back¡ªso probably a high Strength or Endurance build, most likely Berserker, or maybe Pdin. Though generally that particr weapon could pair with a decent number of sses.


    The moment I mentioned the possibility of Pdin to Erani, she began mentally spiraling down the rabbit hole of what Spell builds he might be going with. Pdin was a Hybrid-Type ss, so it was one of the very few that got both Mana and ess to manmade weapons with specialized Talents and Martial Arts for them. Though, Erani¡¯s spection of his different Spells lost a lot of its meaning going through Ainash, where we had a lot of trouble trying to trante names and specific wording to and from her.


    In the time that passed, I managed to squeeze in another activation of Regenerate while keeping my Stamina at a decent level, which helped my confidence in our contingencies in case a fight broke out, and it also did a bit more to heal my broken limbs. Still, no matter how much I examined them, I couldn¡¯t really get a read on their exact Levels. They were apparently pretty strong, as Bon had said, but I wouldn¡¯t have thought so at first nce. As they were guards, I wouldn¡¯t have imagined they were very high-Level, spending their time standing around on watch rather than hunting down monsters for XP. But then, they <em>were </em>guards for a ce as dangerous as Kingdom¡¯s Edge¡ªor Empire¡¯s Edge, as they apparently knew it¡ªso maybe they¡¯d be a lot stronger to fend off such powerful monsters.


    Needless to say, neither our side nor the side of the guards disyed much friendliness during the walk.


    But we got to our destination all the same, the full hour passing in rtive uneventfulness. They probably kept this whole area clear of monsters, so luckily we hadn¡¯t had to deal with any Shadow Panther attacks. Though, forcing the guards to tip their hands in terms of how strong they were would probably be good for us.


    The outpost we arrived at was small. I¡¯d seen it from afar, up in the wild mountains, but not up-close from below. And it seemed like I¡¯d overestimated howrge it was at the time. It only seemed big enough to house a few rooms, and was made of simple, rough stone. Seemed like the stone they used was magically-sourced; I could tell byparing it to the magically-cut stone that made up the Demons¡¯ barricade. It didn¡¯t seem very high-quality <em>or</em> high-protection, really.


    ¡°So, do you guys have any Clerics that can heal me?¡± I asked as we approached the stone hut.


    ¡°No, we don¡¯t. But Jannin here,¡± Bon replied, tilting his head back at the one with the warhammer, ¡°is a Pdin. He¡¯s got a basic heal that can help you out. You got some scratches or something?¡±


    ¡°Little more,¡± I said. ¡°Right arm and left leg both have their bones shattered. Health has regenerated a bit, but it¡¯s mainly the bodily harm.¡±


    His eyes widened. ¡°What in hell¡­? You¡¯ve been walking on a broken leg?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a decent level of Endurance, so the pain isn¡¯t as bad as it should be. Besides, she¡¯s helped me this whole way, didn¡¯t you notice?¡± I said, gesturing at Ainash, who had, as I¡¯d said, been helping me walk the entire way here.


    ¡°W-well, I didn¡¯t¡­listen, get in and sit down. We¡¯ll help as much as we can. But I don¡¯t know if¡­¡±


    The Pdin¡ªJannin¡ªstepped forward. ¡°I¡¯m not going to be able to fix a min¡¯ broken limb. Much less two. But I can at least top out your Health.¡±


    ¡°Good enough for me,¡± I nodded.


    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s get inside.¡±


    We walked through the creaky wooden front door. Inside was a smallmon room with little in it to decorate the bleak stone walls.


    ¡°Make yourselves at home,¡± Bon said. ¡°Uh, armor guy, take a seat in one of these chairs. Woman, monster¡­I don¡¯t know. We¡¯ve got some food rations you can munch on if you¡¯re hungry. Don¡¯t expect anything fancy, though. Just check those cabs in the kitchen. Oh, and don¡¯t touch that book.¡±


    In the room containing a few chairs and a small kitchen, the man gestured to a full notebook of what I recognized to be Message Paper sitting on a table. Seemed like the entire budget of this outpost went toward that single Enchanted item. Or, rather, tome of dozens of Enchanted items. It certainly looked out of ce, that was for sure.


    ¡°Those two doors lead to the bedrooms and the toilet. If you need to go, feel free.¡±


    And that concluded the tour. Ainash helped me sit down in a creaky wooden chair¡ªthough ¡°copse¡± would probably be a better word for what I did¡ªand then she wandered off, apparently deciding to explore this new, man-made environment she¡¯d never seen before. Erani grabbed a chair of her own, one that was up against a wall. Yeah, we may have been hungry, but I wasn¡¯t eating their food. At least if the Pdin tried to cast a damaging Spell on me, I could react quickly and fight back. Eating poison wouldn¡¯t leave me nearly as much wiggle room.


    Once I sat, the Pdin¡ªJannin¡ªsat down next to me and reached out to grab my leg. ¡°Oh, you may want to remove the armor. I need direct touch.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll be able to grab right through it,¡± I grunted. The soreness and pain seemed to flood into my body the moment I sat down.


    With a curious look on his face, he did so, and looked surprised when, as I¡¯d said, he reached right through the te armor and touched my leg. We¡¯d been aware of this property of Ethereal Armor ever since I¡¯d taken it and had that unfortunate run-in with the Ghouls, but since then, with some experimentation from Erani, we¡¯d found that an outside being could effectively choose whether they wanted to touch the armor, or touch me. From how Erani had described it, it wasn¡¯t as much of a conscious choice and more of a measurement of subconscious intent. If someone actively wanted to touch the armor, their hands would stop on its exterior. Otherwise, they¡¯d pass through as though it were an illusion.


    With his hand on my leg, Jannin closed his eyes and muttered what sounded like a prayer. After he was done, he kept his eyes shut, and after about thirty seconds, I got a notification.


    You have been blessed by the mercy of god. 10 Health restored.


    Your Health is 119.


    Seemed like it worked. But not much healing. This would probably take a while. Still, it was certainly better than my natural Health/Minute, which was still less than 0.2.


    Now that I saw that the guards didn¡¯t seem to mean us any harm¡ªyet¡ªI rxed a little. ¡°So, how far are we from the nearest settlement?¡±


    ¡°Nearest?¡± Bon asked. ¡°Not too far. In fact, you should just barely be able to see it from here if it¡¯s bright enough.¡±


    He turned and walked over to a slice of the stone wall that I realized was actually on a metal track, so it could slide away to reveal a window iid in the wall. He slid it open, and a ray of sunlight blinded me in the dim room, where my sight had already adjusted to the darkness. I squinted as I got used to the sudden light, before fully opening them to gaze out. Ainash walked over to the window, and Erani stood to look through, as well.


    Through the hole in the wall, we could, indeed, see it from here. Out across the rolling hills, opposite the direction of the mountains, there were the tiny protrusions in the ground that I recognized as buildings. And not just one or two, but a whole swarm of them. It was farmhouses and barns on green fields. And further out than that, I could just barely make out the sight of walls. Walls! Society was there. In our sight. Not guarded by Demons, or destroyed by an invasion, or swarming with hostiles. Just in old people.


    Good food, a warm bed, Spell Crystals, a fucking break from the constant fear of monsters. We were here. The promisednd.


    You have been blessed by the mercy of god. 10 Health restored.


    Your Health is 129.


    Another trigger of healing went off from Jannin, who was still casting his Spells. Blessed by the mercy of god, huh? Yeah, sure felt like we were.


    The Demons would be plotting to start a war, but we still had the first move here. And with the innate safety and resources given to us by society, the ability to work and purchase some gear of our own, the ability to make allies¡ªmaybe even work alongside the Barinruth Empire to repel the Demons? It seemed like we may just be able to shift our strategy from reactive to proactive. Defensive to offensive.


    We were safe now, so we could finally focus on procuring the power to end these Demons, and maybe give <em>them</em> a taste of what it was like to live in fear. With that, plus two more Level-ups waiting on me to make my Talent and Time Loop Upgrade choices, there was a chance here that we may be able to do more than just survive.


    We finally had the tools to get stronger, and eventually take the fight to them.

 Chapter 142.1: Determination

    Chapter 142.1: Determination


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    You have been blessed by the mercy of god. 10 Health restored.


    Your Health is 170.


    ¡°''Kay, that¡¯s me below half Mana,¡± the Pdin Jannin said. He stood up from his previously-sitting position beside me. ¡°Let¡¯s take a break, and then I¡¯ll get back to you once I¡¯m back at full.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I nodded. ¡°Thanks for the help.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s no problem. Anything to beat the min¡¯ boredom out here.¡±


    ¡°Boredom? Is it that bad? I¡¯d assume living out near Kingdom¡¯s¡ªer, Empire¡¯s¡ªEdge would be pretty exhrating. With the monsters and everything.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s definitely stressful boredom, but at the end of the day, most weeks pass without anything happening out here. Dragons generally take care of therger threats, and they don¡¯t bother us unless we bother them. So it¡¯s basically just sitting around, and if something ever does happen, we¡¯re dead.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like a shitty job.¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like we <em>wanted </em>to take it,¡± Bon said. ¡°¡®Course it¡¯s bad.¡±


    ¡°You didn''t want toe out here? Why, then?¡±


    ¡°Punishment. Or, it¡¯s more like it¡¯s a way to get rid of people. We weren¡¯t wanted, so we¡¯re sent out here to do absolutely nothing. Out here, we either die to a monster, or we live, and still can¡¯t do anything to hurt the emperor. May as well be a silent execution.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like you pissed someone off,¡± I sighed. Wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t understand the frustration of being punished just for upsetting the wrong person. ¡°Also, uh, sorry if I¡¯m just being totally ignorant, but I thought Barinruth had an empress, not an emperor.¡±


    ¡°We did,¡± Bon said. ¡°But now we don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°A min¡¯ assassination is what happened,¡± Jannin burst out with a scowl. ¡°Our empress was¡ª¡±


    ¡°Shut it!¡± Bon shouted over him. Jannin stopped, then Bon turned back to me. ¡°What do you think we said that got us in trouble?¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± I nodded. ¡°So I guess you had the wrong theory?¡±


    ¡°You could say that. The ¡®ident¡¯ happened a couple years ago, and my squad and I were supposed to keep the peace during the riots that followed. We didn¡¯t want to. Now we¡¯re here. Makes sense you Koinkarians haven¡¯t heard of it¡ªnew Emperor likes to keep things quiet.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    The conversation died out after that. Seemed like there was a bit of baggage that came with guarding the mountain range. Looking out the window, I could see in the distance a few more outposts simr to this one, lining the border between mountains and fields. Were they all out here for the same reasons?


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Bon continued after a moment, ¡°we¡¯re pretty much just here to warn people if there¡¯s a monster attack. That¡¯s what the Message Paper is for. If we ever see a Dragon that looks particrly aggressive, or really see any sort of anomaly, we write it in the Paper so the higher-ups know what¡¯s going on. That¡¯s why we need to know what you¡¯re doing here. Humansing through the pass, that¡¯s certainly an anomaly. And you said you had some sorta Demon attack, too?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°But, um, can you give me a moment before we go through all of that? I actually have a Level-up I need to manage.¡±


    Bonughed. ¡°Sure, sure. Take a few minutes to do your thing. I¡¯m in no hurry to cramp up my writing hand.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I sighed. Erani also had Levels to manage, ording to Ainash, so we all needed the break to meditate. And, in case our strategy for dealing with the Truth Stone didn¡¯t work, I definitely wanted to be at my most powerful when dealing with them.


    So I opened up my Status.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    <strong>31</strong> (<strong>21</strong> + <strong>10</strong>)


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>20</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>52 </strong>(<strong>42</strong> + <strong>10</strong>)


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>388</strong>/<strong>3.0</strong>k


    Dexterity:


    <strong>33 </strong>(<strong>23</strong> + <strong>10</strong>)


    Health:


    <strong>170</strong>/<strong>520</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.193</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>112</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>41</strong>/<strong>252</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>1.63</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>27</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>1.26k</strong>/<strong>1.26k</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>73.8</strong>


    <strong>Stat Points:</strong>


    <strong>6</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Sanguine Bond 9 - XP<strong></strong>355/355


    <strong>[Talent Choice Avable]</strong>


    Devastator


    Expedite 9 - XP 355/355


    Exponential Remation


    Trailzer


    Ethereal Armor 9 - XP 355/355


    Regenerate


    Gravity Well 9 - XP 355/355


    Recursive Growth


    Ray of Frost 9 - XP 355/355


    Time Loop <strong>20</strong>


    +Extended Loop


    <strong>+[Time Loop Upgrade Avable]</strong>


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP 355/355


    Noxious Grasp <strong>15</strong> - XP <strong>32</strong>/<strong>1.92k</strong>


    +Venomous Grasp


    In total, from my two recent Level-ups, I¡¯d gotten 3 Strength, 4 Endurance, 3 Dexterity, 5 Conjuration, 3 Intelligence, 6 Stat Points, Recursive Growth had started giving me 6 Stats per Level, I¡¯d gotten two Ranks for Time Loop, a Soft Cap Rank, a Talent, a Time Loop Usage Increase moving me up to 3 per day, <em>and</em> a Time Loop Upgrade. It was¡­certainly a lot to go over.


    And Exponential Remation made those points in Conjuration so much more valuable, too. With just five points, my Mana/Minute moved from 66 to almost 74. And that was <em>before</em> I assigned my 6 more Stat Points.


    But the Stats were the least of my gains. At the front of my mind were the two main things I needed to look at: the Talent and the Time Loop Upgrade. Considering how defining my Talents had been to my build so far, each and every one I got would make massive ripples through my future. And Time Loop¡¯s previous Upgrade, massively expanding the amount of time I could go back, made me practically salivate at the opportunity to see another one.


    So first, going in order of importance, I opened up my Talent.


    Choose one Talent to obtain:


    Cumtive Catastrophe


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Each string of attacks you make will be recurred through time, stacking fractions of power with every strike. Whenever you damage a being, increase all future damage and other numerical effects dealt to that being by 1% additively. If 6 seconds pass without you damaging that being, reset this damage boost for that being.


    Spatial Flux


    Type: Activated


    ¡ª


    Instantly teleports you to the exact position you were at one hour ago.


    This Talent can only be activated once per day.


    Future Sight


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    You are always aware of what will happen to you one second from now. This manifests as a constant vision in your mind. It predicts the exact future, and can be changed only through actions taken due to the knowledge gained by this Talent.


    Woah. Well, those were some weird options. Cumtive Catastrophe, if I was reading it right, would effectively make all of my hits one percent stronger for every time I¡¯d previously hit the same enemy, Spatial Flux was a¡­strange teleportation ability, but I¡¯d presumably want to primarily use it to get out of difficult situations, and Future Sight was a sort of strange all-round ability that seemed like it would help out in plenty of situations, but be difficult to really n around or control.


    As for choosing one? I wasn¡¯t totally sure.

 Chapter 142.2: Determination

    Chapter 142.2: Determination


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    Choose one Talent to obtain:


    Cumtive Catastrophe


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Each string of attacks you make will be recurred through time, stacking fractions of power with every strike. Whenever you damage a being, increase all future damage and other numerical effects dealt to that being by 1% additively. If 6 seconds pass without you damaging that being, reset this damage boost for that being.


    Spatial Flux


    Type: Activated


    ¡ª


    Instantly teleports you to the exact position you were at one hour ago.


    This Talent can only be activated once per day.


    Future Sight


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    You are always aware of what will happen to you one second from now. This manifests as a constant vision in your mind. It predicts the exact future, and can be changed only through actions taken due to the knowledge gained by this Talent.


    I was a bit put off by Spatial Flux¡¯s limitation of once per day¡ªa day could end up being very, very long if I didn¡¯t n things right with Time Loop¡ªbut the ability itself was still extremely helpful. An instant teleport always was. Time Loop was nice, but there were still sometimes asions where no matter how much preparation I had, I wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid a threat¡ªour run-in with Xhag¡¯duul was evidence enough of that. So being able to just move away from them without any hint as to where I¡¯d gone could be a perfect tool to escape enemies that Time Loop wouldn¡¯t help against. Hells, it could even just buy me time until midnight came and Time Loop refreshed, if I was ever in a situation where I was waiting on it.


    In contrast to Spatial Flux helping me escape enemies, Cumtive Catastrophe would just help me kill them. Its specific workings were interesting. It increased damage¡ªthat was straightforward¡ªbut ¡°other numerical effects¡± was less clear.


    <em>Index? Wanna help me out?</em> I thought, deciding not to speak to it out loud considering how I¡¯d just sound like an insane person to the guards.


    ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± Index said into my ear. ¡°A ¡®numerical effect¡¯ in this case would be things like Stamina and Mana drain as well as Stat debuffs. At least, that¡¯s what would matter to you.¡±


    <em>Right.</em><em>And how would this function alongside things like Noxious Grasp or Crippling Chill? The ¡°whenever you damage a being¡± part doesn¡¯t really make that clear.</em>


    ¡°You¡¯re wondering how many instances of damage they¡¯ll cause? Well, pretty much, it¡¯s one instance per second. Even though effects like Noxious Grasp can technically calcte damage down to the fraction, it only really counts for one single trigger each second. So, if you had Noxious Grasp active alongside Crippling Chill for, say, ten seconds, that¡¯d be ten triggers for each, making twenty. If, during that time, you also hit the enemy with three Rays of Frost, it¡¯d be twenty-three.¡±


    <em>And that boost from Cumtive Catastrophe will apply to the effects each second, too?</em>


    ¡°That depends on the specific Spell. Really, it depends on if it¡¯s a Status Affliction. To use Noxious Grasp as an example, for second one, it¡¯d deal its usual damage and Stamina drain of 20.8 and 10.4, respectively, and you¡¯d get a trigger from Catastrophe. From that trigger, the next second of Grasp would be powered-up, boosting it to 21 and 10.5. The third second would deal 21.2 and 10.6, and so on. But for something like Crippling Chill, that applies an Affliction, meaning it¡¯ll stay static until you reapply it. You cast it at its base of 7.76 damage, 6.21 Stamina drain, and 15.5 Dex debuff, and it¡¯ll rack up Catastrophe triggers every second to boost further Spells cast, but it won¡¯t strengthen itself. However, if you wait, say, ten seconds and then cast it again to reapply the effect, those will all jump up to 8.54, 6.83, and 17.1, since you rece the current effect.¡±


    I nodded, trying to take in all of the numbers Index had just thrown at me. I got the gist, though; it worked pretty well with my current build. The way I saw it, the boost in effect wouldn¡¯t be too great for the first part of a battle. Sure, five, ten, fifteen percent was good¡ªit was effectively a few free Spell Ranks for everything I cast¡ªbut it definitely wasn¡¯t worth a whole Talent slot.


    However, if I could keep Catastrophe going, it would quickly get more and more powerful. Especially with effects like Crippling Chill, which dealt unavoidable damage, I¡¯d pretty much be constantly racking up triggers of the Talent. And if a battle went on for a minute or two of me constantly having Crippling Chill and Sanguine Bond active, alongside asional hits with Noxious Grasp and Ray of Frost, I could easily get it up to a one hundred percent boost¡ªeven two hundred wasn¡¯t out of the realm of possibility. And tripling all damage dealt, Stamina drained, hells, even the Dexterity debuffs I applied? That would make an insane difference.


    But the Talent did still have downsides. There was technically the use that the damage boost would wear off after six seconds without dealing damage, but I honestly wasn¡¯t worried about that. With Crippling Chill, as long as I had Mana, I could pretty much guarantee I¡¯d always be dealing damage, so it¡¯d rarely be the case that the effect would wear off unless someone could get far enough away to be out of the Spell¡¯s range, and then stay that far away until the Spell wore off, and <em>then</em> stay that far away for another six seconds. I didn¡¯t anticipate that being too frequent of an issue.


    My main worry was rather that it didn¡¯t do much to help in the beginning of a fight. The moment a fight started, it¡¯d do literally nothing. And, if I was up against someone who could kill me quickly, this wouldn¡¯t do much to stop them. But then, if I did manage to survive, the Talent would help me close out that same impossible fight by increasing my debuffs and drains until it was something they could no longer handle.


    So, lots to consider with that one. Finally, there was Future Sight. Which was even weirder. I could <em>always</em> see one second in the future? That somehow seemedpletely busted andpletely useless at the same time. A single second was a very short period of time, but, well, being able to always see it was kind of insane. How did that even manifest? The Talent exined it a bit, but I still had what felt like hundreds of questions.


    <em>Index?</em>


    ¡°Right, right. So, uh¡­this one¡¯s a bit hard to exin without you experiencing it. You¡¯ll effectively have two windows of consciousness going at the same time¡ªlike you¡¯re living two lives simultaneously. One of them will be your normal perception, while the other will be your future perception. It¡¯ll be up to you to figure out how you want to split your attention between the two, but all of the information will be there.¡±


    <em>That sounds¡­disorienting.</em>


    ¡°Oh yeah, it will be.¡±


    <em>And I can¡¯t turn it off?</em>


    ¡°No, not really. I mean, you can do your best to ignore the future, but then you¡¯re basically losing all of the benefits of the Talent.¡±


    <em>You don¡¯t seem like you¡¯re doing a good job of selling this Talent to me.</em>


    ¡°I¡¯m not here to sell you anything. Just inform you. You¡¯re the one who keeps asking about the downsides. If you want the good parts too, here: if you can get used to it and can leverage the information you gain without it impairing your ability to operate in the world, this will effectively never let you get surprised. Any ambush thates, you¡¯ll seeing. Granted, you¡¯ll only see it a single second ahead of time, but one second is definitely better than zero.¡±


    <em>Right. So if it¡¯s an ambush where getting a second¡¯s warning makes a difference, I might be able to react quick enough to avoid it. I can also see it working while talking to people, like I can see if I¡¯m about to say something that would ruin a negotiation, or something. But then, I guess it¡¯d only work if they responded really quickly, so I could see what would end up happening within a single second before I actually said what I wanted to say. Still, using it in a fight would be great.</em>


    ¡°Yep. As long as you can get used to it.¡±


    Yeah. That sounded like it would be difficult. It¡¯d only be worth it if the benefits I gained from being able to see the future helped more than what I lost from effectively never being able to fully focus on the here-and-now. And, of course, I still had to weigh those benefits against the other two choices I had and choose which had the best ones.


    <em>What do you think, Index? Got any rmendations?</em>


    ¡°Of course. When ites to survival, I¡¯d say you should go with Spatial Flux. Teleportation is a phenomenal fail-safe to have, even if you can¡¯t really control where you¡¯ll go.¡±


    <em>Really?</em> I frowned. <em>But it just feels so situationalpared to the others.</em>


    ¡°Even if you only ever use it once, if it saves your life that one time, I¡¯d say it¡¯s worth it. At the end of the day, your best bet with these Demons is to just run and hope they never find you. Cut straight through as many Human territories as you can, and eventually they¡¯ll probably just decide it¡¯s not worth catching up to you if it means fighting through all of those militaries. This is effectively a problem of resource management; all you have to do is make it more expensive to kill you than it is to just let you keep the ss you stole.¡±


    I chewed on my tongue while I thought. When I¡¯d first taken the Index benefit, I¡¯d been pleased to learn that it waspletely unbiased¡ªthat is, all it wanted was for me to survive and seed. But I was learning now that maybe Index was more biased than I¡¯d thought. It wanted me to seed, but¡­


    <em>What about Erani and Ainash? If I escape a situation with my life intact, they¡¯ll still be in trouble.</em>


    ¡°Well then they can fend for themselves, can¡¯t they? You survive, and that¡¯s what matters.¡±


    Yeah, exactly. It didn¡¯t seem to take into ount the lives of others. Or even my own personal desires. I didn¡¯t <em>want</em> to just keep running forever and ever. I wanted to eventually beat the Demons, not just have them decide it was technically too expensive to kill me and fuck off without having paid anything for the destruction they¡¯d caused. And Index seemed to just not care at all about that, making its advice here kind of useless.


    ¡°Y¡¯know, I can still read your thoughts, An. You¡¯re thinking about me in a pretty rude way.¡±


    <em>Oh, right. Sorry.</em>


    ¡°No, no, I understand. I mean, of course I understand, I¡¯m reading your thoughts. But really, it¡¯s not like I want you to just technically live as long as possible, no matter how miserable you are. I¡¯m using a very advanced equation to decide what¡¯s best for you that does actually take happiness into ount.¡±


    <em>Then why are you advising I take the option that could lead to others dying? Even if you¡¯re looking at things selfishly, that¡¯d obviously make me pretty unhappy.¡±</em>


    ¡°Right, and I have plugged that possibility into the equation. If we say there¡¯s a sixty percent chance of Erani and Ainash dying at some point¡ª¡±


    <em>You aren¡¯t starting off well with that number.</em>


    ¡°And say that them dying will reduce your quality of life by ny percent for the next ten years, level of grief reducing at a linear rate, until you get over it¡ª¡±


    <em>And you aren¡¯t doing anything to recover from the terrible start.</em>


    ¡°If you live for another, say, eighty years from Endurance extending your lifetime, that onlyes out to an average of a one point zero four percent reduction of life quality. However, if we say that <em>not</em> taking the Talent leads to them guaranteed surviving, but now there¡¯s a five percent chance you die each year¡ª¡±


    <em>And where are you getting these numbers?</em>


    ¡°I¡¯m making them up to simplify things! But I¡¯m not far off the real percentages with this. Anyway, if we say that death means a one hundred percent reduction in quality of life for the remainder of the number of years you would have lived had you not died, then you¡¯re looking at a fourteen point three three percent reduction in expected quality of life! The numbers don¡¯t lie, and they spell disaster for you.¡±


    <em>Okay, listen. Maybe your math makes sense. I honestly didn¡¯t follow well enough for me to argue there. But what if you took into ount the ¡°expected quality of life reduction¡± for Erani and Ainash, as well?</em>


    ¡°But it doesn¡¯t make sense to take into ount several people when trying to calcte for a single person. I mean, I guess if the perceived lowering of another¡¯s QOL lowered your own, you could take that into ount,¡± it continued to mutter to itself, ¡°but then we have to start ounting for human perception, so I¡¯d have to measure your propensity for things like confirmation bias, avability heuristic, susceptibility to the appeal to emotion facy¡ªthough, I guess we¡¯re literally trying to calcte how that exact facy will affect you, so that would be self-referencing¡ªbut there¡¯s still¡ª¡±


    <em>Woah, woah,</em> I stopped it.<em> Just pretend we aren¡¯t calcting for a single person. Say¡­say you needed to calcte the average quality of life for a group of people. You¡¯d just calcte each person separately, and then average the whole thing out, right?</em>


    ¡°I mean, I suppose.¡±


    <em>So do that. Pretend Erani, Ainash and I are a single unit.</em>


    Index sighed. ¡°Fine. I guess if I did that¡­then sure, Spatial Flux wouldn¡¯t do much to help. And even if I were to only care about your own life quality, then your knowledge that using Spatial Flux would still likely leave others dead would almost certainly reduce any stress-relieving properties the feeling of safety would usually have, so I suppose I¡¯d have to take that into ount, as well. ¡­And maybe it would take you more than ten years to get over their deaths.¡±


    <em>Thank you. So then, ounting for¡­all of that, what do you rmend?</em>


    ¡°Oh, I have no idea.¡±


    My shoulders slumped and I let out a sigh. <em>Really? All of that for nothing?</em>


    ¡°You were the one who rejected my original suggestion. After taking into ount sufficient emotional distress if yourpanions are endangered, it bes virtually impossible to make any sort of urate prediction. Especially when I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going to happen in your future. I mean, a single encounter¡ªone person you meet saying something offhand that inspires you to do something different about the Demons, anything¡ªcouldpletely throw off my predictions. So you either ept the simple answer or ept no answer from me at all. I can still give you information so you can choose for yourself, though.¡±


    <em>Okay, sure. Well for now I¡¯m split between Cumtive Catastrophe and Future Sight. They both seem solid. But I¡¯ll leave it at that for now. Even if I was absolutely sure I¡¯d pick one or the other, I still have something else to look at before I make any permanent changes.</em>


    ¡°Ah, you¡¯ve been saving this one forst, huh?¡±


    <em>Yeah</em>, I smiled. <em>It¡¯s time to see my second ever Time Loop Upgrade.</em>

 Chapter 143: Elevation

    Chapter 143: Elevation


    So my main choice for Talent was between Cumtive Catastrophe and Future Sight. But I still had one more thing to look at before making my choices. Not wanting to wait any longer, I opened up the waiting Time Loop Upgrade.


    Choose one Upgrade for Time Loop:


    Persistent Loop


    ¡ª


    When you activate Time Loop, you may choose any Status Effects from among the ones you have to retain at their current time remaining, discarding all others. For all Status Effects you retain with this Upgrade, multiply their durations by Time Loop¡¯s Rank, divided by 4 <em>(multiplier of 5).</em>


    Recycled Loop


    ¡ª


    At midnight, when your uses of Time Loop refresh, for each use of Time Loop you have leftover from the previous day, discard it and increase a random Stat by 1.


    You may only gain a maximum number of Stats from this Upgrade equal to your Time Loop Rank divided by 2, rounded down <em>(10 Stats)</em>, before you must Level up to reset the maximum.


    Inclusive Loop


    ¡ª


    While activating Time Loop, you may now choose a number of additional beings equal to your Time Loop Rank divided by 10, rounded down <em>(2 beings),</em> that you are touching to keep their memories alongside you in the new timeline, however their Statuses are reset as normal.


    Alright, definitely some less straightforward options than the ones I¡¯d been shown for the first Upgrade. And they all seemed to follow this weird theme of being modified based on my current Time Loop Rank. But there was still some obvious power.


    My eye was immediately drawn to the third option, Inclusive Loop. Being able to bring other people along with me when I used Time Loop had the most clear advantages. Erani and Ainash, of course, would certainly benefit from me not having to catch them up every time I used it. And being able to slowly bring more and more people along with me could be interesting, too. As-is, I¡¯d be able to use Time Loop on two people, plus myself. So pretty much just Erani and Ainash. Later on, though, I¡¯d be able to bring more and more along with me. That could lead to some very interesting strategies, though it was a bit unfortunate they wouldn¡¯t also be able to keep the XP they got.


    The other two¡­Well, they were stranger in the ways I could use them. Persistent Loop seemed extremely situational. For me, as I was, I could effectively just keep stacks of Expedite across loops. Certainly a neat application¡ªI could empty out my entire Mana pool on as many stacks as I could manage before going back, which would be a good boost for that moment I arrived in the new timeline¡ªbut not really worth a whole Upgrade.


    But it seemed like the Upgrade wasn¡¯t meant to be worth it <em>now</em>. It was meant to be built around. If, for example, I picked as many Spells as I could in the future that gave me temporary effects, then perhaps by the time I got to Level 30, I¡¯d be able toe back after a loop with several beneficial effects andpletely demolish a fight that I¡¯d had a ton of trouble with before. After all, an entire Mana pool¡¯s worth of effects, tailored to perfectly fit a fight I already knew about, and all with their lengths multiplied by five¡ªor even more as I Leveled¡ªwould mean an absolutely massive power-up. <em>If </em>I was able to make that build work.


    And then there was Recycled Loop. That was strange in that it effectively encouraged me to <em>not</em> use Time Loop. At the end of each day, if I hadn¡¯t used up all of my Time Loop uses, I¡¯d get random Stat increases equal to the number of leftover uses I had. So, if I took that, once today ended and Time Loop refreshed, I wouldn¡¯t get any Stats, since I¡¯d already used Time Loop the maximum number of times I could. But then, after today ended and a new day began, if I didn¡¯t use Time Loop at all <em>that </em>day, I¡¯d get two random Stat increases¡ªor, three, since I just got another Time Loop Usage Increase. If I used Time Loop once but saved the other two uses, then I¡¯d get two Stats, and so on.


    Of course, this Upgrade also had another limiting factor. It could only give me ten stats per Level. Once I¡¯d ¡°recycled¡± ten uses of Time Loop, I¡¯d have to get to Level 21 before I was able to recycle any more. So I couldn¡¯t just sit back and do nothing for infinite growth. Though that limit, of course, increased as I Leveled. So I¡¯d get my ten Stats at my current Level of 20, and then I¡¯d move to 21, and once I got my ten random Stats for Level 21, at Level 22 I¡¯d be able to get eleven random Stats before having to Level up again. And it¡¯d continue to increase at every even Level¡ª12 at 24, 13 at 26, and so on.


    So, essentially, at its best, this Upgrade would be leagues better than the already-insane Talent Recursive Growth. Recursive Growth currently only gave me 6 Stats per Level, whereas this would give me 10. And on top of that, Recursive Growth would start giving me 2 more Stats, up to 8, once I reached Level 30. Recycled Loop? That would give me 2 more Stats per Level once I got to 24. By Level 30, it¡¯d be giving me 15 Stats per Level. So not only did it <em>start</em> better than Recursive Growth, it would grow even faster, too.


    However, that was only at the Upgrade¡¯s best. At its worst¡­well, it would do nothing. If I was never able to spare a single usage of Time Loop in a day, then it wouldn¡¯t give me a single Stat, ever. Well, I supposed that <em>eventually</em> I could use up all of those ¡®recycling slots¡¯ that I saved up. It¡¯d just take forever.


    ¡°Actually, you can¡¯t,¡± Index interrupted my thoughts.


    <em>Hm?</em>


    ¡°Take another look at the exact wording. If you took it now, you could get up to ten Stats for Level 20. But if you move on without getting all ten, then once you¡¯re at Level 21, you¡¯ll still only have another ten Stats you can get. It''s a use-it-or-lose-it scenario.¡±


    Ooh. Well, that certainly changed things. So I¡¯d probably have to take a slightly different approach to Leveling if I took this Upgrade. Instead of trying to get through my Levels as quickly as possible, I¡¯d want to squeeze as much juice out of them as I could, waiting until I¡¯d gotten all of my Recycled Stats before moving onto the next one. Slowing myself down certainly didn¡¯t sound <em>appealing</em>, but I supposed that was the price one had to pay for something that was so much better than Recursive Growth.


    <em>Hey, Index, while I have you, what¡¯s up with this weird ¡°equal to your Time Loop Ranks divided by something¡± theme going on with the Upgrade Choice?</em>


    ¡°Oh, well basically it¡¯s just going off of your previous Upgrade. Out of the three optionsst time, Extended Loop¡¯s effect of increasing your Time Loop length by 30 minutes every time it Ranked up was the only one that cared about Time Loop¡¯s Rank. So the System effectively set this up as a way of continuing that ¡®gets better as Time Loop Ranks up¡¯ theme.¡±


    <em>Huh, interesting. I¡¯ve heard of it doing things like shaping your choices around different ¡®builds¡¯ based on your previous choices, but still, this seems a lot more obvious. Never really thought of the System as having any real conscious design behind it. More as just something¡­ kind of random.</em>


    ¡°Pretty much every Choice you get, whether it¡¯s Spell, Talent, or Upgrade, follows that basic idea. It¡¯s just that this one was pretty explicit, and didn¡¯t have any exceptions.¡±


    <em>Good to know. Moving onto actually picking one of these Upgrades to take, what do you think of Persistent Loop? It obviously needs me to build around it to make it good, but do I even have any options in my future that¡¯ll work with it?¡±</em>


    ¡°For Spells? Hm¡­let me see¡­You went Noxious into Crippling into Ray into Well into Armor into Expedite into Bond¡­so from there you¡¯ll get¡­and that¡¯ll branch into¡­and from there¡­Hm. So, thing is, not really. Talents don¡¯t look too favorable, either. I mean, you¡¯ll get <em>some</em> beneficial Status Effects, but they won¡¯t be breaking this Upgrade wide open, or anything. Right now, you¡¯ve just got Expedite and Regenerate, which definitely aren¡¯t worth nothing with quintupled lengths¡ªespecially Regenerate¡ªbut they¡¯re both still not really worth enough that they beat out your other options. With Expedite, especially, you¡¯d effectively have to go back to directly before the fight began in order to get any use out of it, even with a length multiplied by five. What you want is something thatsts hours, that way the multiplier really starts to mean something.¡±


    <em>And I get nothing like that?</em>


    ¡°Like I said, not nothing, but it isn¡¯t anything super great.¡±


    <em>So the Upgrade is just worthless then?</em>


    ¡°Well, not worthless. You may not get anything in your ss¡¯s future that works well with the Upgrade, but you can still use Enchanted stuff.¡±


    Oh, shit, right, I¡¯dpletely forgotten about Enchantments! While most of the time, Enchanters made smaller, simpler things like Spell Crystals, basic weight decreasing Enchantments, or Magic-Usable Enchanted weapons, there were still moreplex Enchantments that could be ced on items. Things like Ripley¡¯s axe that she¡¯d used against me, orrge logic systems to make things happen automatically. And within that realm ofplex Enchantments were items that could temporarily apply beneficial effects to the user. Typically with a limitation of how often you could use them, and a limited length of the effect. But those would work perfectly with Persistent Loop!


    Of course, those moreplex Enchantments would also require much higher-Leveled Enchanters, much more Mana, and much rarer materials. So, in short, they¡¯d cost a fuck-ton of money. But if I could get them, they¡¯d work with Persistent Loop perfectly. The only issue was the money, and the avability. Not just any shop in any town would hold such expensive Enchanted goods, so we¡¯d have to find them, and then of course we¡¯d have to raise the money to buy them, too. As mid-Level ssers, we¡¯d certainly be able to make a lot more money than before, but it still wouldn¡¯t be easy.


    <em>Index, can you tell me anything about the avability of Enchanted goods in this country? And maybe which ones I could find in¡ª</em>


    ¡°Dude,¡± Index interrupted, ¡°I don¡¯t know everything. I can tell you about the System, but I know just as much as you do about this Barinruth Empire ce.¡±


    <em>Oh. Right.</em> I¡¯d gotten a bit carried away in my excitement. It seemed like I¡¯d be making this decision blind as to whether or not it would work.


    Oh, wait, no I wasn¡¯t! I was sitting in a room with citizens of the empire! They¡¯d totally know about this. The realization also made me feel a bit uneasy¡ªI¡¯d been sitting in a room with my eyes closed, surrounded by a bunch of unknowns. What if they were about to kill me? What if they knew who I was, and right now they were plotting to betray me and turn me in to the Demons?


    I hurriedly opened my eyes. Oh, good. Jannin was still sitting next to me, picking at his fingernails with the tip of a knife, and Bon was sitting in the kitchen area eating a snack. The third was presumably in the bathroom, considering that door was closed.


    Okay, it was time to see what these guys know. If I got a good answer, it could be possible to make quite the insane build. And maybe I could learn something from them that could help me get a mental measure on the power of these other two choices. And also the three Talent options. Plus, I also needed to ask about Spell Crystals. Gods, I had a lot to consider here. But if I yed my cards right, I could very well be moving into a whole new realm of power.

 Chapter 144: Information

    Chapter 144: Information


    ¡°You done?¡± Bon asked when he saw I¡¯d opened my eyes, his mouth full of bread and potato. A crumb dropped from the corner of his mouth.


    ¡°Uh, no,¡± I said. ¡°I actually wanted to ask you guys a question. What are the general prices of Enchanted goods around here? I was considering trying to buy some.¡±


    Bonughed, shaking more food from his face. ¡°You think we know what¡¯s going on out there? We¡¯ve been stationed in this min¡¯ outpost for years. Basically a prison cell with the bonus benefit of risking death every day. Don¡¯t know Lyra¡¯s shit about the economy.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jannin nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t know much.¡±


    ¡°Last I heard,¡± Bon continued, ¡°Enchanted goods were just the usual price. Just expensive enough that the folks that need it can¡¯t get it, and the folks that already have too much get way too much.¡±


    ¡°Mhmm,¡± I nodded. ¡°So, a basic potion of, say, Lesser Healing would cost¡­¡±


    ¡°¡®A couple years ago? ¡®Bout eighty, maybe ny lyr,¡± Jannin said.


    ¡°No!¡± Bon suddenly shouted. ¡°Jan, watch your mouth. It¡¯s eyt now, remember?¡±


    ¡°R-right. Though in eyt, I¡¯m not sure how much they¡¯d have cost. Don¡¯t remember the conversion.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡±


    ¡°When Empress Lyra was¡­reced,¡± Bon said, ¡°the new emperor, Etrin, reced our currency. Didn¡¯t want her face on our coins. We used to trade in lyr. Now we trade in eyt.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± I said. ¡°So I guess you don¡¯t really know much about how much things cost right now?¡±


    ¡°Not particrly,¡± Bon shrugged. ¡°Why? Is it urgent?¡±


    ¡°No, no, I was just trying to make a choice for my Level-up, and I kind of need to know if I can get ess to some specific Enchanted items before I can really decide.¡±


    ¡°Ah. Yeah, I guess there¡¯s no taking that back, huh?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll just wait to choose until I get to a real town and ask some people there.¡±


    ¡°Mmh. Shouldn¡¯t be more than a day¡¯s trip or so, depending on your speed.¡±


    ¡°A-actually!¡± I heard a muffled voice, and looked around, bewildered. Who was that?


    ¡°Poppins?¡± Bon asked, looking at the bathroom door. Was the guy taking a shit trying to weigh in on the conversation?


    ¡°I, I may know something!¡± the muffled voice continued, and I heard the ruffling of clothes.


    A few awkward seconds passed where I met Bon¡¯s eyes in silence before looking back at the door. The ruffling stopped, and the door creaked open, out stepping the third guard, whose name was apparently Poppins.


    ¡°Uh, hey,¡± I waved. ¡°...You said you could help?¡±


    ¡°Y-yes,¡± he nodded enthusiastically enough that his messy blond hair batted against his forehead. I realized I hadn¡¯t actually heard him speak until now, and his hollow, shy voice didn¡¯t really match his portly frame. ¡°I, um, know about Enchanted goods.¡±


    Bon frowned at the man. ¡°Pops, what are you min¡¯ talking about?¡±


    ¡°Uh, I just know,¡± he said, then turned back to me. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to buy them.¡±


    ¡°What? Why?¡±


    ¡°Well, you said youe from Koinkar, correct?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°So you know about the kingdom¡¯s downfall?¡±


    I held back augh. Yeah, did I ever. Still, ¡°downfall¡± was a bit harsh, wasn¡¯t it? ¡°...Right, the kingdom got invaded. But it¡¯s not like it¡¯s burning to the ground as we speak or anything.¡±


    ¡°Oh. You must not have heard.¡±


    ¡°...Heard what?¡±


    ¡°All countries have cut off trade with Koinkar. They do not see it the same way you do. As far as Barinruth is concerned, we don¡¯t trade with Demons. And the other countries agree.¡±


    ¡°Okay, so it¡¯s had a bit of a political fall from grace. What of it?¡±


    ¡°Well, the kingdom will certainly die out soon because of theck of resources, so it is not just a political fall. It will shrivel and shrivel until it is erased. But that is not what we should be concerned about. Your kingdom is our main import of Enchanted goods. So, when we cut off trade, we cut off our inflow of everything Enchanted.¡±


    ¡°I mean, sure, I know the kingdom makes a decent bit of extra Enchants, but it¡¯s not like you guys don¡¯t have any Enchanters at all, do you?¡±


    ¡°W-we certainly do. But even a small decrease in total percentage would greatly reduce the number of Enchanted items avable if demand is not equally reduced. And Koinkar¡¯s export made up much more than a small portion.¡±


    ¡°Well who says demand hasn¡¯t been reduced?¡± I frowned. ¡°If Enchantments are suddenly more expensive, then people are going to want less of them. So sure, they may cost a bit more, but I should still be able to find them, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the thing. Demand has not reduced. In fact, it has gone up.¡±


    ¡°Up?¡±


    ¡°Y-your Demon invasion, it is quite scary. What if the same thing happens to us? At the same time the empire cut off trade with Koinkar, we also began increasing spending, buying as many Enchanted items for the military as possible, to prepare for the possibility of war.¡±


    ¡°...Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense. And it¡¯s going to take a while to try and train up brand new Enchanters to meet the demand, huh? So, what, for a few months you guys will just have nothing?¡±


    ¡°Not nothing. But non-military have found it hard to find anything for a reasonable price.¡±


    ¡°Damn,¡± I frowned. ¡°Thanks for telling me. Wait, how do you even know any of this? I thought Bon just said you guys didn¡¯t have any way to contact anyone.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Bon said, looking intently at Poppins, ¡°I did say that, Pops. How did you get in contact with someone from the city?¡±


    Poppins audibly gulped. ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t, um¡­¡±


    Jannin, who¡¯d been silently listening to this whole exchange, sighed and spoke up. ¡°Someone from the near vige snuck up here.¡±


    Bon looked over, wide-eyed. ¡°What?! And you didn¡¯t report it?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re too much of a hard-ass, man,¡± Jannin said. ¡°We knew you¡¯d get us in trouble if we told you. Just kept it a secret so we could actually have someone to talk to. She left us a piece of Message Paper, and so we hid it in the notebook.¡±


    <em>¡°She?!¡± </em>Bon looked even angrier, though for different reasons this time. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have gotten you in trouble if you just let me talk to her! How long ago?!¡±


    Jannin shrugged. ¡°Couple months.¡±


    ¡°What is she, your girlfriend or something?¡± Bon red at Jannin with jealousy. When he got no reply, he turned to Poppins. ¡°Pops, don¡¯t tell me she¡¯s <em>your</em>¡ª¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s a hooker, you dumbass,¡± Jannin rolled his eyes. ¡°Damn it Poppins, why did you have to go and spill the¡ª¡±


    He was interrupted by another yell by Bon. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me there was a <em>prostitute </em>here<em>?!¡±</em>


    ¡°She¡¯ll probably be back. Said we were good business,¡± Jannin said. Then heughed. ¡°Though, don¡¯t me me if you catch something. Said she was going down the whole line of outposts so she can buy a house.¡±


    ¡°I will literally buy her the house if shees back here,¡± Bon said, dead-serious. ¡°Do you even realize what you¡¯ve¡ªI haven¡¯t even spoken to a woman in years, man!¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± Janninughed, ¡°didn¡¯t realize how important this was to you.¡±


    ¡°How?! How could you not realize¡ª¡±


    ¡°Uh, guys?¡± I waved awkwardly. ¡°Not to interrupt your little¡­thing, here, but uh, I kind of want to keep talking with Poppins. Kind of need to hear what he knows. Do you mind quieting down?¡±


    ¡°Uh, right,¡± Bon said. He cleared his throat and stood back up straight, seemingly in an attempt to look a bit more professional. Unsessfully.


    ¡°So, anyway,¡± I said to Poppins, ¡°this local woman is the one who told you everything?¡±


    ¡°Um,¡± he said quietly, ¡°actually, she told Jannin. I just read it all in the Message Paper when I was talking to her.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jannin called over to him, ¡°I thought we had a system there. I had the front side, you had the back. That was private stuff you were reading.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± he seemed to shrink into himself.


    I sighed, exhausted, despite the fact that I¡¯d been technically getting rest this whole time. I¡¯d forgotten what it was like to try interacting with strangers. ¡°So, Jannin, how did you get this information from her? If she was your only source, couldn¡¯t it just be hearsay or something? Or at the very least, it could just be a disruption to the local economy, not country-wide.¡±


    ¡°Doubt it. We weren¡¯t just chatting for the sake of chatting. I was talking to her to try and <em>get</em> an Enchanted item. Wanted her to smuggle something over for me. But when I got the funds to her so she could buy it, after looking around, she came back and told me about the shortage.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± I nodded. ¡°What were you trying to get? Maybe the thing was already rare, so the shortage hit it harder than the moremon goods?¡±


    He snorted. ¡°Nope. She was getting me an Arcane Spell Crystal. Those ingredients are sourced right out of these mountains. Probably the cheapest Enchanted item in this whole area, no reason for it to be as expensive as it was. Unless all the Enchanters were pulled into the capital by the emperor to start working on military stuff.¡±


    Hm. Well, that was unfortunate. But if Arcane Spell Crystals had their ingredients taken from Kingdom¡¯s Edge, then maybe I¡¯d still be able to find some around here. I needed one for Gravity Well, Ethereal Armor, and Sanguine Bond, so ideally I¡¯d be able to get some.


    Bon frowned. ¡°You could get anything out of civilization that you wanted, and you decided on a Spell Crystal? I didn¡¯t realize you took your job that seriously, Jan. I¡¯m¡­I¡¯m proud. Would¡¯ve definitely bet you¡¯d have gone for a Coldbox or something.¡±


    Janninughed. ¡°No, no, it¡¯s an Arcane Spell Crystal. For Fruit of the First Tree. The next Upgrade lets me actually restore physical sustenance with it instead of just the buff effect, so I won¡¯t even have to worry about eating our gross rations anymore, man. Ugh, it¡¯ll be so nice.¡±


    ¡°...Oh. Right. Should¡¯ve known.¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± I said, trying to get them back on track, ¡°you wanted an Arcane Spell Crystal, but it was too expensive?¡±


    ¡°No, no, not <em>too</em> expensive. It was just way more expensive than I thought.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°So you already got it?¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± he reached into his pocket and fished out a glowing purple sphere. ¡°Right here. Been waiting to get Fruit to Rank 10, and I¡¯m almost there.¡±


    I barely heard thest part of his sentence, though. Because I was too busy staring into his hand.


    An Arcane Spell Crystal. Right there in his fingers. That was what I wanted. And I may not be able to get one in town, if they were as rare as Jannin was making them out to be. But here it was.


    I obviously couldn¡¯t just steal it, they were made inert the moment you used them. But I didn¡¯t need to steal it to Rank up my Spells.


    I couldn¡¯t do it <em>yet</em>. But once Time Loop refreshed, I could grab it, use it to Upgrade something, and then activate the loop toe right back to before I¡¯d ever done anything, with an Upgraded Spell and them still having apletely functioning Spell Crystal. And I knew it worked, since that was exactly what I¡¯d done with my Poison Spell Crystal when Upgrading Noxious Grasp. I still had the fully-functioning Crystal on my person, in fact.


    I could finish making my Talent and Upgrade choices, go along with the little interrogation these guys were still wanting to do, and then once midnight came, I could grab that and power up my Spells. Finally.


    <em>¡°Ainash,¡±</em> I messaged, <em>¡°tell mother that we¡¯re going to be staying the night here. I finally have what I¡¯ve been looking for.¡±</em>

 Chapter 145.1: Calculation

    Chapter 145.1: Calction


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    Once the three guards quieted down, I got back into my meditative state and tried to focus. It wasn¡¯t exactly easy to do so, with the anticipation of finally Upgrading my Spells so close on the horizon, but I needed to focus on my current choices before I went to give myself even more.


    Choose one Talent to obtain:


    Cumtive Catastrophe


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Each string of attacks you make will be recurred through time, stacking fractions of power with every strike. Whenever you damage another being, increase all future damage and other numerical effects dealt to that being by 1% additively. If 6 seconds pass without you damaging that being, reset this boost for that being.


    Spatial Flux


    Type: Activated


    ¡ª


    Instantly teleports you to the exact position you were at one hour ago.


    This Talent can only be activated once per day.


    Future Sight


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    You are always aware of what will happen to you one second from now. This manifests as a constant vision in your mind. It predicts the exact future, and can be changed only through actions taken due to the knowledge gained by this Talent.


    Choose one Upgrade for Time Loop:


    Persistent Loop


    ¡ª


    When you activate Time Loop, you may choose any Status Effects from among the ones you have to retain at their current time remaining, discarding all others. For all Status Effects you retain with this Upgrade, multiply their durations by Time Loop¡¯s Rank, divided by 4 <em>(multiplier of 5).</em>


    Recycled Loop


    ¡ª


    At midnight, when your uses of Time Loop refresh, for each use of Time Loop you have leftover from the previous day, discard it and increase a random Stat by 1.


    You may only gain a maximum number of Stats from this Upgrade equal to your Time Loop Rank divided by 2, rounded down <em>(10 Stats)</em>, before you must Level up to reset the maximum.


    Inclusive Loop


    ¡ª


    While activating Time Loop, you may now choose a number of additional beings equal to your Time Loop Rank divided by 10, rounded down <em>(2 beings),</em> that you are touching to keep their memories alongside you in the new timeline, however their Statuses are reset as normal.


    One Talent and one Time Loop Upgrade. From what I¡¯d heard Poppins and Jannin talking about, it seemed like Persistent Loop was out for the Upgrade. Even if they weren¡¯t impossible to get, trying to pick up enough Enchanted items to make it work just didn¡¯t seem feasible. And my future Spell Choices seemed to disagree with the idea, anyway, ording to Index. Even if I could use it now on what I had, using the bonuses to stack up on Expedite and Regenerate stacks, jumping through all those hoops to increase my Health and Dexterity with those abilities seemed a little bit silly, when I could just take Recycled Loop if I wanted to make those numbers bigger.


    So that left me with two options for the Upgrade. Recycled Loop and Inclusive Loop. Out of the two, I was having trouble choosing just one. Ipletely understood the numerical supremacy of Recycled Loop¡ªthat many extra Stats would get out of hand extremely quickly.


    One of the main limiting factors on these types of effects¡ªgiving additional Stats per Level¡ªwas the linear nature of power gained from Stats. For example, for a person at Level 0, still with a 10 in Endurance, increasing their Endurance by a further 10 would make it 20, doubling their Health and the boost they got to their physical toughness. So for them, an additional 10 Endurance was absolutely massive.


    However, if someone had a 100 in Endurance, increasing it by 10 more would only bring their it to 110, so a ten percent increase. That was nice, sure, but not nearly as impactful as it would be for the Level 0. So these abilities like Recursive Growth and Recycled Loop were predicated on the fact that, as one got stronger and attained more Stats, getting those additional boosts wouldn¡¯t be nearly as impactful as before. Even the rate at which they grew in the number of Stats they gave you would eventually be outpaced by the nature of linear progression.


    But that was where my Talent, Exponential Remation, came in. That turned the power scaling from linear to its namesake¡ªexponential. With just that single change, the entire rule of power scaling getting less and less impactful was thrown out the window. No matter how much Conjuration I had, be it 10 or 100 or 1000, it would <em>always</em> increase my Mana/Minute by at least one percent. So it effectivelypletely broke the intended impact of something like Recycled Loop.


    That was one of the big things that drew me to it. It wasn¡¯t just that the Upgrade had a lot of raw power to it¡ªwhich it did¡ªbut it was also that I had the perfect synergy to exploit those extra Stats. Of course I¡¯d want to take the Upgrade.


    But then there was the Inclusive Loop. On a raw power level, I honestly didn¡¯t think it shaped up. It was great, yeah, but Recycled Loop held much more long-term power. However, there was more to this decision than just raw power.


    First off, the Upgrade could be used in some really clever ways. It required me to be touching a person when I activated Time Loop, but they didn¡¯t have to be anywhere near me at the time I returned to. If I could find the correct people, I could enact massive, country-spanning ns without needing to take the time to personally catch anyone up to speed. And as Time Loop went back further and further, the area these people could span upon returning got wider and wider since it allowed for longer travel times.


    It also helped in smaller situations, allowing Erani and Ainash to keep informed on everything that happened in the future, meaning we wouldn¡¯t need me to be an intermediary in informing them. That was all generally convenient and would certainly help in plenty of situations.


    But again, it wasn¡¯t <em>really</em> why I wanted the Upgrade. The power was cool, and it could probably even help save our lives once or twice. But¡­


    Okay, I just felt lonely. Sometimes it felt like the weight of everyone¡¯s lives was on my shoulders. Because sometimes, I was literally the only person alive with the information necessary to save people. And that weight was crushing. If I¡¯d been able to give other people the ability to keep their memories in situations like the initial invasion of Carth, maybe I could¡¯ve convinced people to evacuate the city before the Supreme Hellion attacked. When it was just me, I could barely even save myself. But if I could give, say, a few guards the knowledge necessary to realize they needed to get everyone out of there, then <em>so </em>many lives would¡¯ve been saved.


    How could I pass something like that up? It felt like I basically didn¡¯t have a choice to begin with.


    ¡°Well¡­¡± Index said, ¡°it might be worse than you realize.¡±


    <em>If you¡¯re just going to tell me something like ¡°it doesn¡¯t keep you, specifically, alive, so therefore it isn¡¯t worth anything,¡± I want you to know it won¡¯t do anything to convince me. Don¡¯t you remember what I said about Spatial Flux?</em>


    ¡°No, no, I¡¯m not going to say that. Well, I mean, I believe it, but I mean the goals you¡¯re talking about here. It¡¯s not quite as good at saving people as you seem to think.¡±


    <em>How?</em>


    ¡°Well, that ¡®touching you¡¯ condition is pretty restrictive. In your hypothetical with the Carth invasion, your death was a surprise. Nobody was touching you when it happened. So you would fully not be able to use the Upgrade in that situation. Or, really, any other where you¡¯re surprised. How many times has a person been touching you when you died?¡±


    <em>Okay, sure. So it won¡¯t work specifically in that circumstance. But if I feel like there¡¯s dangering, what¡¯s to stop me from grabbing someone¡¯s arm just to make sure? And I get multiple loops now, anyway, so I would only be surprised the first time. In my second and third loops, I¡¯d know I need to get people to remember.</em>


    ¡°Yeah, that brings me to my second point. They aren¡¯t going to be told in bright shing letters anywhere, ¡®those visions you just had are from the future, they are real premonitions, they will actually happen if you do nothing to prevent them.¡¯ Yes, it would work with someone who already knows¡ªand believes¡ªyou can go back in time. So Erani and Ainash, pretty much. But there¡¯s a solid chance that anyone else will just brush that off as a random hallucination. Or worse, they¡¯ll think they¡¯re being attacked by some sort of illusion magic, and will actively run off or fight if you try to talk to them.¡±


    <em>...Hm. I guess you do make a good point there. It¡¯d only really guaranteed work on someone who¡¯s already in the loop about my ss. Some random guard probably wouldn¡¯t believe that they had a genuine vision of the future, especially when they don¡¯t have anything in their Status to say it was. But, okay, listen. It isn¡¯t really about that. I just want to be able to bring people back with me. For </em>someone<em> other than myself to keep their memories.</em>


    ¡°And who¡¯s to say you can¡¯t do that without this Upgrade?¡±


    I blinked. <em>What?</em>


    ¡°Did you already forget? Ainash kept her memories when the Bond Ranked up.¡±


    I sighed. <em>Okay, yeah, I guess that¡¯s true, but it¡¯s not consistent. We¡¯ve already proven that you basically can¡¯t control Bond Ranks. It happens automatically, and trying to force it will only decrease the likelihood of it happening.</em>


    ¡°Hm¡­what can I say¡­¡± Index hummed for a moment, seemingly trying to figure out how to word what it wanted to tell me and get around whatever limitations it had. ¡°You¡¯re not thinking big enough. You¡¯ve got this mental link between you and Ainash, right? That mental link could originally transmit one thing: emotions. That was when she was a Nymph. When she became a Dryad, she became able to transmit emotions as well as thoughts. Now you two can talk with each other through it. And then, she became a Draconiad, and became able to transmit not only thoughts and emotions, but alsoplex sentiment measurement. A collection of your current opinions and feelings about each other, as well <em>memories </em>of each other. Now, you cannot currently see those memories. Only the intermediary of the Bond can. But hypothetically, you might be able to imagine a world where¡­¡±


    <em>She¡¯ll be able to transmit entire memories through the Bond? </em>I thought for a moment, shocked. <em>So I guess I coulde back in time and instantly give her all of my memories from the future. And then she could give those to Erani, meaning all three of us are instantly caught up, every time.</em>


    ¡°Yes. In a hypothetical scenario where that pattern continues. Hypothetically.¡± I could tell Index was really working hard to avoid whatever censors disallowed it to tell me things like this. But the revtion changed everything.

 Chapter 145.2: Calculation

    Chapter 145.2: Calction


    <em>So,</em> I thought to Index,<em> in that, uh, purely hypothetical scenario, Inclusive Bond would bepletely redundant. Um, hypothetically, how long would it take for us to get to that point? Would it require a specific Tribute to be given so she evolves again? Or would it need to be a certain Bond Rank? Or does she just need to reach a specific Level, or something?</em>


    ¡°Mmmm,¡± Index sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can tell you that¡­huh. Okay, so you won¡¯t need to do anything obscure. It won¡¯t be some extremely rare Tribute, or anything like that. You just¡­agh. You won¡¯t regret it. Obviously there would be some specific differences in utility between the Inclusive and the, uh, other thing. But I do think you¡¯d consider the basic ovep to berge enough for it to effectively be a waste of an Upgrade here. You can imagine it as sort of¡­sharing a pool of memories. They transmit theirs to you before Time Loop, then after, you transmit their own memories back to them, and it¡¯s like nothing happened.¡±


    I nodded, trying to go over this new piece of information. If I could get the same major effects of Inclusive Loop without needing to use an Upgrade on it, that would be huge. And, technically, it wouldn¡¯t even necessarily need to just be between me, Ainash, and Erani. Presumably, anyone who got added to the Bond would be able to share memories, too.


    The more I considered it, the more I leaned in favor of the Bond method. It would take a bit of extra work to get going, but it would effectively give me that entire Time Loop Upgrade for free. How could I pass that up?


    So, Recycled Loop was the choice there. Next, Talents. Cumtive Catastrophe or Future Sight was the main choice I needed to make here¡ªIndex rmended the third option, Spatial Flux, but I didn¡¯t think it was really correct in that instance, unlike its actually helpful advice with my Upgrade.


    ¡°Rude,¡± Index said.


    After having some time to mull it over, I found myself leaning toward Cumtive Catastrophe over Future Sight. Future sight was cool, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like that single second didn¡¯t matter as much as I felt like it did. It was just so restrictive, whereas Cumtive Catastrophe would be absolutely phenomenal in fights against powerful opponents. I¡¯d constantly found myself matched up with monsters, Demons, people that were way stronger than I was. And in those circumstances, having this Talent to slowly ramp up my own power to match theirs would bepletely backbreaking for them.


    When I thought about having something like Future Sight in a fight against, say, someone on the Level of Xhag¡¯duul, it would effectively do nothing. What good was knowing I¡¯d get punched a second in advance when they were fast enough to hit me regardless of me dodging or not? What good was it knowing I¡¯d be ambushed a second in advance when, either way, I¡¯d be taking enough damage to cap out from Dark te? It simply wouldn¡¯t matter in that sort of fight. Whereas Cumtive Catastrophe could eventually build up my damage, Stamina, and Stat drains to put me in a winning scenario. Even if it was unlikely, giving me <em>some</em> sort of a chance against those enemies was much better than giving me none at all.


    And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I could make slight changes in my fighting style to make it even better. Sure, things like Crippling Chill could make it so that the damage boost effectively never wore off, and it would eventually bring a fight into my own favor if given a couple minutes to spin its wheels, but there was another synergy I hadn¡¯t really considered before: Noxious Grasp and Expedite.


    With Noxious Grasp, if I touched my opponent and then instantly moved away, even if we were only in contact for a fraction of a second, it would deal some damage to them and activate the fester. That was great; in a close-ranged fight, I could punish my opponent for any contact they made with me. However, if I boosted my Dexterity with Expedite, suddenly I was able to move much more quickly. And suddenly, if I touched my opponent, let go, touched them again, let go, over and over again in quick session, I could get several stacks on Cumtive Catastrophe in a single second.


    With that strategy used alongside everything else, especially against an unsuspecting opponent, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if I was able to take down someone with way more raw power than me, just by dragging the fight out and eventually growingpletely unbeatable. If a fightsted a single minute¡­I mulled over all the math in my head. That was 60 seconds of Crippling Chill¡ª60 triggers there¡ªplus 60 more from Sanguine Bond, if I could keep it going, plus, say, 30 triggers from Noxious Grasp.


    ¡°Plus,¡± Index chimed in, ¡°in total, over the course of a one minute fight, assuming youe in with full Mana, ounting for your Mana/Minute, assuming you assign your Stat Points to Conjuration like you normally do, you¡¯ll have a total of 1397 Mana at your expense. Assuming you have Light te equipped, the Spells you just mentioned using would leave you with 581 Mana remaining. If you were to spend that on Rays of Frost, you¡¯d get another 21 hits with that.¡±


    Right. So that was, in total¡­a 2.71 multiplier on all of my effects? In a single minute¡¯s worth ofbat? And that was assuming I spent all my Mana on Ray of Frost. If I saved it and continued fighting for even longer, I could use it in a much more efficient manner with Crippling Chill and Sanguine Bond, drain their Dexterity and Stamina even <em>more</em>, which would in turn allow me to drag outbat even further. Effectively, this cemented the idea that, if an opponent couldn¡¯t kill me by a certain point, they would just automatically lose. Eventually, the Dexterity drain from Crippling Chill alone would be able to paralyze them. Not to mention thebined Stamina drain from all of my Spellsbined.


    In the future, I could definitely see myself wanting to take some more utility-based Spells and Talents. Things like Future Sight could be used outside ofbat, after all, and that was certainly helpful. But right now, I was still looking at the looming threat of the Demons waiting for me to just barely slip up. The moment they got to me, I¡¯d have to fight off the full brunt of their forces once again.


    That Xhag¡¯duul Demon had said a lot to me before he died. Most of it was bullshit, but one statement had gotten my attention. After this, it wouldn¡¯t be about Temporus anymore. It¡¯d be about revenge. Now, I had no idea if he¡¯d been telling the truth with that. Maybe the Demons cared a lot that I killed him, maybe they didn¡¯t give a rat¡¯s ass. But whether or not he¡¯d been attempting to deceive me with that, he was telling the truth. He just didn¡¯t know it.


    Because this wasn¡¯t about Temporus anymore. It wasn¡¯t about Minute Mage, or reiming lost resources, or me staying safe. This was about revenge. It was about me getting revenge on these gods-damned monsters, invading <em>my</em> home, killing <em>my</em> people, taking over <em>my</em> home country. They¡¯d done too much¡ªhurt too many people¡ªfor me to just ride this out. It was really, truly about revenge now. And if my life ended before I was able to kill every single Demon left in all the nes of existence, that revenge would have failed. I had to be strong enough to kill them all.


    And so I needed to gather that power with every day of my life. Like I¡¯d said before, I was moving from defense to offense here. I had to make myself able to fight back and tear through the pits of the hells, starting now.


    You have obtained the Talent Cumtive Catastrophe.


    Time Loop has gained the Upgrade Recycled Loop.


    You have used 6 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 118.


    With my new powers assigned, I opened my eyes. Next up was this interrogation that the guards wanted to do with me, and I¡¯d want to be in peak condition if anything went wrong with that. We had a n, sure, but it wasn¡¯t exactly perfect. And if these guys were high-enough Level to guard such a dangerous canyon, I knew I didn¡¯t want to get mixed up with them.


    Bon looked over at me. ¡°You ready to answer some questions?¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±

 Arlans Fully-Expanded Character Sheet as of Chapter 145: (Not a Chapter)

    An''s Fully-Expanded Character Sheet as of Chapter 145: (Not a Chapter)


    Minute Mage Basic Progression Path


    -Every 1 Level: +1 Endurance, +2 Conjuration, +3 Stat Points, Time Loop Rank Up


    -Every 3 Levels: Spell Choice


    -Every 5 Levels: Talent Choice


    -Every 10 Levels: Time Loop Usage Increase, Time Loop Upgrade


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    31 (21 + 10)


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    20


    Endurance:


    52 (42 + 10)


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    388/3.0k


    Dexterity:


    33 (23 + 10)


    Health:


    <strong>193</strong>/520


    Health/Minute:


    0.193


    Conjuration:


    <strong>118</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>236</strong>/252


    Stamina/Minute:


    1.63


    Intelligence:


    27


    Mana:


    1.26k/<strong>1.32k</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>81.8</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Sanguine Bond 9 - XP<strong></strong>355/355


    <strong>Cumtive Catastrophe</strong>


    Devastator


    Expedite 9 - XP 355/355


    Exponential Remation


    Trailzer


    Ethereal Armor 9 - XP 355/355


    Regenerate


    Gravity Well 9 - XP 355/355


    Recursive Growth


    Ray of Frost 9 - XP 355/355


    Time Loop 20


    +Extended Loop


    <strong>+Recycled Loop</strong>


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP 355/355


    Noxious Grasp 15 - XP 32/1.92k


    +Venomous Grasp


    You have a Bond with Level 30 Draconiad.


    For as long as you are within 1000 paces of Level 30 Draconiad, you gain the following effects:


    -Your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are each increased by <strong>10</strong>.


    -Whenever Draconiad gains XP, you also gain <strong>5</strong>% of that XP.


    -You gain <strong>26.6</strong>% Resistance to all heat-based damage.


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    Sanguine Bond Rank 9


    School: Arcane, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 238


    Choose a being you are physically touching. You begin siphoning energy from it for the next 10 seconds. For as long as you are siphoning energy from it, it loses 6.21 Health, 7.76 Stamina, and 9.31 Mana <em>(if it has Mana)</em> each second, and you gain 1.55 Health, 3.11 Stamina, and 4.65 Mana each second.


    This effect automatically ends if the being is ever further than 10 paces from you.


    <strong>Cumtive Catastrophe</strong>


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Each string of attacks you make will be recurred through time, stacking fractions of power with every strike. Whenever you damage another being, increase all future damage and other numerical effects dealt to that being by 1% additively. If 6 seconds pass without you damaging that being, reset this boost for that being.


    Devastator


    <em>You have taken a risk and killed enough enemies that, in a single minute, you have gained three or more Levels. For many, gambles like that cost them their lives. For you, it paid off. Greed is good.</em>


    All enemies you contribute to killing provide 25% more XP.


    Expedite Rank 9


    School: Alteration


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 68.7


    ¡ª


    Increases the Dexterity of up to one being that you are touching by 31.1 for 46.5 seconds.


    Exponential Remation


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Time is warped around your Mana receptors, greatly increasing Mana/Minute the more Conjuration you have. For every point you have in Conjuration, your Mana/Minute is increased by 1%. This effect multiplies with itself. <em>(Currently multiplies Mana/Minute by </em><strong><em>3.33</em></strong><em>)</em>


    Trailzer


    <em>You are the only person in the world with your ss, and as such, cannot rely on the findings of others to make your decisions. Instead, you must forge your own path.</em>


    If you do not already have it, you gain ess to the Intelligence Stat. It will improve the information given to you by the System regarding your ss and what might be of it in the future.


    Whenever you Level up, gain 1 Intelligence


    Ethereal Armor Rank 9


    School: Arcane, Summoning


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 187 Mana


    ¡ª


    You summon one of two sets of magical armor ¨C Dark te or Light te. You may dismiss it at any time. It will be automatically dismissed after 60 minutes.


    While wearing Dark te, you cannot take more than 50% of your maximum Health in damage in a single hit <em>(220 damage)</em>. Preventing damage this way breaks the te, making it unusable for 37.9 seconds until it reconstructs itself.


    While wearing Light te, your other spells cost 43.4% less, though still gain Spell XP as though they weren¡¯t discounted.


    Regenerate


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 20 Stamina, plus twenty minutes worth of Stamina regeneration. <em>(Currently </em><strong><em>52.64</em></strong><em> Stamina)</em>


    ¡ª


    Greatly increase your body¡¯s recovery speed, at the cost of your Stamina. When activated, your Health/Minute is multiplied by 1,000 for 10 seconds, then returns to normal.


    Gravity Well Rank 9


    School: Arcane


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 12.7 Mana/Second per Being Affected


    ¡ª


    While active, increase gravitational pull by 61% for any number of beings within 30 paces of you.


    Recursive Growth


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Whenever your Level increases, you gain 4 additional Stat increases, chosen at random.


    This Talent improves every tenth Level you reach, incrementing the number of random Stat increases you gain each Level by 2.


    Ray of Frost Rank 9


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 25 Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a beam of icy energy from your hands, traveling up to 25 paces and dealing up to 62.1 damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being. Upon being hit, targets are cursed with Frostbite for 5 seconds. While they are frostbitten, their Dexterity score is lowered by 7.76.


    Time Loop ¨C Rank <strong>20</strong>


    +Extended Loop


    Type: Activated


    Go up to <strong>6 hours</strong> back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other Talent cooldowns ¨C as well as the rest of the world ¨C but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.


    This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.


    This Talent may only be activated <strong>three times </strong>per day.


    <strong>At midnight, when your uses of Time Loop refresh, for each use of Time Loop you have leftover from the previous day, discard it and increase a random Stat by 1.</strong>


    <strong>You may only gain a maximum number of Stats from this Upgrade equal to your Time Loop Rank divided by 2, rounded down </strong><strong><em>(10 Stats)</em></strong><strong>, before you must Level up to reset the maximum.</strong>


    Crippling Chill Rank 9


    School: Cold, Curse


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 56.2 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose a being within 40 paces of you. It bes coated in frost for the next 15 seconds. For as long as it is coated in frost, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    Noxious Grasp Rank <strong>15</strong>


    +Venomous Grasp


    School: Curse, Poison


    Type: Toggle


    Cost:<strong> 5.32</strong> Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    While active, any being you are physically touching loses <strong>20.8 </strong>Health and <strong>10.4</strong> Stamina per second.


    Noxious Grasp Festers beings it damages. While they are Festered, beings lose double Stamina from all sources. The Fester remains for 5 seconds after you stop contact with the being.

 Chapter 146.1: Welcome to the Kingdom: Plotting

    Chapter 146.1: Wee to the Kingdom: Plotting


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    Asmo walked down a hallway in arge, ornate pce. She was currently on her way to her first meeting with the VIPs that¡¯d survived the assault on the Kingdom¡¯s Edge wall after finally having gathered them all together. This would be her moment to establish herself as an authority, and to get them onto her side.


    Because there <em>were</em> sides, here. Sure, sure, everyone was trying to kill the fugitive, or whatever, but Asmo didn¡¯t really care about that. Yes, that was what the Demons wanted¡ª-and in order to borrow their power, she would need to make them happy¡ª-but, at the end of it all, she had no stake in this issue. She had stake in amassing power. They were just the most efficient road to that end. So she had ns to get them out of her hair once she established herself. At the very least, she wanted to oust that annoying fake Koinkar. Then she could have some more freedom in her operations. It was a start.


    And step one of that start was getting the support of these VIPs. So she¡¯d nned out this entire conversation. She had a speech she¡¯d give first, and then a prepared response for everything they might say, every question they might ask, anything that could happen afterward. She knew with what posture she would walk in, where she would stand, and who she would look at with each word.


    She marched up to the door that led into one of the few meeting rooms in the pce, grabbed the doorknob, and swung it open. With a quick nce at the round table facing the door, she saw that everyone was there¡ªthe four surviving VIP strategists. She quickly turned away and faced the illuboard on the wall they were facing.


    With a swift motion, she grabbed the Enchanted stick paired with the illuboard and dragged it across the surface, leaving behind a ck mark on the shiny white t. Then, controlling her breathing to show no fear, she calmly drew up a depiction of the city they were currently in.


    One of the benefits to using an illuboard instead of something cheaper, like a sheet of paper, was that, as it only actually used illusion magic, the marks made on the board could be erased at will, anytime, meaning it never had to be reced. And the other much more important benefit was that, as a magical object, it was not only Enchanted to create illusions, but also to do minor mental divination into the head of the user, interpreting what they wanted to draw and assisting them in doing so. It wasn¡¯t always perfect, but generally speaking, a quick doodle that only took a few seconds could look rather realistic.


    So, after taking a few seconds to create the basic outline of the city and its walls, the illuboard automatically filled in the rest of the drawing, creating details such as houses in the outer echelons, shops in the middle ring, and in the center, the pce they were currently meeting within. It evenbeled the city with fancy calligraphy below it, with the city¡¯s name wrapping around the bottom part of the wall, Kingstown¡ªnot exactly a creative name, but Koinkar himself hade up with it when he founded the kingdom all those hundreds of years ago, so most forgave him in his youthfulness.


    After drawing the city of Kingstown, Asmo drew, next to it, a much more detailed version of the royal pce within, with the floor ns of every room detailed andbeled, including the war room itself they were currently in. At this point, she could hear the muttering of the four individuals behind her¡ªthe VIPs who were once her equals. She had never really gotten to know them on any sort of personal level, or even made casual conversation with them, but she was at least familiar with the capabilities and roles they had during the wall project. She knew them well, and she knew how to present well to this audience. So she ignored their whispers to each other wondering what their newmander was doing.


    After drawing up the pce, she pinched her fingers on the board in amand to shrink the current drawing slightly¡ªto ¡®zoom out¡¯¡ªand used the newly-made space to draw up a few other relevant cities within the kingdom of Koinkar. She drew up some environmental details like the mountain range of Kingdom¡¯s Edge, some of the major forests, and so on, and¡­done. Taking a step back, Asmo looked over the illustration to ensure everything was right and she had all the elements there she needed.


    ¡°Okay,¡± she spoke the first words since entering the room, and turned around to look at the four faces staring back at her.


    Winic Vigandoth, Carison Aakbi, Keiki Umesai, and Jon Mourn. The mage, merchant, warrior, and healer. Winic had a long, spindly beard that would probably reach his knees if it weren¡¯t so curly and bunched up in messy tangles and knots. Carison was much more slick in appearance, a pencil-thin mustache the only facial hair toplement his bald head. Keiki had intense eyes that seemed to stare straight through Asmo, and long, perfectly-straight ck hair that flowed down the back of her chair. And Jon had a fully neutral face that went perfectly with his in brown robe, nothing to differentiate him from any random peasant one may encounter on the street.


    Between the four of them was her chance at power. And she intended to seize it.


    ¡°Winic,¡± she said to the mage, ¡°tell me who I am.¡±


    He squinted his eyes in a sort of look of appraisal. ¡°...You are Asmo, nost name. Or did I forget? I apologize, I¡¯m absolutely horrid with names¡­¡±


    ¡°No, you are correct. I am Asmo. Tell me why I am standing here, and you four are sitting there.¡±


    ¡°Well, because the Demons chose you to lead.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Why?¡±


    He frowned, now understanding what she was getting at.


    ¡°It is because,¡± Asmo answered her own question when it became clear Winic wouldn¡¯t, ¡°I know more than you, about more than you. All four of you were chosen because you had specialized skills and specialized knowledge that was useful to this cause. I, however, do not. I was not even chosen. I, instead, negotiated my way into standing right here. I have no specialized knowledge that the Demons decided they needed. What I do have is the ability to take what I want. What I have is the ability to want to know something, and then know it. To want to use that knowledge, and then use it. To want to exploit that use, and then exploit it. One might say that I have application where you have theory. Which is why I, as the one who has this skillset, was chosen for this role. Where you can do the things I ask, I¡¯m the one who knows <em>what</em> to ask.¡±


    Winic nodded slowly at her answer.


    ¡°Carison,¡± Asmo turned to the merchant. ¡°Why do they value my skillset? What makes me a useful asset to the Demons?¡±


    ¡°From what you say,¡± Carison seemed more prepared to answer, ¡°you seem to have something rare. And what is rare is valuable. If the four of us do not have this ¡®application¡¯ you speak of, then you, as the sole owner, will obviously be able to ask for whatever you want in exchange.¡±


    ¡°Hm, hm,¡± Asmo nodded. ¡°And why am I the sole owner? What makes me so unique to have this value in the first ce?¡±


    He furrowed his brows, obviously unsure of how to answer.


    ¡°One could say I am simr to you, Carison. I was born as nothing. Literally. I did not have a name. Or, perhaps my parents intended to give me a name, but forgot to do so while they were too busy dropping me off on the porch of a random house. Eventually, I found my way to an orphanage, and when I was being signed in, the baby I was, I scribbled on the sheet while the stranger attempted to drop me off. The ce I scribbled on happened to be the line they were supposed to put my name on, and since there was nothing better to use, they simply interpreted my scribbles as me naming myself. ¡®Asmo¡¯ is a shortened version of the lengthy string of nonsense I happened to spell. It literally is meaningless. Nothing. I eventually worked myself up to the point where my name <em>did</em> mean something, however, as an esteemed royal guard. Just like how you worked yourself to your position as an esteemed merchant. So we have a simr perspective in that sense.¡±


    ¡°So why do you believe you have this skill of application, then?¡±


    ¡°Because, just as I crested that mountain of esteem, I was pushed back down by this invasion. I became a prisoner. Nothing, once more. However, I am now where I am because I refused to stay there. I used what I had to negotiate with them until I was, once again, on top. So, in that sense, while you may have the perspective we share, the Demons see me as the only one to have applied it so far.¡±


    ¡°Certainly respectable,¡± he nodded.


    ¡°Keiki,¡± Asmo turned to the warrior. ¡°Do you think I would lose to you in a fight?¡±


    Everyone, Keiki included, seemed surprised at the sudden change of topic. The woman stared at Asmo, looking her up and down in an obvious assessment of fighting ability. After a long moment, she opened her mouth. ¡°Yes.¡±

 Chapter 146.2: Welcome to the Kingdom: Plotting

    Chapter 146.2: Wee to the Kingdom: Plotting


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    ¡°Do you think I would lose to you in a fight?¡± Asmo asked Keiki.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she responded.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°My weapon has been fitted with higher-quality Enchantments, and I have a slight Level advantage above you. These two pieces of information give me the upper hand, and in addition to that, I believe I have more fighting experience, I am more tactically-minded and could outmaneuver you in the battlefield, and my Dexterity-based build counters yours as an Archer, as I can dodge and deflect attacks with my sword. Thesepounding factors would lead to me having overwhelming dominance in abat encounter.¡±


    ¡°Well analyzed,¡± Asmo nodded. ¡°Now prove it.¡±


    Carison scooted his chair back, clearly anticipating a fight to break out. He was Unssed, so Asmo understood his concern of coteral damage, but he was incorrect in thinking Keiki would attack.


    She stared at Asmo. ¡°I cannot. Killing or even harming you would surely lead to my arrest and execution by the Demons.¡±


    ¡°So if we were to fight, you would die?¡±


    ¡°...Yes, in short.¡±


    ¡°So I would not lose. At worst, we would draw.¡±


    ¡°That is hardly a fair scenario. In a true battle¡ª¡±


    ¡°A true battle is one that happens in reality, yes? Not in some imaginary realm? In a true battle, Demons would rush into this room the moment they heard something wrong, seize you, and kill you before you could scratch me. If your build counters mine, my position counters your build.¡±


    ¡°Having guards is hardly an impressive feat.¡±


    ¡°And yet I do, and you do not. As I said before, you have a specialized set of skills. That specialization is in <em>fair</em> strength. It is appreciable. However, what Ick to you in fair strength, I have in unfair strength. I scheme, and plot, and take over. And us schemers need you fair fighters. And you fair fighters need us schemers. We work together, each making up for the other¡¯s weaknesses. Like two soldiers fighting back to back. Can you respect that?¡±


    Keiki tilted her head to the side, considering Asmo¡¯s question, before finally saying, ¡°I suppose so.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Asmo turned to the healer. ¡°Jon.¡±


    ¡°I suppose you have a question for me?¡± Jon said in a patient voice. ¡°You want me to tell you something about yourself?¡±


    ¡°No. For you, I want you to tell me something about <em>you</em>.¡±


    He raised his eyebrows. ¡°A pleasant surprise. I was beginning to think you were self-centered. What do you want to know?¡±


    ¡°Why do you do what you do?¡±


    He looked at Asmo, now clearly amused. ¡°That¡¯s quite the broad question.¡±


    ¡°Let me narrow it down, then. Why are you a healer?¡±


    ¡°Ah. Well, I wanted to save lives.¡±


    ¡°So then, why do you work with a force of Demons? Sounds rather hypocritical to me.¡±


    Heughed. ¡°Isn¡¯t it hypocritical of you to criticize me for doing what you¡¯re doing?¡±


    ¡°No. I never imed to want to save lives.¡±


    He pursed his lips. ¡°Well then. I suppose I consider it to save more lives in the long run if we get rid of this one person to save the many. To put things frankly, it is essentially a numbers game. Same way I viewed my own life. I sacrificed my money, time, and quality of life to help many others get their own money, time, and quality of life back by healing them for free, donating to the needy, and doing unpaidbor. And that was a good thing, because I¡¯m only making one person suffer¡ªmyself¡ªin order to help so many others. So to kill a single person to save so many more? I feel that this is simply the righteous thing to do. If I were in this fugitive¡¯s position, I¡¯d slit my own throat in an instant. As would I slit a child¡¯s, a mother¡¯s, anyone who needs to be killed to save the people as a whole.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Asmo nodded. ¡°But I suppose you do not particrly like the Demons? They are the ones forcing you to choose between killing one and killing many.¡±


    ¡°I suppose I don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Do you consider their happiness, however? If the fugitive dies, that is only one death. But it makes countless Demons happy.¡±


    ¡°I do not see why I would ever consider the happiness of non-Humans.¡±


    ¡°So then, ousting the Demons would be your ideal scenario?¡±


    ¡°But to do so is foolishness. There would be a significant chance¡ªnay, an inescapable eventuality¡ªthat ousting the Demons from the Overworld would end in fighting, conflict, war, and only more Human deaths. This is the path that most likely ends in the most happiness for Humanity.¡±


    ¡°So what do you think about working for me, then?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an unfortunate, but necessary, circumstance.¡±


    ¡°And that is where I disagree. In fact, I see no connection between what you have established about your feelings on the Demons, and what you think of me.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°To work for you is to work for the Demons. As I said, while I think it is the best option to ensure the good of Humanity, I would still rather the Demons not¡ª¡±


    ¡°But who ever established that to work for me is to work for the Demons?¡±


    Jon stared at Asmo suspiciously.


    ¡°I work alongside the Demons currently. But I do not share their goals. My goals are those of a Human being. Working for me is not like working for Xhag¡¯duul, or Quinmorada, or the fake king. It is only simr to working for, and alongside, your fellow man. I understand your numbers game. I can work with you on it. They will not.¡±


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s fair,¡± Jon said. ¡°But I¡¯m not sure I fully follow. What do you n to do that doesn¡¯t align with the Demons?¡±


    ¡°I am very d you brought me to that.¡± Asmo turned around to face the illuboard she¡¯d set up in the beginning of the meeting. The kingdom stared back at her. ¡°You see, you may want to work with me because I have a breadth of knowledge, or a respectable work ethic, or a strategic mind, or simply because I am a Human being. But there is one reason that I believe can unify us all.¡±


    She used the Enchanted stick to draw a circle on the floor n of the pce, around the war room. The room they were currently in.


    ¡°This circle represents our circle of influence. It is the ce we own. As a team of five, we currently control this room, and this room only. Our ce, that we can use, where we have the resources, where we give the orders, where we make the decisions. This is our territory.¡±


    She then drew circles around a few of the outer cities she¡¯d drawn. Tapinsouth, Fronttown, and Carth.


    ¡°How long until this is the case? How long until these cities are also under our control?¡±


    Keiki spoke up first. ¡°To oust the Demons and enact a full military takeover would be¡­costly. We would need armies, which would mean we would need resources. Weapons, manpower, ssers to fight off the Demons, who would obviously want to take back their own captured territory¡­perhaps three years.¡±


    ¡°A fair estimate,¡± Asmo said. ¡°Any other guesses?¡±


    ¡°I would say it wouldn¡¯t take so long,¡± Carison said. ¡°Asmo never said anything about a military takeover. This would simply be a location where we control what decisions are made more prominently than the Demons do. If we could seize the production lines for each of these cities, the monopoly we could gain would effectively do just that. Personally, I don¡¯t think it would take much longer than six months, if we made the right decisions and formed the right connections.¡±


    Asmo nodded. ¡°Anyone else have any better ideas?¡±


    Nobody spoke up.


    ¡°Two weeks.¡±


    Everyone looked at her, intrigued.


    ¡°By my estimate, it would take two weeks to own these three cities,¡± Asmo repeated. Then she turned back to the illuboard and drew a circle around the pce itself¡ªnot just the war room, but the entire building. ¡°How about how long it would take for this to happen? Or,¡± she drew a circle around the entire capital city of Kingstown. ¡°This?¡±


    Jon leaned forward. ¡°Are you suggesting a coup?¡±


    ¡°I am not suggesting one, I am already nning it. How long?¡±


    Nobody answered her question.


    ¡°Four weeks.¡±


    They all seemedpletely on the hook at this point.


    ¡°And how about,¡± Asmo turned and drew a circle around the entire kingdom of Koinkar. ¡°This?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°That is a question whose answer depends entirely on your performance,¡± Asmo said. ¡°But I do believe that it, like the answers to the questions before, will be shorter than you anticipate.¡±


    ¡°One does not simply take over a kingdom,¡± Winic said. ¡°You would need¡­Do you even understand the artifacts this country has to back up its power? Do you understand what it can do when threatened?¡±


    ¡°And where do <em>we</em>e into all of this?¡± Carison asked.


    ¡°I do not believe you would be able to seize control of the kingdom at all, much less in such a short time,¡± Keiki challenged.


    ¡°We can,¡± Asmo said, looking at all of them. ¡°Would you like to know how?¡±

 Chapter 147.1: Examination

    Chapter 147.1: Examination


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    I opened my eyes, finally done with my choices. Erani, sitting on the floor, seemed to be still working through hers, and Ainash was keeping herself upied exploring the small outpost. She was currently in the kitchen area, poking and prodding at the various foods and appliances, much to the annoyance of Bon, who was watching her intently.


    But he nced over when he saw me with my eyes open, and took a breath. ¡°You ready to answer some questions? I¡¯ll get the Truth Stone.¡±


    ¡°Yep, I¡¯m ready,¡± I nodded. I¡¯d taken some time to speak with everyone through the silentmunication of Ainash¡ªand mentallymunicating with Index to ensure my n would work¡ªand it seemed like I might be able to work through this.


    ¡°Good. I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Bon stepped through the door to their sleeping quarters, disappearing for a moment while I waited in the main room with everyone else.


    <em>¡°Father, mother says to tell me if there is question you cannot get past. If happens, will tell mother and we will escape! I will kill all the Humans!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Did mother tell you to say thatst part?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...No.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay. Don¡¯t kill all the Humans, even if we escape.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What if they are mean?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Even if they¡¯re mean.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°My name is Humanyer! Dragon gave me that name! Have to kill at least some Humans.¡±</em>


    I took a deep breath. I couldn¡¯t believe I had to argue with her on this. <em>¡°Just ask mother if you¡¯re allowed to kill any Humans, and you can talk about it with her. I¡¯m going to be busy soon.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    I nced over at Erani and watched as her face shifted into one of exasperation as Ainash no doubt messaged her with the same fervor as she was speaking to me with. As I held back myughter at that, the door from the sleeping quarters opened again, and Bon walked out, a small, round stone in his hand.


    ¡°Alright,¡± he said as he sat down in a chair at the small table, ¡°go ahead and turn yourself around so we face each other.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I nodded, trying to hide my nervousness.


    He watched me situate myself and smiled. ¡°First time taking a Truth Stone test?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah,¡± I chuckled, ¡°just worried about false positives or whatever.¡±


    ¡°Nah, nah, these things aren¡¯t faulty,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯d have to be a min¡¯ mastermind of self-deception to get past it. Would probably need your entire life to train yourself to get them to spit out anything but the correct answer¡ªwhether that¡¯s tricking it into thinking you¡¯re telling the truth, or into thinking you¡¯re lying. It goes off what you know to be the true answers to what you¡¯re being asked. So as long as you know you¡¯re answering truthfully, you¡¯ll pass just fine.¡±


    I took a breath and nodded. ¡°Right, right.¡±


    ¡°Yep. It¡¯s pretty much just a formality anyway, but we¡¯re required to say whether we used a Truth Stone when giving our reports back to headquarters, and they¡¯d be pretty min¡¯ mad if they knew we shirked our duties like that by not questioning you lot properly.¡±


    I nodded again. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Should we go ahead and start?¡±


    ¡°¡®Course. So, I¡¯ll put the stone on the table and ask you a question, and all you have to do is put your hand on the stone when you answer. Although, uh, the System needs to see your body touching it, so your armor¡­¡± he gazed at the Dark te still covering my body.


    ¡°Mm, shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Objects pass right through it. See?¡± I reached up and grabbed his hand, and as I said, his body went straight past the armor and touched my hand as though the armor was just an illusion.


    ¡°Woah¡­¡± he said, gazing down at it. ¡°I didn¡¯t even know there was an Enchantment that did that.¡±


    ¡°Well, like I said, it¡¯s stuck on me, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to eat otherwise,¡± Iughed.


    ¡°Man, you are one weird group of people,¡± he shook his head. ¡°Anyway, just be sure you show me your hand when you¡¯re touching the stone, so I can see it passing all the way through the armor like you said it would.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said.


    He reached out and dropped the palm-sized rock in the middle of the wooden table with a <em>thunk</em>. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pencil and some paper. ¡°Okay, you ready?¡±


    I nodded, sending a mental message to Index.


    ¡°Great.¡±


    Erani sat on the floor of a small, cramped outpost. She watched as An, in his still kind of scary Dark te, sat across the table from that Bon guy. They went over how everything worked, and then began.


    ¡°So, to start off, could you tell us a lie, just to ensure the Truth Stone works? Let¡¯s see¡­when I ask you what color your skin is, tell me it¡¯s blue, okay?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± An reached out and picked up the Truth Stone, turning his hand over to show that it was, indeed, passing through his armor and touching his skin.


    ¡°Okay. What color is your skin?¡±


    ¡°Blue.¡±


    As expected, the Stone lit up bright red, shading the entire stone outpost in its crimson hue. An, who was obviously not expecting it to be so bright, turned his face away in surprise. If the circumstances weren¡¯t so secretly tense with the lies they were about to try and get away with, Erani would have even thought it was cute.


    But she couldn¡¯t ruminate on that nice feeling for long, as the moment the Stone dimmed down, Bon spoke again.


    ¡°Okay, great. Keep the stone in your hand just like that. First question, tell me your name, age, ce of birth, that sort of thing.¡± Bon asked.


    Erani held her breath, knowing that this would be the moment that decided whether they¡¯d be able to enter this country, or if they¡¯d be chased out for being fugitives of the Demons.


    ¡°My name is Annor Ton, I¡¯m twenty-four, and I actuallye from an unnamed vige in the Koinkar Kingdom, but it¡¯s near Waterinn, if you know that town.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Oh, well it¡¯s a bit southeast of here, few days¡¯ travel from Kingdom¡¯s Edge. Or, my bad, you guys call it Empire¡¯s Edge, right?¡±


    Pretty much everything An had just said was a lie. Waterinn was technically a town that existed¡ªand it was where he said it was¡ªbut it wasn¡¯t even close to where An was born. And of course there was the fake name and age. They¡¯d spoken and agreed that they should probably increase their ages, since being as high-Level as they were in such a short time was, if not impossible, at least notably rare. It signaled that they¡¯d obviously gotten their Levels in an extremely risky, life-threatening way.


    These lies werepletely tant. In any normal scenario, the Truth Stone would have absolutely no issues with detecting the grant falsehoods¡ªAn knew his own name, age, and ce of origin, so he¡¯d know he was lying. That was all the Stone needed to activate.


    But it sat inert in his hand, doing absolutely nothing at all. Not even a hint of that bright red light.


    Unsuspecting of any foul y, Bon, nodded and jotted down the information on his notepad. ¡°Okay¡­Waterinn, spelled with two ¡®n¡¯s?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Great. Next question, why did youe to the Barinruth Empire? And why through a passage so dangerous as Empire¡¯s Edge?¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ve heard of the Demon invasion, right? We,¡± An gestured to Erani, ¡°were neighbors who fled from Waterinn together when it happened. With all the death and destruction¡­Well, we knew we didn¡¯t really have any other choice but to leave the whole kingdom. Especially as time went on and it became more and more obvious that the kingdom wasn¡¯t going to do anything to repel them. Kingdom¡¯s, er, Empire¡¯s Edge was the nearest escape route, and the Demons pretty much said that running away from them meant the death penalty, so we took the fastest way out as possible.¡±


    ¡°You just decided to walk through the mountain range? I can¡¯t imagine doing something so dangerous.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t?¡± An frowned. ¡°At your Levels it wouldn¡¯t be too bad, right?¡±


    ¡°Well, yes. Don¡¯t try anything. But the Dragons are still deadly for anyone.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right, yeah, I guess that¡¯s true. Well, Demons were more deadly than the Dragons, as far as we were concerned. Choosing between an army and a monster, we felt like our chances were better with thetter.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Anyway, next question,¡± Bon moved on, continuing the interrogation, and An continued giving the answers that Erani had been preparing with him through Ainash. Fake identities and backstories for each of them to try and distance themselves from the identities that would undoubtedly get them kicked out of Barinruth and thrown to the Demons.

 Chapter 147.2: Examination

    Chapter 147.2: Examination


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    While the interrogation went on, Erani just sat back and went over her own Status. She¡¯d gone up to Level 20 from the previous fight, herself, with the help of the absolutely massive Bond she had with Ainash. That meant she had a Talent Choice, and her third ever Spell Choice. But she just¡­wasn¡¯t in the space to think all of that over. She hadn¡¯t even opened them up. But still, ncing over the numbers gave her something to do as she sat in the chair, gazing at nothing.


    Name:


    Erani Wos


    Age:


    23


    Strength:


    50 (10 + 40)


    ss:


    Sorcerer


    Level:


    <strong>20</strong>


    Endurance:


    50 (10 + 40)


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>91</strong>/<strong>3.0k</strong>


    Dexterity:


    50 (10 + 40)


    Health:


    <strong>327</strong>/500


    Health/Minute:


    0.21


    Conjuration:


    <strong>126</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>291</strong>/300


    Stamina/Minute:


    1.8


    Mana:


    <strong>1.89k</strong>/<strong>1.89k</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>22.68</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>[Spell Choice Avable]</strong>


    <strong>[Talent Choice Avable]</strong>


    <strong>Devastator</strong>


    Angelic Shield 9 - XP 355/355


    Signature Magic


    Firebolt <strong>19</strong> (<strong>10</strong>) - XP <strong>112</strong>/<strong>461</strong>


    +Explosive Firebolt


    Primal Might


    Expanded Capacity


    Numbers, numbers, numbers. At least they¡¯d gone up.


    She¡¯d gotten three Levels from that Xhag¡¯duul Demon dying, which had given her the Devastator Title. An had gotten exactly that a while back, when they¡¯d blown up the barricade back in the forest. It apparently raised all XP gained from kills she contributed to by 25%. The theorist in her wanted to do tests on whether that was additive or multiplicative with An¡¯s duplicate Title, or whether it even stacked at all, but she just couldn¡¯t muster up the energy right now. She hadn¡¯t even mentioned getting the Title to anyone, yet.


    Erani even had onest free Rank she could assign to one of her Spells from getting to the most recent even Level¡ª20¡ªbut she didn¡¯t have any ce to put it. Sorcerers got them every 2 Levels, making up for their rtiveck of utility with extreme specialization, but with both Angelic Shield and Firebolt at their respective limits, Erani would need a Spell Crystal to advance further. Though Firebolt at least had some more room for extra Spell XP. That was where she¡¯d put all of her previous free Ranks, so the Spell¡¯s Rank in terms of XP cost was still only 10, whereas the thing already had the power of a Rank 19 Spell.


    Firebolt Rank <strong>19</strong>


    +Explosive Firebolt


    School: Fire


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>58.7</strong> Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a small ball of fire that travels up to <strong>75.5</strong> paces, exploding when it collides with something. Deals up to <strong>198</strong> damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being.


    Firebolt explodes upon impact, damaging and knocking back all beings within 5 paces, with severity depending on how close they are to the source of the explosion.


    As she looked over her Status sheet, she was extremely careful to avoid looking at one specific part of it.


    You are dismembered.


    <em>No. No. Absolutely not. Do not think about it.</em>


    ¡°Hey, uh,dy,¡± a voice said, and Erani instantly jumped on the opportunity to break herself out of her thoughts, looking up at the speaker¡ªthe Pdin of the three, Jannin. He continued, ¡°want some water or something? You look thirsty.¡±


    ¡°Y-yes,¡± she nodded, blinking and taking a breath in an attempt to clear her mind.


    Jannin walked over to the kitchen area, where Ainash was still exploring the various foods and utensils there. Currently, she was looking at her reflection in a metal spoon, turning it around and watching how her face warped in the steel. He turned to squeeze past the monster that stood a head taller than him, clearly extremely cautious of the spiked whip and ming embers floating up from her eyes¡ªa reaction to the cute little thing that Erani felt was extremely unjustified. How could anyone <em>really</em> find her scary, when she was acting like that? It was adorable.


    ¡°You good with created water?¡± Jannin asked, reaching into a cab that contained a fewrge pitchers of clear liquid. ¡°I know some people think it¡¯s gross.¡±


    ¡°No, no, created is fine. Did you make it yourself?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± He looked up from the mug he was pouring the water into.


    ¡°That healing Spell you used on Ar, Annor was Apostle¡¯s Blessing, right?¡± She stuttered for a second over An¡¯s fake name, but Jannin didn¡¯t seem to notice, instead seeming to just be surprised Erani somehow knew the Spell he cast. ¡°Pdins get it at Level¡­5? And from that path I¡¯m pretty sure depending on your Level 10 Spell, your Level 15 Spell can be Waterwhirl, right? And even if you don¡¯t pick that, there are other paths you can go down that offer Hydrost and Hydrosurge¡ªor maybe it was Hydrsh? I¡¯m not sure, I really do need to get to a library and remind myself. A-anyway, I just assumed you may have had one of those, and were using it to create the water.¡±


    ¡°Wow. Uh¡­you really do your homework, huh?¡± Janninughed awkwardly. ¡°...Why do you know such a weird amount about my ss?¡±


    Erani frowned. ¡°It¡¯s not about you. I¡¯m just prepared.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh.¡± He continued pouring the water. ¡°Well, no, I didn¡¯t create it. I don¡¯t have those Spells. We get it sent to us from that nearby town. It¡¯s apparently, like, a day¡¯s trip or something, but I guess they can spare sending some sub-Level-5 Wizards out here to make us our water ration every week.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± Erani mused. ¡°Feels like it¡¯d be pretty useful to have out here, and you may as well pick it up if you¡¯re getting to the 25s, maybe 30s, anyway. Do you have a specific build in mind? Most Pdins I¡¯ve heard from say Apostle¡¯s Blessing is a pretty popr path to go down, did you go with Angel¡¯s Mercy for the full half-Cleric, half-Melee-Type sort of build? I know that¡¯s amon option. And then Destroy Evil is obviously also a solid choice.¡±


    ¡°...Listen, I¡¯m just gonna get you some water,¡± Jannin said.


    Why was he avoiding her questions? Was he hiding something? Maybe he was nning on betraying them, and so he wanted to keep her in the dark about what Spells he had. But then why wouldn¡¯t he just lie and give her deliberately incorrect information to throw her off? Maybe¡ª


    Erani stopped herself. No. These were normal people, he was just getting her some water. She was the one being weird with her interrogating this random guy about his ss. Maybe he was just private with that sort of thing. She was obviously still in a bit of a survival mindset. Mentally, she reminded herself, <em>these are not enemies.</em>


    Jannin walked over and held out the mug of water for her. ¡°Here.¡±


    Erani reached out with her dominant left hand to take it and¡ª


    She stopped short when the limb that ended in a stump came into view. She froze.


    After a numb moment, she was brought out of her stupor when she heard a strange sound. Looking up, she saw that Jannin wasughing. Not a loud, boisterousugh, but a hidden chuckle. He stopped when she looked up at him.


    Saying nothing, Erani awkwardly put her left hand¡ªleft <em>arm</em>¡ªdown and reached up with her right to grab the mug, feeling strange holding it in the wrong hand.


    You are dismembered.


    <em>No.</em>


    Erani sipped from the mug, the cold water sliding down her throat. It felt nice. Almost nice enough to distract herself from the fact that she was still holding the mug in her non-dominant hand.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Bon said, and Erani looked over.


    She¡¯d somewhat lost focus of the ongoing interrogation, but it seemed like An had gotten through without tripping the Truth Stone once. He sighed and leaned back¡ªan action that could be simply attributed to him wanting to rest after having to lean forward with the truth stone presented in his hand in the middle of the table for so long, but Erani knew him well enough to tell it was more than likely out of a feeling of relief that his n had actually gone smoothly.


    Bon looked over at Erani and nodded his head over toward an open seat. ¡°Okay, you¡¯re next. Just wanna get your name and basic information, I won¡¯t make you go through the whole exnation again.¡±


    Unfortunately, An¡¯s n was one that only actually worked for him. He got through this interrogation just fine with it, but Erani would have to do something different. Something that was definitely a bit riskier.


    Erani nodded curtly and stood. Time for a test of her own.

 Chapter 148: Inspection

    Chapter 148: Inspection


    I watched as Erani sat down at the wooden table with Bon¡ªthe table I was still sitting at, as well, since I still wasn¡¯t able to stand without help. I¡¯d gotten a bit of healing from Jannin, which helped me feel slightly better, but the real healing would ur from spending some time <em>staying</em> at a high Health value, due to the natural elerated regeneration that came from that.


    Despite not feeling much better physically, though, I was feeling worlds better mentally. I¡¯d beaten the Truth Stone.


    The method I¡¯d used to do so was both somewhatplex and deceptively simple. It exploited the specific ways Truth Stones worked to effectively allow me to bypass itpletely. Truth Stones really were infallible. There was no way to get past their mind-reading capabilities and trick them into thinking you¡¯d told the truth when you hadn¡¯t. So instead of bashing my head against that impossible approach to things, I went straight past it.


    Because I <em>had</em> been telling the truth. Just not to the questions the Bon thought I was answering.


    Truth Stones were infallible. But Humans weren¡¯t. So it wasn¡¯t about tricking the Stone, it was about tricking Bon. And to do so, I¡¯d used Index.


    Again, it was deceptively simple. I¡¯de up with my whole fake story before the interrogation, with a name, history, everything. Anything Bon might have asked about, I had a fake answer ready.


    And then, once the interrogation started, the moment Bon attempted to ask me the first question, Index screamed in my ears as loud as it could. Since it wasn¡¯t really a living being, it could essentially control the volume of its voice as much as it wanted. And it didn¡¯t run out of breath, either. So it could scream as loud as it wanted, for as long as it wanted. And it did so for the entire time Bon asked his first question, asking for my name, age, and ce of birth.


    And once he was done, Index stopped, and quickly asked a question of its own: ¡°What is the fake name, age, and ce of birth you prepared before this interview?¡±


    And so I answered the question honestly. Since I hadn¡¯t even heard what the original question was, only Index¡¯s version of it, giving the fake information was apletely honest answer with no hint of deception, as far as the Truth Stone was concerned. And Bon was none the wiser. And for some of the questions, ones where I didn¡¯t actually need to lie, Index would just repeat the same question to me. It worked perfectly.


    That was how I¡¯d navigated pretty much the entire interrogation. And now that I knew the method worked and I was no longer at risk of being found out, it felt like someone finally removed the iron weight chained to my lungs.


    Except, not really. Because we weren¡¯t quite off yet. The n had worked, but it required Index to do so¡ªsomething only I could hear. That was what made it work, but it also made the method useless for Erani, who had no such thing. However, despite working with more limited tools, we managed toe up with something that may work well enough.


    It was based on the same principle¡ªhaving Erani answer different questions than Bon asked. Only this time, we¡¯d do it with Ainash. Ainash¡¯s mental words, while not being literal sounds one could hear like Index, could still effectively block out external stimuli. If she ¡®screamed¡¯ them forcefully enough, it could be so distracting that you couldn¡¯t really hear much else unless you really, really tried. We¡¯d tested it out earlier, and it seemed to have worked fine.


    So, if blocking out the questions worked, then what was the problem? Well, it was the part after, where we had to then go and ask the new questions to get Erani to understand what she needed to say. With Index, it was easy. It¡¯d just listen to what I missed and figure out a way to word it so I could give a fake answer truthfully. But with Ainash¡­it was a moreplicated process.


    To start with, Ainash didn¡¯t even understand ournguage. So I¡¯d have to listen, myself, ande up with the questions Erani needed to hear to be able to give the correct answers, and then I¡¯d message them to Ainash, who would then give that to Erani. So my main worry wasn¡¯t the blocking out Bon part, but rather the part where we tranted the new question through Ainash. She was fine, but getting such specific, technical wording through definitely had a risk factor to it.


    My only source of relief was that Bon apparently nned on her questioning being much shorter than mine was, since our story about the invasion was pretty much the same. He just needed some basic information to put on record, which ideally wouldn¡¯t take long, or beplex enough for something to be lost in trantion.


    So the interrogation started, and I tried my best to act like I wasn¡¯t paying too much attention to what was going on, despite intently listening and tranting everything over as quickly as possible.


    ¡°What is your name and age?¡±


    <em>¡°Fake name and age,¡± </em>I messaged Ainash.


    ¡°Eita Niin, twenty-five.¡±


    ¡°Alright. So we¡¯ve got Annor and Eita entering, alongside a¡­monster. I guess you guys can just deal with the paperwork that¡¯ll create on your own. Moving on, you¡¯re from that same vige near Waterinn, correct?¡±


    <em>¡°Your fictional backstory has youing from the same vige near Waterinn, right?¡±</em>


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    The interrogation continued on like that for a bit of time as Bon collected the same information he¡¯d gotten from me. Until finally, it seemed like we were done.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Bon said, ¡°we¡¯re just about done here¡­Oh, onest thing. You guys said you¡¯d had some run-ins with Demons before, right?¡±


    <em>¡°Uhh, you¡¯ve encountered Demons before?¡±</em> I messaged. That one didn¡¯t even need to be fictitious.


    ¡°...Yes,¡± Erani said hesitantly after Ainash tranted the question over. She¡¯d probably shifted the term ¡°Demons¡± over to the term ¡°bad guys,¡± which I imagined may have caused some confusion.


    ¡°And what was the nature of these encounters?¡±


    I repeated the same question to Ainash again, still not quite noticing a point where we¡¯d need to lie.


    ¡°Uhh,¡± Erani frowned when she got Ainash¡¯s message. ¡°...I don¡¯t like them?¡±


    <em>Shit!</em> I thought to myself. I wasn¡¯t sure what¡¯d happened there, but clearly I hadn¡¯t been specific enough. I hurriedly messaged Ainash again, <em>¡°No, no, as in, what happened during the encounters with the Demons?¡±</em>


    ¡°Oh!¡± Eraniughed nervously. ¡°Sorry. We fought.¡±


    ¡°...Mhmm,¡± Bon said, ncing down at the Truth Stone. But it¡¯d stayedpletely inert this whole time. ¡°Do you mind lying for me on purpose really quick? Don¡¯t shift your hand or body at all, just answer ¡®blue¡¯ to this next question. What color is your skin?¡±


    I ryed the same to Ainash.


    ¡°Blue,¡± Erani said, and the stone lit up instantly. Bon rxed from his seeming suspicion after that, put at ease that the Truth Stone was working properly.


    Erani had talked to me while we¡¯d nned earlier on how to get past this interrogation and we were still trying to brainstorm methods. The main way that people typically got around Truth Stones was just by trying to avoid touching the Stone while answering questions they lied on. On a basic level, this could mean hovering your hand over it or trying to sneak a piece of leather between your skin and the Stone or something, but it could even go as far as finding a way to swap the Truth Stone out for an Unenchanted replica, or by even using illusion magic to create a fake holographic stone that didn¡¯t even exist.


    And the easy way for interrogators to get past pretty much all of these methods was to swap between asking regr questions, and questions where the interviewee must intentionally lie. By doing so¡ªand carefully watching to ensure there weren¡¯t any shenanigans at any point between these questions¡ªit effectively stopped most of these methods since they¡¯d have to somehow undo whatever swap they¡¯d done in the first ce without tipping the careful observer off.


    So, since our methodpletely got around that, any concerns the average interrogator would have from awkward wording like that would be assuaged by seeing effective proof that there was no foul y going on. Obviously, there were ways to still prevent us from using it, but it didn¡¯t seem like Bon was the type of person to go all-out on some random travelers he had no real reason to suspect anything actually criminal from.


    The rest of the interrogation went rather smoothly after that. Bon asked us for any information we had on ¡°weak spots¡± that the Demons had¡ªhe apparently just wanted to seem useful to his boss by trying to find valuable information on them¡ªbut we didn¡¯t really have anything for him, so he gave up pretty quickly, ending the interview there.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Bon said, rolling his shoulders and sighing as he leaned back in his chair, as though he¡¯d done anything more than ask us some questions and write down the answers, ¡°we¡¯re done with you here. I¡¯ll just file out my report on you, and you can head out on your nice old way.¡±


    Erani met my eyes.


    ¡°Actually,¡± I said, ¡°we were wondering if we could stay the night here? It¡¯s a day¡¯s walk out to that next town, right? So we¡¯d rather not travel at night. And besides, I¡¯ve got this broken leg, so maybe after a night¡¯s rest it could heal up enough for me to move on more safely.¡±


    Jannin looked over, and so did Poppins, who was currently making himself something in the kitchen area. Bon nced over at them. It seemed to me like the two of them were trying their best to beg with their eyes for Bon to say no here.


    After a moment, Bon looked back at us. ¡°...Aw, what the hell. Sure. It¡¯s just one night.¡±


    Jannin audibly sighed.


    ¡°Jannin, you¡¯re apparently doing nothing. Why don¡¯t you go get our guests something to drink?¡± He turned back to us. ¡°You guys like beer?¡±


    Really, I agreed more with Jannin¡¯s attitude than with Bon¡¯s. I didn¡¯t particrly want to party with these guys, or whatever. But I needed to stick around until midnight until Time Loop refreshed, that way I could get that Arcane Spell Crystal and reset afterward, getting at least some of my Spells past their Rank 9 maximums. Seemed like I¡¯d be walking out of this little outpost much, much stronger than I¡¯d been when I walked in. And if sharing a drink with Bon was what it took, then so be it.


    And, honestly, having a taste of civilization¡ªeven something as simple as a bit of alcohol¡ªfelt like it would do wonders when it came to calming my nerves.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said with a nod. ¡°Feels like I haven¡¯t had a beer in ages. I could probably use one.¡±

 Chapter 149.1: Ingestion

    Chapter 149.1: Ingestion


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    ¡°Cheers!¡±


    Bon clinked his chipped mug against mine and took a gulp, as did I. The taste was pretty interesting, one I hadn¡¯t had before. I¡¯d been Unssedst time I had alcohol, and the alcohol for the ssed and Unssed was made very differently.


    Since increasing your Endurance and your Health made you more resistant to harm, it also meant that alcohol¡ªwhich was technically a poison¡ªhad a reduced effect on you as you increased in Level. So the ¡°beer¡± we were drinking was really closer to straight liquor in alcohol content, having been created by mixing regr beer with pure distilled alcohol.


    So, obviously, it tasted quite different. It actually tasted a lot weaker than I¡¯d have thought it¡¯d be, but I supposed my taste had probably been adjusted too from the extra Endurance, or maybe I¡¯d just forgotten what it actually tasted like to begin with.


    Erani took a sip of her own drink, as did the rest of the room¡ªaside from Ainash, who hadn¡¯t been offered one to begin with. Part of me considered letting her take a sip out of my cup just so she could know what it tasted like, but I also felt like giving alcohol to a two-year-old would be pretty irresponsible, so I decided against it.


    ¡°Been a while since we¡¯ve had any reason to break out the strong stuff,¡± Bon said. ¡°Don¡¯t often get shipments of it here. Normally just the min¡¯ standard swill for Unssed weaklings, doesn¡¯t even do anything unless you have a barrel of it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d imagine it wouldn¡¯t do anything at all, no matter how much you have,¡± I remarked. ¡°If you¡¯re all high-Level Melee-Types, you probably have some pretty significant Endurance values.¡±


    Jannin just snorted at myment and took another sip, leaning back and making himselffortable in his chair. Poppins, who¡¯d been pretty muchpletely silent ever since the whole prostitute debacle, had a mug, but I was pretty sure it was full of water. Probably just didn¡¯t like to drink.


    As time went on, we went through mug after mug, with me admittedly having more than I should have, though I told myself it was just because my Endurance was suppressing the alcohol and so I needed more of it to feel a buzz. Erani was chugging them down pretty quickly, too.


    Since Dark te was the only thing protecting my identity and it automatically dismissed itself every hour, I needed to excuse myself to go to the bathroom every now and then, where I could manually re-cast the Spell and refresh its cooldown before it ran out. Obviously, this left me taking piss breaks pretty often, but it drew no more attention than a couple jokes at my expense.


    <em>¡°Father, your thoughts are funny when like this,¡± </em>Ainash messaged me.


    <em>¡°I¡¯m fine¡­just¡­need to get a break from all this bullshit¡­fuckin¡¯ Demons,¡±</em> I said back.


    Bon and Jannin both mmed down mug after mug alongside us, being the only two that were really talkative during the night. I may have been a bit tipsy, but I still recognized that I needed to watch my mouth. And I didn¡¯t really trust myself to watch it correctly in my current state, so I just settled with not talking at all if I could help it. Erani was also silent, seeming to not even be paying attention to the conversation. She¡¯d sat on the floor in a corner at some point, leaning up against the walls and staring up at the roof as she nursed her drinks.


    ¡°I just don¡¯t see why the min¡¯ ¡®Emperor¡¯ Etrin has gotta tell us all what to do!¡± Jannin was saying. He apparently had a revolutionary streak in him that came out with the help of the booze. ¡°Lyra was just as good¡ª¡±


    ¡°¡ªand pretty,¡± Bon interjected, eyes only half-open.


    ¡°¡ªso we don¡¯t need some new min¡¯ guyin¡¯ in and changing everything up. Needs to min¡¯ dry himself of that min big ol¡¯ mouth and ego for once and maybe let the <em>people</em> tell him what we want. I know everyone agrees with us, too! Just too scared of that min¡¯ tyrant to say anything.¡±


    I nodded along to their rants, trying to follow all the names and ces that I was sure they¡¯d mentioned before, but now escaped me in what they all referred to.


    <em>¡°Um, father?¡±</em> Ainash sent me another message. She was standing over by the window, ncing between me and Erani. <em>¡°Think mother is not happy.¡±</em>


    I blinked. <em>¡°...Hm?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Feel sadnessing from her. But when try to talk, thoughts are weird like yours. Can you talk to mother?¡±</em>


    I looked over and saw her, still staring off into a random point on the ceiling. Bon and Jannin were arguing about some random thing I had no idea about, so I silently stood and made my way over to her, only barely stumbling as I got up. I tried to mentally force myself into sobriety through sheer force of will, and it sort of felt like it worked, though not by much.


    I plopped myself down next to her, and heard a few empty mugs scatter that¡¯d been lying next to her across the floor. How many had she had?


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said.


    She looked up at me, a hint of red in her eyes. Had she been crying? ¡°Hi.¡±


    ¡°How are you? Ainash said you were¡­all fucked up or something.¡±


    ¡°¡®Course I¡¯m fucked up,¡± she slurred. ¡°How could I not be?¡±


    ¡°I¡­listen, I¡¯m fucking drunk, so sorry if I say dumb shit. But I think you¡¯re fine. More than fine. You¡¯re great.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not,¡± she took a breath and blinked slowly. ¡°My life is gone. Everything I had waspletely destroyed.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not true,¡± I said, trying my best to think of something to say. ¡°You still have¡ª¡±


    ¡°Nothing! I¡¯ve got nothing. My family¡¯s fucking dead, and I can¡¯t go home, and now I don¡¯t even have a fucking arm.¡± Tears rolled down her cheeks. ¡°It¡¯s all gone.¡±


    I wrapped my own arm around her and pulled her into a sideways embrace, which she fell into without a word. <em>Fuck</em>, I was way too drunk to think of something that could cheer her up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Erani just sobbed to herself with her head leaning on my shoulder. Bon and Jannin hadn¡¯t even noticed I was gone, it seemed¡ªthey¡¯d just been keeping pace with me with their drinking, but they seemed absolutely hammered.


    ¡°I¡­Listen, you don¡¯t have n¡­nothing¡ªer, you have something,¡± I stuttered out. ¡°You¡­I¡¯m sorry your old life is gone. But you have something new, now. Ainash is a fucking¡­great daughter. I know she loves you. And I do too. We both really¡­really care about you. And we can make a big, new, way better life here.¡±


    She sniffled. ¡°It won¡¯t be way better. The Demons exist. They¡¯ll make it awful.¡±


    ¡°Demons suck ass,¡± I spat. ¡°Fuck ¡®em. We¡¯ll just fucking kill the Demons and then boom. New, better life. Promise, I won¡¯t fucking rest until those stupid fuckin¡¯ monsters are dead. And I¡¯ll sell the dumb fuckers¡¯ corpses and buy a sick-ass mansion for us to live in. It¡¯ll be awesome.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯ll buy the corpses?¡± Eraniughed. ¡°Nobody¡¯s going to want them.¡±


    ¡°Nah, they¡¯ll be trophies or something. And the Demons¡¯ll be extinct, remember? So their corpses¡¯ll be, like, a rare thing. Or something. I¡¯ll find some way. But I¡¯m telling you. It¡¯s gonna be awesome. We can totally make our lives awesome.¡±


    ¡°That sounds so dumb when you say it like that,¡± sheughed again and looked up at me, head lying on my chest as I leaned against the stone wall. ¡°You¡¯re totally so drunk.¡±


    ¡°You are too, dummy,¡± I smiled. ¡°You look, like, super hot though anyway. It¡¯s really cool how you can do that. Just look great all the time.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s so stupid,¡± she said with a chuckle. ¡°You sound so dorky. Don¡¯t you know you¡¯re supposed to sound cool in front of a woman?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fuckin¡¯ stupid,¡± I muttered. ¡°If you look good, you should know it. People should tell you every single day.¡±


    But when I looked down at her, she¡¯d already closed her eyes.


    With the droning sound of Bon and Jannin arguing back and forth aboutplete nonsense, and the alcohol coursing through my veins, I found it harder and harder to stay awake every second that passed. And within a few moments, I drifted off.

 Chapter 149.2: Ingestion

    Chapter 149.2: Ingestion


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    I awoke to Index¡¯s words. ¡°Hey, An. Wake up. Fifteen minutes until Dark te disappears. Probably want to go re-equip.¡±


    I opened my eyes, head still spinning, but just slightly less so. And just as I moved to get up, I heard the thud of something hitting the floor. Looking over, I saw Jannin climbing back up to his feet, Bon looking drunkenly furious and standing over him.


    ¡°You min¡¯ asshole!¡± he shouted. ¡°Why in hell¡¯s mes wouldn¡¯t you tell me that there was a min¡¯ hookerin¡¯ by?!¡±


    Poppins, still obviously sober, stepped between them. ¡°S-sorry, Bon, we didn¡¯t realize¡ª¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t realize that I¡¯m min¡¯ lonely as mes?! Dry yourself, man! I know you could tell!¡±


    Looking at the fact that another barrel of beer had been pulled out¡­these guys had probably had a lot more to drink. Not that I felt much better than I¡¯d felt when I fell asleep.


    Looking down, Erani was still lying on my chest, asleep. I gently lifted her up and got out from under her, lying her back down on the floor. Then I stood up, using the wall to steady myself with my impaired mind and still-broken leg.


    ¡°Hey, guys, quiet down. Don¡¯t fuckin¡¯ fight. She¡¯s asleep,¡± I gestured to Erani, who stirred slightly. ¡°Don¡¯t fuckin¡¯ wake us up.¡±


    ¡°Ugh,¡± Bon took a step toward me. ¡°You Koinkarians and your min¡¯ ng. Learn the min¡¯nguage if you wannae over here. Least you can do.¡±


    I groaned. My head didn¡¯t really feel good, though whether that was from the alcohol or from the fact Bon seemed to be allergic to speaking at a normal volume, I didn¡¯t know. ¡°Just try to quiet down, man. The fuck¡¯s even going on between you two, anyway?¡±


    Jannin, now on his feet again, brushed himself off. ¡°min¡¯ idiot¡¯s mad we didn¡¯t tell him about the hooker that came by, even though we <em>know</em> he would¡¯ve just called it in and gotten us in trouble. Probably would''ve gotten the poor girl jailed, too.¡±


    ¡°I min¡¯ wouldn¡¯t have done that, dumbass!¡± Bon yelled back at him. ¡°I just wanted to min¡¯¡ªI mean, hell, I would¡¯ve even settled for a nice conversation. You don¡¯t have to assume I¡¯m this min¡¯ jarhead by-the-books leader all the time. I can be your friend, man.¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t, though!¡± Jannin said. ¡°You always go and tell min¡¯mand every, single, min¡¯, thing! Why would I trust you with that?!¡±


    ¡°I just said! You¡¯re my friend! Or at least I thought.¡±


    ¡°No, man, you obviously don¡¯t think so. Otherwise you wouldn¡¯t¡¯ve gotten me in trouble for taking one too many hours on my break, or for eating just a bit more than my rations because I was sick!¡±


    ¡°I have to get you in trouble for that, or else you won¡¯t do your min¡¯ job right, ever!¡± Bon huffed out a sigh. ¡°Listen, I haven¡¯t min¡¯ seen a woman in ages. Just thought you¡¯d get it.¡±


    Jannin snorted. ¡°I mean, you just saw a woman today. Didn¡¯t act like it was nothin¡¯ special. Obviously it¡¯s not that important to you.¡±


    Bon looked over at Erani, still asleep on the floor, and rolled his eyes. ¡°She¡¯s a min¡¯ cripple. Got no arm. Barely even counts as a woman. I mean, what, you really think I¡¯d count someone who doesn¡¯t even have all their¡ª¡±


    You have struck Level 9 Swordsman for 29 damage using Fist.


    You have irritated an open wound. 22 damage.


    Your Health is 283.


    Bon flew across the room,nding face down on the floor from the force of my strike. I stumbled forward, my legs barely able to support my weight, and everyone in the room yelled out in surprise.


    My arm ached, and I realized I¡¯d identally punched with my dominant hand¡ªthe broken one. But I ignored the pain with the help of the booze and stumbled forward.


    You have cursed Level 9 Swordsman with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, he loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and his Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1289.


    In what was effectively pure instinct, I sluggishly went through the typical list of curses to apply to my opponent in an attempt to debuff him into oblivion. However, I only actually got through a single one¡ªCrippling Chill¡ªbefore I copsed down on top of Bon, partly because my broken leg gave out, and partly because I wanted to hit him again.


    ¡°An!¡± I could hear Index shout at me, its words garbled in my ear from the intoxication.


    Before I could mentally respond, I felt hands dragging me away. Looking up, I saw it was Poppins. ¡°H-hey, leave him¡ª¡±


    ¡°Fuck off!¡± I fought for custody of my arm with Poppins, desperately trying to wrench it free so I couldnd another hit on the seemingly-unconscious Bon. ¡°He fuckin¡¯ deserves it.¡±


    <em>¡°Father!¡±</em> Ainash messaged me frantically, <em>¡°should I kill them all?¡±</em>


    I looked back and saw her with her eyes ame, whip in hand and ready to split people in half. That made me stop.


    And it also made me look back at my damage notification. Level...9?! What the fuck?! This guy said he was high-Level! Multiple times, he said they were all high-Level. Why the fuck was he so weak? I thought he could take a couple punches, but¡­


    ¡°An.¡± Index said again.


    I also realized I¡¯d had Noxious Grasp active this whole time, apparently having activated it at some point of my drunken fight. Hurriedly, I shut it off and let myself be dragged off of Bon¡¯s still-unmoving body.


    You have struck Level 9 Swordsman for 77 damage and drained 77 Stamina over the course of 3.7 seconds using Noxious Grasp.


    19.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 616.


    I blinked over and over, my ears feeling like they were still ringing from my quickly-fading anger.


    <em>¡°Father?¡±</em> Ainash said.


    <em>¡°N, no,¡± </em>I messaged back. <em>¡°They¡¯re okay. Don¡¯t¡­¡±</em>


    Fuck. Bon still wasn¡¯t moving. Poppins crouched down by his side, looking up at me. ¡°What did you do to him?!¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡±


    Jannin stumbled over, too, clumsily cing his hands on Bon¡¯s neck. He shifted around for a moment before finding the artery. ¡°He¡¯s alive, at least.¡±


    I swallowed, finding my bnce with my hand gripping the table behind me. My vision swam. ¡°Use¡­Jannin, use your healing thing. He¡¯s cursed. Losing Health every second. Might not¡­might not survive, even if he¡¯s alive now.¡±


    ¡°mes¡­¡± Jannin hurriedly closed his eyes and began muttering under his breath while Poppins stood and ced his hand on his sword, facing me.


    ¡°What were you thinking?!¡± He asked angrily. ¡°You¡¯re trying to kill Bon over some petty insult?! I know what he said was mean, but he¡¯s drunk! He always gets like this.¡±


    Fuck. Was he going to die?


    ¡°Why did you guys say you¡¯re high-Level?¡± I asked. ¡°That¡¯s¡­why lie? I thought he could take it.¡±


    ¡°We were scared!¡± Poppins said, seeming incredulous that I even asked such a question. ¡°Some dude in ck spooky armor, looking like a Demon, with a weird monster we¡¯ve never seen before? Of course we were gonna bluff!¡±


    A light shed from behind him, and I saw Jannin activating his healing Spell on Bon. He reached down to check his vitals once again after, but before he could, Bon let out a groan, seemingly showing he was alive enough to speak.


    ¡°Oh thank the gods,¡± Poppins rushed back over to him, helping him up.


    ¡°I¡­sorry,¡± was all I could think to say.


    <em>¡°Father, I do not think you did anything wrong!¡± </em>Ainash said, walking over to me. <em>¡°Do not feel bad. Human was acting like bad guy! If made you mad, then deserve to die.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°D-don¡¯t kill them.¡±</em>


    Bon groaned again and drunkenly muttered, ¡°I¡­I don¡¯t¡­what¡¯s¡­¡±


    ¡°An!¡± Index said, even more sternly this time.


    <em>W-what?</em> I managed to think. Somehow, forming coherent thoughts tomunicate with it felt even more difficult than speaking aloud. <em>I¡­I know¡­I was, fucking, uh, stupid. Shouldn¡¯t¡¯ve¡­uh¡­</em>


    ¡°An. You hit him with your broken arm, meaning he dealt damage to you.¡±


    <em>H¡­huh? Yeah¡­that was dumb. My¡­my mistake.</em>


    ¡°No. When someone deals damage to you, they get a notification saying how much they dealt, and who they dealt it to. You¡¯re a Human, which means it doesn¡¯t just say your species and Level, it says your ss.


    <em>I¡­wait¡­</em>


    ¡°An, Bon just got a notification saying he dealt damage to a Level 20 Minute Mage. Now, my rmendation is you either wait a few hours until Time Loop refreshes at midnight and then <em>instantly</em> use it to go back and undo this, or, if you don¡¯t want to use up precious resources, you kill them all. Right here, right now. The other two are just as low-Level, you can ughter them all. That option is my personal rmendation.¡±

 Chapter 150: Instigation

    Chapter 150: Instigation


    I stood, drunk out of my mind, receiving the worst news possible from Index.


    ¡°An, Bon just got a notification saying he dealt damage to a Level 20 Minute Mage.¡±


    My stomach dropped. Even in my state, I understood how bad that was. Yes, he <em>technically</em> wouldn¡¯t know what a Minute Mage was, but a literally never-before-seen ss would obviously raise suspicion. They reported every little thing they saw, I couldn¡¯t expect them to let <em>that</em> be. And if the Empire heard of it, then it was only a matter of time before the Demons heard of it. And then the Demons would the Empire that they wanted me dead, and we¡¯d be in a situation like the Koinkar Kingdom all over again.


    In that instant, I mentally swore off alcohol for the rest of my life. I¡¯d just wanted to rx and forget about my situation for a moment. Obviously a mistake.


    But now I needed to do damage control. My mind raced, sluggish as it was, through the possible solutions.


    Not that Index wasn¡¯t telling me exactly what it thought I should do.


    ¡°Start with Bon, obviously. Sneak contact with him, hit him with Sanguine Bond plus Noxious Grasp. He doesn¡¯t have much Health left, shouldn¡¯t take more than a couple seconds. Then hit Jannin with Chill and as many Rays of Frost as you can. Then¡ªhey. Are you listening? Get started. I know you¡¯re drunk, but I can guide you through the fight if you get disoriented. All you have to do is follow mymands and this problem is solved.¡±


    ¡°Wh, what in the mes just happened?¡± Bon muttered, still clearly half-asleep.


    He at least didn¡¯t seem to be aware of the notification he¡¯d just received. Maybe it wasn¡¯t as bad as it seemed.


    ¡°They¡¯ll stay,¡± Index said. ¡°System notifications stick around as readable in your head for about thirty seconds after appearing. As-is, it seems like Bon either hasn¡¯t read them yet, or already read them the moment you hit him, but just forgot what they said. But either way, he¡¯s going to be able to read them for thirty seconds after this.¡±


    <em>Fuck.</em> I tried my hardest to think my way through this. Maybe I could¡ª


    ¡°Kill him before he tells the others. He hasn¡¯t read them yet, so he won¡¯t be able to use you of anything in his dying words.¡±


    <em>What about¡­</em>


    ¡°You can y it off as an ident, or you could probably convince Ainash to kill the other two. She¡¯d be capable of it. This is your best shot at survival.¡±


    <em>Index, </em>I thought, <em>please let me think.</em>


    Precious moments were ticking by where Bon didn¡¯t know the truth about me. I <em>could</em> just kill him. But¡­Sure, he¡¯d said some shitty stuff, that still wasn¡¯t anything that deserved a death sentence. If there was a way to get through this without murdering an innocent man, I¡¯d much rather take that path. And I was worried about what kind of influence that would be on Ainash, too; despite what I sometimes liked to think, she wasn¡¯t just a cute kid. She could, and <em>would</em>, kill people¡ªespecially if I set the example that doing so was okay. Even if I exined things to her afterward¡­not a very good way to keep her from doing even worse things to even more people who deserved it even less.


    <em>You said¡­him damaging me? That was what gave a notification?</em>


    ¡°Yeah. Typically speaking, the System likes to give information on what you¡¯re doing. Stuff that matters. But it also doesn¡¯t give stuff out if it could give an unfair advantage. When you take damage, receive a Status Effect, that sort of thing, the System won¡¯t give out any information on your assant, since it could be a sneak attack. Could be someone trying to hide in a crowd, or even just giving away stuff like species information could tell you whether your attacker might be flying in the air or digging underground. That sort of thing. So, when ites to dealing damage, the System reasons that you must already know where and who you¡¯re damaging, so¡ª¡±


    <em>Just. Is there anything else that¡¯ll give him info on me?</em>


    ¡°No, no, nothing you can do. Just avoid getting hurt by him, and he won¡¯t get any more notifications on you. So I guess you could kill him without getting close so he can¡¯t damage you or something, to be safe.¡±


    <em>Don¡¯t¡­don¡¯t want to kill him. I¡¯m just gonna¡­</em>


    ¡°If you really don¡¯t want to kill him, I suggest just waiting until you can go back with Time Loop. It¡¯s a waste of precious resources, though.¡±


    <em>Might have to do that. But I¡¯m gonna try something for now.</em>


    I stumbled toward Bon, who was rubbing his face and being helped up by Jannin and Poppins.


    ¡°Jannin¡­¡± I muttered, ¡°get your healing Spell ready.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, he¡¯s probably still low,¡± Jannin nodded.


    But Bon¡¯s current Health wasn¡¯t why he¡¯d need the healing. I copsed to the ground by his side, still only barely able to hold myself up, and ced a hand on him. Then in an instant, I activated the trio of Spells, Crippling Chill, Sanguine Bond, and Gravity Well, all on him at the same time.


    Instaly, Bon gasped and fell back to the floor. His own drunkenness was working for me here, making him obviously much more susceptible to losing consciousness from thebination of Health loss, Stamina loss, and the bodily impact of Gravity Well. Which was what I was betting on.


    That problematic notification would onlyst thirty seconds, Index had said. So as long as I could just keep him unconscious¡ªor at least keep him distracted¡ªfor a bit longer, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem anymore.


    ¡°What the Hell?!¡± Jannin yelled at me. ¡°What did you just do?!¡±


    Poppins, evidently taking more of a proactive role, jumped forward and tackled me away, wrestling my hands to the floor. Careful not to instigate him into hitting me or dealing damage to me, I didn¡¯t fight back, and kept myself from activating Noxious Grasp while he was in contact with me. I didn¡¯t really need to be touching Bon to use my Spells on him, other than Sanguine Bond, so it wouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem.


    ¡°Heal him,¡± I said to Jannin. ¡°Keep him from dying.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡ªwhat¡­¡± Jannin looked utterly baffled by my actions. Which was fair.


    The seconds ticked by, and Bon thankfully didn¡¯t seem to be waking up, nor did he seem to be dying. He <em>was</em> a Level 9 Melee-Type, so he should¡¯ve had a decent Endurance score. Especially if he wasn¡¯t an adventurer; if he wasn¡¯t out fighting monsters all day, he¡¯d probably be focused more on the quality-of-life aspect of Stats, which Endurance definitely won out in, considering it kept you from sumbing to disease.


    Ten seconds passed, which meant Sanguine Bond wore off. Stretching out my good leg, I managed to tap Bonnin¡¯s shin with my own leg and reactivate it without anyone noticing. Jannin was too busy frantically casting his healing Spell over and over, and Poppins was too busy yelling at me.


    ¡°What did you do?!¡± he screamed at me. ¡°Why?! I thought you¡¯d calmed down!¡±


    I was too busy counting up in my head to answer. From the moment I¡¯d hit him, it¡¯d been¡­what, twenty-five seconds? Hopefully the constant sap of his strength would keep his already-weakened mind from paying attention to the notifications mentioning my ss, which must¡¯ve now been buried underneath a bunch of other ones talking about all the other Spells I¡¯d been casting on him.


    ¡°Decent strategy,¡± I heard Index say, ¡°this might actually work. Though I¡¯m still just rooting for you to identally kill him. Still probably the safest option.¡±


    <em>Twenty-eight,</em> I continued to count, <em>twenty-nine, and¡­thirty.</em>


    I sighed and let off Gravity Well, with Crippling Chill and Sanguine Bond ted to end on their own soon, as well. With a sh of light, Jannin cast another of his healing Spells.


    ¡°...Darn. Seems like he¡¯s gonna live,¡± Index sighed. ¡°Oh well. You should be safe from him knowing your ss now, at least. Well, as long as he didn¡¯t read it during that short time he was awake.¡±


    After enough time passed that Jannin got off another heal, I heard Bon groan once again. Poppins seemed to hear it too, as he cast a frantic nce back at his fellow guard. Then he looked back at me. ¡°D¡­do <em>not</em> do anything! Do you hear me?!¡±


    ¡°Mhmm,¡± I nodded. I felt like I was somehow both drunk and had a massive hangover at the same time. ¡°S¡­sorry.¡±


    ¡°Y, you¡­why did¡­¡± he lookedpletely exasperated. But Bon stirred, showing that he was at least in decent shape, now that the curses had worn off. Since they only drained Health and didn¡¯t actually cause any bodily harm, he would most likely recover pretty quickly¡ªat least, he would as opposed to something like a knife wound that took away a simr amount of Health.


    <em>¡°Father, why you attack again? Should I attack too?¡±</em> Ainash said. Looking over, I saw that she was still standing ready for battle.


    <em>¡°I¡¯ll¡­exinter,¡± </em>I got out. <em>¡°But we¡¯re safe. No need to attack.¡±</em>


    ¡°They need to leave,¡± Jannin said to Poppins in the meanwhile, looking over at me as he helped raise the half-conscious Bon to a sitting position.


    Poppins nodded. He was still kneeling on top of me, with his gripped on my shoulders. He was breathing shakily, as I was sure anyone would be, considering he¡¯d just witnessed what I was sure he thought was a drunken assassination attempt.


    ¡°S¡­sorry,¡± I said again. Fuck, I really should¡¯ve considered my arm and the damage notification.


    I mean, even if it dide down to using Time Loop, that was still something I absolutely needed to avoid doing unnecessarily; if I had to use Time Loop toe back to today, then once midnight passed again, I¡¯d instantly be down any uses I¡¯d expended toe back to this point from the start of the day, which would obviously be less than ideal. I was lucky it was as easy to resolve as it was here, with Bon being so drunk.


    <em>So¡­</em>I thought to Index, <em>any damage anyone deals to me, they get to see my ss.</em>


    ¡°Yeah. So you absolutely need to be careful with that.¡±


    It was one thing to keep on Dark te whenever I could¡ªannoying, but fine. But not taking and damage? I hadn¡¯t really thought about that until now. Seemed like trying to integrate myself in here with a secret identity would be a lot moreplex than just getting past a Truth Stone or two.


    ¡°¡­What¡¯s happening?¡± Erani groaned, sitting up from the floor.


    Poppins looked over to her, then shook his head, taking a series of deep breaths in an apparent attempt to calm himself down. ¡°You¡¯re getting kicked out, is what¡¯s happening.¡±


    ¡°S-sorry,¡± I said once again. Though it felt like my apology fell on deaf ears¡ªnot that I really expected him to forgive me when there was no logical reason for me to attack him, stop, and then inexplicably attack again. Maybe they¡¯d get it if it was just the once, but a second time¡­Yeah, that probably crossed a line. Or several.


    Poppins finally got off of me, but his hand was on the hilt of his sword. ¡°J¡­just get out. Please.¡±


    I silently nodded and waveringly climbed up to my feet. At this point, Bon¡¯s eyes were half-open, and he seemed to be conscious.


    ¡°...What happened?¡± He asked Jannin, who was still casting his healing Spell non-stop.


    I turned and began limping away. <em>¡°Hey, Ainash, let¡¯s head out. Don¡¯t think they want us here anymore.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Father, you sure we don¡¯t kill them?</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, yeah, they¡¯re not bad guys. Just¡­mean guys. And you don¡¯t kill mean guys. You only kill bad guys.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    ¡°Hey¡­¡± Erani seemed to be waking up to consciousness as well, stillpletely drunk. ¡°What was that noise?¡±


    I put an arm around her and helped guide her out the door, though I wasn¡¯t exactly in any shape to be guiding anyone anywhere.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I said, not wanting to worry her right now with the identity scare or with telling her about what Bon had said about her. ¡°Just¡­an argument escted. Let¡¯s find somewhere to sleep, and we can talk tomorrow. What¡¯s one more night outside, right?¡±


    ¡°Mm, yeah, sure. It¡¯s nice out, anyway. And you¡¯re warm,¡± she smiled drunkenly and leaned her head against me as we walked.


    Someone shut the door behind us as Erani and I stumbled back out into the dark night. Ainash walked behind cheerfully.


    <em>Hey, Index¡­watch them while we sleep, okay? Just to see¡­make sure Bon doesn¡¯t remember anything.</em>


    ¡°Yeah, sure. Just make sure you don¡¯t wander off too far away before you go to sleep.¡±


    <em>Mhm. Thanks. </em>I could barely walk still, so there were no worries about going too far before I passed out.


    The n wasn¡¯t totally ruined, though. We¡¯d camp out here, and then tomorrow, once Time Loop was back, I could use it for those free Spell Crystals. The Upgrades were in sight. Gravity Well, Ethereal Armor, Sanguine Bond, all three were waiting on me for Upgrades.


    <em>But first,</em> I thought, <em>¡­sleep.</em>


    And then I passed out in a bush.

 Chapter 151.1: Welcome to the Kingdom: Executing

    Chapter 151.1: Wee to the Kingdom: Executing


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    Asmo sat at a desk in a dry, dark room. She sat at this desk alongside Winic, the table sprawling with magical implements and ingredients that she didn¡¯t understand. Beneath those objects were papers covered in haphazard scribbles, ink bleeding out onto the old table. The must within the underground cer made it somewhat difficult to breathe, and the clutter certainly didn¡¯t help with Asmo¡¯s feeling of ustrophobia.


    This ce was his study, where he not only created magical items himself, but also had his students work for him on things he wasn¡¯t ssed to create on his own. Currently, they were there alone, with Asmo giving Winic instructions on what items they¡¯d need to create for this first mission. She was nning on sending out Carison, Keiki, and Jon out to three cities, but first she¡¯d need Winic¡¯s expertise in making preparations.


    Asmo looked over the mess of a desk they were sitting at. In the wide room, full of random shelves and tables thrown about and absolutely covered in more scraps of metal, wood, paper, and ink¡ªplus even more covering the floor¡ªshe felt like she barely even had room to exist there, herself. As Winic tinkered with a small machine in his seat, Asmo pulled out some sheets of Message Paper she¡¯d gotten from the kingdom¡¯s stores.


    ¡°Where should I put these?¡± she asked, looking over thepletely covered table.


    ¡°Hm,¡± he nced up from his gadget, surveying the desk for a moment, before he pointed to a seemingly arbitrary spot near Asmo, where the table happened to not have anything on it, except for a few sheets of scribbled-on paper. ¡°There.¡±


    ¡°...Okay.¡± She reached over to set them down. ¡°Should I just move some stuff over so they¡¯re closer to¡ª¡±


    ¡°No,¡± he interrupted. ¡°If you do that, I¡¯ll lose track of where everything is.¡±


    ¡°Have you not already?¡± Asmo gazed around the cluttered room. ¡°It seems as though it would be impossible to find anything here.¡±


    ¡°Of course not. If I put something somewhere, I¡¯ll remember where it is.¡±


    Asmo frowned. ¡°If it works for you, I suppose.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, what did youe to discuss with me?¡±


    She nodded, looking back over at him. ¡°I¡¯d like you to make an item that can work with these Message Papers I¡¯ve brought you. Something that can read what¡¯s written on them, and that can write things, itself. Can you do that?¡±


    He gave a haughtyugh. ¡°Can I? Of course. Simple automation Enchantment on a pen, with some sensing Enchantments to go with it. Though you¡¯ll have to refill it manually.¡±


    ¡°Mm, no. No, that will not work. This device needs to be small, not as big as a pen. It should be norger than a fingertip, ideally. And it also cannot be refilled manually. In fact, it should not need any maintenance at all, at least not at any sort of regr interval. Can you do that?¡±


    Winic looked at Asmo thoughtfully. ¡°That¡¯s¡­a more interesting problem to solve. Fingertip-sized, eh? Perhaps I could use a rock with levitation that¡¯s dipped in ink to draw on the paper. Or, no, maybe I don¡¯t use ink at all. I could reconfigure the Paper into working off of illusions, then we don¡¯t need ink. Though that¡¯d require some new ingredients. I could send an assistant on an errand, I suppose. And as for the reading, we could use¡­¡±


    He continued muttering to himself while Asmo nced over his toolset. Within this room was probably dozens, no¡­hundreds of gold pieces worth of equipment. One of the kingdom¡¯s finest researchers in Enchantment technology, at her disposal. She¡¯d use this to its fullest.


    ¡°Will you just need three of these?¡± Winic asked. ¡°For the three VIPs you¡¯re sending. Or, perhaps four, one for me, as well?¡±


    ¡°Make four. But¡­do some experiments for me. The four you are making, when they read out what¡¯s written on them, it shouldn¡¯t be loud. But see how loud you can make it, and tell me. And whether or not you can get them to automatically propagate. If something is written on the father Message Paper, can you get the Message Paper it is connected to send a message to another Message Paper? And continue that chain, so whatever is written on the father is written¡ªand announced audibly¡ªto a dozen others. And see if you can make automated messages that are written upon certain triggers being tripped. And howplex those triggers can be. And whether there can be several triggers for a single message, but for those triggers to be dyed, or on a timer. And¡ª¡±


    ¡°Er, one request at a time, please,¡± Winic chuckled nervously. ¡°I don¡¯t know what all you¡¯re nning to do with these experiments, but I can only do so much at once.¡±


    ¡°If you can¡¯t do it, get someone else to.¡±


    ¡°Well, the job would be best suited to me. My assistants can only do so much, after all. If you would give me some time to take your requests one by one¡ª¡±


    Asmo mmed a hand on the desk, rattling the tools and scatting papers to the floor. She stood, shouting down at the old man, ¡°You think we have time?! You think we can stand around waiting?!¡±


    He shrinked away from her. ¡°Er¡­¡±


    Asmo took a deep breath, collecting herself, and sat back down. ¡°I apologize for the emotional outburst. That was unprofessional of me. What I mean to say was, I have vested interest in getting these tasksplete as quickly as possible. And as such, waiting for you to take them one by one would go directly against that interest. As such, I encourage you to find a way toplete this more quickly than you normally would.¡±


    Winic continued staring at Asmo cautiously. ¡°Do you¡­Why do you care? Is it not the same whether we take control of the Kingdom within thirty days or within thirty-five? I understand not wanting to wait around forever, but I wouldn¡¯t think a few days¡¯ dy would be such a¡­problem.¡±


    Asmo took another deep breath, her face twitching at Winic¡¯s continued insistence of dying the operation. ¡°As I said, I have a vested interest inpleting this as quickly as possible. There is a¡­thing I must collect, and the Demons are preventing me from doing so.¡±


    ¡°A thing?¡±


    ¡°And as we speak, that thing could be in danger, it could be dying on the streets, could be losing its way, getting turned against me, could be running off to nevere back.¡± Asmo started losing control of her breathing once again. ¡°I cannot allow that to happen. That fake Koinkar will not prevent me from keeping what I care about safe! I will¡ª¡±


    She stopped herself, pausing to collect herself once more. A deep breath, clear the mind, clear the emotions. She counted backward from thirteen in her head. <em>Calm.</em>


    She opened her eyes to see Winic staring at her as he would a crazed beggar in the streets, but paid him no heed. ¡°As I have said, I encourage you to move as quickly as possible. If you dy in your work, I will face further risk of permanently losing something that I care about. In that case, I will ensure that the people I relied on¡ªthe people who failed to do what I asked of them¡ªwill lose something that they care about. That way, we all have equal encouragement to seed.¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± Winic frowned. ¡°Are you threatening to not pay me if your¡­thing, perishes?¡±


    ¡°Something along those lines. Now please, find a way to make this happen quickly.¡±


    He sighed, breath brushing papers on the desk aside. ¡°Yes, of course. Just, a few more questions about these items you want me to make.¡±


    ¡°Go ahead. I can answer anything you want me to.¡±

 Chapter 151.2: Welcome to the Kingdom: Executing

    Chapter 151.2: Wee to the Kingdom: Executing


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    Carison walked down the street of a dirty, deste city. Carth, to be specific. What was once a booming, high-ss trade hub had been reduced to this den of street rats and corpses after that initial attack. It seemed that Carth had gotten it the worst during the invasion of the kingdom, not only being one of the cities that had soldiers enter through it, but also clearly being sent the strongest forces out of all of them. At first, he¡¯d simply thought they were unlucky. But after being debriefed, he learned that they¡¯d been attacked hardest because they were the ones to contain the fugitive.


    So, in the end, the people of Carth really were just unlucky. Everything happened for a reason¡ªluck was just making a blind choice because you didn¡¯t know the reason or the consequences.


    But still, walking around in this area put him on-edge, no bodyguards or assistants or even basicw enforcement to keep him safe from the crime-ridden popce. However, that crime was what brought Carison to Carth. ording to Asmo, she¡¯d gotten permission from the Demons to infiltrate these crime rings throughout the impacted towns and use them to their advantage.


    Of course, the Demons thought they¡¯d use these formed connections to help stimte the economy, recruit soldiers for the war efforts, raise funds, things like that. And while they would certainly <em>also</em> do so, the main purpose of these visits was something else entirely.


    Carison searched the deste streets for any sign of some way to contact a higher-up in the criminal world. The buildings were burnt and smashed down into rubble, roadspletely destroyed. People walked on dusty paths that¡¯d formed around the rubble filling the streets, filling the air with powder with their every step, giving the horizon a brown haze.


    In lieu of the actual buildings that once made people¡¯s homes, it seemed that most slept in small camps under tarps, no real house in sight.


    It was unfortunate, really. After disasters like these, the wealthy and powerful would simply leave¡ª-why stay in a doomed town, after all¡ª-while those without the money to move to a new city would be forced to stay behind, nobody left with the power to actually rebuild. That job was typically left up to the government, but in these circumstances, the overthrown kingdom clearly had more important worries than throwing money at a project to even relocate those impacted, much less build them new homes.


    However, when a governing body fell, a new one would always rise to take its ce. People hated anarchy, after all, so if they had to surrender power to some shady new organization, if it meant some semnce of calm returning to their lives, they¡¯d do it.


    And in this case, that new governing body was a crime family. Not officially, of course¡ª-the kingdom would never formally recognize something like that¡ª-but the people did what they said, and they protected the people from monsters. Protection money traded hands, rival gangs were kicked out, and citizens were happy.


    But the thing that made the difference between a king and a crime lord was size. These people ran the streets of a single city, and Carison, with his newfound connections with Koinkar and Asmo, represented the entirend around it. So all he had to do was flex that influence just slightly, enough to get their attention, but not so much to get him killed.


    Not that he was totally without protection, of course. He¡¯d thankfully received something from Asmo to help with his being alone and vulnerable, here. As an Unssed person, if someone decided they wanted to kill him, he¡¯d normally just have to ept his fate. But with this new ¡°earpiece¡± thing Asmo had gotten Winic to make for the four of them, suddenly everything people said to him would be automatically transcribed to her, and anything she said could be instantly heard straight from his ear. It¡¯d been a little unsettling to use¡ªliterally inserting a small piece of Enchanted material deep into his ear with some tweezers¡ªbut clearly worth it. If Asmo ever thought he was in danger, she could either teleport him out with the single-use teleportation ring he had on his finger, or send in reinforcements.


    Effectively, he had a decent bit of free reign when it came to taking risks here. So he looked around, searching for the right person. Down in the alleys, people in the streets, looking, looking¡­


    On one side of the road, Carison saw two people, a man and a woman, with the woman holding a baby in her arms. The man smiled, tickling the child as it giggled to him.


    He grimaced at the sight. In this environment, a couple like that was sure to break up any time now. In times of hardship like this? It was inevitable. One would betray the other, steal their money, or simply abandon their responsibilities. Carison knew very well that was how those sort of things ended. And seeing those people living in blissful ignorance¡­it was just depressing. It put a steel ball in his gut, as though he could already imagine the world of hurt they would inevitably experience. It was an empathy he absolutely hated feeling.


    He shook his head, trying to rid himself of those bitter memories, and continued searching for someone who looked promising.


    Ah, there. There were two men speaking to each other, one of them leaning up against a half-destroyed wall, and Carison was close enough to pick up on the conversation.


    ¡°...Yeah, it¡¯s this new one, supposed to be absolutely euphoric,¡± the man reclining on the wall said.


    ¡°And how expensive is it?¡±


    ¡°Half-silver per rock.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± The other man scratched his arm. ¡°Too much. Can you just give me the usual stuff? I got sixty copper, so should be enough for three leaves, right?¡±


    The man shook his head. ¡°Prices have changed. Sixty is enough for two, now.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± the man speaking to him leaned forward. ¡°You told me prices weren¡¯t going up again.¡±


    ¡°That''s what I thought. But my boss says so. Don¡¯t want to make him angry, huh?¡±


    ¡°I just¡­fine. Gimme the two leaves.¡±


    They exchanged goods, and the man walked away, leaving the man on the wall to pocket the change.


    Carison walked up to him, entering the shade of the two high walls that now surrounded each of them.


    The man looked up. He had a face full of stubble, and a set of bags under his eyes, but seemed pretty satisfied with himself. If this were a normal negotiation, Carison would have noted that the man would most likely try to haggle, but could be convinced to take a lowball after some clever convincing.


    He squinted at Carison. ¡°Haven¡¯t seen you around before. You know who I am?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t,¡± Carison responded. ¡°But I can assume you deal drugs?¡±


    Heughed. ¡°Sure. You don¡¯t seem like the type to use, though.¡±


    ¡°No, no, you could say I¡¯m interested in the business. Who¡¯s your supplier?¡±


    ¡°What are you, some foreigner guard? If you are, you¡¯re doing a pretty shit job,¡± heughed, rolling his eyes. Then he looked back at Carison with an intimidating re. ¡°Actually, since you¡¯re new, I guess I¡¯ll go ahead and tell you who my supplier is. It¡¯s Boss. <em>The</em> Boss. So don¡¯t pull any shit. He¡¯ll fuckin¡¯ quarter you in the street.¡±


    ¡°So I assume this ¡®Boss¡¯ person is the one who runs this ce?¡± Carison said, looking around.


    The man frowned. ¡°You really aren¡¯t a guard, are you? Yeah, he owns this ce. But if you¡¯re trying to break into the business with your prim and proper act, he isn¡¯t gonna talk to you. Only hires family. And you aren¡¯t in the family.¡±


    ¡°Well, refusing to work with interested associates seems like an awfully bad business strategy to me.¡±


    ¡°Not about business. It¡¯s about respect.¡±


    ¡°Sure. I would still like to try, though,¡± Carison said, and held out a hand to shake. ¡°My name¡¯s Carison Aakbi. Do you mind taking me to this Boss?¡±


    ¡°Your name sounds familiar. Do I know you?¡±


    Carison shrugged. ¡°Might just be one of those names.¡±


    ¡°Well no, I¡¯m not taking you to Boss. Get out of here before you scare off a customer.¡±


    Carison shrugged. ¡°Well, I tried. Do remember my name though, okay? In case you ever want to find me.¡±


    ¡°Probably won¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°No, no, I think you¡¯ll want to at some point.¡±


    ¡°And why would I ever care about finding you?¡±


    Carison, with his hand into his pocket, slipped on a set of Enchanted brass knuckles. ¡°Oh, you know. Whim.¡±


    The familiar notification of equipping an Enchanted item entered his mind, telling him about the Stat increases it gave him and the effects it would apply to an opponent he hit with them¡ªthe main thing was that it dealt more damage the more Health they had. This was the tool he¡¯d used for a long, long time. The odds-evener.


    The man stared at him. ¡°The fuck are you doing, man?¡±


    Someone screamed. That was probably Carison¡¯s cue to stop.


    You have struck Level 4 Swordsman for 21 damage using Fist.


    Based on the damage his tool was dealing at this point, the man was obviously low on Health anyway. He hadn¡¯t started out with much, in the first ce.


    But Carison was still d he¡¯d used the tool to do the job. He was Unssed, and even against a Level 4, with nothing to help him out, he¡¯d almost certainly be killed. But with just a little something¡­


    The man lying on the ground coughed, blood flooding his mouth. He was lying on his back, so when he coughed it up, it just went right down his throat. But Carison didn¡¯t want him to die, just get sufficiently hurt. So he used his foot to push the man over on his side. Though Carison was sure the man didn¡¯t feel like he¡¯d been done any favors there¡ªcertainly not like his life had just been saved. The number of cuts and bruises he¡¯d be nursing for a while, this man would hold this grudge for a long, long time.


    Someone ran up and grabbed Carison from behind, pulling him away from the bloodied, half-conscious man on the ground.


    ¡°What are you doing, man?!¡± the person pulling him away said.


    Carison looked back. A small crowd had formed around the entrance to the alley, several people looking on in shock and horror at the gruesome sight before them. But that was good. More witnesses, more attention.


    ¡°Sorry, sorry,¡± Carison said. ¡°He came at me first. Just protecting myself.¡±


    ¡°Like hells you were, man!¡± the guy pulling him away said. ¡°He was on the ground. Leave him alone.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Just got carried away.¡± Carison turned and walked away with the rest of the people.


    ¡°Someone should go help him,¡± someone in the crowd said


    ¡°Hells no,¡± another responded. ¡°That dealer guy¡¯s with Boss. Don¡¯t get involved.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s with Boss? Fuck, what¡¯re they gonna do to that guy who attacked him?¡±


    Carison heard augh from the voice in the crowd. ¡°Hells know. But he can figure that out. It¡¯s his death sentence.¡±

 Chapter 152.1: Infiltration

    Chapter 152.1: Infiltration


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    When I awoke, it was still dark out. We¡¯d just wandered off once we were kicked out, away from the outpost, and copsed into sleep at some point. So I woke up in pain and face-down in a pile of dirt next to a snoring Erani, drool leaking from her mouth and into a small pool beside her.


    Sitting up and ncing around, I saw that we¡¯d copsed in some bushes off by the street that led up to town, causing quite the picturesque scene of two drunks piled up on the side of the road in the middle of the night. That is, it would have if it weren¡¯t for Ainash, who was standing by us, glowing eyes peering through the dark.


    <em>¡°Father, you are awake!¡±</em> she said, seeing me get up. <em>¡°Are you still funny head?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What?¡±</em> I asked.


    <em>¡°You get funny in your mind when you drink the funny drink. Are you still like that?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Oh, uh, that¡¯s called being ¡®drunk.¡¯ And no, I think I¡¯ve sobered up by now. Just got a killer headache.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay! Was protecting you and mother while slept.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Thanks,¡± </em>I smiled despite the pain in my head¡ªand my still-injured limbs¡ªand climbed up to my feet, patting her on the head.


    <em>¡°Your leg and arm still hurt?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, but they¡¯re getting a bit better. Give me some time and I¡¯ll be able to walk on my own again.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Sorry for not healing you,¡± </em>she frowned. <em>¡°Thought could help mother.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No, no, even if it couldn¡¯t get her arm back, we needed to stop the bleeding. Don¡¯t apologize. We can still figure something out for her.¡±</em>


    She nodded, and I looked over, trying to find the outpost. Off in the distance, down the road back from where we came, I could see it peering out from between some trees. It was around five in the morning, so Time Loop had three charges¡ªup from my usual of two, thanks to the Usage Increase.


    Those three guards probably should have been asleep by now, so it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to go in there and grab the Spell Crystal, especially since it didn¡¯t really matter if I alerted them, since I¡¯d be going back in time afterward regardless. Part of me wanted to just steal the thing and save myself a Loop, but¡­it probably wouldn¡¯t be a good idea. No matter how much of an asshole Bon was, Jannin and Poppins seemed fine enough, and they didn¡¯t deserve to be stolen from. Plus, they¡¯d obviously know we were the ones who took it, since we were the only people who they told about the Crystal. And getting arrested for such tant theft wasn¡¯t exactly how I wanted to introduce myself to this new country.


    <em>¡°I¡¯m gonna go get that Spell Crystal and then use Time Loop, alright?¡±</em> I told Ainash. <em>¡°You can just stay here if you want.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay father. Good luck!¡±</em>


    I nodded and headed out to the outpost, moving quietly so as to not wake them up. On my way there, I considered which Spell¡ªor Spells¡ªI¡¯d Upgrade once I got the Crystal. My three choices were Gravity Well, Ethereal Armor, and Sanguine Bond. Technically, I could take the Crystal and use Time Loop up to three times, with my newfound three uses, but I probably didn¡¯t want to use all of them here. Doing so would just leave me vulnerable for the whole rest of the day. And while I <em>was</em> technically safe now, in the guarded borders of the Barinruth Empire, I still didn¡¯t exactly feelfortable going with absolutely nothing if I didn¡¯t have to.


    Instead, it would probably be best to just do this once. The Crystal wasn¡¯t going anywhere, after all, so it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to just grab it today and go back, and then some other daye back out here and do it again, and do it a third time on another day, that way I always had at least two uses of Time Loop to go throughout my day with. And it wouldn¡¯t be a waste to just let those usages do nothing by the end of the day, since I needed to get those free Stats with Recycled Loop regardless.


    However, I also probably wouldn¡¯t want to wait <em>too</em> long, since it was always possible Jannin would get his Spell to Rank 10 at some point and consume it for the Upgrade. Plus, getting my Spells past their limit so I could start Ranking them again would obviously be better done sooner rather thanter.


    So I¡¯d just take it once today, another time tomorrow, and a third time the next day. The only question was, which Spells would I Upgrade? Again, it was technically possible that Jannin could use his Crystal at some point, cutting me off from ess to it and disallowing me from getting the rest of my Upgrades, so the one I did first would be the only one I actually got for sure. As such, I¡¯d want to get my most important Upgrade today.


    Out of Gravity Well, Ethereal Armor, and Sanguine Bond, that was a bit of a tough decision. Gravity Well was a nice option to have, and especially now that we¡¯d be trying to re-integrate with society, it was very useful to have non-lethal means of suppressing someone, which Gravity Well was my only option for. If I just wanted to slow an Unssed person down or something, Crippling Chill would kill them, and even a single Ray of Frost would have to be aimed very carefully to avoid doing permanent damage. And trying to tackle them would probably be an issue, considering I couldn¡¯t let people damage me or else they¡¯d know my ss. So Gravity Well had a unique use in that case.


    Ethereal Armor was obviously extremely important, too. Not only was Light tepletely busted with its near-fifty percent reduction of my Spell costs, but Dark te was integral for me to wear here. It was the only thing keeping my identity safe, after all, and so I obviously needed to keep the Spell active at all times. But that was also presenting an issue with the Spell¡¯s usefulness. After all, for now, I was effectively locked out of using Light te since it was what the Demons had seen me wearing¡ªand because it showed my face¡ªmeaning all of the Rank-up benefits pertaining to Light te wouldn¡¯t do anything. So its integral use to me right now was also kind of an argument against using the Spell Crystal to Upgrade it.


    And then there was Sanguine Bond. That was one of my newer Spells, and it was also interesting in the way it Ranked up. Ethereal Armor¡¯s Ranks were all extremely important, since they made all of my Spells so much cheaper, but Sanguine Bond also got effectively cheaper with every Rank, since its Mana gained per second increased. Because of that, it was also a strong contender.


    But there were more to these Upgrades than just allowing me to Rank the Spells up again. There was also the main point of them¡ªthe Upgrade Choice itself. Being able to add on a whole new piece of functionality to the Spells¡ªor just greatly strengthen an aspect that was already there¡ªwas a very important part of this.


    And it was where Index came in to help me choose.


    <em>So, which of the three have the most helpful Upgrades?</em> I thought to it as I silently crept toward the stone box housing my treasure.


    ¡°Hmm¡­well, I obviously can¡¯t just tell you what they all are, but I will say they all have some decent options. Gravity Well is probably your least immediately important choice, just because the Spell itself won¡¯t be too useful in your near future with fighting, and it can already do its job just fine when ites to subduing people who¡¯d die to your other options, but I¡¯m sure you¡¯d already identified that. Between Ethereal Armor and Sanguine Bond, they both have good Upgrade options that can help both inbat and in more urban scenarios.¡±


    <em>borate on that,</em> I thought. <em>Ethereal Armor especially. How does its Upgrade help in nonbat?</em>


    ¡°Well¡­hm. I¡¯ll say it basically has two ¡®types¡¯ of Upgrades for this first choice. There are two Upgrade options that fit into what I¡¯ll call ¡®type A,¡¯ and one option that fits into ¡®type B.¡¯¡±


    <em>And what¡¯s the difference between these two types?</em>


    ¡°Type A would be useful for you now, but I don¡¯t think you¡¯d like itter. Just generally considering the way you seem to feel about the Spell, I don¡¯t think you¡¯d want either option. So basically, Ethereal Armor only really has one choice¡ªthe type B option. And I do think you¡¯ll like Type B¡ªit provides solid usefulness to the Spell. But I also know you like to have your choices, so you probably won¡¯t appreciate being forced into that.¡±


    <em>But that onest option </em>is <em>good though, right?</em>


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, it¡¯s good. It¡¯d be useful now, and usefulter.¡±


    <em>Well what about Sanguine Bond? Does it have any options that would hold up to Ethereal Armor¡¯s ¡®type B¡¯ option?</em>


    ¡°Hmm¡­it¡¯s kind of difficult topare the power level of different Upgrade options for twopletely different Spells, but I¡¯d say so. It has at least a couple that you¡¯d find useful. And, like I said, there are options that help both inbat and in scenarios where you aren¡¯t trying to kill anyone. At least, some options are like that. Others aren¡¯t.¡±


    <em>That¡¯s always nice. Though¡­how, exactly, does Sanguine Bond help me when I don¡¯t want to hurt someone? It feels like one of its main functions is to deal damage to people. Do either Spell¡¯s Upgrade options seem like something that would radically change the game or anything?</em>


    ¡°Can¡¯t tell you exactly what they do.¡±


    <em>Hm. You¡¯re not leaving me with much to work with, here. But I guess that, considering what you said¡­maybe Sanguine Bond is the correct y for now. Not like I won¡¯t ever get to Upgrade my other Spells, anyway.</em>


    ¡°Sounds good.¡±


    <em>Now,</em> I thought as I stepped up to the wall of the outpost, <em>can you go in there and make sure everyone¡¯s asleep? And maybe find exactly where that Spell Crystal is?</em>

 Chapter 152.2: Infiltration

    Chapter 152.2: Infiltration


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    <em>Now,</em> I thought as I stepped up to the wall of the outpost, <em>can you go in there and make sure everyone¡¯s asleep? And maybe find exactly where that Spell Crystal is?</em>


    ¡°Wow,¡± Index said with an obvious sarcastic tone, ¡°I feel like my breadth of knowledge is so appreciated.¡±


    <em>It¡¯s your fault for being such an amazing scout.</em>


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, whatever,¡± it grumbled. A few moments passed, and then it eventually said, ¡°okay, found it.¡±


    <em>Great. Guide me in here. Still can¡¯t really see very well in the dark.</em>


    I crept into the outpost, trying not to make a sound so as to not cause any unnecessaryplications, and found Jannin, currently passed out on a chair. I snuck my hand into his pocket, fished around for just a second, and¡­


    <em>Found it!</em>


    I gripped my fingers around a small marble. Jannin stirred, seeming like he was about to wake up, but that didn¡¯t matter. The job was done. As quickly as I could, I did what I¡¯d done before with the Poison Spell Crystal for Noxious Grasp, pushing my Mana into the object and feeling it tether the ¡®soul¡¯ of the Crystal with my Status. Within just a second or two, I could mentally feel that the Crystal had been emptied of its power, with it instead having been dragged into myself. All that was left was to direct that energy to one of the three ¡®holes¡¯ it could fit into, and I selected the one I¡¯d decided on already.


    Threshold reached. Sanguine Bond XP has reached 355.


    Sanguine Bond Rank has increased to 10.


    Due to Sanguine Bond Rank reaching 10, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 238 to 298


    Health Drain: From 6.21 to 6.52


    Stamina Drain: From 7.76 to 8.15


    Mana Drain: From 9.31 to 9.78


    Health Regeneration: From 1.55 to 1.63


    Stamina Regeneration: From 3.11 to 3.27


    Mana Regeneration: From 4.65 to 4.88


    Sanguine Bond Upgrade has be avable.


    ¡°What¡¯s¡­going on¡­¡± Jannin muttered, eyes slowly beginning to open. No sense staying in this timeline any longer, so I just went ahead and activated Time Loop.


    In the in-between space, I was technically offered options to go upwards of five hours back. But five hours ago, I was drunk and asleep. And even ifing back woke me up, I still kind of needed the rest, so I could at least sober up again. So really, I only <em>wanted</em> toe back to around five or ten minutes ago.


    But since I kept all XP earned, it was still smartest to use Time Loop to its maximum potential here. I could just go back to five hours ago and head straight to sleep once again, that way I could reuse those hours for practicing Noxious Grasp in my slumber. So I made my choice, and¡ª


    And then I was back, lying in that same bush. And holy shit, I was drunk.


    The feeling was unlike any other; I¡¯d gone from stone-cold sober to sted out my ass in an instant, and it did <em>not</em> feel good. Holy fuck.


    I attempted to situate myself on the ground, but my entire sense of direction and where I was had been destroyed by the mixture of Time Loop transporting me into a new body, and that body¡¯s brain being poisoned by copious amounts of alcohol. So instead of moving into a morefortable position, I twisted my already-broken arm into a horrible spot and groaned in pain.


    Then, before I could really even fix it back to be in the position it¡¯d been in, exhaustion overtook me and I promptly passed out.


    I awoke in much the same situation I¡¯d awoken in during the previous timeline¡ªthat is, lying in a bush with aching limbs and a hangover. For a moment, I forgot I¡¯d already gone back and gotten the Spell Upgrade and was preparing to go and do that, until I checked my Status and saw that I already had it, and was missing a use of Time Loop. At that point, the memories of what¡¯d happened flooded back to me.


    <em>¡°Father, you are awake!¡±</em> Ainash said in a much familiar way that she did before. <em>¡°Are you still funny head?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No,¡± </em>Iughed to myself. <em>¡°I¡¯m not funny head.¡±</em>


    She reached down and helped me get up. <em>¡°What should do now? Need to get Spell Crystal thing?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I already got that, so no need. At this point, we can probably go ahead and travel to that town up the road,¡±</em> I pointed, and she looked down the road at the set of walls.


    <em>¡°Lots of Humans there?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, there¡¯ll be a bunch. But none of them will be bad guys, so you won¡¯t need to worry.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What about mean guys?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Mean guys?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Last night, you punch Human and said he was not bad guy, just mean guy. Do not kill mean guys, but just hurt them so they not mean anymore.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Oh, right,¡± </em>I nodded, remembering the events more clearly. Bon <em>was</em> being a pretty big asshole, so he kind of deserved a punch. Though I also definitely went too far. <em>¡°There¡¯ll probably be some mean guys. But you¡¯ll get in trouble if you hurt them, so try not to.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You will get me in trouble?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No, no¡­¡±</em> I stopped to think, trying to figure out how I¡¯d exin the concept of Human government andw enforcement to her. Maybe Erani would be better at that; she seemed to have an easier time trantingplex topics like those into thought messages with Ainash. Looking down at Erani, I saw she was still passed out, seeming like she was resting somewhat peacefully.


    <em>¡°Should wake mother up?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Let¡¯s just let her sleep for now,¡± </em>I said, sitting back down and leaning up against a tree. <em>¡°It¡¯s still dark, so she could probably use it.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em> Ainash sat down too.


    <em>¡°Have you rested at all?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Mmm¡­no, have been protecting you!¡±</em>


    Iughed. <em>¡°Well it¡¯s my turn now. Lie down and get some sleep, kiddo.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I did good job?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, you did a great job. You deserve some rest after everything you did, too.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡± </em>Sheid down, twilight just barely beginning in the dark sky. Her bright, ming eyes stared up at me. <em>¡°Will town be good?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What do you mean?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Will I¡­like it?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I think you will,¡± </em>I nodded. <em>¡°There¡¯ll definitely be some mean guys. And maybe a couple bad guys, even. But I also think there¡¯s a lot of good there. You can think of anything you want, and someone will have made it and they¡¯ll be willing to trade it to you for something else. You can find amazing, towering buildings in the sky that¡¯ll blow your mind when you see them. You can feel safe from the walls and the guards¡­I think you might also be able to make some friends. I¡¯m telling you, there are a lot of good Humans out there.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Sound very interesting!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It is. I¡¯m excited to get there too.¡±</em> I leaned over and rubbed her head, ruffling her already wild hair. <em>¡°Now get some sleep. You won¡¯t want to be tired the whole trip there.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em> And with that, she shut her eyes.


    Again, Iughed to myself. What a cute kid. She was totally gonna love that ce.


    But that waster. For now, I needed to focus, myself, and make that decision for my Spell Upgrade. Sanguine Bond apparently had a few solid options, ording to Index, so I was excited to see what they were.


    Eagerly awaiting the chance to open up the Upgrade Choice, I closed my eyes and started meditating.


    And when I was finally able to view them, my face morphed into a frown. Not of disappointment, but of disbelief. <em>What in the¡­</em>


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Index said, ¡°they¡¯re pretty weird.¡±


    These choices were nowhere near what Noxious Grasp had offered me. They were obviously powerful, but they were also just¡­kind of insane in the way some of them worked. Sanguine Bond was already a pretty unique Spell, but these Upgrades took that to a whole new level.


    I barely even knew how I was going to pick between these.

 Chapter 153.1: Connection

    Chapter 153.1: Connection


    <strong>PART 1</strong>


    As I sat and meditated in the early morning twilight, I considered what might be waiting for me in these Spell Upgrades. Sanguine Bond was the first, but it wouldn¡¯t be thest. And neither would the rest of the three Arcane Spells that I could use this Crystal on. Over the next few days, I¡¯d of course work to Rank them up, but then after that, I still had Crippling Chill, Ray of Frost, and Expedite waiting on me. Those would have toe next, and hopefully it wouldn¡¯t take long to find out where I could get their Crystals.


    The ten minutes I had to meditate seemed to pass rather quickly as I imagined all the incredible things I might be able to do in the future, and I hurriedly opened up the Spell Upgrade Choice in my Status.


    Choose one Upgrade for Sanguine Bond:


    Soul Bond


    School: +Alteration


    ¡ª


    If you are touching a being for at least 60 uninterrupted seconds before you cast Sanguine Bond on it, you may form a permanent bond with that being. For as long as the permanent bond is active, that being¡¯s Health/Minute, Stamina/Minute, and Mana/Minute <em>(if they have it)</em> are reduced by 50%, and your Health/Minute, Stamina/Minute, and Mana/Minute are increased by the respective lost values. The permanent bondsts an indefinite amount of time, but will break if the being is ever further than 1000 paces from you. You may have no more permanent bonds active at any given time than your numerical Rank in Sanguine Bond.


    Unbreakable Bond


    ¡ª


    Sanguine Bond¡¯s duration bes 20 seconds rather than 10, and its range before prematurely ending bes 40 paces rather than 10.


    Hypnotic Bond


    School: +Mental


    ¡ª


    If you are touching a being for at least 10 uninterrupted seconds before you cast Sanguine Bond on it, Sanguine Bond gains the additional effect of causing the being to be Hypnotized. While Hypnotized, a being enters a dazed state and cannot move, think, or otherwise respond to external stimuli, however it still perceives and remembers everything that happens to it. A being stops being Hypnotized if it takes damage from a source other than any already-active Status Afflictions or when Sanguine Bond¡¯s effect ends.


    After Hypnotic Bond¡¯s effect on a being ends, Hypnotic Bond cannot be activated on that being for 10 seconds.


    <em>What in the¡­</em>My eyes widened as I read over them. <em>¡­Definitely some interesting choices here.</em>


    The safest option, it seemed, would be Unbreakable Bond. It was pretty much just a strict numerical upgrade to Sanguine Bond, making it much harder to prematurely end and giving me much more value for my Mana spent. That time increase from 10 to 20 seconds was what really stood out to me; giving me some more range was nice, but I could always prevent that from happening by just using the Spell in a skillful manner. The extra time meant the Spell was, effectively, half the cost.


    Of course, while it had double the Mana efficiency, it wouldn¡¯t actually do anything more quickly, so that was still something to keep in mind¡ªit wasn¡¯t the same as, say, doubling all of its effects, since that would drain twice the amount of Health in the same amount of time. This, rather, would take half the amount of Mana, but still require the same time investment.


    Still, it was a very nice Upgrade. The Mana regeneration, which was now up to 4.88 per second, would have double the returns on a sessful cast, meaning that, in ideal situations with Light te on and everything, the Spell would end up costing me¡­I did the math in my head. Like, 70 Mana or something? Some really solid value, considering everything it did.


    Those other two Upgrades, though, went in some crazily different directions. They both had that same basic condition of requiring me to touch the target for an additional amount of time in order to get a bonus effect. But those lines of text in the Upgrade boxes described quite the effects, each enamoring in their own ways.


    <em>First, though, </em>I thought, <em>Index, can you give me some insight on that requirement? When it says I need to be touching a being for some number of uninterrupted seconds¡­</em>


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, so first of all, casting the Spelles <em>after</em> touching the being, not before. So if you¡¯re already grabbing onto something for a while, and after the required time has passed, <em>then</em> you decide you want to cast Sanguine Bond, you can do so immediately.¡±


    <em>Great.</em> That seemed to work well with Noxious Grasp. If I was already holding onto someone to drain them with that, and then ten seconds happened to pass, I could go straight into Sanguine Bond without needing to do something like cast the Spell beforehand and <em>then</em> try toplete that touching requirement. <em>And I assume they don¡¯t get any notification when I begin touching them about Sanguine Bond, only after I¡¯ve already cast the Spell?</em>


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    <em>Okay, sounds good.</em> The requirement was pretty steep¡ªespecially with Soul Bond, with its absolutely staggering sixty-second prerequisite before I could actually use its effects¡ªbut at least I could do things like use it in secret. Especially with Hypnotic Bond, I could imagine doing something like nonchntly holding onto someone outside of a hostile situation, waiting the ten seconds, and then activating the Spell and putting them out ofmission for good amount of time. Great, if I ever needed to sneak into somewhere, get the drop on someone before a fight started, anything like that.


    And as for Soul Bond, its use-case was more¡­opaque. It was obvious what the Upgrade encouraged me to do. Somehow, it wanted me to gather a bunch of super powerful beings and establish permanent bonds with them so I could steal their regenerations. But the two limiting factors were massive when it came to doing that. First, they all needed to be within 1000 paces of me at all times, and second, I couldn¡¯t have any more bonds active than my Rank in the Spell¡ªcurrently 10. Though, technically, my Soft Cap was at 11, so I could presume it would be at least at that point.


    Still, those two limitations got rid of quite a few ways it <em>could</em> be used. The 1000 paces condition meant I¡¯d need to keep these bonded beings at least somewhat near me at all times, and of course they¡¯d lose half of all of their regenerations, meaning they wouldn¡¯t be very friendly to me if I established that bond. So presumably, I¡¯d need them to be weaker than me so I could cart them around in captivity wherever I went. I could imagine some cage of rabid monsters I dragged around through the forests with me, all of them boosting my own Status.


    But then, that second constraint kind of restricted me there, as well. Since I couldn¡¯t have more than around a dozen of these bonds active at any given time, and the regeneration I got from the bonds depended on their own levels of regeneration, I¡¯d obviously want to ensure I had as powerful monsters bonded with me as possible. So I¡¯d want powerful monsters, but not so powerful that I couldn¡¯t keep them in captivity and with me at all times. Quite the predicament.


    I could think of some monsters that¡¯d be decent to work with; Stripeks had high Stamina/Minutepared to their Levels, so if I could take half of that for myself, it could work pretty well, and there were plenty of monsters with a solid Health/Minute, but really, increasing my passive Health and Stamina regeneration wouldn¡¯t really do much for me in a fight. It felt like this Upgrade was trying to push me into a certain build, but it was kind of difficult to identify what exactly it wanted me to do to maximize those gains.


    <em>Index, am I missing something?</em>


    ¡°Well, you are missing the main use case for this Upgrade. To start with, that idea of keeping some cage of monsters with you at all times is missing out on one main point that might reveal the best strategy here. None of those monsters have a Mana/Minute.¡±


    <em>Well, yeah, only a few monsters have Mana at all. So I suppose it¡¯s more about the Health and Stamina then, right?</em>


    ¡°Not necessarily. You said the answer there yourself, right? Most <em>monsters</em> don¡¯t have Mana, but Humans do.¡±


    <em>Oh. ¡­Oh. The Spell¡¯s supposed to be used with¡ª</em>


    ¡°A bunch of ves, yes."

 Chapter 153.2: Connection

    Chapter 153.2: Connection


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    ¡°The Spell¡¯s supposed to be used with a bunch of ves, yes,¡± Index said. ¡°The idea would be you just fit a group of ssed Humans with some Enchanted gear to ensure they can¡¯t betray you, hit them all with a permanent bond, and then boom. Free regeneration in all three areas. And since they¡¯re Humans and can be reasoned with using, say, threats to themselves or their family, you wouldn¡¯t even need to keep them in a cage or anything. Alternatively, this could be used by a leader of a country or something, stuff like that. But most optimized uses of this Upgrade would involve using on your fellow Humans.¡±


    <em>That¡¯s¡­less enticing.</em>


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, you probably don¡¯t wanna keep a bunch of ves around or whatever. Thought you¡¯d object to something like that. Though I do need to say it¡ªdon¡¯t get mad at me here¡ªif you use it that way, it is extremely, extremely good. Assuming you can get around legal restrictions¡ª¡±


    <em>No.</em>


    ¡°Fine. Again, I wouldn¡¯t be doing my job if I didn¡¯t tell you.¡±


    <em>Well, it could be possible to use it in other scenarios, so maybe it could still have some sort of use for me. But for now, what about Hypnotic Bond?</em>


    ¡°That one¡¯s pretty neat, too. Got quite a few use cases, as far as I can identify.


    Yeah, Index was right. It was obviously nice to have in a fight. In the cases where I could manage ten full seconds of contact with an enemy, the Upgrade would effectively allow me to paralyze them for ten more seconds. And, yes, the Hypnosis would end prematurely if I ever damaged them, but there were still plenty of ways it could be used regardless. I could get away from them if I needed to, I could move out of their sight and, since they couldn¡¯t turn and keep looking at me, hide while they couldn¡¯t see me, or hells, and so on. Even just getting a ten-second break so I could regain my Mana for a bit, maybe activate Regenerate. Which would be phenomenal at times.


    ¡°That¡¯s not all,¡± Index cut in. ¡°Again, pay very close attention to the wording there. It¡¯ll end if you damage the being ¡®from a source other than any already-active Status Afflictions.¡¯ So, obviously, that means Sanguine Bond¡¯s own Health drain won¡¯t end the Hypnosis, but also any other Curses you¡¯ve already put on the target. So, if you hit them with a Crippling Chill and <em>then</em> with Sanguine Bond¡¯s Hypnosis, then both of those curses will be allowed to run rampant on them for ten full seconds while you just get to sit back and watch. You basically guarantee you¡¯ll get all ten seconds¡¯ worth of Sanguine Bond., since they can¡¯t possibly move out of range. Plus, yes, the extra regeneration from your Mana/Minute.¡±


    That was true. The way this worked, if I could touch something for fifteen seconds before I used Sanguine Bond, then that meant I could get the full ten-second effect of the Spell without having to worry about fighting back, <em>plus</em> the full effects of any of my other curses. That certainly moved the Upgrade up in my mental ranking of the three options.


    And then there were the nonbat applications. Like I¡¯d considered before, there was certainly something about being able to use this for stealth. Sneak up behind someone, just barely touch their arm or something for a bit of time, and then boom¡ªthey can¡¯t do anything for ten full seconds afterward. I wouldn¡¯t even have to sneak, honestly. If I just walked up and shook someone¡¯s hand for a bit longer than was normal, they wouldn¡¯t have any idea until it was toote that I was stalling to activate this ability and effectively paralyze them. Quite the Spell to be able to use on an unsuspecting victim. Sure, inbat, I¡¯d only really be able to maintain ten seconds of contact with certain enemies. But outside? If social conditions allowed, I could touch a Level 50, and it¡¯d have the exact same effect. Always useful.


    So, what was best out of everything here? ¡­Well, that was a difficult question to answer. I¡¯d gotten a bit distracted by the shy effects of Soul and Hypnotic Bond, but Unbreakable Bond was certainly not out of the running. A strict numerical increase in effectiveness was nothing to overlook, especially when it was something as extreme as doubling the duration of the Spell¡¯s effects, plus making it way harder to actually break.


    And, while Soul Bond wasn¡¯t really something I wanted to use with what Index seemed to think was the ¡°optimized¡± use case, it still had some interesting applications that I could envision maybe finding some way to exploit for way higher regeneration values.


    Between the three, though, I couldn¡¯t get Hypnotic Bond out of my head. Once a person was Hypnotized with it, you could move them around and everything as long as you didn¡¯t damage them, so it served as a phenomenal nonlethal way topletely incapacitate someone, which seemed very nice to have now that I was integrating myself back into Human society. As a sser, there would be a lot of conflicts where I¡¯d want to subdue someone without killing them, and as things were, I didn¡¯t really have many ways to do that. So increasing my options in that respect was great. And even in high-stakesbat, the Upgrade could buy me precious seconds of stall time where I could deal damage to my opponent, drain their Stamina, regenerate my own Health, Stamina, Mana, and also have quite a bit of time to rack up triggers with my newly-gained Talent, Cumtive Catastrophe. With Crippling Chill and Sanguine Bond active, ten seconds of effective paralysis meant twenty triggers, which meant twenty percent more effective Spells. Very powerful, indeed.


    That ten-second contact requirement was steep, but still doable. Maybe tough now, but as I Ranked my Spells up more? Crippling Chill and Ray of Frost, if I could get them Upgraded and pushed to Rank 20, would be much better at draining Dexterity and preventing my enemies from avoiding contact¡ªand that was ignoring the fact that it was possible their Upgrades would most likely have options to help reduce the mobility of my opponents even more.


    And, at the end of the day, even if it wasn¡¯t as good as I hoped inbat, there were still the nonbat applications. Not that I fancied myself as a career criminal, but if I ever needed to steal something¡­well, there were a lot of ways that were worse than freezing the shopkeeper in ce for ten seconds while I did whatever I pleased. Ten seconds was a long, long time if you used it wisely. A lot of applications there.


    So I felt like that settled it. A decent increase in power while inbat, plus a solid increase while out, this felt like it turned Sanguine Bond into the perfect versatile tool I¡¯d need while trying to navigate the tricky socialndscape of being a foreigner in a new country, while fleeing for your life from the one neighboring it.


    Noxious Grasp has gained the Upgrade Venomous Grasp.


    I opened my eyes and stretched, cramped up from sitting against the tree while I¡¯d been meditating. Damn, I was looking forward to finding a decent ce to sleep.


    And speaking of sleep, I looked over at Erani, who was just beginning to stir. I¡¯d done my best to move her into a somewhatfortable position when I¡¯d woken up this morning, but doing so without waking her up was a challenge, and it was clear just by looking at her face that she felt like shit.


    ¡°What is¡­where¡­why¡­ugh, I have <em>such</em> a hangover,¡± she muttered as she attempted to blink her eyes open.


    ¡°Yeah, I think we both had a bit too much to drinkst night,¡± I nodded. ¡°Kinda went overboard, with that being the first time I¡¯d had anything other than dirty river water in what felt like forever.¡±


    ¡°Mhmm,¡± she said, still in a daze. ¡°Where¡¯s¡­oh.¡±


    She looked around and found Ainash, who was now asleep, herself, after staying up all night keeping watch over us.


    ¡°You doing alright?¡± I asked. ¡°I think you had a lot more to drink than I did.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, just need some time,¡± she groaned. ¡°What¡­happened? Did you¡­did you punch Jannin?¡±


    ¡°Bon,¡± Iughed, ¡°but yeah, I think I did. Definitely took things too far. Sorry for, y¡¯know, getting us kicked out of the first building we¡¯d entered in weeks, by the way.¡±


    Sheughed weakly. ¡°Yeah, yeah, you¡¯re fine. Uh, why did you punch him? I think I was asleep until he hit the floor, so I didn¡¯t really catch the leadup.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I thought back, remembering the interaction. I didn¡¯t really remember his words, but I did remember that Bon had said some pretty awful stuff about Erani and her injury. I obviously regretted taking things as far as I did, but¡­well, he definitely deserved to get hit for that, at the very least. ¡°He was just being a little shit. Someone needed to knock some sense into him.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Well, whatever. Didn¡¯t really like those guys anyway,¡± Erani shrugged. ¡°Hells, I really drank a lot. Headache.¡±


    ¡°I really wish we had some healing magic we could use, or something,¡± I frowned. ¡°Maybe antagonizing the group that had Jannin in them wasn¡¯t the best idea.¡±


    ¡°No, no, I doubt it¡¯d help all that much, anyway. Like I said, just need some time.¡± She rubbed her eyes with her palms. ¡°Distract me. What, uh¡­what did you get for your Level-ups?¡±


    ¡°Oh, well I moved up to Level 20 from killing Xhag¡¯duul, so I got quite a bit.¡± I exined all of my new abilities that I¡¯d gotten to her, as well as the fact that I¡¯d gone ahead and done the Spell Crystal n we¡¯d discussed beforehand and Upgraded Sanguine Bond.


    ¡°Damn, I¡¯m out for just a single night and you¡¯re getting all kinds of stuff,¡± Erani chuckled.


    ¡°What about you? What all did you get?¡±


    ¡°Oh, um,¡± Erani suddenly looked embarrassed. ¡°I haven¡¯t actually¡­made my choices, yet?¡±


    ¡°What? Why?¡±


    ¡°Just, sort of, y¡¯know¡­¡± she absentmindedly rubbed the stump that her left arm ended in. ¡°Distracted.¡±


    ¡°Oh, uh, right,¡± I blinked. Of course she¡¯d have been distracted. I was such an idiot. ¡°Sorry. About, y¡¯know, all of that. I probably could¡¯ve handled that fight with Xhag¡¯duul better, and¡ª¡±


    ¡°No. Don¡¯t.¡± Erani shook her head, then sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. Just¡­y¡¯know. Um, thanks for talking with mest night. When I was, y¡¯know, drunk and hysterical.¡±


    Iughed and reached around her, pulling her into a side hug. ¡°You weren¡¯t hysterical. And it¡¯s no problem. I meant what I said, too.¡±


    She nodded silently, leaning her head on my shoulder.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± I said, ¡°Ainash is taking a break to sleep for now, since she was up all night watching us.¡±


    ¡°She was? Ugh, poor girl.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we probably need to watch ourselves drinking so we can at least stay sober enough to not pass out on her like that. But I was thinking we could just stick around here for a bit while she gets some rest, and then head out to that nearby town. Shouldn¡¯t take more than half a day to walk there with Expedite.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll go ahead and go through my Level-ups. Need to grab a Spell and a Talent.¡±


    ¡°Nice. You know what you¡¯re gonna choose?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely not.¡±

 Chapter 154.1: Exploration

    Chapter 154.1: Exploration


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    Erani closed her eyes as we both sat next to each other, leaning against the same wide trunk. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to try and make my choice.¡±


    ¡°Cool,¡± I responded. ¡°Let me know if you need any help deciding.¡±


    It was currently around five in the morning, so I contented myself resting next to a beautiful woman and watching the sunrise. My left leg and right arm still groaned in pain whenever I moved, but it was at least much better than it¡¯d been before. My Health had recently passed 400 with the help of another activation of Regenerate, so the rate at which my injuries healed was greatly elerated.


    Really, I probably should have reached my maximum Health of 520 by now if I¡¯d been more attentive and had been activating Regenerate whenever I topped out on Stamina, but unfortunately it seemed like drunk An was much worse at remembering to do that than sober An was.


    But hey, at least activating Noxious Grasp was pretty muchpletely automatic for me. After the night that¡¯d passed, with my insane Mana/Minute, it was already up to 961 Spell XP, though the requirement was an equally-staggering 1918. Still, not too difficult to get to when in just a couple Levels, my Mana/Minute would increase up to 100, meaning I¡¯d be earning an entire point of Spell XP every single minute. Maybe even sooner, if Recycled Loop¡¯s random Stat gains worked out well for me.


    I¡¯d obviously already used one of my three allowed Time Loops today, but I didn¡¯t n on using the other two, so as long as we didn¡¯t run into anything massive going wrong, I¡¯d be able to move over to the next day with them both unused, and get two free Stat increases out of the ten I was allowed. If I could keep up that rate, I¡¯d be up to my maximum within five days, and then I¡¯d be good to go out and Level up so I could start the process over again. If I could keep that up for long enough, the gains would be¡­massive, to say the least.


    And it didn¡¯t even take any work on my part, which was the best aspect of it all. It felt nice to have a reason to <em>not</em> go out and spend every waking moment trying to gather every spare point of XP avable, for a change. Something that just told me to take a damn break.


    Speaking of taking a break, I¡¯d been asleep all night in that bush, and my limbs felt really cramped up from it, so I decided to stand up and walk around a bit. Call it patrolling the perimeter, or scouting for threats, or whatever. I just needed to get on my feet and stretch. Plus, we¡¯d probably be walking all day in our journey to town, and I didn¡¯t want to be dead weight that Ainash had to carry like I¡¯d been in the past since I hurt my leg. It was feeling a lot better now, so I felt like I may have been able to figure out how to safely walk on my own two feet as long as I gave myself a boost with Expedite.


    So I got up, and just started wandering the nearby area, staying in earshot of Erani in case she needed anything.


    Erani sat with her eyes closed, doing the breathing exercises she always went through in order to enter her meditative state. Minutes passed, and she slowly sunk into her own mind, until she was finally able to ess and modify her Status. She had a Talent Choice and a Spell Choice to go through, so first, she began with the Talent, looking over the options.


    Choose one Talent to obtain:


    Mind Over Matter


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Harness the power of your mind to bolster your physical abilities. For every 10 Conjuration you have, your Strength and Dexterity are each increased by 1.


    Elemental Embrace


    Type: Activated


    Cost: Health, Stamina, and Mana equal to 5% of your maximum Mana <em>(94.5 Health, Stamina, and Mana)</em>


    ¡ª


    Your body and spirit be in tune with the elements, enhancing your offensive Spells. Whenever you cast an Elemental-School Spell that deals damage <em>(Cold, Fire, Aqueous, etc.)</em>, you may activate this Talent to trigger an Elemental Surge. The Surge increases the Spell''s damage by 400% and infuses it with a secondary effect rted to the Spell¡¯s Elemental School and scaling in power with damage dealt, such as burning, freezing, or stunning the target.


    Expanded Capacity II


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Your Mana reserves be more plentiful. Maximum Mana is increased by 100%. Taking this Talent reces Expanded Capacity.


    This was a decision point that she saw herself having quite a bit of trouble on. The mostmon route was to simply continue down the ¡°cast an overwhelming number of Firebolts and deal an overwhelming amount of damage¡± route by taking Expanded Capacity II. Doing so would rece the original Expanded Capacity Talent that increased her maximum Mana by 50% with the new one, which increased by 100%. In total, this would raise her maximum Mana from 1890 to 2520¡ªover 600 additional Mana in her pool. However, that was the mostmon choice for a normal Sorcerer in normal circumstances.


    Some of the guides she¡¯d read detailed paths that went with these other two options¡ªMind Over Matter and Elemental Embrace. These Talents definitely required a decent bit of setup and a solid change in fighting style. Mind Over Matter was one that was clearly intended for someone with high Conjuration. Erani currently had 126, meaning she¡¯d get an extra 12 Strength and Dexterity. Certainly tempting¡ªthe baseline precedent set for Talents that increased a Stats was that they¡¯d normally give between ten and fifteen. So this Talent giving 24 was significant above-rate. A good pull for her to go in that direction.


    Only, it would be if she didn¡¯t already have 50 of each of Strength and Dexterity. If she was still in a position where she just had 10 in all of her physical Stats, then raising two of them to more than double their original values would be great. But now¡­it didn¡¯t really appeal to her. Sure, she could get a bit extra, but would the difference even matter? Even if it continued to rise as she Leveled, she didn¡¯t really feel like the difference would do much.


    Elemental Embrace was also a Talent that had her evaluation of itpletely shifted due to her Bond with Ainash. Normally, a person would have to know they¡¯d be going for Embrace from day one of getting their ss, and would need to consistently spend a few of their Stat Points each Level increasing their physical Stats so they could pay the high cost of its activation. But, again, she suddenly had the Health and Stamina to spare in order to do so. Without the Bond, her Health would still be 100, and she wouldn¡¯t even consider a Talent like this, which would cost her almost all of it and would only get more expensive with time.


    So, obviously Elemental Embrace was made better by the Bond. However, she <em>also</em> had made some suboptimal choices in the past which made it worse. Normally, a strategy going for Embrace would take Ray of Frost as the Level 10 Spell, since it was Elemental-School and would get the bonus from the Talent. But Erani had taken Angelic Shield, which had no synergy with it whatsoever. And the Talent wasn¡¯t a very popr one to begin with, either.


    The typical strategy with it would be to use Signature Magic over the course of a fight, constantly increasing the damage of your Spells with every cast of them, until you saw an opening and used a single, super-powered cast with Elemental Embrace to have all of the damage-boosting effects multiply together and win the fight in a single shot. But most people considered the cost of assigning Stat Points to the physicals to be much too great for that strategy to be viable. But Erani didn¡¯t have that downside, whichpletely shifted that evaluation. But <em>also</em> people didn¡¯t like it because it would lock you out of continuing to upgrade Expanded Capacity not only to Expanded Capacity II but also to Expanded Capacity III in theter Levels.


    So what was best? Common knowledge? Or trying to move away from the beaten path and utilize the specific strengths she¡¯d been given?


    Using Expedite, I was able to walk somewhatfortably on my still-injured leg. While, when I wasn¡¯t used to the Dexterity boost, the Spell made fine motor movements basically impossible, once I was used to it, it actually made that precision much easier to achieve. So, by using high Levels of Dexterity from multiple casts of Expedite, I was effectively able to memorize specific ways I could walk and make tiny micro-movements to avoid irritating the wound while walking. Not a perfect solution, since it required me to spend so much Mana keeping myself buffed with Expedite, but it was an interesting find nheless.


    So for a few minutes, I paced around the nearby area practicing my method of assisted walking with Expedite. Not too far away, I could still see the outpost with Bon and the rest of the soldiers, something that made me feel constantly anxious. I knew they weren¡¯t technically my enemy, but¡­I just needed to get away from them soon. The eyes on me. I didn¡¯t like it.


    As I wandered around the area, gazing at the tndscape, I turned around to suddenly see something approaching me. It didn¡¯t really seem like it wasing at me directly, but rather wandering like I was, happening to be heading in my direction. And it was¡­a Bull? Or a Wolf? Perhaps a mix of the two. It was clearly a monster I hadn¡¯t ever seen before.


    It stood at a slightly lower stature than a bull would, but still seemed to carry that weight and power behind its legs, and it also had the same two horns sticking out of his head. Its skin, however, was covered in a thick coat of messy fur, shaking up and down as it meandered across the grass. The red coloring of its coat shone in the morning sun, a dark, royal hue that gave off an air of elegance the messiness of the fur did its best to undo. And shining through that dark red was a light purple, seeming toe from the unseen veins beneath the beast¡¯s skin.


    It obviously saw me¡ªI was doing nothing to hide myself¡ªbut seemed to be attracted toward me regardless as it made its way across the tall grass in my direction.


    I turned and faced the thing, eyeing it curiously; to tell the truth, I wasn¡¯t too worried about an attack. Not only was it clearly showing no real hostility, but it also probably wasn¡¯t very high-Level, considering I¡¯d never heard of it before. Bon and the rest of the guards had said nothing about them either, even when they were speaking about the different types of dangerous monsters they faced while guarding the mountain pass. So I simply stood and watched it approach.


    As it came closer and closer, I noticed some other fine details of the monster. Its dull eyes wereplemented by wide nostrils which, with every exhale, breathed out a puff of purple fumes that spread out into the grass beneath it. And, as the smoke seeped into the green des and brown dirt, they seemed to visually desaturate, the dirt going gray and the grass slowly wilting.


    It continued approaching, now looking straight at me. Or, no, I realized. Whenever I let out a subconscious puff of Noxious Grasp myself, activating the Spell every few seconds, I saw its eyes flick down to my fingers as the Spell¡¯s own fumes fell from Dark te¡¯s gauntlets. We seemed to have a shared ability with our respective smoke creation, and the monster seemed to recognize that. I wondered what it must¡¯ve thought I was.

 Chapter 154.2: Exploration

    Chapter 154.2: Exploration


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    Erani went through the three options in her mind over and over again. Mind Over Matter, Elemental Embrace, Expanded Capacity II. She felt like she could at least rule out Mind Over Matter, since its effect was soparatively small against her Bond with Ainash. It just felt silly to spend an entire Talent on a few extra Stats when she already had plenty.


    ¡­But then, she could remember at least a couple of the Talents that came after that, and some of them did seem helpful. Somewhere in the path after Mind Over Matter was a Talent that let her spend Health and Stamina in exchange for Mana, which was sort of a recement for Expanded Capacity II, if she thought about it in a certain way, and there was also one that let her deal additional damage when using long-range Spells in close-range environments, which would allow her to utilize those extra Stats much more effectively¡­


    No, no, it simply didn¡¯t make sense to totally pivot her build into that direction just for a couple Talents that still weren¡¯t worth the wasted one here. If she needed more Mana, she could just take Capacity II and be done with it, and if she needed more damage, there was Elemental Embrace. To jump through so many hoops just for the sake of something she could have right now for free was silly.


    So then, between those two, what was best? It was important to remember what Elemental Embrace would do for her specifically, at least for now. It had different effects based on the School of the Spells used with it, and since Firebolt was the only Elemental Spell she had, the Talent would only do one main thing. For Fire Spells, it would simply ignite the being struck with magical fire for a number of seconds depending on the amount of damage dealt with the Spell. And, with 300 Stamina and the Talent costing around 95 to activate, she¡¯d effectively be able to do this three times¡ªthough, really, she¡¯d probably want to limit it to twice to avoid passing out in the middle of battle.


    Erani focused and did thebat math. In total, with 1890 Mana to her and Firebolt costing 58.7 Mana, she could cast¡­around thirty-two of the Spell in a single fight. Assuming optimal conditions, if she could get maximum damage with each and cast them all within a one-minute timeframe in order to get maximum damage with Signature Magic, then in total, the multiplier for thest two copies of Firebolt would be¡­6.15 and and 6.2. So then, again, assuming ideal conditions, Elemental Embrace multiplying the damage of thosest two copies of the Spell by 4 would make those multipliers into 30.75 and 31. So, adding the two differences together, using Elemental Embrace in optimal conditions would effectively give an additional amount of damage equal to 49.4 Firebolts.


    So she needed topare that to Expanded Capacity II, which would give her an additional¡­630 Mana, which could be spent to cast¡­around ten Firebolts. This seemed much worse than Elemental Embrace¡¯s fifty extra at first nce, but those Firebolts would still need to go through the other Talent damage bonuses before she could see how many actual Firebolts worth of damage they¡¯d end up doing. Assuming thirty-two Firebolts in a single minute was the maximum Erani could do for the sake of Signature Magic, the additional Firebolts would all have a multiplier of 6.2 times damage, meaning she¡¯d <em>actually</em> end up getting a total of 62 Firebolts of damage from Expanded Capacity II. ording to this math, Extended Capacity II was the clear winner in terms of how much additional damage she¡¯d be able to output in a fight.


    However, that was, of course, making a lot of assumptions. First and foremost, all of these assumptions were only taking into ount situations with ideal conditions. In situations where, say, she couldn¡¯t cast thirty-two Firebolts in a single minute, or where she missed some of them, or where she had to spend some of her Mana on Angelic Shield, all of that math would be different.


    Another thing that damage calction didn¡¯t take into ount was that Embrace would deal the damage sooner than Capacity would. Since Embrace¡¯s damage was tacked onto thest two Firebolts she cast out of the thirty-two, whereas Capacity¡¯s damage came in the form of ten more Firebolts castter on, assuming it took two seconds to cast each Firebolt, that meant she¡¯d have to take an additional twenty seconds in order to deal her maximum damage. Certainly arge downside in many situations.


    And, of course, there was the fact that Embrace also added on the extra effect of lighting the target on fire, which would obviously increase damage dealt, and the fact that Embrace could be used whenever she wanted, and not just as thest two Spells she cast, meaning that quick additional damage could be utilized at the perfect time to maximize punishment for her opponents, whereas Capacity was still stuck with its damageing muchter. And Erani could also get more uses out of Embrace as she got more Stats and more Stamina, too.


    Effectively, Capacity was numerically the best in ideal circumstances. But Embrace could be made into the better Talent in some circumstances through clever fighting. But Capacity also worked well with Angelic Shield for additional protection. But Embrace could synergize with further Elemental Spells taken in order to broaden the number of unique negative effects it could apply. But Capacity wouldn¡¯t need Erani to spend her Health and Stamina in fights, which could keep her out of danger. But Embrace would utilize the resources she¡¯d been given by the Bond, and would be able to continue to use any she got as it continued to Rank. But Capacity¡ª


    As the shimmering red monster walked up to me, it brayed and moaned in a strange manner, like it was calling out to me. Maybe it really did think I was another of its species. With the hilly terrain surrounding us, it was surprisingly hard to see in some directions, so perhaps there was a whole pack of these things just around the corner, and it thought I was some lost member.


    As I watched its approach, I slowly realized it wasn¡¯t the only thinging toward me. While it was breathing out that smoke on its own, I realized much of the purple gas that covered the ground wasn¡¯ting from it at all. Instead, massive clouds of the smoke were rolling out from behind one of the hills. And slowly, lumbering out from behind that hill, I just barely began to see another monster.


    This one looked simr to the first¡ªsame red shaggy fur, same slow meandering walk¡ªit was just much, muchrger. At least two, maybe three times the thing¡¯s height, and instead of a normal snout that breathed out the smoke, it had a long trunk that reached down to the ground, billowing out clouds of the stuff. It was an absolute titan of a beast, and everywhere it walked¡ªeverywhere it breathed¡ªthe grass wilted, the dirt turned gray, and I could even spot the full-grown trees grow a little less lifelike.


    It was much further away, however, simply walking out from behind the hill and stopping to watch over the smaller beast continue to walk toward me. I continued to stand and observe, still not totally sure what to do in this situation. I¡¯d asked Index, and while it couldn¡¯t tell me much about the unfamiliar monsters, it wasn¡¯t urging me to run away or anything, so I assumed it would be fine for me to stick around for now.


    The smaller monster walked up to me, now just a pace away. It bent over and sniffed at the fumes sinking to the ground from Noxious Grasp. The gassesing from my Spell and the gassesing from the monster were clearly different¡ªwhile mine were effectively just aesthetic, not doing anything on their own since a being had to be physically touching me in order to be dealt damage, it seemed like this monster¡¯s toxic smoke was what dealt the damage, itself. From what I¡¯d seen, especially from therger one that blew out massive amounts of the stuff, it wasn¡¯t the monster¡¯s touch that killed the grass, it was the gas. But obviously the monster didn¡¯t seem to care about the slight differences between us.


    As it sniffed at Noxious Grasp¡¯s fumes, it let out a small puff of its own, just a bit of which seemed to get close enough to trigger its effects on me.


    You have been poisoned. 1 damage.


    Your Health is 405.


    Huh, so it did deal damage on contact. Obviously not much, though, which I¡¯d guessed from the fact that the grass had only just barely begun to wilt when touched by the gas. Though, obviously, getting hit by a full-on breath of the stuff would probably be a lot worse than the tiny prick from the ambient air.


    I wondered if these things were friendly with everyone. Maybe it was only kind to me because it saw the smoke from Noxious Grasp? I mean, depending on the intelligence of these monsters, it might have literally thought I was one of its species just because of the single simrity between us. Who knew?


    Maybe I could adopt one as a pet, or something, I found myself wondering. ¡­Though, that would probably be a poor idea, considering they constantly exhaled damaging fumes. Yeah, I¡¯d probably leave them be, actually.


    But at least this one was friendly. And as long as it didn¡¯t make any active attempt to blow a bunch of gas into my face or anything, it didn¡¯t seem like the tiny amount of smoke getting near me would deal any more damage. So I supposed I¡¯d just leave it be, for now. It wasn¡¯t aggressive, and I wasn¡¯t totally sure I wanted to get on the bad side of thatrger one standing off in the distance. Even if this one wasn¡¯t dangerous, that other might be more of an issue.


    Besides, I wouldn¡¯t want to kill some protected species or something; I¡¯d heard of some towns having specific hunting seasons where you weren¡¯t allowed to kill certain types of monsters during certain types of the year, that way they¡¯d have time to repopte and wouldn¡¯t get totally killed off. Especially for towns without a big wild monster poption nearby, killing off every local monster would effectively cripple all ssers, so the hunting seasons were a way topromise. And they were often strictly enforced. So yeah, didn¡¯t want to get on the wrong side of thatw.


    I heard a footstep behind me. Was it another of these things? Maybe another from the pack. I looked behind myself to see.


    ¡°Yeeeaargh!¡± With a scream, someone leapt past me and sunk their sword into the monster, and it screeched in pain.


    Surprised, I took a step back and looked at the person. It was¡­Bon?


    ¡°Get out of the way, don¡¯t steal our kill!¡± he barked at me, then turned back to the monster, which seemed to be preparing for a charge.


    Those dark purple fumes spewed from its nostrils with each breath, coating the ground near it. I took a step back, not totally sure what was going on. And in the distance, that massive monster groaned out a deep sound that vibrated the bottom of my chest. Yeah, I went ahead and took another step back.


    ¡°What the Hell, Bon?¡± another voice said in an exasperated tone. I looked over to see Jannin and Poppins standing behind him, both looking much more apathetic about all of this.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Poppins said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if attacking is the best move here. There¡¯s a mother only a hundred paces off, can¡¯t you see?¡±


    Bon grunted. ¡°We¡¯ve gotten stronger over the weeks, a mother shouldn¡¯t be an issue anymore.¡±


    ¡°Abso-min¡¯-lutely not,¡± Jannin said. ¡°That shit¡¯s way too high-Level for us. We need to retreat.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s coward talk! And I¡¯m no weakling!¡± Bon lifted his sword again and prepared to strike the smaller monster just as it charged straight at him.

 Chapter 155.1: Interpretation

    Chapter 155.1: Interpretation


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    Erani sat, meditating and trying to figure out which Talent to choose. Between Elemental Embrace and Expanded Capacity II¡­ugh, she didn¡¯t know. But she was leaning toward Embrace. She just needed to give it some time ande back to the problem with a fresh set of eyes.


    For now, she still needed to look at her Spell Choice, anyway. Maybe that would give her some additional perspective when deciding.


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Force Spike


    School: Alteration, Arcane


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 55 Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a wave of force that travels 10 paces, dealing up to 50 damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being. When Force Spike damages a being, 20% of the damage dealt is returned as a force shield that protects you from that much damage from a future hit, wearing off after use or 15 seconds after application.


    Torpor Orb


    School: Summoning


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 400 Mana


    ¡ª


    Summons a small orb. While a being is within 50 paces of the orb, that being loses 0.5% of their current Stamina every second.


    The orb will only affect the 5 nearest beings at any given time.


    After 5 minutes, the orb crumbles to dust.


    Distortion Strike


    School: Alteration, Illusion


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 0.5 Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    While active, you are Shaded, making you slightly harder to notice in the dark. When you damage a being with your body or a physical weapon while Shaded, you may deactivate Distortion Strike and spend 30 Mana to appear in a bright sh of light and deal an additional 2 damage for each second you were Shaded, with a maximum of 200 additional damage.


    <em>Okay</em>, she thought, <em>let''s try to be more decisive about this one</em>.


    She hadn¡¯t done as much research about the path following Angelic Shield as she had about the paths following the other options on her second Spell Choice, but she was still familiar with these effects. Force Spike was the generally-taken Spell here, to continue with the more defensive direction taken with Angelic Shield. Though she <em>had</em> also seen a couple builds that took the more controversial path of Torpor Orb with a build that went with a more lone-wolf style, taking advantage of Angelic Shield¡¯s allowing one to not have to worry as much about having others watch their back. And Distortion Strike wasn¡¯t a verymon Spell, seeming to encourage people to move down a melee build taking advantage of Angelic Shield¡¯s nature of making the user somewhat tanky.


    Out of the three, she was more immediately leaning toward Force Spike. Torpor Orb, while it seemed like it could actually do quite well when used in conjunction with An¡¯s Stamina-draining strategy, had an element that was a massive drawback¡ªit drained <em>everyone</em> nearby. Enemies, friendlies, even the caster of the Spell. Erani could still remember the math she¡¯d read about behind the Spell. Over the course of the full five minutes it was in effect, assuming a being began with their entireplement of Stamina, they¡¯d end up with around twenty percent of their original value. For Erani, she¡¯d end up with 60, and An would probably be no better. Obviously, their enemies would be low, too, but if everyone ran out of Stamina, it would essentially achieve nothing.


    Since the orb drained so much of a person¡¯s Stamina, the strategy was often for the caster to be prepared to end uppletely sedimentary near the end of a fight, doing everything they could to avoid moving. Angelic Shield could help quite a bit with that, since it allowed them to just take hits full-on instead of worrying about dodging. Users of the Spell would even sometimes take someone with an extremely high Stamina regeneration along so that they could have that person literally carry them through the battlefield instead of walking.


    Erani still remembered the ¡®face¡¯ of that strategy using Torpor Orb. It was a man called Riir Stax, who lived a couple hundred years back. He¡¯d apparently saved up every single Spell Strengthening he got as he Leveled as a Sorcerer, refusing to put even a single free Rank into his Spells that came before, until he finally got ess to Torpor Orb and put every one of them into it, powering the thing up to insane levels. His entire fighting style was based around the single Spell, summoning the orb and then just stalling until his opponents passed out barely before he copsed, himself.


    There was even a story about him getting into a fight against some massively famous Melee-Type, where they fought and fought until they both copsed, paralyzed at the exact same time. Stax couldn¡¯t kill him in that position, but he also knew that if he let up Torpor Orb, his opponent, with their higher physical Stats, would get up first and be able to kill him. So he kept casting Torpor Orb over and over, repeatedly resummoning the thing for hours on end, then <em>days</em> on end. Eventually, his opponent literally died of thirst, having been forced toy there, paralyzed, until they perished. The only reason Stax survived, the story went, was because he was able to lick a single droplet of water off the back of a frog during the days of paralysis.


    Now, were those stories exaggerated? Absolutely. But they also inspired an entire style of fighting based off of that basic ¡°I¡¯ll hurt both of us until you die just before I do¡± strategy. It wasn¡¯t extremely sessful¡ªnot many rmended it, and it got more people killed than it helped seed¡ªbut it was certainly memorable. Hells, even An¡¯s fighting strategy, focusing on resource denial and waiting an opponent out, had a simr style. Though he obviously preferred to force his opponents to lose resources while he <em>gained</em> them, rather than hurting both him and his opponent simultaneously. Definitely a more reliable way to do things.


    And that was pretty much the problem with the strategy. It really didn¡¯t work well unless you were prepared to bypass that drawback. Sure, if enough time passed, An might be able to drain someone of their Stamina, but he, Erani, and Ainash would all be low by then as well, making them especially vulnerable against any additional forces that showed up afterward.


    Plus, there were the two limitations of the Spell in its range and maximum number of affected targets. If someone really felt like the Spell was <em>that </em>detrimental, they could just keep away from Erani until it crumbled away on its own, and at that point, she and her allies would be so drained from her own Spell that they¡¯d all be easy pickings for the still-strong enemy.


    The Spell was extremely powerful in the right hands¡ªit could essentiallypletely control the course of a battle the moment it was cast¡ªbut Erani simply didn¡¯t have confidence in her ability to take advantage of its effects without having constructed her entire build around it.


    Distortion Strike was simr. It felt good, but like it needed a very specific build; it was the least popr pick of this Choice for a reason, after all. The Sorcerer ss just wasn¡¯t built to be able to easily take advantage of a Spell that wanted the user to get within melee range of a target, due not in small part to the fact that Explosive Firebolt was such a pervasive baseline for the ss. If she wanted to get within melee range of an opponent, why would she want her only other damaging Spell to literally blow her up if she ever used it that close? It simply didn¡¯t synergize with the most powerful Upgrade for Firebolt¡ªand the one Erani had taken¡ªso it was pretty much thrown out immediately by most users.


    By contrast, Force Spike was a solid option to continue to increase one¡¯s survivability. It didn¡¯t have quite the pure Mana-to-prevented-damage efficiency of Angelic Shield, but it did when you counted the damage it dealt to the opponent, as well¡ªespecially when used with the Talents Erani had. Increasing the damage Force Spike dealt would also increase the size of the shield it gave her, after all, so it simply made sense to take the option that so well synergized with her build so far. At least she wasn¡¯t going <em>too</em> far off the beaten path.


    Though, she still needed to figure out her Talent. Maybe An could offer some help picking. He had that Index thing, right? It could probably give her some information to help her choose.

 Chapter 155.2: Interpretation

    Chapter 155.2: Interpretation


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    I watched as Bon brandished his bloodied sword against the now-hostile monster.


    ¡°Get out of the way, don¡¯t steal our kill!¡± he yelled at me.


    I frowned and instinctively backed away from him. ¡°Uh, what¡¯s going on? Were you guys hunting this thing?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jannin said. His warhammer was still strapped to his back. ¡°Bon¡¯s decided we¡¯re going on a ¡®training expedition,¡¯ which is something we literally never do.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± I said, still surprised by their sudden appearance. We weren¡¯t too far off, but I hadn¡¯t thought they¡¯d being down the road toward us. ¡°Well, I guess I¡¯ll get out of your way, then.¡±


    ¡°That would most likely be for the best,¡± Poppins said, a hint of caution in his own voice.


    Before I could do anything, though, the monster Bon had attacked charged at him, lowering its horns in an attempt to gore straight through his gut. He readied his de and attempted to deflect the attack, but just got thrown aside regardless.


    ¡°Um,¡± I called out to him, ¡°you might wanna dodge rather than parry. That thing seems like it carries a lot of weight behind it, so it¡¯d probably be a lot safer to¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me how to fight!¡± he scowled back at me. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to make yourself scarce? You think you¡¯re better than me, just because you beat me once? When I was drunk?¡±


    He turned back to his opponent with a grunt, readying himself for another strike as the beast bellowed out a lungful of fumes that covered the ground nearby. I took another step back.


    Jannin looked back at me again. ¡°He¡¯s pissed that he lost. What Level are you, anyway? Seems like it was enough for you to beat his ass even when you were smashed.¡±


    ¡°Oh, y¡¯know,¡± I shrugged, ¡°high enough, I guess.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d bet it¡¯s min¡¯ high, if you got through Empire¡¯s Edge,¡± he chuckled. ¡°Clearly enough to make Bon feel insecure about¡ª¡±


    Poppins grabbed him and pulled him away from me, whispering in a harsh tone that I could still hear, ¡°Stop fraternizing with the man! We don¡¯t know much about him, he could be dangerous.¡±


    Bon took two steps forward and swung his broadsword in a wide arc, attempting to cleave across the beast¡¯s face, but it took a step back to avoid it. It seemed like Bon¡ªconsciously or not¡ªwas avoiding getting too close to the thing. His strikes were all from just slightly too far away¡ªa mistake I remembered seeing plenty of my sparring partners make from before I¡¯d gotten ssed.


    It happened with newbies a lot; their nerves would get the better of them and they¡¯d instinctively stay far back, leaving their attacks weak and allowing a patient opponent to simply wait for an opening. It was the simple truth of a fight that you had to get a little reckless sometimes and put pressure on your opponent to act quickly. Staying defensive would allow them to only attack when they were absolutely sure they could get a good hit on you, while you never hit them at all. A fine technique if your only goal was to drag the fight out, but horrible if you intended to eventually win. Even if they only hit you once every twenty seconds, if you weren¡¯t hitting them at all, you¡¯d still end up dead.


    ¡°Bon,¡± Poppins called out to him, ¡°do you want us to help you? I know you said you wanted the Contribution, but¡ª¡±


    ¡°Just get that jackass out of here!¡± Bon yelled back.


    ¡°Hey man,¡± I raised my hands, ¡°I really am sorry about all that. I was drunk, and obviously a bit too used to solving my problems with violence. But I promise I won¡¯t pull shit like that in the future, if you can forgive me.¡±


    Poppins opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, I heard a shout from behind me.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Erani called, ¡°you mind helping me pick something?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I called back, ¡°I, uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, why don¡¯t you go talk to yourdy friend, if you got so big a crush on her,¡± I heard Bon interrupt me with a shout as I looked back at Erani. ¡°Just get out of here and let me do my job! I¡¯m <em>trying</em> to protect the people from this¡ª¡±


    I turned around to see Bon getting run over by the monster, which roared in anger and blew out a cloud of poison smoke right into the man¡¯s face.


    ¡°Oh, shit!¡± I ran forward to his help, alongside Jannin and Poppins, who both drew their weapons when they saw Bon take the hit.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Erani asked. Her eyes were still closed, so I was sure she¡¯d only just now been made aware of the fact that other people were here.


    ¡°No danger, sorry!¡± I yelled back as I ran forward and helped Poppins drag Bon back, away from the monster, as he coughed profusely and Jannin took his ce, warhammer in hands.


    ¡°...Do I need to stop meditating? It sounds like there¡¯s danger.¡±


    ¡°No, seriously, I¡¯ll tell you if it¡¯s serious,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s just those guards, they¡¯re¡ª¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re saying this isn¡¯t serious?!¡± Poppins demanded. ¡°He¡¯s hurt!¡±


    I sighed. ¡°No, as in, she isn¡¯t in any¡ªlook, I¡¯m trying to help, man.¡±


    ¡°If you want to help, get your hands off of my friend. You¡¯re so good at fighting, go kill that thing.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± I rolled my eyes and got up. It was probably a good idea to get rid of the rampaging monster so I could go talk with Erani, anyway.


    ¡°Just pointing this out,¡± I heard Index in my ear, ¡°it would technically be optimal to do nothing here. Do what Bon said and just leave them alone, or better yet, pretend to help but intentionally get ¡®knocked out¡¯ by the monster. Bon¡¯s still low from your attackst night, so one more hit will take him out, and getting rid of someone who doesn¡¯t like you will¡ª¡±


    <em>No,</em> I thought, <em>that¡¯s definitely too far. I¡¯ll help out.</em>


    ¡°Hey Annor,¡± Jannin said as I walked up beside him.


    ¡°Oh, uh, hey,¡± I said, for a moment forgetting the fake name I¡¯d given them.


    ¡°You a frontline or backline fighter?¡±


    ¡°Frontline, I guess,¡± I said, absentmindedly casting Crippling Chill on the monster, which was pawing the ground in preparation for another charge.


    You have cursed Level 8 Gloomspur with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1259.


    Gloomspur, huh? Interesting name. And only Level 8? Yeah, this wouldn¡¯t be a problem.


    ¡°Actually,¡± I said, ¡°just let me take it for a moment. Step in if it seems like I¡¯m in over my head.¡±


    Jannin shrugged. ¡°Sure. Less work for me.¡±


    I stepped forward, toward the Gloomspur which was now visually wilting under the effects of Crippling Chill. As the seconds ticked by, I felt a ticker in my mind continually update.


    Cumtive Catastrophe is increasing all damage and other numerical effects dealt to Level 8 Gloomspur by 3%.


    If 6 seconds pass without you damaging Level 8 Gloomspur, reset this boost for Level 8 Gloomspur.


    But despite the damage and debuffs, it charged right at me, though clearly morebored in its movements. Just as it got within reach, I activated Gravity Well to surprise it, grabbed onto its fur, cast Sanguine Bond, activated Noxious Grasp, shot it point-nk with a Ray of Frost using the hand grabbing it, and¡­


    It copsed. Under the cocktail of debuffs and drains and continuous damage sources, it went limp under my hand and fell to the ground. So I just bent down and ced a hand on it to finish it off with Grasp.


    ¡°Woah.¡± Jannin said. ¡°Uh¡­what did you do?¡±


    Bon sat up, rubbing his head. ¡°What the¡­What happened?! What did I say about stealing my kill?!¡±


    You have offered major contribution toward the ying of Level 8 Gloomspur.


    You have earned 46 XP. Your XP is 434.


    ¡°Whoops,¡± I said, pulling my hand back. ¡°Got kinda carried away. I was just focusing on disabling it so it wouldn¡¯t hurt you, and¡­¡±


    Bon scoffed. ¡°Yeah, carried away. You sure do that often, huh?¡±


    ¡°Uh, hey,¡± Erani called once again, ¡°everything alright over there?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right, yeah, it¡¯s all going fine,¡± I called back. ¡°I¡¯ll be over in a minute.¡±


    Just as I said that, though, I heard an ear-splitting roar from far-off. Looking over, I saw therger Gloomspur that had, until now, been standing around watching us. It was slowly stomping forward, gradually growing faster and faster.


    <em>Uh, Index, </em>I thought, <em>this thing isn¡¯t, like, dangerous, right?</em>


    ¡°No, not really. You can take it on without Erani¡¯s help, at least. Well, it¡¯s certainly extremely dangerous to those other three guys. Couple of them will probably die from coteral damage from this fight. But I see that as a win, so it¡¯s okay.¡±


    I sighed. <em>Well I should probably take care of this.</em>


    ¡°Hey,¡± Jannin said, grabbing my shoulder. ¡°I know you¡¯re new around here, but that thing¡¯s bad news. Gloommothers are super dangerous. May be slow-moving, but they¡¯ll kill you quick if you get too close. You should probably get out of here.¡±


    ¡°Nah,¡± I said, ¡°no sense in that. If it¡¯ll give you guys trouble, you should head out, though. Bon¡¯s low on Health, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Bon said, getting to his feet and brushing himself off. ¡°Thanks to <em>you</em>. C¡¯mon men, let¡¯s get going. Don¡¯t wanna spend another second around here.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Poppins said, helping him walk off. ¡°I think it¡¯d be best for you to go lie down and try to heal back up.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t need rest! I just wanna get away from this man trying to kill himself. Don¡¯t wanna get blood on my gear.¡±


    Jannin just sighed and shook his head. He looked back at me. ¡°I really think you should get out of here, too. You got about fifteen seconds.¡±


    Then the three of them started walking off. Looking back at the massive charging monster¡ªa Gloommother, it was apparently called¡ªit seemed like the thing didn¡¯t even notice their departure. It waspletely locked onto me, the killer of the smaller Gloomspur. It continued in its warpath, knocking over trees and crushing bushes beneath its hooves while slowly moving from a walking speed to more of a trot. About fifty paces away now.


    Well, I supposed it was time I tested out my new power on something that could actually fight back, anyway.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I called back to Erani, ¡°I¡¯ll be a minute. Just gotta take care of something.¡±

 Chapter 156.1: Welcome to the Kingdom: Entering

    Chapter 156.1: Wee to the Kingdom: Entering


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    Keiki stood at a door in a dank, cold sewer. After tailing several suspicious individuals in the city of Fronttown, this was the only ce of interest she¡¯d found. Everyone else retired to their homes for the night, or something simr. But one of them came here. Down into the sewer, walked for probably a few hundred paces, and then went through this wooden door.


    But when she tried it¡­


    ¡°It¡¯s locked,¡± she said.


    ording to Asmo, everything Keiki heard, the earpiece would hear, too. That little device they¡¯d stuck down into her ear canal. It felt weird, but she was getting used to it. And so she¡¯d been narrating her mission back tomand through whispers to ensure the operation went smoothly.


    ¡°Attempting to bypass lock.¡±


    After listening for noisesing from the other side to ensure nobody was there, she drew her sword from its sheath and carefully inserted it into the boards making up the door. It was sharp enough that she didn¡¯t need to apply much pressure to slice through the wood, though her Strength certainly also contributed to that ease.


    Slowly, she cut around the hinges of the door, separating those pieces of wood attached to the frame from the rest. Then, she cut around the doorknob and the lock as well, so that the door was simply sitting free on the ground. Reaching out, she ced her hands on the door, and gently pushed forward.


    Before the door could tter to the ground, she stepped up and grabbed it mid-fall, gently lowering it to the sewer floor without a noise. Through the door was another hallway, though one that was clearly different from the sewer before it.


    ¡°Stone brick halls, new,¡± she muttered. ¡°No sign of enemybatants.¡±


    She nced around. There were some more doors lining the hallway, plus arger, grander one at the end. Probably her destination.


    ¡°I believe I have located what is likely an important location. Proceeding into that location will likely put me into contact with the target. Shall I proceed?¡±


    She paused, awaiting orders.


    ¡°...Yes.¡± A voice came through her earpiece. It wasn¡¯t Asmo¡¯s¡ªthough Asmo had been the one to write it¡ªbut rather, a synthetic voice made by the earpiece. Everything Keiki heard and said was transcribed by the earpiece and sent to the control room, and everything written on Keiki¡¯s Message Paper in the control room would be read out into her ear. That was the inner-workings of these interesting little devices. The Demons had their Communication Crystals that they used, but for the Humans to imitate that technology, they¡¯d clearly needed to take some interesting measures.


    But, in short, it meant that Keiki had received confirmation to move forward with the mission.


    ¡°Proceeding.¡±


    She crept forward, sword drawn, though the wide hallway, boots only barely echoing across the otherwise silent floor. The bricks passed beneath her, and she soon stood before the door.


    With a slight push, she cracked the double-doors open, and put her ear up to listen.


    A manughed within the room. From the sound of the echo, it wasrge. Maybe twenty paces by twenty paces. ¡°Man, shut the fuck up with that shit, man! I got, like, eighty silver from thatst hit. Eighty, man! They were so scared, man, I probably coulda convinced them to pay me a fuckin¡¯ gold! Fuckin¡¯ nobodies, man, don¡¯t know shit about shit. Don¡¯t know what the business is like.¡±


    Anotherughed back. ¡°Eighty?! Man, you¡¯re fucked up, man. You had to be, what, holdin¡¯ ¡®em at swordpoint or somethin¡¯ man, right?¡±


    ¡°Nah, man, I don¡¯t hold clients up. Sword¡¯s for the targets, you know what I¡¯m saying? Guess they probably did see the blood on it though, huh?¡± Heughed. ¡°Clients pay well when you show them the fruits of what they¡¯re payin¡¯ you to do, I guess.¡±


    ¡°I should start bringing heads as proof, man! I¡¯ll start getting gold coins per body from those fuckers!¡±


    ¡°Quiet down, you two,¡± a new voice said. It was deep and gravelly, filling the entire room with every word. ¡°And you will not show fucking heads to our fucking clients. We have to at least <em>pretend</em> to have standards.¡±


    ¡°Right, sir.¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah, uh, sorry, sir.¡±


    The room quieted down after that. Three voices total. Three threats. One of them¡ªthe deep one¡ªwas most likely the target. That meant two enemybatants? However, there could be more that were silent during that conversation.


    ¡°Mission time?¡± Keiki whispered.


    ¡°...Zero one two nine.¡±


    It would likely be unwise for her to stay and wait to find out if there were more threats within. Not only was the time ticking away, but there was also the chance of someone entering the hall she was in. She would simply have to make due with limited information. And, really, her assessment of these individuals was that they simply weren¡¯t threats. The way they spoke, the way they seemed to act, it was clear they werepletely unprofessional. And someone who couldn¡¯t act professional¡ªsomeone without standards¡ªwas simply incapable of acting with enoughpetence to ever pose a threat to anyone who knew what they were doing.


    Keiki pushed the door open a hair wider, so she could peek through. Her initial assessment on the room¡¯s size had been right, she saw¡ªthough it was longer downward than she thought. Running down the two side edges were canals of water from the sewers, and sitting around at tables scattered haphazardly throughout the whole room were individuals. The people she¡¯d heard talking, plus some more.


    And sitting down at the far end of that room was a chair, with a desk. And sitting in that chair, at that desk, was arge man with arge beard. His skin was browned and bumpy, though his head was smoothly bald.


    ¡°Someone get me a ss of ethanol, huh?¡± his gruff voice shouted out to the room.


    There were some grumblings, but two individuals stood up and walked over to a bar at the side of the dark room. If he was drinking straight ethanol, his Endurance was probably sky-high. Though he could also just be a mid-Level drunkard.


    While those people were grabbing him that drink, Keiki slipped into the room. It was borderlinepletely devoid of light, thankfully, only lit by sparse torches¡ªnot even magical illumination. And she was, of course, wearing her Shade Cloak, meaning she¡¯d be scarcely spotted unless she entered the brighter spots near the tables.


    As she crept across the wall by the door, she counted threats.


    ¡°One, two, three, four, five¡­six, counting the target,¡± she whispered. ¡°Engaging in attempt to bring down to¡­two, before negotiations.¡±


    Slowly, she moved up toward the first threat, nearest to her. Older male, probably aged fifty-five. No weapons, meaning either Unssed or Magic-Type. Elderly Magic-Types were always troublesome, of course, due to all that time that can be spent practicing for Spell XP. Though none of that practice could ever get them any more Health, so they were practically begging to be the first victims in an ambush.


    As a Hybrid-Type, the Samurai ss got the privilege of receiving both Martial Arts and Spells¡ªhowever at a reduced rate for both. But Keiki¡¯s particr blend of ingredients in her Status cooked up a particrly swift, and unnoticed, death. For just about anyone who caught themselves on the wrong end of her de.


    First up was her Spell, Silence.


    The room around her went dead quiet. Though nobody was trying to speak right now, so it went unnoticed.


    Then her second Spell, Guided Strike, greatly increasing the damage of her next attack.


    Next up would be her first Martial Art. One which also greatly increased the damage of her next attack¡ªeven more than the Spell¡ªbut only if the target wasn¡¯t looking at you when you hit.


    So she waited a moment, then another, then another, for the perfect time to activate¡­and¡­


    ¡°Engaging.¡±

 Chapter 156.2: Welcome to the Kingdom: Entering

    Chapter 156.2: Wee to the Kingdom: Entering


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    Jon walked down the street of a familiar city¡ªTapinsouth. He had traveled to many cities in the fine Koinkar Kingdom, of course, and this was one of the ones he¡¯d been to in the past. Not too long ago, he remembered. He¡¯d done a mission here, met with a few people in need. It was¡­four years back? Some Purple Drake hit them, spread a gue. He hadn¡¯t done much, but it was more than nothing.


    ¡°Hey! Mister Jon! I remember you!¡± A voice called off from the side of a street.


    He looked over and saw a woman walking down the street turn to him.


    ¡°Mister Jon, it¡¯s me! Marsa.¡±


    ¡°Hello Marsa,¡± he smiled. ¡°Forgive me, but I get my faces and names mixed up so badly these days. Could you remind me¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, yes,¡± sheughed. ¡°I¡¯m sure you know hundreds of people like me, by now. A few years back, my son, he was sick. You healed him. Would¡¯ve cost us a fortune to get a healer otherwise. I just really, really thank you for everything you¡¯ve done for us.¡±


    ¡°Of course. I would never turn down anyone who¡¯s in need.¡±


    ¡°Jon?¡± Another voice asked, behind him. ¡°Jon Mourn?¡±


    He turned and saw a man with kind smile lines in his cheeks. ¡°Hello there.¡±


    ¡°I, wow, I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s really you. I heard about everything you¡¯ve done, and it¡¯s just¡­wow. It¡¯s amazing.¡±


    ¡°It really isn¡¯t,¡± Jon chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m just someone who¡¯s had the luck necessary to do the things anyone else would do in my situation.¡±


    The manughed. ¡°No, you¡¯re amazing, really. I, uh, I actually¡­my wife. She has the flu. And, I mean, you know how these things can go. Right now, she¡¯s still able to do some basic work, but¡­in a week? If we don¡¯t get healing soon, we¡­¡±


    ¡°Of course. Is she able to walk?¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯ll bring her here right away!¡±


    ¡°Good! I¡¯ll stay until you find me,¡± Jon nodded, and the man turned and ran off.


    ¡°Jon Mourn?¡± A third person walked forward from the busy street. ¡°Hey, I heard people talking, and¡­wow, it¡¯s you. Um, hey, I actually got into an adventuring ident earlier, got a sh from a monster. Wound itself isn¡¯t really bad, and it¡¯ll heal eventually, but it¡¯s the Health. I didn¡¯t get as much coin as I hoped from the job, and I really need to go out into the fieldter today to put food on the table. With the jobs avable right now, I have to take abat, but I don¡¯t want to go in so low on Health. So, I mean, if you could¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes,e here,¡± Jonid his hands on the man¡¯s side, where he could see the white bandaging on his abdomen. ¡°Just give me thirty seconds, and this Spell should do the trick. You¡¯ll be topped up, and it¡¯ll probably do something about your scratch, too.¡±


    ¡°Thank you so much.¡±


    ¡°Jon Mourn?¡± Another person stepped out of the crowd. And another.


    Several hours passed with Jon healing the people who came by.


    ¡°Hi, Jon, I don¡¯t actually have any injuries, but¡­I¡¯m really thirsty. I¡¯m a farmer, and our well got contaminated by some rat that fell in there. We¡¯re working on getting it cleaned, but I heard you can help with things like water?¡±


    ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Jon bent over and picked up a rock from the ground. It was a regr stone, same as any other, but he could make it do great things. Closing his eyes, he focused inward and cast another Spell¡ªone of his few that weren¡¯t focused on healing.


    This one, Infuse with the Elements, was an interesting Spell for Clerics. Took quite a bit to cast, but it had so many modes and usages, it was practically a crime not to pick it up, if you were getting to that Level. Especially with its Upgrades, which only added even more modes and variables to tweak while using it.


    So he toggled it on, selecting the modes he wanted. Infuse with the water element, long duration, choosing the pebble in his hand, and¡­it was on. Now he just had to wait. After making those choices, the Spell technically wouldn¡¯t do anything yet. It¡¯d just begin the infusion. It was once the Spell toggled <em>off</em>, and the infusion was finished, that it would begin to have an effect.


    So Jon waited a few seconds for the infusion to take hold. The longer one waited, the more powerful the effect. For this issue, though, it didn¡¯t need to be much.


    ¡°And¡­there,¡± Jon nodded, toggling the Spell off.


    The rock, once ordinary, suddenly began to drip with water, as though it¡¯d just been dunked in a pond. And because of the duration Jon had chosen, it wouldn¡¯t give off much very quickly, but it would keep going for a long, long time.


    He ced the stone in the man¡¯s hand. ¡°Put this in your water bucket. For the next, oh, around two days, it should leak water just like that. Should be enough to fill the bucket once every few hours, I¡¯d say.¡±


    ¡°Oh, Jon, you¡¯re a lifesaver. A real miracle worker,¡± the manughed and looked down at the rock. ¡°How much do you need? I can really pay you anything, I promise.¡±


    ¡°No, no. No payment necessary. Consider it a gift.¡±


    ¡°Well, at least let me reimburse you for the Mana spent. I don¡¯t want to just take that from you.¡±


    ¡°Absolutely not,¡± Jon smiled. ¡°I refuse to take money for my services. That¡¯s my number one rule.¡±


    ¡°I¡­Okay. Okay, Jon, thank you again. I promise, if you ever need anything, just find me!¡±


    ¡°I will.¡±


    ¡°...Jon.¡± A new voice entered his ear. This one was different. Synthetic. ¡°...What are you doing.¡±


    ¡°Asmo,¡± he muttered so that only he could hear¡ªwhich meant one other person could, as well. ¡°I am doing my job.¡±


    ¡°...No. ¡­Your job is to find the target.¡±


    ¡°And what do you think I¡¯m doing? Soon, my friend. Patience is a virtue.¡±


    ¡°...Mission clock is zero four zero zero remaining. ¡­Complete soon. ¡­There are other missions past this one. ¡­Things need to be done.¡±


    ¡°And they will be done. All in good time, my friend.¡±


    ¡°Hey, Jon Mourn?¡± Another person came up to him. ¡°You¡¯re the, uh, healer everyone¡¯s been talking about, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I am,¡± he smiled. ¡°What can I do for you?¡±


    ¡°Got a, uh, pretty nasty wound.¡± He pulled up his shirt to reveal a hole in his stomach. ¡°Can you, uh, do something about that?¡±


    ¡°Of course I can.¡±


    Jon ced his hands on the man¡¯s stomach and cast a basic healing Spell. This one, however, also doubled as a diagnostic. It would tell him anything wrong with this man, in addition to curing him.


    ¡°Just give me about one minute.¡±


    ¡°Sure, sure. Thanks.¡±


    ¡­And, there. Wound made by a sharp object, System notificationbeled it as a¡­¡¯stabbing,¡¯ huh. About six finger-widths deep, two wide, but only a fingernail¡¯s thick. Obviously not a w, or a tooth. A knife. Manmade. And in addition to that, there were many cuts and scrapes covering his body. Most of which were¡­aha, he found. Systembeled them as ¡®self-inflicted.¡¯ Obviously this man wasn¡¯t going around randomly scraping himself up on his palms and his back intentionally, but he clearly had done it to himself.


    And that most likely meant that the man had gotten them by crawling through areas. Areas covered in things that could cut someone. Areas like broken windows. Probably got the cuts on his palms trying to clear the broken ss away before going through. This guy crawled through a window he broke and then got stabbed by someone? Sounded like textbook breaking and entering to Jon.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± the man said, looking down at his newly-mended injuries. ¡°Hey, uh, if you ever need anything, just, uh, ask.¡±


    ¡°Actually,¡± Jon said, ¡°there <em>is</em> one thing you might be able to do for me.¡±


    The man led Jon up to a building down in an unfortunate neighborhood. The building itself looked fine and well-constructed, but the homes and other buildings surrounding it were dpidated and obviously neglected by not only their owners, but also whatever city nners took care of things like roads. ncing around at the people staring at him, they were obviously in need of some help.


    But that woulde a littleter. For now, Jon had a meeting to attend to.


    ¡°So, uh, how did you know I worked for this guy?¡± the man asked Jon as they approached.


    ¡°Just wanted to have a short meeting,¡± Jon said. Then, when he looked over and saw that he hadn¡¯t done much to assuage the man¡¯s worries, he smiled kindly. ¡°It¡¯s nothing serious.¡±


    ¡°Oh, uh, okay.¡±


    They walked up to a door nked by two serious-looking bodyguards. They were wearing civilian clothes that showed off theirrge builds, though Jon couldn¡¯t see any weapons on them.


    ¡°Hey Tuff, hey Joney,¡± the man said, walking up to them. ¡°Can you, uh, let us in?¡±


    ¡°Hey Skinny.¡± The bodyguard on the left said. ¡°Who¡¯s the guy?¡±


    ¡°Oh, this guy? Yeah, uh, he¡¯s just here for a meeting, he said. Really helped me out. Name¡¯s, uh, Jon Mourn, if you¡¯ve heard of him.¡±


    ¡°Haven¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Oh, well, uh, he helps people. A Cleric.¡±


    ¡°Cleric, huh?¡± he looked at Jon. ¡°And what does your Cleric ass need with a guy like our employer?¡±


    ¡°I need a meeting,¡± Jon said with a patient smile. ¡°Unfortunately, the contents of the meeting need to stay private, just between us two. But feel free to check me for weapons or anything like that. You can even damage me to make sure my ss is what I say it is. I¡¯m higher-Level, but just a Cleric.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    It took a few minutes, but after the two bodyguards finished frisking Jon for anything suspicious¡ªthe man who was apparently named Skinny standing around and looking nervous the whole time¡ªone of the bodyguards nodded.


    ¡°Alright. Just look through this mirror here, and the guys inside¡¯ll be notified. Then they can decide if they wanna let you in.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± Jon looked into a mirror on the side of the wall. Probably Enchanted with a scrying effect, or something.


    A few moments passed, and¡­


    <em>Click</em>. The door in front of them unlocked.


    ¡°Alright, Jon, head on in,¡± the bodyguard said. Then, right as Jon was passing by to walk through the door, he ced a hand on Jon¡¯s shoulder. ¡°And don¡¯t do anything stupid, alright? Our employer is not a kind man.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    Jon walked into a room, up in the top floor of the building. He¡¯d been guided up a flight of stairs to this main office, where he now stood. The floors were creaky and wooden, the walls covered in chipped paint. Overall, it didn¡¯t look good. But it was also full of random extravagant pieces of furniture and decoration. A massive painting at least three and a half paces long and two tall, covering almost half of the entire left wall. What seemed to be a grandiose red jewel, lying haphazardly on a wooden podium that was leaned up against a support beam. A gold-trimmed desk that a man was sitting at.


    And the man was who Jon was looking for.


    There were several guards in this room, but Jon didn¡¯t mind them. He was on a mission. To do good in the world. And the key to that mission was sitting at that desk.


    He turned around. A long scar dragged across his face that morphed when the man¡¯s face turned sour. ¡°My name is Emilio. Who are you, and what are you doing here?¡±


    ¡°My name is Jon Morn. And I just want to talk. Nothing serious.¡±

 Chapter 157.1: Distortion

    Chapter 157.1: Distortion


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    The Gloommother charged at me, and I prepared to intercept its attack. It was at least twice my height, and probably weighed at least twenty times what I did. With every stop, another cloud of toxic fumes poured from its trunk into the ground, killing everything nearby.


    The moment it got into range, I hit it with Crippling Chill.


    You have cursed Level 16 Gloommother with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1259.


    With the curse active, the monster slowed even more, stumbling through its already-clumsy movements. It probably had absolute shit Dexterity, if a single Crippling Chill did that much. Gravity Well came next, once it was in range, and while I was at it, I hit it with a Ray of Frost, too, for another 50 damage. With thosebined effects¡ªespecially Gravity Well, since the thing was so massive¡ªI watched it stumble and fall to the ground, its front two legs buckling from underneath it.


    I limped forward, Expedite not quite doing enough to allow me to move perfectly on my own, andid a hand on it, hitting the beast with Noxious Grasp and Sanguine Bond both at once. The moment I did this, it lurched in pain and breathed out a massive cloud of gas, forcing me away or risk taking damage.


    At this point, Cumtive Catastrophe was up to around 20%, meaning my drains were much more effective, but it didn¡¯t seem like they were quite enough to paralyze the creature just yet, as it slowly fought its way back to its feet.


    I took a couple more steps back, taking care to stay within Sanguine Bond¡¯s limit, and held up a hand to shoot off a few more Rays of Frost. 73 damage, then 75, then 80, the damage only grew with each hit because of the continually-stacking buffs of Catastrophe.


    It roared once it was finally back up, bellowing out yet another breath of poison that covered the entire surrounding area. And since I was trying to stay close for Sanguine Bond, it also poked me for a bit.


    You have been poisoned. 11 damage.


    Your Health is 407.


    I took 11 damage, though my Health was actually higher than it¡¯d been at the start of the fight, since Sanguine Bond had healed me by 13 Health already.


    A few more hits with Ray of Frost, bringing the Catastrophe buff up past 40%, and then Crippling Chill wore off, and I recast it to refresh the curse. This time, it was dealing 11 damage per second and draining close to 9 Stamina, and its Dexterity Drain was well over 20. With Ray of Frost¡¯s own buffed effect, <em>plus</em> Gravity Well¡¯s absolutely staggering effect that was now doubling the beast¡¯s weight, it fell over once again, this time not getting back to its feet.


    I took a step forward andid my hand on it to finish it off. I tried to use as many Sanguine Bonds as possible while doing this, rather than Noxious Grasp, since that way I could restore Health in the process.


    You have been poisoned. 8 damage.


    Your Health is 408.


    Though, of course, the constant damage from the poison fumes leaking from the thing¡¯s trunk caused that healing to have a severely diminished effect. It was still a positive, though, so whatever.


    It took a while, but eventually the thing died. By the time that happened, all the grass in the entire field I was in had gonepletely gray¡ªthe grass lying under the monster¡¯s trunk had actually gone further, fully turning to dust and disintegrating from the constant spew of the purple mist. But I was happy, and a good bit richer in XP from the encounter.


    You have in Level 16 Gloommother.


    You have earned 113 XP. Your XP is 547.


    Well, not that much richer. Really,pared to the next Level¡¯s requirement of 3000, 100 was a pittance. But it seemed like these things just weren¡¯t all that bountiful when it came to XP rewards. Though, considering the fact that I came away from the fight <em>higher</em> in Health than when I started, I supposed I couldn¡¯tin much.


    I took a step back from the monster¡¯s massive corpse, looking down to realize that there were two spots of grass by the monster that were still alive. It was the ce I was standing when I killed the thing, where my feet were nted. I chuckled. Seemed like those des were protected because of my covering them up while the monster breathed those final breaths of toxins. Certainly looked funny, the two foot-shaped spots of green in the field of gray surrounding the dead animal.


    With that done, I turned around and walked back to the spot Erani was sitting.


    ¡°What happened while you were out?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Talked to the neighbors. What about with you?¡±


    ¡°Failed to make a decision.¡±


    I chuckled. ¡°You want me to help?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I was hoping maybe Index could give some insight on this.¡±


    ¡°What, you don¡¯t value my all-important feedback?¡± I joked. ¡°I¡¯m hurt.¡±


    ¡°Well, I imagine Index¡¯s literal omniscient perspective would be slightly more valuable,¡± she said. ¡°But I¡¯m willing to take suggestions from both sides.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, ¡°Index definitely has some misses. Probably shouldn¡¯t take everything it says at face value. Some of its rmendations are¡­suboptimal, in my opinion.¡±


    ¡°Well I¡¯d take any rmendation at all, honestly. Even the suboptimal ones. You mind telling me what it thinks?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°Hey, Index, you wanna listen to her options and give some insight on¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh, Erani definitely needs to take option three,¡± it said.


    I blinked. ¡°W-what?¡±


    ¡°I know what she¡¯s worried about. Tell her to take option three. Strike.¡±


    ¡°Okay? Hey, uh, Index says to pick option three. Something called Strike?¡±


    ¡°Wait, what? For the Spells? I wasn¡¯t even going to ask about that.¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± Index said.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Erani frowned. ¡°Okay. I get what you meant by suboptimal rmendations.¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± Index said, ¡°I¡¯m definitely correct on this one. Tell her to hear me out.¡±


    ¡°Uh, Index is pretty confident in its rmendation. I guess we can listen to its reasoning?¡±


    Erani sighed. ¡°Sure. But after that, you two seriously need to help with picking this gods-damned Talent.¡±

 Chapter 157.2: Distortion

    Chapter 157.2: Distortion


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    Erani sat with her eyes closed, having been keeping in her meditative state for what felt like forever, as she heard An take a seat next to her.


    ¡°So, you mind telling me what your options are?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Oh, right, I forgot you didn¡¯t know yet. I guess your Index thing already knows everything about the Sorcerer ss?¡±


    ¡°Supposedly. Knows everything about everything when ites to the System.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Erani said, pulling up the choices, ¡°so here they are.¡±


    Choose one Talent to obtain:


    Mind Over Matter


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Harness the power of your mind to bolster your physical abilities. For every 10 Conjuration you have, your Strength and Dexterity are each increased by 1.


    Elemental Embrace


    Type: Activated


    Cost: Health, Stamina, and Mana equal to 5% of your maximum Mana <em>(94.5 Health, Stamina, and Mana)</em>


    ¡ª


    Your body and spirit be in tune with the elements, enhancing your offensive Spells. Whenever you cast an Elemental-School Spell that deals damage <em>(Cold, Fire, Aqueous, etc.)</em>, you may activate this Talent to trigger an Elemental Surge. The Surge increases the Spell''s damage by 400% and infuses it with a secondary effect rted to the Spell¡¯s Elemental School and scaling in power with damage dealt, such as burning, freezing, or stunning the target.


    Expanded Capacity II


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Your Mana reserves be more plentiful. Maximum Mana is increased by 100%. Taking this Talent reces Expanded Capacity.


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Force Spike


    School: Alteration, Arcane


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 55 Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a wave of force that travels 10 paces, dealing up to 50 damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being. When Force Spike damages a being, 20% of the damage dealt is returned as a force shield that protects you from that much damage from a future hit, wearing off after use or 15 seconds after application.


    Torpor Orb


    School: Summoning


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 400 Mana


    ¡ª


    Summons a small orb. While a being is within 50 paces of the orb, that being loses 1% of their current Stamina every second.


    The orb will only affect the five nearest beings at any given time.


    After 3 minutes, the orb crumbles to dust.


    Distortion Strike


    School: Alteration, Illusion


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 0.5 Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    While active, you are Shaded, making you slightly harder to notice in the dark. When you damage a being with your body or a physical weapon while Shaded, you may deactivate Distortion Strike and spend 30 Mana to appear in a bright sh of light and deal an additional 2 damage for each second you were Shaded, with a maximum of 200 additional damage.


    ¡°Huh,¡± An said after she was done reading them all out, ¡°and Index, you say that, for the Spells, the pick is definitely Distortion Strike?¡±


    He paused for a moment. This was how most of his conversations with this ¡°Index¡± thing went, with him asking a question, and then sitting in awkward silence while he listened for an answer.


    ¡°Uh huh,¡± An muttered, ¡°but I don¡¯t see how that¡­¡±


    So apparently he was being filled in by the thing. Honestly, Erani felt kind of left out, not being able to hear this apparently perspective-changing information. Sure, he could just ry it to her, but like, what did Index sound like? Was it a guy or a girl? Did it even sound like anything? It was strange, having someone in the room with her that she couldn¡¯t see, hear, or in any way perceive.


    ¡°Right, right, so if she uses it then¡­¡± he continued on to himself. Then Erani heard him speak again, now directed at her, ¡°Hey, what¡¯s your Mana/Minute?¡±


    ¡°...22.7. Why?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, that¡¯s perfect,¡± he went back to his muttering. ¡°Well, I guess not perfect, but close to it. With just¡­how many more Levels? ¡­Yep. Yeah, I¡¯d say it¡¯s worth it anyway. And she could keep it up for how long? ¡­Mhm. Certainly long enough, in my opinion.¡±


    ¡°So, you wanna tell me what you¡¯ve figured out?¡± Erani finally asked.


    ¡°Oh, yeah, forgot you couldn¡¯t hear,¡± An said with a chuckle. She''d be upset at his absent-mindedness if hisugh wasn''t so cute. ¡°Basically, so you know how we need to¡­oh, wait. Index, can you check around the surrounding area for me really quick? Make sure those guards aren¡¯t in earshot. ¡­Thanks.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re good?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, we¡¯re good. So you know how we need to hide our identities, right? I mean, I have to keep Dark te on basically at all times, and everything. So the question is, how do we hide <em>your </em>identity? I mean, it hasn¡¯t really been a problem so far, since we¡¯ve pretty much only seen three people, but what about when we¡¯re in a popted area? Or what if the kingdom decides to send over detailed portraits to all of the towns near Kingdom¡¯s Edge, since they know we¡¯ll be near that area? My face is concealed, and Ainash went through an evolution recently, so she¡¯s gonna look different from what people know her as, too. You¡¯re pretty much thest person who we need to hide.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.¡±


    ¡°So the question is, how do we do it? I mean, as-is, our only real solution is to just keep you away from any popted towns, which will obviously cause problems if you¡¯re consistently split away from me and Ainash. But, ording to Index, Distortion Strike could be a solution.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Oh, are you talking about the ¡®slightly harder to spot in the dark¡¯ use? Some people mistake that for, like, full invisibility while you¡¯re standing in shade, but that¡¯s not how it works. It¡¯s a pretty minor thing, and only really helps if you¡¯re already trying to stay hidden, from what I¡¯ve read about it. More of an assist to an attempt at stealth, rather than something that can just totally hide you.¡±


    ¡°No, no, that¡¯s not the point. You¡¯d stay inplete sight the whole time. So, okay, the way Index talks about it, it seems like the ¡®slightly harder to spot in the dark¡¯ thing isn¡¯t conditional, right? It isn¡¯t ¡®you¡¯re slightly harder to spot <em>while</em> you are in the dark.¡¯¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Like, you¡¯re always being changed. No matter what, there¡¯s this change going on to your appearance, it¡¯s just that the change is going to make it harder for people to see you while it¡¯s dark out. But even if it isn¡¯t dark out, you still look different. It¡¯s not like the Spell does nothing if it isn¡¯t dark out, and onlyes into effect when it is. It¡¯s always doing <em>something</em>, that something just won¡¯t be useful until you¡¯re standing in the shade. At least, it wouldn¡¯t normally be useful.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Erani nodded. ¡°Yeah, I guess I didn¡¯t think about it like that. None of the books I read even mentioned the fact that it¡¯d constantly keep your appearance changed.¡±


    ¡°Probably just didn¡¯t find it important to mention. But for us, it¡¯s crucial. The cost of the Spell is cheap, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, half a Mana per second. The real costes when I hit someone while it¡¯s active.¡±


    ¡°Great. So, Index went ahead and did the math, and with your current Mana/Minute, if you start out with a full pool of Mana, you can keep the Spell active for close to four and a half hours. And the moment your Mana/Minute passes 30, you¡¯ll be able to keep it on perpetually, as long as you never damage anything to trigger the costly part.¡±


    ¡°Okay, so, what, we¡¯d be using the Spell for the sole purpose of altering my appearance, then? How does it even make me look different? Is it enough to make it so people can¡¯t recognize me?¡±


    ¡°Index says so. Can¡¯t say much about specific changes¡ªI apparently can¡¯t really be told anything considered to be ¡®concealed information¡¯ by the System when ites to other peoples¡¯ sses and choices, since they have nothing to do with me, and the actual ways it changes your appearance falls under that, I guess. But it can tell me about the specific wording and stuff, so that was fair game. Bit of a loophole, I guess. Index seems to find a lot of those.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s certainly useful,¡± Erani took a breath, trying to process the information she¡¯d just gotten. That changed¡­everything. Distortion Strike may have encouraged a fighting style that was suboptimal, but if it allowed her to hide her identity, that kind of came before everything else, right?


    Really, if she didn¡¯t take the Spell, even if she was able to safely avoid going into popted areas, that would only be pushing the problem further down the line. Someone woulde across her in the wilderness, or maybe the empire would send out hunting patrols for her if the Demons pressured them, or whatever. Running and hiding just would not be a viable strategy for the rest of her life. If something could actually let her integrate normally¡­there was no way she could just <em>not</em> take that, right?


    ¡°So anyway, now that that¡¯s settled, Talents?¡± An said, breaking her out of her thoughts.


    ¡°Yes, yes, Talents. I¡¯ve just about narrowed them down to being between Elemental Embrace and Expanded Capacity II.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Index? You got anything for me? ¡­Mhm. ¡­Okay. ¡­Alright, so do you have any idea what your future Spell Choices will be, if you pick Distortion Strike?¡±


    ¡°Oh, are you talking to me?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, Index can¡¯t tell me what you¡¯ll be getting in the future. Do you know?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Really, at this point, Erani¡¯s research began to face its limits. Even with just considering the number of paths from four total Spells, she¡¯d still be looking at a total of eighty-one different Spells to memorize. And when it was a path as umon as moving into Strike at choice three, her memory wasn¡¯t perfect. However¡­ ¡°I think I remember the basics. At least, I remember that there <em>is</em> a Cold-School Spell that¡¯lle after Strike. Or was it Aqueous? Not sure, but I know it¡¯s one of the Elemental Schools, so it should work with Embrace.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Index, do you¡­uh huh? ¡­Okay. Yeah, alright, so I guess Index thinks Elemental Embrace is the better choice here. Its reasoning is less about the unique information it has, and more about generalbat strategy, though. And I do agree with what it¡¯s saying.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s it have to say?¡±


    ¡°So, basically, with mybat style, I effectively get stronger the longer a fight goes on. And, when we work together, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve noticed that I obviously rely on you a lot to keep me safe during those first moments of a fight when I¡¯m weakest. But once the fight¡¯s gone on for a bit and you¡¯re running out of Mana, suddenly I¡¯m much stronger, and I can make up for your deficiencies. Effectively, if you take Expanded Capacity II, you¡¯ll just be making yourself a bit less weak in thoseter moments of a fight. But we don¡¯t have any issues withter on in a fight, because my abilities can cover that just fine. Instead, something like Elemental Embrace works to make you even better in the area you specialize in: fast damage early on. Which is something I¡¯m personally pretty horrible at doing. So if we both push our builds to specialize in our respective areas, we can make it basically impossible for an enemy to really take advantage of any of our weaknesses.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Well¡­yeah, I guess I can¡¯t really argue with that logic,¡± Erani said. It made sense, when put like that. She¡¯d been so focused on trying to figure out how the differences in her own build changed what choices she¡¯d have to make, and kind of disregarded the fact that there were other people around too, who also influenced what the optimal build would be. Really¡­the Talent choice wasn¡¯t too difficult at all, was it? It was literally just ¡®keep going in the direction you¡¯re specializing in.¡¯


    So she took a breath, instinctively wincing from a pang of anxiety that always came from making decisions like these, and pushed through the changes before she could change her mind.


    You have obtained the Talent Elemental Embrace.


    You have learned the Spell Distortion Strike.


    I sat and rested with Erani once she was done making her choices. It was relieving to know we wouldn¡¯t have topletely hide her from sight, or anything¡ªthough we weren¡¯t totally off the hook when it came to hiding our identities. While a few hours was a lot of time, it¡¯d be an issue if she was forced to stay out in the open with no rest for an extended period of time.


    One basic issue with the Spell was the fact that, like all others, it Ranked up automatically with use. Which meant that, especially with the fact that her Soft Cap was above 10, it¡¯d pretty quickly get more expensive. By the time it got to Rank 9¡ªwhere it¡¯d stop since it needed a Spell Crystal to move further¡ªit¡¯d only go from needing 0.5 Mana per second to needing 0.625 per second, but still kind of an annoyance. Still, that issue could easily be solved by just not using a Spell Crystal once it got there, so she¡¯d still eventually pass the Spell¡¯s cost with her Mana/Minute.


    We just sat and rested for a while after she finished meditating, waiting for Ainash to get some sleep. And then, once she was up, we¡¯d head out to town. To civilization.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said to Erani, ¡°you want to test out Distortion Strike while we wait? May as well see how it looks.¡±


    ¡°Oh, sure. I¡¯m pretty curious, too, really.¡±


    She scooted over so we were facing each other.


    ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see this,¡± I heard Index suddenly say.


    <em>What? Why? Don¡¯t you already know?</em>


    ¡°Well, I do have all of the information on how it works, but I still haven¡¯t technically seen it used on a person. I was only born when you created me, you know. So I haven''t seen much at all. But from what I know, it¡¯s going to be a¡­dramatic change. Seems interesting.¡±


    ¡°Okay, you ready?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Sure. Index is excited, too.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Guess we¡¯ll see.¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°Alright. Three, two, one, and¡­¡±


    She toggled it on.


    My eyes widened, looking at her. ¡°...Woah.¡±

 Eranis Fully-Expanded as of Chapter 157: (Not a Chapter)

    Erani''s Fully-Expanded as of Chapter 157: (Not a Chapter)


    Name:


    Erani Wos


    Age:


    23


    Strength:


    50 (10 + 40)


    ss:


    Sorcerer


    Level:


    20


    Endurance:


    50 (10 + 40)


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    91/3.0k


    Dexterity:


    50 (10 + 40)


    Health:


    327/500


    Health/Minute:


    0.21


    Conjuration:


    126


    Stamina:


    291/300


    Stamina/Minute:


    1.8


    Mana:


    1.89k/1.89k


    Mana/Minute:


    22.68


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>Distortion Strike - XP 0/0</strong>


    <strong>Elemental Embrace</strong>


    Devastator


    Angelic Shield 9 - XP 355/355


    Signature Magic


    Firebolt <strong>19</strong> (<strong>10</strong>) - XP <strong>112</strong>/<strong>461</strong>


    +Explosive Firebolt


    Primal Might


    Expanded Capacity


    You have a Bond with Level 32 Draconiad.


    For as long as you are within 1000 paces of Level 32 Draconiad, you gain the following effects:


    -Your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are each increased by <strong>40</strong>.


    -Whenever Draconiad gains XP, you also gain <strong>20</strong>% of that XP.


    -You gain <strong>71</strong>% Resistance to all heat-based damage.


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>Distortion Strike 0</strong>


    School: Alteration, Illusion


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: 0.5 Mana/Second


    ¡ª


    While active, you are Shaded, making you slightly harder to notice in the dark. When you damage a being with your body or a physical weapon while Shaded, you may deactivate Distortion Strike and spend 30 Mana to appear in a bright sh of light and deal an additional 2 damage for each second you were Shaded, with a maximum of 200 additional damage.


    <strong>Elemental Embrace</strong>


    Type: Activated


    Cost: Health, Stamina, and Mana equal to 5% of your maximum Mana <em>(94.5 Health, Stamina, and Mana)</em>


    ¡ª


    Your body and spirit be in tune with the elements, enhancing your offensive Spells. Whenever you cast an Elemental-School Spell that deals damage <em>(Cold, Fire, Aqueous, etc.)</em>, you may activate this Talent to trigger an Elemental Surge. The Surge increases the Spell''s damage by 400% and infuses it with a secondary effect rted to the Spell¡¯s Elemental School and scaling in power with damage dealt, such as burning, freezing, or stunning the target.


    Devastator


    <em>You have taken a risk and killed enough enemies that, in a single minute, you have gained three or more Levels. For many, gambles like that cost them their lives. For you, it paid off. Greed is good.</em>


    All enemies you contribute to killing provide 25% more XP.


    Angelic Shield Rank 9


    School: Divine


    Type: Passive


    Cost: <strong>2.5</strong> Mana per 1 Damage Prevented


    ¡ª


    Automatically casts upon taking damage, spending <strong>2.5</strong> Mana to prevent each 1 point of damage. Attempting to prevent more than <strong>35.4</strong> damage this way in a single second breaks the shield, making this Spell unable to activate for <strong>23.2</strong> seconds.


    Primal Might


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    When a projectile Spell you fire would deal maximum damage due to having perfect uracy, it deals 50% more damage.


    Firebolt Rank <strong>19</strong>


    +Explosive Firebolt


    School: Fire


    Type: Activated


    Cost: <strong>58.7</strong> Mana


    ¡ª


    Shoots a small ball of fire that travels up to <strong>75.7</strong> paces, exploding when it collides with something. Deals up to <strong>189</strong> damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being.


    Firebolt explodes upon impact, damaging and knocking back all beings within 5 paces, with severity depending on how close they are to the source of the explosion.


    Expanded Capacity


    Type: Passive


    ¡ª


    Your Mana reserves be more plentiful. Maximum Mana is increased by 50%.

 Chapter 158: Apparition

    Chapter 158: Apparition


    While we waited for Ainash to wake up, we decided to see how Distortion Strike worked when it came to altering Erani¡¯s appearance. So, she toggled it on, and¡­


    ¡°Woah.¡±


    Index had been right, it certainly changed her appearance to a point where she was unrecognizable. But it wasn¡¯t anything like a simple makeover. The moment she toggled the Spell on, it felt like a cloud of darkness overtook her, turning her skin an ashen shade of gray and recing her eyes with hollow pits of darkness. Her face was gaunt and I somehow felt a sinister energy radiating from her, despite her not actually doing anything different.


    Her entire body looked cloaked in smoke and shadows, but when I looked down to actually focus on the smoke, I saw that there was nothing there. Like an illusion that only existed in your peripheral vision, fleeing from sight whenever you attempted to look at it. In fact, it felt difficult to really focus on any individual feature of her body, face, anything. Any time I tried to, my mind swirled and my eyes seemed to automatically drift away from whatever I was attempting to look at. An extremely disorienting feeling.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Erani asked.


    Her voice was like a loud whisper, somehow deathly quiet while being able to be heard perfectly well. I had a feeling she was trying to talk normally, only the Spell was renovating her speech, as well. She looked down at herself, that illusory smoke drifting off her hair in a way that made it sort of look like she was underwater, with it lingering, suspended wherever it had been before she moved. But still, whenever I tried to actually look at the smoke, it disappeared from my vision as though it had never been there, and I was crazy for having seen it.


    ¡°Is it working?¡± she continued. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything different.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t see anything?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah, you definitely look different. Like apletely separate person. Not even a person, really. Like a monster.¡±


    She leaned back, surprised at my words. ¡°Really? I feel like I look the exact same.¡±


    ¡°Do you at least hear how your voice is different?¡±


    Now she brought up her hand to her mouth absentmindedly, as though feeling to make sure her lips were still there. Which they were, however shadowy and distorted they looked. ¡°What do you mean? How¡¯s it different? Do I sound bad?¡±


    Iughed. ¡°No, I guess it isn¡¯t a <em>bad</em> change, just¡­kinda scary. When you talk, it feels like you¡¯re right behind me, whispering directly into my ear. Honestly, if I had my eyes closed and couldn¡¯t see you, I¡¯d have no idea how to tell where you are based just on where your voice ising from.¡±


    ¡°I seriously can¡¯t feel any difference.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. ¡®Harder to notice in the dark¡¯ is the understatement of the century,¡± I said with a chuckle. ¡°I mean, I get what it means. None of these changes make you any more concealed when it¡¯s bright out¡ªeven when it¡¯s halfway between day and night, like right now. But if it were pitch ck out? I mean, your skin, the smoke¡­you¡¯d blend right in.¡±


    ¡°Wait, it¡¯s changing my skin color?<em> Smoke?¡±</em> I could just barely see Erani¡¯s eyes widen through the murky pits that currently made up her eye sockets.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. So, like, you look¡­gray, now. And if I don¡¯t look at you directly, it almost seems like there¡¯s this mist, or smoke, surrounding your body. Again, if it were dark out, you¡¯d probablyplement the environment so well, I¡¯d never think there was a person sitting in front of me unless I looked directly at you. Oh, and obviously, you look totally different. No way I¡¯d say you were the same Erani I knew,¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°I mean, I guess I¡¯m d people won¡¯t recognize me, but¡­do I really look that bad?¡±


    ¡°No, no, like I said, you don¡¯t look <em>bad</em>,¡± I said, leaning over and wrapping an arm around her. When I did so, I found that most of the new elements like the smoke and gaunt features were illusions, just like the Spell said. My hand touched her true body and pulled her close. ¡°It looks cool. Just different. Like, you¡¯ll probably scare off a few people, but you¡¯ll look awesome doing it.¡±


    ¡°How does <em>that</em> work?¡± sheughed.


    ¡°Well, Ainash put those sentries on-guard from how she looked, right? But you don¡¯t think she looks ugly, do you?¡±


    ¡°...I guess,¡± Erani said hesitantly. ¡°I¡¯d really like to look in a mirror or something, though.¡±


    ¡°Would it even show up in a mirror? If you can¡¯t see it now, I don¡¯t see why a reflection would contain the Spell¡¯s effects for you, either.¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know, I¡¯ll get someone to paint me or something, then,¡± she sighed, exasperated.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to have the money to spare for that,¡± I chuckled. ¡°We¡¯re kind of, y¡¯know,pletely broke, currently.¡±


    Now it was like I could feel her rolling her eyes. ¡°Okay. Sure. Fine.¡±


    ¡°You gotta get those expensive tastes in check, rich girl,¡± I said with a wink. ¡°We¡¯re gonna be roughing it for a while.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, like I haven¡¯t been getting used to it this whole time?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, you were out there eating out at fancy restaurants every day, I¡¯m just making sure you don¡¯t bankrupt us when you get back into old habits.¡±


    ¡°As if,¡± she chuckled. ¡°You¡¯ll probably be the one bankrupting us, with all of those Spells you need to Upgrade. All of those Crystals, we¡¯ll be saving up for them for months.¡±


    ¡°Well, not really,¡± I said. ¡°I can just use them and go back in time to before we even bought them, remember? Even if they have them locked up so I wouldn¡¯t be able to just steal them and go back in time, we only actually need enough money for one before I can effectively Upgrade all of them.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right, I forgot about that,¡± she said. ¡°So disorienting to remember you have all of these experiences that I¡¯ll never see.¡±


    ¡°Actually,¡± I said, remembering I¡¯d never told her about what Index had told me, ¡°it might not be forever.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s wait until Ainash is awake, so I can exin it to both of you. It¡¯s definitely something you should both hear. But I think there¡¯s some serious potential in our future.¡±


    We waited a few hours before Ainash awoke, and then headed out, down the road and to the city. It was solidly into morning by now, and over the time that¡¯d passed, I was able to spend my Mana on Noxious Grasp rather than Expedite, since I was sitting and not moving around. The spell passed 1000 Spell XP during that time, so it was now over halfway to its next Rank. At this point, I felt a bit of urgency in Ranking the Spell up, since, once it got to Rank 20, I¡¯d actually be able to Upgrade it instead of getting stuck there. And a second Upgrade on an already solid Spell would help my build quite a bit.


    Once we began walking, I went ahead and exined to Erani and Ainash what Index had told me about Time Loop¡¯s Upgrade. Specifically, about how we might be able to use the Bond to keep everyone¡¯s memories throughout Time Loops.


    ¡°Wait, really?¡± Erani said when I was done. ¡°I¡¯ll be able to remember?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what it sounded like. Index said the method to get it to that point ¡®won¡¯t be obscure,¡¯ so presumably we just need to keep doing what we¡¯re doing and then we¡¯ll get there naturally? Or maybe once I get to a certain point with my Familiarity with the Bond or whatever, it¡¯ll be able to give us some more info on what, exactly, needs to be done.¡±


    ¡°Holy shit,¡± she said under her breath. ¡°Time travel.¡±


    ¡°Did you not think it was real before?¡± Iughed. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t have thought the possibility would be so shocking.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s just¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t think that would ever be something I could do anything more than hear described to me. To think that I might be able to experience it¡­¡±


    <em>¡°Mother, it is very cool!¡±</em> Ainash said. <em>¡°Is all like, wow! Remember! Dragon! Humans! Nauseous! Want to throw up! Bad guy! And then can do stuff because remember!¡±</em>


    Iughed at Ainash¡¯s excited exnation of her own experience with keeping her memories. She certainly made it sound exciting.


    ¡°So, how do we get it?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Well, Index couldn¡¯t actually say that,¡± I shrugged. ¡°But I guess the method will be revealed to us? The way that it spoke about things, I have to assume it¡¯ll either be tied to the Bond reaching a certain Rank, or to Ainash reaching a certain Level.¡±


    ¡°So, what? We just¡­power-Level her?¡±


    Iughed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯ve gotten to a point where power-Leveling has be a normal, eptable suggestion.¡±


    ¡°Okay, sure, maybe that¡¯s a bit far. But we can¡¯t really speed up pushing the Bond to higher Ranks, so the only thing we really can control is her Level. So we just push that as far as we can, and see if it works.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re really eager to get this done, huh?¡±


    ¡°Of course I am. It¡¯s time travel! How could I <em>not</em> want to experience that?¡±


    ¡°It certainly is an interesting experience. We¡¯ll have to go on a time date, or something,¡± Iughed.


    ¡°Time date?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, like, a date where we just do whatever we want, and then go back in time, and boom. No consequences. Rob a bank just to see if we could get away with it. That sort of thing.¡±


    ¡°That seems like a¡­great idea, actually.¡±


    ¡°You were about to say it was a horrible idea, and then you changed your mind?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not sure I want to rob a bank specifically¡ª<em>that</em> sounds awful and stressful¡ªbut maybe it could be nice.¡±


    ¡°Man,¡± I sighed, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ll get to remember everything now. I won¡¯t be able to do all that weird stuff to you and then go back in time and you¡¯ll forget it.¡±


    ¡°Wait, <em>what</em> weird stuff?!¡±


    Iughed. ¡°Nothing, rx. I¡¯m joking.¡±


    ¡°You better be.¡± She backed away like a threatened maiden, but I could tell she was ying into the joke, too.


    I looked forward to the long road ahead of us. I was so used to either being in a thick forest or a massive mountain range, it was strange to be able to see so far in every direction, ins on every side. I could even spot more of those Gloomspur things that Bon had fought before in the distance, roaming the fields and killing all the grass they touched.


    But either way, the road stretched to society. What was on either side of it didn¡¯t matter. People, housing, <em>food</em>. I¡¯d have to use Expedite on myself so I could walk on my own, meaning we wouldn¡¯t be able to travel any faster than a normal group of people, but even then, we¡¯d definitely reach those town walls by the end of today. So we pushed onward.


    Hours passed uneventfully. We talked about what we wanted to do once we got to town¡ªI personally wanted to show Ainash what a bed was, but Erani wanted to take a bath¡ªbut other than that, most of our journey was made in silence. No monster attacks or ambushes, we didn¡¯t even pass any travelers along the road. But I did still keep Dark te on at all times just in case we saw someone, and Erani was sure to have Distortion Strike ready to activate at any time. No sense in taking needless risks when it came to our identities¡ªthose border guards knowing Erani¡¯s face was already pushing it.


    So the time passed to midday, to afternoon, to evening, until finally, once the sun began to set behind the rolling hills in the distance, I began to be able to make out some detail in the town. As we approached it, I saw that the walls looked rtively normal, protecting the core popce while some farmers stuck on the outside to utilize the vastnd to cultivate their crops.


    Farmers tended to be old, retired ssers, since the extra Stats could help them care for their fields and the power could keep them safe from any threats that got past the adventurers clearing out local monster poptions. Some of the Magic-Types could even use Spells to elerate their crops¡¯ growth.


    At least in Koinkar, lots of the bigger cities didn¡¯t actually have farms outside their walls, however. Since they¡¯d naturally have higher-Leveled individuals in their midst, some of those Magic-Types could specialize so far into the crop cultivation path of Spells that they could single-handedly feed an entire district off of only a couple houses worth ofnd.


    Sometimes, when one of those powerful ssers feeding so many people died, they¡¯d have to spread out into the outsidend and the city would have to up its spending to fend off monsters much more aggressively because of this, but generally speaking, the ideal scenario would be for everyone to be safe within them, so then the city could focus on only hiring people to kill the ones that could threaten to actually break through those walls, greatly helping the financial situation of the settlement.


    So, when I saw the sprawling farms outside the town, I knew this ce probably wasn¡¯t the wealthiest of settlements. But I didn¡¯t care too much about that. A town was a town, and a bed was a bed.


    As we crested a hill, I spotted down below, the gates leading inside. There wasn¡¯t even a line to get in. Just a couple guards standing outside.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°Erani, turn on your Spell. Let¡¯s make a new home.¡±

 Chapter 159.1: Salvation

    Chapter 159.1: Salvation


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    The three of us walked down the path, approaching the town we¡¯d just arrived in. It was well into evening by now, with the sun setting behind us, so I was more than ready to just get in and retire¡ªthough we¡¯d probably have to find some way to make at least enough money to get a room for the night, first. We could probably just find a quick and easy job toplete; with our mid-Level Statuses, I had no doubt there¡¯d be some decent-paying job out there for us.


    The town itself looked rather quaint, though I couldn¡¯t see into the walls yet. But there were no massive, towering buildings like the clock tower back in Carth, and the walls themselves looked pretty standard, being made out of that same magically-cut stone the outpost was with Bon and the rest of the guards. There were no guards that seemed to be manning the ramparts, either, only the gate itself, so ideally this ce wouldn¡¯t have too much in the realm ofw enforcement. I didn¡¯t n onmitting murder or anything, but the less scrutiny on us, the better.


    So we walked up to the walls. The pair of guards standing at the gate, upon spotting us, instinctively reached for their weapons once we were in sight. One with a sword¡ªprobably a Swordsman, like usual¡ªand the other actually had a staff. Staffs were an interesting item; they were effectively vessels for Magic-Types to use Enchantments with, sort of like Ripley¡¯s Enchanted axe that drained my Health after it hit me.


    Technically, the Enchantments used on staves¡ªones that modified Spells that were cast through them, typically¡ªcould be used on any type of item out there, but people preferred them on long wooden sticks for a few reasons, from what I¡¯d heard. As opposed to putting the Enchantments on something like a sword, which could serve as a weapon if things went bad, wooden staffs were light and easy to use, and they were also cheaper to manufacture. Since most Enchanted gear came with additional Enchantments to harden it and make it unlikely to break, the difference between metal and wood was almost entirely one of weight and cost, and pretty much nothing else. And, in addition to this, staves had to be manually pointed at a target in order to aim ranged Spells, so having something long and maneuverable was nice when trying to do things like fight from behind cover.


    But not all¡ªor even most¡ªMagic-Types used staves, and that pretty much entirely came down to the problem of cost. Even though most ssers wouldn¡¯t have too much trouble finding employment as long as they lived in the right area, being able to spare enough money to spend on a well-made Enchantment was more than most could afford. Or, rather, they had more important things to buy. Housing, food, even just some nice clothes and materialforts. If you could get the job done just fine now, why spend so much on something that¡¯ll just make it a little easier? That was the attitude of most.


    So seeing someone with a staff, it was a bit jarring.


    ¡°You think they spend much on their military?¡± I asked Erani as we approached. ¡°Might be an issue if they do.¡±


    ¡°Could also be a personal item, just something he brings to the job for the sake of safety, or something.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well hopefully we won¡¯t have to find out what the thing does.¡±


    The Swordsman among the pair looked up and spotted us approaching, reaching for his weapon seemingly out of instinct. Considering the way the three of us looked, I didn¡¯t exactly me him; I was wearing a full suit of dark te armor, Erani looked like aplete monster if you weren¡¯t staring directly at her, and Ainash literally <em>was</em> a monster.


    To assuage their fears, I raised my hand and gave as friendly a wave as possible. The guard, not breaking his stare at us, reached over and tapped hispanion on the shoulder, gesturing at us. The Magic-Type looked at us suspiciously, but at least didn¡¯t actively point his staff at us, or anything.


    ¡°Friendly!¡± I called out as we closed the distance. ¡°Sorry if we startled you.¡±


    They rxed at my words, and we finally got up to them. The Swordsman was taller, with a growing beard, while the Magic-Type was clearly much younger, newbie eyes filled with fear at our appearances.


    The Swordsman spoke up as we stopped in front of the closed gate. ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m Annor Tor, and this is mypanion, Eita Niin, and our, uh, pet.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re¡­wait, hold on. Just what in the mes are you?¡±


    ¡°Like¡­species? We¡¯re Human.¡±


    ¡°Then why¡¯s she got a bunch of¡­¡± he looked over at Erani, focusing on her so he could name the charactics he saw, but of course, the moment he looked closely, most of the strange things about her would have disappeared from his sight. ¡°Sh-she looks weird. Why¡¯s she look like that? And you¡¯ve got smokeing out of your eyes. You a Living Armor, or something?¡±


    ¡°The hells is a Living Armor?¡± I asked. ¡°Listen, she¡¯s practicing a Spell right now, and I¡¯m wearing some Enchanted gear. That¡¯s why we look like this. Put us under a Truth Stone if you want. It¡¯ll agree with me.¡±


    ¡°Can you just take off your helmet, or something? Don¡¯t like looking at you like that.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t. Like I said, it¡¯s specially Enchanted. Grafted onto me. Can¡¯t take it off.¡±


    ¡°Grafted onto your¡ª¡± he shook his head, muttering curses to himself. ¡°That¡¯s a load of horseshit. You just haven¡¯t pulled hard enough.¡±


    He walked up, reaching out to grab onto my helmet and yank it off, and I panicked. If he tried to, he¡¯d be totally able to take off my helmet; my im that he wouldn¡¯t be able to was a bold-faced lie. But if I shoved him away or tried to tell him not to, wouldn¡¯t that just make him more suspicious?


    He grabbed onto my visor, and just as he began to pull, I did the only thing I could think of and activated Noxious Grasp.


    The moment I did, he yelped and pulled his hand back. ¡°What in the¡­¡¯infected with noxious gas?¡¯ Double Stamina loss? What did you do to me? The hell is this?!¡±


    ¡°Told you, man,¡± I said, trying to keep my nervousness from showing. ¡°It¡¯s the armor. You can¡¯t take it off. Just does that every time you try.¡±


    ¡°How did you even find this shit?¡± He demanded.


    I sighed. ¡°Do you want me to tell you my life story, too?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± the Magic-Type spoke up to his coworker, ¡°don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being a little paranoid? We can just ask them the usual questions with the Truth Stone, right? Why should we¡ª¡±


    ¡°Why should we?¡± the Swordsman spun around on the Magic-Type. ¡°Being paranoid is our job, rookie! Haven¡¯t you heard? There¡¯s an invasion in the Koinkar Kingdom. Demons ¡®n shit. How can we be sure they aren¡¯t Demons? I signed up here to fight <em>against</em> that threat, not let them wanderin¡¯ into our own home, killing our citizens! You,¡± he turned and pointed a finger at Erani, ¡°what¡¯s with your look? Why haven¡¯t you said anything yet?¡±


    He was correct that it was somewhat strange for Erani to have not said anything yet, and that was because we¡¯d decided it¡¯d probably be best for her to avoid speaking until she was directly addressed. With her Spell also affecting her voice, talking would only introduce moreplications.


    But it would be much more suspicious for her to refuse to speak, so she opened her mouth. ¡°Sorry, I¡ª¡±


    The Swordsman pulled back and looked around himself the moment she spoke. Even the more rxed Magic-Type seemed startled at her voice. Again, I understood their attitude; it certainly wasn¡¯t calming to hear the voice of someone speaking right in front of youing from what felt like directly behind your ear.


    ¡°¡ªI have a Spell that makes me sound strange,¡± Erani continued. ¡°But it also keeps me safe, so I¡¯d prefer not to deactivate it. Unless there¡¯s a rule that says people absolutely have to have all Spells toggled off in order to enter, of course.¡±


    ¡°Well maybe there <em>is</em> a rule that says¡ª¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon, man,¡± the Magic-Type interrupted the Swordsman. ¡°Let¡¯s just follow protocol. If they don¡¯t check out, then sure, question them. But I don¡¯t want to get an infraction during my first month of service for mistreating citizens.¡±


    The Swordsman rolled his eyes. ¡°min¡¯ by-the-book newbies. Fine. Get the min¡¯ Stone and do your thing. But if they lie, I¡¯m arresting them.¡±


    ¡°Sure. You stay here and watch them, I¡¯ll grab the Truth Stone.¡±

 Chapter 159.2: Salvation

    Chapter 159.2: Salvation


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    The next few minutes passed in the way I expected them to. The man went and got the Truth Stone and questioned us with it, with us answering using the same method we¡¯d bypassed the other guards¡¯ questions, me using Index and Erani using Ainash to help us lie past the Enchantment.


    We were obviously ced under a bit more scrutiny with the Swordsman guy watching our every move, but our backstories were solid, so we got by with mostly no issues. I even made up a bit of a sob story on the spot about my ¡°grafted-on¡± armor and how much the curse impacted my life and all that, which seemed to get the Swordsman to lessen up on the suspicion.


    ¡°Okay,¡± the Magic-Type said after jotting down a note about my previous answer on whether I had a criminal record, ¡°onest thing. I presume you two are ssed?¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± I nodded.


    ¡°Great. What are your degrees?¡±


    I remembered what Erani had exined to me about degrees back when we¡¯d first entered Carth. They were effectively a way to gauge one¡¯s general level of strength while not divulging too much private information, for the sake of ensuring there wasn¡¯t some Level-40 powerhouse wandering around in a city without the government''s knowledge, and also so that nobody got too in over their heads with adventuring. The guild limited jobs to certain degrees, that way there weren¡¯t any unnecessary incidents about arrogant low-Levels getting ughtered by powerful monsters. At least, that way there weren¡¯t as <em>many</em> incidents.


    Either way, I was d to hear that the adventurer¡¯s guild was a multinational organization, so I didn¡¯t need to memorize any new way of ssifying power. Levels 0 to 9 was wood degree, 10 to 19 was bronze, and the range I just barely fell into, 20 to 29, was silver.


    So I answered truthfully, seeing no reason to falsely represent my Level. If I lied about being weaker than I was, then I¡¯d ultimately just be screwing myself over when trying to find work appropriate for my Level, and if I lied about being stronger, I¡¯d only cause an unnecessary ruckus. ¡°Both of us are silver.¡±


    ¡°Man,¡± the Magic-Type shook his head. ¡°More mid-Levelers, huh? I swear, you people have been flooding in here recently.¡±


    ¡°More like ssers in general,¡± the Swordsman shook his head. ¡°min¡¯ power-hungrybat addicts itching to kill some Demons for the XP.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say you signed up to be transferred here specifically so you could fight Demons?¡±


    ¡°No, I said I wanted to be transferred so I could protect people from the Demons. If theye invading¡­¡± he got into a fighting stance, obviously attempting to look badass, ¡°I¡¯ll be ready.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± I said, ¡°there are a lot of mid-Levelers that recently moved here?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Last few weeks, they¡¯ve all beening down to the towns near Empire¡¯s Edge, I heard,¡± the Magic-Type shrugged. ¡°Probably just looking to Level up in case of an invasion, or protect the people, or make some money, or whatever. But I swear, I¡¯ve signed in more ssed than Unssed in thest few days.¡±


    ¡°Well shit, I was hoping we¡¯d be able to find some work here. If the ce is flooded with people just like us, though¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, I doubt you¡¯ll ever find yourself totally unable to find work, what with the Gloomspurs around here,¡± the Magic-Type said. ¡°Always around killing crops and livestock. Farmers are constantly putting in requests to exterminate them.¡±


    ¡°Pfft, those weak things?¡± the Swordsman scoffed. ¡°They¡¯ll be extinct within a week, with all the ssers in here. What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°Listen dude, I know you¡¯re newer around here,¡±


    ¡°<em>You¡¯re</em> the newbie.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sure, with work, but I¡¯ve lived here all my life. You¡¯re the one who¡¯s new in town. And I¡¯ll tell you, every day I¡¯ve lived here, the Gloomspurs are always an annoyance for the farmers. Always have been, always will be.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I dunno,¡± he shrugged. ¡°But they¡¯ve always been around. Never bothered to ask. Probably just breed like rabbits, or something.¡±


    ¡°Well, thanks for the info,¡± I nodded. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll just go kill some Gloomspurs if we ever need money.¡±


    ¡°Mhm. Oh, and before I forget, can you guys show me your license for your pet? Just gotta mark down the species and make sure it isn¡¯t out of date.¡±


    ¡°Our¡­what?¡±


    He looked up at us. ¡°Your pet license. You said that monster was your pet, right? If it is, you have to have a license to bring it into town.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Oh. I didn¡¯t¡­realize that.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have one?¡±


    ¡°No. In Koinkar, we didn¡¯t need licenses. Just had to prove they were trained and everything.¡±


    The Swordsman scoffed. ¡°Maybe that¡¯s why the ce burned to the ground. Too many rabid monsters running around in the streets.¡±


    The Magic-Type looked over at him. ¡°Dude. You really don¡¯t think that joke is too soon when you¡¯re literally talking to refugees? Of the invasion you¡¯re joking about?¡±


    He held up his hands in faux-surrender. ¡°Sorry for trying to lighten the mood, I guess.¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± he looked back at us, ¡°I definitely can¡¯t let that thing in without a license.¡±


    ¡°Well, can we get one somewhere?¡±


    ¡°Sure. If you go to town hall, there should be someone you can talk to about it. They¡¯ve got a list of different requirements for each species of monster, so if you go in and pay a fee, they¡¯ll have a verifier go out and make sure it¡¯s well-trained.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Is that really necessary? She can literally talk. She¡¯s not going to be biting peoples¡¯ hands off, or whatever.¡±


    He just shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t make the rules.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just let her in, for a day or something? Just to prove she¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°Listen, dude, I really can¡¯t do that. What kind of monster even is that thing? I don¡¯t recognize it.¡±


    Yeah, that was the problem. If the town hall had a different list of requirements for each species, then Ainash¡ªwho was a species that was, at the very least, extremely rare¡ªwould almost certainly not be on that list. Damn bureaucracy was going to be the death of me.


    I sighed. ¡°Can you give us a moment?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    We stepped away, and I messaged Ainash. She¡¯d, of course, been getting filled in on the conversation as we went, so it wasn¡¯t like I had to break any news to her, but still. <em>¡°Hey, kiddo, so I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to be able to¡­¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It is okay!¡±</em>


    I frowned. <em>¡°Really? You don¡¯t mind?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, you and mother can go have fun in Human town. I will have fun in my home. Will make new home out here!¡±</em>


    I smiled bitterly. <em>¡°Yeah, but I don¡¯t want you to feel alone. I feel bad making you sit out here all on your own.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well¡­you wille visit?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Of course.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°And will bring me to Human townter?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, definitely. It¡¯ll be my number one priority to get them to let you in.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Then it okay! You make friends with new Humans, and I will make friends with new animals. Then, when Ie to Human town, we trade friends! You show me your new Human friends, and I show you my new animal friends.¡±</em>


    Iughed. <em>¡°That¡¯s a great idea. And I promise I¡¯ll get you in here. And I¡¯ll show you all the furniture and stuff, too. It¡¯s honestly so awesome.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Am excited!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay,¡± </em>I smiled. <em>¡°Keep within a thousand paces, alright? That way the Bond never deactivates, and we can always talk to you if we need to. I think our words will get a little weaker if we¡¯re further away, so we probably can¡¯t talk forever like we normally do, but at least that way we can say something if either of us needs anything, or if we¡¯re ever in danger. And I promise we¡¯ll visit every day.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay father!¡±</em> she reached out and hugged me tightly, which felt weird since she was still taller than me. But it was still nice.


    She also reached out and hugged Erani, lifting her up and spinning around with Erani¡¯s legs dangling at Ainash¡¯s shins as she did so. I held back augh at the sight, and the sound of Erani¡¯s yelp as she was swung around like that.


    Once Ainash put her back down, she smiled and took a step back, looking at us. <em>¡°Okay, will see you soon! Love you!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Y-yeah,¡± </em>I said. Why was I tearing up? We¡¯d barely even be apart. This wasn¡¯t¡­ <em>¡°Love you too, kiddo.¡±</em>


    She turned and sprinted off, energetic as always.


    <em>¡°Be sure to tell us if you see anything weird!¡±</em> I called after her. <em>¡°And we¡¯ll get into contact when we next leave to do a job or something, okay? It¡¯ll probably only be a couple hours!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    I looked down and saw that Erani was gripping onto my hand tightly. Once again, I was struck by the fact that I had literally never been apart from either her or Ainash for longer than a few minutes at a time. So seeing her leave like that¡­it was like seeing a kid leave for school for the first time. Sure, I¡¯d see her again in probably just a few hours, but it was still the first time she¡¯d left since I¡¯d met her.


    ¡°Hey, you guys ready to get through here?¡± The Swordsman called over to us. ¡°There¡¯re some more peopleing down the road we gotta sign in soon. Don¡¯t wanna hold them up.¡±


    ¡°R-right,¡± I nodded. ¡°Coming.¡±


    We got everything finalized as we signed ourselves in, getting the two silver-degree badges that hung around our necks¡ªmine just phased right through my armor so it ended up actually touching me¡ªand then the guards went over to open the tall gates that kept us out.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I asked the Magic-Type as he reached down to pull the lever to open the gates, ¡°what¡¯s the name of this town, anyway? Don¡¯t think you ever told us.¡±


    ¡°Interesting story, actually,¡± he said. ¡°Guy who founded it, he was lost and looking for water or something, wandering for days trying to find a river. Well, when he finally did, it was right here. He was hours away from dying, they say, but the gods put the river here to save him. So to thank them, he founded a town right here on the riverbank. And when they named it, he could only really think of one thing to call it. Salvation.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s so min¡¯ cheesy,¡± the Swordsmanughed. ¡°No way that¡¯s really why they called this ce Salvation, right? I thought it was just called that after some dude with a weirdst name.¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s inspiring,¡± the Magic-Type shrugged. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a fake story. I don¡¯t care.¡±


    Their conversation faded out as the wooden doors creaked open. Salvation, huh?


    I turned to Erani. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s figure out how to get some money, and then let¡¯s find some real fucking food to eat.¡±

 Chapter 160.1: Welcome to the Kingdom: Takeover

    Chapter 160.1: Wee to the Kingdom: Takeover


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    Carison stood on the sidewalk of a crowded, dirty street. He was right next to the crime scene he¡¯d created, beating that drug dealer to near-death, and at this point, that man had woken up and run off, while Carison stood right where he was, waiting.


    It only took a couple hours for them toe. A gang of around eight people, all heavyweights, obviously ssers, and obviously walking with purpose. And obviously walking directly toward Carison.


    The people in the street parted the moment they noticed the gang of people, forming a clear path between them and their destination. Onlookers stared.


    ¡°Carison Aakbi?¡± the one in the front said with a disgusted look.


    ¡°That would be me.¡±


    ¡°We heard you¡¯re beatin¡¯ up on our men.¡±


    ¡°Mhm.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t appreciate that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°So what? You got some conflictin¡¯ territory? You trying to take over?¡±


    ¡°No, not particrly.¡±


    ¡°Well you better get exinin¡¯. Cause if you don¡¯t, you¡¯re in for a few hells of a beating.¡±


    ¡°Well, first off, I seriously doubt that. And second off, I don¡¯t want to exin anything to you.¡±


    The manughed, looking back at his posse, who chuckled along with him. ¡°What are you? Some kinda tough guy? Think you¡¯re all strong cause you got a couple Levels? Lemme tell you somethin¡¯. You¡¯re gonna need a whole lot more than what you showed our dealer friend.¡±


    ¡°Good to know. But I will exin if you do something for me.¡±


    The man shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think you know what kind of position you¡¯re in. We don¡¯t do things for you.¡±


    ¡°Take me to your leader.¡±


    There was a moment of silence, before the man barked out augh. Then another. Then he broke out into a full-face smile. ¡°Hey, fes! He wants us to take him to Boss! What, you think we should do it? Just to be nice?¡±


    The rest of the crowdughed.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± one of them said, ¡°I think we¡¯ll be doing this guy quite a service!¡±


    ¡°Instead of being beaten to death, this guy wants to be skinned alive!¡±


    Theughter subsided, and the man in front looked back to Carison. ¡°Now I <em>really</em> don¡¯t think you know what kind of situation you¡¯re in, fancy man. I don¡¯t think you want to be taken to Boss. I <em>really</em> don¡¯t think you want that.¡±


    ¡°I think I know exactly what I want.¡±


    ¡°Hey man,¡± one of theckeysughed, putting a hand on the front man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Maybe we should take the guy to Boss. Just to show him how stupid he is.¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± the front man responded, shaking his head. ¡°Sure, Boss¡¯ll have him skinned. But then he¡¯ll have us skinned, too, for wasting his time. He told us to do a job, we do the job.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m gettin¡¯ tired of talking,¡± another said. ¡°Let¡¯s beat his ass and get outta here.¡±


    ¡°I have an idea,¡± Carison said. ¡°You guys like money, right? I¡¯m a man of money. I have it, I make it, I love it. It¡¯s my specialty.¡±


    ¡°So what, you gonna try to bribe us?¡±


    ¡°Let me just show you what I¡¯m talking about, first.¡± Carison dug a hand into his pocket and pulled out a small sphere, not evenrge enough to fill his palm. Its etched brass exterior shined in the afternoon light. ¡°This little Enchanted item is a wonder. All of the ingredientsbined, a single one of them would cost¡­maybe¡­thirty-five silver to make.¡±


    ¡°Listen, fancy man. If you wanna convince Boss to let you live, you¡¯re gonna need a lot more than thirty silver.¡±


    ¡°But that¡¯s the beauty of it! Thirty-five silver for the <em>ingredients</em>. The economy isn¡¯t about ingredients, though. It¡¯s all run onbor. See,bor is the only thing you can generate on your own. If you want to get a material, you either have to take it from someone else, or you have to take it from a ce nobody else has thought to look. Eventually, materials run out. And then nobody can get anything. Butbor, see, that¡¯s something you can always do. As long as you have a body, you can <em>do</em> things. What you¡¯re doing right now, right? This Boss guy is telling you to do something, and if you do it, he pays you. You don¡¯t give him anything, you don¡¯t take anything from anywhere else, you just¡­do it. And that¡¯s the value of things like these.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we do take something from someone. We take your life. Now listen. If you want us to even <em>consider</em> taking you to Boss, you better show us something that makes it worth his¡ªand our¡ªwhile. Some real coin. Cough it up.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m getting there. See, the materials cost thirty-five. But thebor required? Well, you need Enchanters. Plural. Several, all sped into different trees to get all of the Enchantments required to put this thing together. And to get it this small, you¡¯re also going to need in old mechanics. People skilled at tinkering with little, little gadgets. All of these people, doing their jobs. In the end, this single machine probably costs five gold.¡±


    The man chuckled. ¡°Well that¡¯s a nice story. And five gold, now we¡¯re getting to something we can actually negotiate about. But you¡¯re still not there. Maybe throw in a few more of those things, <em>and</em> some hard coin to prove you mean business, and then maybe, <em>maybe</em>, Boss doesn¡¯t skin you alive for disrespecting him. Because five gold? That¡¯s chump change to Boss. Chump change. For a little fancy man like yourself, you think yourself an inventor, that buys you a house, new ingredients, maybe a newb or whatever. But Boss doesn¡¯t deal in single-digits. Even when it¡¯s gold.¡±


    ¡°No, again, you¡¯re still not focusing on the right element. It¡¯s not about the money. It¡¯s not about the materials. It¡¯s not about what¡¯s in my hand. It¡¯s about what that thing <em>does</em>. And I promise, what this does will change your life. It¡¯ll do so much more than five gold could ever do.¡±


    The man rolled his eyes. ¡°And what¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you see for yourself?¡±


    Carison tossed the metal orb at the crowd of eight people after pressing its activation switch. The etchings lit up, and the man seemed to just begin to realize what was happening before it bonked against his chest.


    Carison stood in front of a single-story house.


    He looked over at the single surviving member of the group that¡¯d confronted him. ¡°This is the ce, huh?¡±


    ¡°Y-y-yeah, man, just don¡¯t, uh, can you just leave me, um¡­¡±


    ¡°Of course, you¡¯re free to go. Fair exchange, right? You do something for me, and I let you live.¡±


    He sprinted off.


    Carison turned to the door of the house. There were people inside peeking at him through the windows. The building was one of the few that were left intact after the attack on Carth, though Carison wasn¡¯t sure if that was because it was spared during the initial assault, or because it was rebuilt afterward.


    He walked up to the door. But before he could even raise his hand to knock, it swung open before him. A bald-headed man stood inside, ring at him. ¡°Where in the hells are our men?¡±


    ¡°Well, seven of them are dead.¡±


    The man stared at him.


    ¡°Unfortunate how that happens, really. Though I¡¯d wish you people wouldn¡¯t keep acting so surprised when drug dealers go missing. It¡¯s prettymon in your line of work, no? Risk of doing business and all that. Anyway, if you wouldn¡¯t mind letting me inside.¡±


    ¡°How did they die?¡±


    ¡°I killed them. Obviously. You know, this would go by with much less wasted time¡ªand fewer wasted lives¡ªif you just let me talk to the people I want to talk to. I hope you¡¯ve learned that lesson by now. But if you really want me to redemonstrate that lesson, I ampletelyfortable using you as an example.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Here¡¯s five silver,¡± Carison said with a sigh, cing a pile of coins in the man¡¯s hand. ¡°Buy something for your family. It¡¯s much better than them getting a couple gang members on their doorstep, exining why daddy isn¡¯ting home.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not supposed to let anyone in. Family rule.¡±


    ¡°Family rule? Why would you care about some ¡®family¡¯ when your life''s on the line? I¡¯m standing here, <em>paying</em> you to spare your own life. This is the best deal you¡¯ll get. Don¡¯t make me prove to you that I mean what I say.¡±


    ¡°...Alright, man, I get it,¡± the guy muttered. ¡°Just¡­don¡¯t cause trouble.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    Carison walked inside, past the guard at the door, and through a living room with some beaten-up couches thrown haphazardly around a coffee table. Through a kitchen that was covered in grime and dirt and most likely insects and rodents, if one looked hard enough. Down a hallway and past a bathroom that had a horrible stenching out of it. And through a door that led him into a bedroom-turned office¡ªthe mattress still pushed up into a corner, only partially out of the way.


    A man in that ¡®office¡¯ was sitting on a couch, smoking a cigar. He was overweight and visibly greasy, and didn¡¯t seem to notice Carison yet.


    ¡°I presume you are Boss?¡± Carison said.


    The man looked over. ¡°Who¡¯re you?¡±


    ¡°I would like to make a deal. Mutually beneficial exchange between businesses.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask what you want. I asked who you are.¡±


    ¡°I am the man who has murdered seven of your men. And assaulted two more.¡±


    That got his attention. The man, ¡®Boss,¡¯ snapped his head over at Carison. ¡°...Okay. What do you want?¡±

 Chapter 160.2: Welcome to the Kingdom: Takeover

    Chapter 160.2: Wee to the Kingdom: Takeover


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    The scar-faced man red at Jon. ¡°My name is Emilio. Who are you, and what are you doing here?¡±


    ¡°My name is Jon Mourn. And I just want to talk. Nothing serious.¡±


    ¡°Jon Mourn.¡± The manughed. ¡°I have heard about you. What are you doing here?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m looking for a meeting.¡±


    ¡°About?¡±


    ¡°I represent an entity that would like to be partners with you.¡±


    He squinted. ¡°Jon Mourn. The healer. Missionary. Helping the poor, and the needy, and the hurt. You want to help us, the people who make people poor, and needy, and hurt?¡±


    ¡°Well, I wouldn¡¯t fully put it like that.¡±


    One of the guards stepped up to Jon. There were six total, lining the walls of the messy room full of random valuable goods. ¡°Just tell the man what you want.¡±


    ¡°Well, Emilio, I currently represent the kingdom.¡±


    ¡°The kingdom? So you are here to¡­what? Put a stop to my business?¡±


    ¡°Quite the opposite. I would like to give your business a purpose.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°...Tell me, Emilio, what do you do?¡±


    Emilio just looked at Jon.


    ¡°Well, to start, what does your, uh, organization do? What do people pay you for?¡±


    ¡°Protection. We help people stay safe from monsters and criminals. Like mercenaries for hire. Guards around here don¡¯t do much, so we step in.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± another bodyguard leaning against a wall spoke up. ¡°Just saved a guy from some big, high-Level Rat the other day. Prolly woulda¡ª¡±


    Emilio stopped him from speaking with a re.


    ¡°I see. Protection. So, let¡¯s say, robberies. You keep people safe from those?¡±


    ¡°Yes. They are fairlymon around here. So they need that protection. Tell your friends at the kingdom that we provide a genuine service around here.¡±


    ¡°And what do you do? Personally.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the organizer. I set the prices, I find the clients. I run this ce.¡± He spread his hands. ¡°Was that not obvious?¡±


    ¡°And these, uh,¡± Jon nced around the room, at the jewels and paintings spread haphazardly around. ¡°Decorations? Where did theye from?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Gifts. From my clients.¡±


    Jon nodded. ¡°Gifts. Do any of your employees get gifts?¡±


    ¡°Nah, man,¡± the same bodyguard said. ¡°We ain¡¯t allowed to ask for¡ª¡±


    Emilio shushed him, then turned back to Jon. ¡°No. Now, what is this all about? I don¡¯t want any kingdom officersing down on us for just making our honest living.¡±


    ¡°As I said before, you are not in trouble with thew. I am not a soldier, or a guard. I am simply here to make you an offer.¡±


    ¡°Then cut to the chase. Tell me what you want.¡±


    Jon approached the desk. A few of the bodyguards got antsy at his approach, reaching for their weapons, but Emilio held up a hand to stop them.


    Bon stepped up to the desk, and pulled a pouch from his side. It was big¡ªbigger than any other coinpurse would be¡ªbut it was also Enchanted with a lightweight Enchantment as well as a spatial one, meaning it could hold even more than it looked, and what it held wouldn¡¯t weigh you down. He detached it and set it down on the desk. The rattle of the money inside could be heard throughout the room.


    ¡°The offer the kingdom wants to give you is about this,¡± he said, and opened up the pouch, withdrawing one of the shining golden coins from within. ¡°This gold coin, as well as the three thousand, nine hundred and ny nine others, are for you.¡±


    Instantly, mutterings spread throughout the room. The bodyguards leaned over to each other, whispering, ¡°Four thousand. <em>Thousand?!</em> And gold? What in the hells is the kingdom doing?¡±


    Emilio squinted at Jon. ¡°Four thousand.¡±


    ¡°Four thousand.¡±


    ¡°For us.¡±


    ¡°For <em>you</em>. Specifically you, Emilio.¡±


    He nced around the room. ¡°And what do I have to do?¡±


    ¡°The kingdom wants you gone. You take the money, and you leave. Forever.¡±


    He sighed slowly. ¡°I cannot just leave my business. What, would you have me go to some other town? Change my identity?¡±


    ¡°No, no. Leave the kingdom. Exiled.¡±


    He leaned forward, a scowl reestablishing itself on his face. ¡°Are you threatening me?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. I would never threaten someone. But the kingdom wishes for you to leave. Voluntarily. If you do not leave, they will not forcefully exile you or arrest you. They are simply offering a sum of money.¡±


    ¡°And that sum is four thousand gold.¡±


    ¡°Precisely.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, and, uh,¡± one of the bodyguards spoke up. ¡°What happens with us?¡±


    ¡°Well, after you¡¯re gone¡­¡± Jon looked around, ¡°I suppose I would be the one put in charge.¡±


    Emilio furrowed his eyebrows, turning his head as though trying to look at Jon from a different angle. ¡°You. You¡¯ll take over¡­my business? I¡¯m sure you¡­understand what that means? What we do?¡±


    ¡°Fully. But as I said, I intend to give your business <em>meaning</em>. Purpose. Not just¡­senseless expansion. I want to help people.¡±


    Emilioughed. ¡°And you¡¯re willing to pay four thousand to do that? That is¡­certainly a sum. And certainly an ambition. Why?¡±


    ¡°The kingdom has needs. Needs for connections. Ones that you have. You and a few others. Rest assured that if you are notfortable taking this deal, we can simply go somewhere else with it.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Well you might need to do that. Four thousand is a lot. But it is not something that cannot be made with a few years of ie. And with expansion, we may get to the point where we are making four thousand¡ª<em>five</em> thousand¡ªevery year. I cannot leave my business like that.¡±


    ¡°Hm. That¡¯s a shame.¡± Jon reached out and grabbed the bag of coins, reattaching it to his belt. Though the one he¡¯d taken out to show off was still in his hand. ¡°Although I will be honest, I was kind of hoping you¡¯d say no, personally.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Why¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you got an even bigger sum you¡¯re hopin¡¯ to give us?!¡± one of the bodyguards shouted, drawing someughs from his buddies.


    ¡°No, no, nothing like that,¡± Jon gave a patient smile. He also toggled on his Spell, Infuse with the Elements. He chose his element, his duration, and the object he¡¯d be infusing¡ªthe gold coin in his hand. It would have no obvious effect for now, but it would begin infusing. And the longer it infused, the more power would be given to the effect once activated.


    ¡°Then what is it?¡± Emilio said.


    ¡°I¡­¡± Jon searched for the right words, ¡°don¡¯t like you.¡±


    Emilioughed. ¡°You do not like me? Why is that?¡±


    Jon sighed, flipping the coin through his fingers. ¡°I¡¯ve asked you several times now to tell me what your business does for people. It provides protection, yes, yes, I know. And I know how it <em>really</em> makes its money. You provide protection from yourself. There isn¡¯t enough out there to protect people from. The monsters are only so vicious, the crime rate only so high. But if the people who refuse to buy your protection¡­get robbed in the night? Get assaulted in the street? Get¡­murdered senselessly? The people suddenly want it, a lot more.¡±


    Emilio just pursed his lips and stared at Jon, obviously not eager to incriminate himself.


    ¡°And, truthfully, I do not mind that. Well, in some cases. You see, some people have this weird idea. That¡­working for money, it can¡¯t be moral. Any time you want a little more than is strictly necessary for you, it¡¯s greed. That¡¯s not true. Even if you¡¯re hurting others, it can sometimes be good to do so for money. I mean, if you, say, hurt five people for the money that you turn around and use to help fifty, that¡¯s a positive for the world.¡±


    Jon looked around at the room. They were all staring at him.


    ¡°Obviously, you don¡¯t spend your money on charity. And, now, even then, that can be okay. Say, for example, you have a business that provides an in-need service. I mean, say you run a legitimate protection service. Renting out adventurers to help people on journeys through the wilderness, stuff like that. If you did that, and you charged a prohibitively expensive amount, so that a few people had to go without your services? And they die out in the forest? You¡¯re effectively trading their lives for currency. But if you then go and, say, reinvest that money into your business? Better, higher-Level adventurers, higher wages for your staff, better gear, expansion into other towns? Well, how many lives are you going to save by offering better services to more people? If you do it right, running a business doesn¡¯t have to be immoral. So I don¡¯t disrespect you for robbing a few people to keep your business afloat.¡±


    Emilio rubbed his chin, staring at Jon with a scowl.


    ¡°What I don¡¯t like about you, Emilio, is that when you rob people, when you hurt others, when you take from the people around you¡­it all stays here. In this room.¡± Jon looked around himself. ¡°You don¡¯t even give it to your employees. I mean, how many of them have gone without a meal? How many have had to work extra to afford to live? To provide for their families?¡±


    ¡°I take care of my people,¡± Emilio said. Then he looked around at the bodyguards in the room. ¡°Don¡¯t I? I take care of you, right?¡±


    A chorus of halfhearted ¡°yeah¡±s came from them.


    ¡°It¡¯s not about taking care of them,¡± Jon said. ¡°It¡¯s not about doing <em>enough</em>. It¡¯s about¡­Well, okay, let¡¯s get back to the point. I understand what your business does. I understand that you do have the potential to actually help people. However, that ¡®you¡¯ is plural. It¡¯s talking about ¡®you¡¯ the group. Thepany. But ¡®you¡¯ the individual? ¡®You,¡¯ Emilio? I still fail to see what you do.¡±


    ¡°I already said. I run the ce. I find clients, hire new employees. I keep this ce alive.¡±


    ¡°Is there anything you do that someone else couldn¡¯t? Really, what¡¯s so special about <em>you</em> that makes it so that nobody else¡ªnot a single soul¡ªcould ever run this business as well as you do? Is there anything?¡±


    Emilio¡¯s scowl deepend, the scar morphing even more in its warpath across his face.


    ¡°I think he¡¯s smart,¡± one of the bodyguards said. ¡°He, I mean, he started this ce up, right? He makes good decisions. He took the risk of doing all this in the first ce. He was the first to do it, he was the one to fight offw enforcement on his own for a long time. He almost died a few times. I mean, he deserves something for all that, right?


    ¡°Deserve? There¡¯s no such thing as ¡®deserve.¡¯ Not one Human being in this world deserves anything. Anything.¡±


    ¡°How are you sayin¡¯ that?¡¯ the same bodyguard said. ¡°Aren¡¯t you Jon Mourn? The guy who¡¯s always sayin¡¯ everyone deserves everything you can give ¡®em?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not about them deserving something from you. It¡¯s about you owing it to Humanity. No amount of <em>past</em> work, no amount of identity, or reputation, or risk should ever earn you anything. It is only what you <em>do</em>. Now. If your continued existence doesn¡¯t make life better for the people around you, then the only thing you <em>deserve</em> is death. If you are a drain on resources, if you make people unhappy, if you take without giving, you are not keeping up with what you owe. To everyone. He risked something in the past, so he should get things now? What a joke. How does giving him <em>your</em> rightfully earned goods, your rightfully stolen property, make the world better? It certainly doesn¡¯t make the people you took it from happy. And it doesn¡¯t make you any better-off, either. The only person it serves is him. And if he already has more than you, then he doesn¡¯t need it as much as you do.¡±


    Emilio stood up. ¡°I don¡¯t think I appreciate you talking like that in my estate.¡±


    Jon looked at him and gave a slow blink. ¡°Know what? You¡¯re right. I overstepped my bounds, and for that, I sincerely apologize. My mistake, I allowed my emotions to get the better of me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you did. Get out.¡±


    ¡°Sure. But here, as a token of my apology.¡± Jon held up the gold coin that¡¯d been in his hand the whole time. ¡°And my respect to you. No hard feelings, didn¡¯t mean to get all preachy on everyone. Just a habit of mine.¡±


    The roomughed nervously, with Jon¡¯s chuckle being the heartiest of them all. He walked up to the gold-trimmed desk, and ced it down on the table with a <em>ck</em>.


    ¡°Here you go. Know it¡¯s not much,pared to what I was offering, but maybe you can buy yourself something with it. A big red ruby, to encrust something.¡±


    Emilio snorted. ¡°Okay. Consider yourself forgiven. Now leave.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± Jon stepped away, keeping Infuse with the Elements toggled on. It would only continue to infuse an item as long as he kept in contact with it, so it wasn¡¯t making the infusion on the coin any stronger now that he¡¯d let go, but for as long as he kept the Spell toggled¡ªand had the Mana¡ªthe infusion itself still wouldn¡¯t activate until the Spell toggled off.


    So he turned and began walking away.


    ¡°Hey,¡± the bodyguard that¡¯d been speaking to Jon called out to him.


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a healer, right? You work your, uh, miracles, right? Make people feel better?¡±


    ¡°Sure do.¡±


    ¡°Can you, uh, heal something for me? Just a little scratch on my finger. Though, since you do it for free, I may as well ask¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Jonughed, and he ced his hand on the man¡¯s finger, activating his Spell.


    ¡°Hey, someone,¡± Emilio called out, e throw this in a safe, or something.¡±


    ¡°Careful,¡± Jon called back, ¡°that¡¯s a lucky coin.¡±


    ¡°Lucky coin, huh?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Lots of good things happen when you hold onto it.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± Emilio grunted and picked the coin up, looking at it.


    ¡°You¡¯re all done,¡± Jon nodded to the now-healed bodyguard. ¡°But you want to see me do another of those miracles?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Well, in a single instant, I¡¯ll get rid of a gue.¡±


    ¡°A whole gue? I¡¯ve heard you can do a lot, but that¡¯s a bit much, right?¡±


    Jon shook his head. ¡°No, no, gues are prettymon, if you know where to look. Watch, when I snap my fingers, I¡¯ll make a blight on the world disappear.¡±


    Jon snapped, and the coin burst into a massive inferno, right in Emilio¡¯s hands.

 Chapter 161.1: Work

    Chapter 161.1: Work


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    Erani and I walked through the gates and entered the town of Salvation. It was evening, probably around seven in the afternoon, so we needed to get our living amodations sorted out. We¡¯d need somece to sleep, after all, and for that, we¡¯d need money. Lyr, or eyt, or whatever the people here called the currency¡ªBon and the others had made it sound so confusing.


    So I walked into the town and looked around.


    ¡°Y¡¯know,pared to the kingdom,¡± I remarked, strolling down the street alongside Erani, ¡°this ce is pretty different.¡±


    ¡°You think?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Like, not better or worse. Just different.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, their architectural styles are quite divergent. I mean, back in Ordensville and Carth, I was so used to seeing those pointed roofs. But here, it feels like nine out of ten buildings have domed roofs. It''s peculiar."


    "I hadn''t even noticed," I frowned. Erani was right though, all the roofs in this town were indeed domed.


    "Well, then what did you notice?"


    "There are way more windows."


    "Windows?" Erani chuckled.


    I nodded. ¡°You don¡¯t see it? Feels like there¡¯s one in every wall. And they all have ss! Where Ie from, I hardly ever saw either¡ªwindows or ss. This ce isn¡¯t rich or anything, is it? ¡®Cause I feel like I¡¯m just seeing silver pieces embedded in every single wall around here. It¡¯s crazy.¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think there are really <em>that</em> many more holes in their walls than there were in ours, but I do notice what you mean about the abundance of ss windows. I believe the empire has more desert? Well, I know they have arger territory than Koinkar, but just proportionately. If I remember right, we import a lot of ss from them.¡±


    ¡°Imported,¡± I corrected. ¡°Not anymore, ording to what those border guards said. Apparently trade has been cut off.¡±


    ¡°Well, that doesn''t surprise me. I certainly wouldn¡¯t want to associate with us, if I were them.¡±


    I snorted. ¡°Nah, that¡¯s just cowardly. I mean, the kingdom still makes Enchanted stuff, right? Can¡¯t believe they¡¯d be scared off from us so easily. Especially when cutting off trade means missing out on Enchanted gear. It just weakens them, in and simple.¡±


    ¡°But it''s obviously a risky proposition to continue trading.¡±


    "Sure, there are risks. But they have no reason to believe¡ª" I paused, ncing around at the surrounding crowd. With a lowered voice, I leaned closer to Erani. ¡°No reason to believe there¡¯s anything suspicious going on with Koinkar¡¯s leadership beingpromised. Not like they expect to suddenly get a shipment of swords that blow them up, or anything. So what, you¡¯re trading with some folks with a bad reputation. Big whoop, as long as they get the job done and the Enchantments are still high quality. Just doesn¡¯t make sense why they¡¯d be scared off so easily.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you think that way. Don¡¯t you kind of hate the kingdom? For deciding you should¡­y¡¯know¡­die?¡±


    ¡°Well yeah. But I¡¯m not biased. I don¡¯t exactly appreciate it, but that doesn¡¯t mean I wouldn¡¯t take a deal where they give me a bunch of Enchanted shit every week. Not like it has cooties.¡±


    ¡°I think you <em>are</em> biased. You sure this isn''t influenced by your desire for the empire to have more Enchanted gear for you to buy?¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°That has nothing to do with it. Yeah, it¡¯d help me if they made that decision. But it¡¯s still the objectively¡­¡±


    I stopped speaking as we passed by something on the side of the street. A flowerbed.


    "What''s the matter?" Erani asked.


    ¡°They really seem to like those, huh?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The flowers. I feel like we¡¯ve passed ten of them in, like, twenty paces.¡± I looked back. Sure enough, there were those same stone flowerbeds lining the streets, both sides, every few paces. And in them were the same little, white-petaled flowers.


    ¡°Well, they¡¯re pretty.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, not <em>that</em> pretty, though. You¡¯d think they¡¯d at least want some more color. Or to spend their money on something more functional than a thousand flowerpots.¡±


    Erani shrugged, looking down at them. Then she got a curious expression on her face¡ªone that I could barely see, with her Distortion Strike active. But she pursed her lips, staring at the flowers. ¡°Are they¡­glowing?¡±


    I turned my attention back to the white flowers. Sure enough, upon closer inspection, I realized they emitted a faint light. Individually, it was subtle, but together, it created a radiant glow. Then I looked around, and realized there was nothing else lighting the streets. At this time, the sun was setting, and the town should¡¯ve been going dark. But it wasn¡¯t. Normally, in the kingdom, the richer towns had perpetual lighting effects from Spells or Enchantments, but this ce didn¡¯t have that.


    ¡°They¡¯re lighting fixtures,¡± I realized. ¡°They''re using these flowers to light up the streets.¡±


    "Oh," Erani responded, her gaze sweeping across the scene asprehension dawned. "Yes, that''s interesting. It''s a clever solution, I suppose."


    ¡°Yeah. I like it. Adds to the mystical feel, I guess,¡± Iughed. ¡°Certainly feels like a work of the gods, finally finding myself here.¡±


    Erani nodded in agreement.


    We continued walking aimlessly down the main road, the darkness slowly descending, and the streets sparsely popted. Still, I couldn¡¯t help but notice the treatment we received from those who did cross our path. Obviously, they didn¡¯t exactly like our looks. The ck, spiked armor covering my body, the wafting smoke covering Erani¡¯s¡­Hells, even I emitted wisps of mist due to my constant practice of Noxious Grasp.


    I was careful not to touch anyone but Erani, since Noxious Grasp would damage anyone who did brush past me. But that still left the mist wafting from my facete and all other cracks in the armor. I was somewhat worried about idently touching the wrong person, but honestly, with Dark te on, I¡¯d be surprised if anyone willingly got closer than a couple paces from me, much less walked up and tapped me on the shoulder. And if they did, could they really be surprised that it did some retaliatory damage? I was covered in spikes, after all. So it probably wouldn¡¯t be an issue. And it was yet more encouragement for nobody to deal any damage to <em>me</em>¡ªidentally or otherwise.


    If someone stumbled and bumped into me, if they identally poked me with a weapon, hells, if someone tried to mug me and ran off when they realized I was ssed and had too many Stats to knock around. Any of that could end up forcing me to waste a Time Loop to undo their gaining that forbidden knowledge of my ss. Either that or getting them to shut up some other way. Any damage dealt to me would give them a System notification talking about the Minute Mage ss, and if they saw something about a ss they¡¯d never heard about, they¡¯d ask people, spread the word, and eventually it would get to the Demons that I was here. So yeah, I definitely wanted to broadcast as strongly as possible: Do not approach me, do not touch me, do not provoke me. And if that meant ruffling a few feathers, well, so be it.


    My business wasn¡¯t with the civilians, anyway. Erani and I knew where we needed to get money, and it wasn¡¯t by interacting with randos off the street.


    ¡°You think they have a lodge for the Adventurer¡¯s Guild? Or just a job board?¡± I asked Erani.


    ¡°Guess there¡¯s only one way to find out.¡±


    After some asking around¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t exactly easy, given our appearances¡ªwe eventually got directions to a ce we could find work as adventurers. And it was a full guild lodge, which was nice. I hadn¡¯t honestly expected one, given the size of the town¡ªjob boards were much moremon among smaller ces like these, especially when their ie was lower¡ªbut hey, it was a pleasant surprise.


    The building was short and wide, double front doors inviting us in. So we walked up, already hearing the sound ofmotioning from inside.


    When we opened the doors, the noise of a dozen conversations and probably a couple arguments greeted us, alongside the the unmistakable warm glow of a tavern interior. Tables littered the lodge floor, with people sitting all around mming beers down with their buddies. It was around dinnertime, so the borderline irresistible scent of good food wafted into my nose.


    ¡°It¡¯s taking everything I have not to just run up and start eating right off of everyone¡¯s tes,¡± Erani muttered to me with a chuckle.


    ¡°Sounds like a good idea,¡± Iughed back. ¡°I think we should just rob ¡®em all for all the meat and bread they have.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, rob a room of ssers. Perfect n.¡±


    We walked into the room. It wasn¡¯t like it was all tavern, of course¡ªthe guild served as a rest lodge for adventurers, but its main purpose was a ce of business. Down, past the bar was a desk with a receptionist, where we could bring job orders we wanted to ept, and on a few walls were big boards with dozens of papers pinned up¡ªall of them offers that could make us some money.


    As we stepped into the lodge, my boots thunking against the wooden boards, I definitely caught a few suspicious res, but it was honestly less than I¡¯d expected. Though, in retrospect, it made sense. Or, at least, it did when I took note of the way half of these ssers looked. Most had some form of armor on¡ªprobably alling from jobs, themselves¡ªand many of them had some sort of magical effect going. Sure, not all were quite as obvious as Erani¡¯s Distortion Strike, but I noticed a couple people with glowing halos of light floating above their heads, some others with bright green light shining from their eyes, and one guy even had his entire head on fire¡ªthough the mes themselves seemed harmless.


    Yeah, among ssers, we at least didn¡¯t look <em>too </em>weird. Some people probably even recognized Erani¡¯s Spell as Distortion Strike, with it being a somewhat known Spell of a somewhatmon ss.


    So we carefully moved our way through the room¡ªagain, with me keeping my distance from the surrounding people. Not as easy when they weren¡¯t actively afraid or creeped out by my appearance, but I tried to give my best menacing re to anyone to walk by, which effectively signaled for them to take a step to the side, and I kept my distance from the more crowded center of the room.


    There were a few boards put up all along the different walls of the room, none of which werebeled, so we just walked up to a random one. This one, when we got close enough, we realized wasn¡¯t for avable jobs, but rather a ¡®looking for party¡¯ board, where individual adventurers could put up requests forrger parties to take them in, that way they could take on higher-difficulty jobs with less risk. Not what we wanted, so we moved on.


    The next one we looked at was what we were searching for. A job board. Perfect. Time to find some work.

 Chapter 161.2: Work

    Chapter 161.2: Work


    A job board, organized by difficulty. Thankfully, due to the organization, the thing was pretty easy to find jobs within our range, despite how absolutely full it was. Most of the jobs seemed new, too, not like they¡¯d been sitting around for forever¡ªa testament to just how full of adventurers this town really seemed to be.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°we just need to find something quick to finish, so we can get money by tonight.¡±


    ¡°Monster elimination would probably be best, then. Nothing else that quick would pay well.¡±


    ¡°So, monster elimination, monster elimination¡­¡± I scanned over the board, looking for decent jobs. I could certainly find some that seemed safe and quick, but there was one problem. ¡°How much is an eyt worth?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, pretty tough to figure out what to do when we have no idea what it actually pays.¡±


    I looked over at the receptionist by the desk. ¡°You think they could be of any help?¡±


    We walked over to the front desk, keeping to the walls so as to not be forced to push through the crowd. The woman sitting there looked up when she saw us approach, her eyebrows rising when she saw our appearances, but she said nothing.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said when we got to her, ¡°do you have, like, an inn? Can we pay you money for rooms?¡±


    She chuckled politely. ¡°Yes, of course. Six hundred eyt for a night in a one-bed.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Alright. And when weplete a job, we can get the reward immediately, correct?¡±


    ¡°Yes, juste to me with proof ofpletion, ideally. If you don¡¯t have any, it¡¯ll probably take a little longer to ensure you actually did it.¡± I saw her eyes nce over us¡ªagain, understandably, given my armor and Erani¡¯s shadowy state. However, I noticed her eyes lingering on one spot in particr.


    Erani coughed awkwardly as she, too, noticed the receptionist staring straight at her missing arm. The woman blinked and looked back up at us, obviously unsure whether to apologize verbally or just move on in the conversation.


    I just wrapped my arm around Erani and pulled her close to me, so that her left arm was wedged between our bodies¡ªunable to be attacked by wandering eyes. I was sure the receptionist didn¡¯t mean harm, but still. ¡°Got it. So, like, for an elimination job, we can just bring heads or something, right?¡±


    Her eyes widened, looking at me like I¡¯d said something wrong. What had I done? Hesitantly, she spoke, ¡°...No, bringing a sack of bleeding monster heads into the guild lobby would probably not be a good idea. Perhaps something else? Teeth or horns, for instance, would work just fine.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Sure.¡±


    ¡°Are you looking for a job you can do to get a room for tonight?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, ideally something we can do fast. And I guess something that pays at least, like, two thousand, or something. With the room and then food and stuff, that¡¯d get us this night and tomorrow, maybe. I mean, ideally we¡¯d end up getting enough for a change of clothes, too, so maybe closer to three thousand. Shouldn¡¯t be too hard, right?¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± she frowned. ¡°Finding something that pays that well would probably be quite difficult, in these parts. Lots of adventurers¡ªlots ofpetition.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but we¡¯re two silver-degrees,¡± I gestured to Erani and myself. ¡°Getting enough money for a few nights in an inn shouldn¡¯t be much of an issue at all, even given thepetition, right?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°Even still. We get a good many individual adventurersing out here looking for work, so even the work that¡¯s rated for one or two silver-degrees is slim.¡± She pursed her lips. ¡°Well, even if you can¡¯t find any official jobs that pay that well, we always have the ongoing bounty for Gloomspurs.¡±


    ¡°Oh? How much?¡±


    ¡°Thirty each. We typically ask for people to bring in the front left tooth as proof of killing, that way we can ensure there¡¯s nobody taking two trophies from the same one.¡±


    ¡°Thirty?¡± I thought back to the cost of six hundred eyt for even a single night in a one-bed room. ¡°That¡¯s¡­not much, isn''t it?¡±


    ¡°Definitely isn¡¯t. But there are a lot of them out there, so as long as they don¡¯t pose much of a personal threat to you, it wouldn¡¯t take too long.¡±


    ¡°Well, like, how much really is thirty eyt?¡±


    ¡°Are you not from around here?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re refugees.¡± I paused, realizing it would probably be better to not advertise the fact we were new arrivals¡ªthe Demons could let the empire know that we¡¯d just now escaped to their borders, so telling people we¡¯d just arrived would probably tip people off to our identities. ¡°Been here a while, probably a week or so, but we haven¡¯t had the chance to really try to integrate into society yet, so y¡¯know¡­Anyway, like, what¡¯s it worth?¡±


    ¡°Uh,¡± she nced around, obviously trying toe up with an example, ¡°if you went up to the bar asking for food, with thirty in hand, you could get¡­a piece of bread, I guess?¡±


    I chuckled. ¡°Killing monsters for bread crumbs. Great.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what happens when you¡¯re an individual, or even a pair,¡± the receptionist shrugged.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess.¡± I sighed, but then remembered something and frowned. ¡°Wait, there was a board up there for people looking for party members. Could we put our names up?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely. Probably won¡¯t get any takers in time for tonight, though. Normally takes at least a few days, maybe a week or two, before you get anyone. People normally only work with friends, or at least people they¡¯re tangentially aware of. Not total strangers. But I can still put you up on the board.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Couldn¡¯t hurt.¡±


    ¡°Great. I¡¯ll make some of them just with the default temting, unless you had anything in mind for a specific design in how you want your request posters to look.¡±


    I nced over at Erani, who shook her head in a sign of indifference. ¡°Yeah, whatever works. You probably know best about what gets people¡¯s attention more than we do.¡±


    ¡°Great. It¡¯s best to put your exact Levels and sses on there, plus some basic info on your builds, personality, history, who you work best with, that sort of thing. So if you want to give me whatever you think is most fitting, that¡¯ll work.¡±


    ¡°Uhh¡­¡± I nced over at Erani again, then looked back to the receptionist. ¡°Just say¡­two Magic-Types, is fine.¡±


    ¡°No more info on your sses or builds?¡±


    ¡°Nah. Probably not that important, right?¡±


    She sighed and shook her head. ¡°You won¡¯t get any takers like that, but sure. I¡¯ll just put down what I already know about you two.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s fine.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Well, if that¡¯s all you need, there¡¯s kind of a line, so¡­¡±


    I looked back and saw a group of people impatiently waiting on us. ¡°Oh, right. Yeah. Sorry. We¡¯ll get out of your way.¡±


    With that, we hurriedly walked off.


    ¡°Gods,¡± I muttered to Erani, ¡°I¡¯ve gotta get used to all of this again. Feels so weird to just be¡­back.¡±


    ¡°You and me both,¡± she nodded. ¡°Maybe it''s the looks I¡¯m getting from everyone because of Distortion Strike, but I feel so on-edge around all these people. Can¡¯t keep them all in my vision at the same time.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well. Guess we¡¯re just gonna have to tough it out.¡±


    ¡°At least we can get back out of the walls now. I¡¯m worried about Ainash.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s only been, what, half an hour? Not even that? But I still feel uneasy not having her with us.¡±


    ¡°Well let''s head out, then. If we¡¯re only getting thirty eyt per Gloomspur killed, then it¡¯ll take a good bit of killing to get a night¡¯s rest.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I shook my head. ¡°Twenty killed monsters for a single room feels criminal.¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°Maybe turning to a life of crime wasn¡¯t so bad an idea.¡±


    ¡°We should probably try to at least wait one day before we resort to that, I think.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps.¡±


    ¡°Okay, well let¡¯s get out of here. It¡¯s stuffy and loud. I want to hurry up and get back in our element. Killing shit in the middle of nowhere.¡±


    ¡°Y¡¯know, when you put it like that, it kind of makes me worried about us.¡±


    ¡°Nah. Not a bad thing to have a set of skills.¡±


    ¡°A set of skills,¡± Eraniughed again. ¡°I guess you could call it that.¡±

 Chapter 162.1: Hunt

    Chapter 162.1: Hunt


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    We checked out of the town rtively easily. The guards even gave us a little ticket for adventurers on jobs saying that, if we came back within a week, we wouldn¡¯t have to check in the normal way¡ªwe could use a smaller side-entrance instead to skip any lines that happened to form. Not that I was worried we¡¯d get stuck in line; it was around eight at night by now, so I highly doubted there¡¯d be some boom in tourism suddenly.


    Once we were outside the walls, I closed my eyes and attempted to contact Ainash, but I was having trouble making that connection between her over such a long distance. I effectively had to re-connect what I was used to having already avable.


    ¡°Just told Ainash we came out,¡± Erani said.


    I opened my eyes to see her looking at me. ¡°Oh, nice. I was just trying to, having some trouble.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, took me a second to figure it out. Here, let me show you while we walk to where we¡¯ll meet.¡±


    <em>¡°Father!¡±</em> I felt a messageing through to me from Ainash, this one much stronger than the ones I¡¯d received when trying to contact her before. ncing around, I looked for the messenger, who was obviously close, if it was this clear.


    We¡¯d moved out further from the walls while we waited for Ainash to find us, waiting near a road intersection so she could locate us more easily.


    <em>¡°Do you see us?¡±</em> I asked.


    <em>¡°Yes! Yes! You are on the road! Standing next to mother!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, yeah, that¡¯s not exactly a unique circumstance,¡±</em> Iughed. <em>¡°Where are you?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Am right¡­¡±</em>


    I looked around, and suddenly found something tackling me from behind.


    <em>¡°Here!¡±</em>


    I stumbled forward, keeping myself up with the help of Expedite, andughed, turning around to see Ainash hugging my back tightly. I shifted so I was fully facing her, then brought my arms around to hug her, too. <em>¡°Hey, kiddo. How¡¯d you sneak up on me so well?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°My skin is grass color, so could look like grass!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Ah, nice. That¡¯s smart.¡±</em>


    ¡°Did you make any friends while you were out here?¡± Erani asked, repeating her messages aloud so I could follow along in the conversation¡ªsame as we always did.


    <em>¡°Did not meet any Humans, but saw many animals. They are strange, have never seen these types of animals before.¡±</em>


    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re pretty far from home. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll see lots of things we don¡¯t recognize.¡±


    <em>¡°It¡¯s good to see you again,¡±</em> I said.


    <em>¡°Feels like it has been forever and ever!¡±</em>


    Iughed. <em>¡°It¡¯s not even been an hour. But, yeah. I definitely agree. We¡¯re gonna get you into the city as soon as possible.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°So we are killing monsters?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah. Hopefully they aren¡¯t the ones you¡¯ve been making friends with.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Oh, it is okay. Can kill friend monsters.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You¡­can?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes! Sometimes friends kill each other. If monster friend was hungry, and I was weak, friend would kill me, too. Humans are very weird because they do not kill friends. That is what family is for. Do not kill family, but can kill friends. It is like¡­is like all Humans are family. Very weird.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Huh.¡±</em> I looked over at Erani, and we shared a nce that basically amounted to ¡®we can talk about that with herter.¡¯


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Erani said, ¡°what we¡¯re looking for are these monsters called Gloomspurs. An¡¯s seen them before, so he can tell you what they look like, and then maybe you can lead us to where you might have seen them? We need some money so we can¡ª¡±


    <em>¡°What is ¡®money?¡¯¡±</em>


    ¡°Um, I can probably exin that while we¡¯re on the way to the Gloomspurs.¡±


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    It got to be dark out as we walked out into the hilly ins of the area surrounding the town. We had to move pretty far out from the town to get away from the farnd, so the sun had some time to disappear behind the horizon as we traveled.


    <em>¡°Monsters are kind of mean, would not stop hurting me with poison!¡±</em> Ainash said. <em>¡°I think they count as mean guys.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, as long as they aren¡¯t bad guys,¡±</em> I chuckled. <em>¡°I don¡¯t think we need any monster genocides being nned.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You get ¡®money¡¯ thing for every monster killed, correct? Could kill them all anyway while you are in Human territory, that way I give you teeth tomorrow and you get lots of money thing.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...Huh.¡±</em> I looked over at Erani. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like too bad a n.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s put a pin in it,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re not sure how everything works, yet, so we should try to familiarize ourselves with this ce before trying to pull anything like that.¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s an open bounty, that means there are no overhuntingws, right? I can¡¯t imagine there¡¯d be anything wrong with it.¡±


    ¡°Still, I don¡¯t want to get into any trouble. Probably a good idea to run by the guild before going on anyrge hunts like this one just to make sure we aren¡¯t stepping on any toes. Giving Ainash an open license to kill as much as she wants without supervision is just asking for trouble. Not to mention¡­¡± she nced over at Ainash, then looked back at me. ¡°She can be a bit¡­overzealous, at times. Again, no supervision means no protection in case there¡¯s trouble.¡±


    I pursed my lips. ¡°Yeah, I guess that¡¯s fair.¡±


    <em>¡°So no killing monsters?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Not while we¡¯re not with you. At least, not for now. Just don¡¯t go out hunting on purpose; it¡¯s fine to fight in self-defense, obviously. But if there¡¯s an asion like that, you should let us know anyway.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Anyway, you said you thought you saw some of those monsters we¡¯re looking for around here, right?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes. Were wandering around and spreading gunk mist all over.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Gunk mist? You mean that smoke they breathe out?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, they put it everywhere! Kill all grass all around and leave purple gunk behind.¡±</em>


    I frowned. Left it behind? I didn¡¯t remember seeing the one I¡¯d encountered leave anything behind. It just killed some of the grass. <em>¡°Do you mind showing me where, exactly, that gunk that they left behind is?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    Ainash led us over off the road and into a field. I was honestly really proud of her sense of direction¡ªI knew her life as a Nymph would naturally lead her to be much morefortable navigating the wilderness, but I¡¯d have gottenpletely lost walking along this featureless road in the featureless ins and lose any memory of exactly where I¡¯d seen a pack of random monsters. Much less would I be able to lead someone to an exact location where I saw them breathe out on the grass.


    As we walked out into the fields, up and down the gradual hills, we soon came to a point where, as Ainash had said, all the grass was dead. A big patch of gray. But¡­


    <em>¡°There¡¯s no purple here.¡± </em>I looked over the field. <em>¡°You said the gunk was purple?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Um¡­¡± </em>Ainash looked around, frowning. <em>¡°Was here! Definitely was here.¡±</em>


    ¡°Erani, do you know anything about this?¡± I asked, stepping forward and examining the grass. There was no hint of any kind of ¡®gunk¡¯ or purple coloring.


    ¡°No, no. Never heard of Gloomspurs, either. I know sses, but you probably know more about monsters than I do. I certainly don¡¯t know anything about stuff from the empire.¡±


    ¡°Well, I guess the gunk just goes away after some time,¡± I shrugged.


    ¡°Mhm.¡± Erani bent down and looked at the patch of dead grass. ¡°Looks like they left a trail. Think we could follow it?¡±


    Sure enough, the trail led us straight to a pack of Gloomspurs, meandering across the fields, breathing their poison gas everywhere and leaving azy trail of destruction behind them.


    I could tell why the town wanted them gone so badly now, at least. With the amount of smoke they were exhaling, even this single pack could deal significant damage to thendscape. And if they wandered into farnd¡­that could end up as quite a bit of damage to the economy, too. It felt like highway robbery for them to pay us enough for a piece of bread to kill something that could destroy an entire wheat field. But, well, that was what happened when there were so many adventurers to fit the demand.


    Looking out into the pack, I counted three of the things. No, four, counting a baby one I hadn¡¯t seen at first. We needed twenty to be able to afford a night at the inn. And that wasn¡¯t counting expenses for food, clothes, everything we¡¯d need to survive aside from housing.


    I looked over at Erani and Ainash. ¡°Well, let¡¯s get hunting.¡±

 Chapter 162.2: Hunt

    Chapter 162.2: Hunt


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 7 Gloomspur.


    You have earned 16 XP. Your XP is 618.


    Level 32 Draconiad has offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 7 Gloomspur.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 1 XP. Your XP is 619.


    ¡°That¡¯s thest of this pack,¡± I said as the final body fell before me. I¡¯d used a couple Sanguine Bonds in the process of taking them out¡ªmy Health was full, but I was always spending Stamina to move around, so the incidental restoration there was nice¡ªand in the process, it¡¯d Ranked up. I¡¯d forgotten that my Soft Cap was at 11 by now, so when I used the Spell Crystal to push the Spell up to Rank 10, I actually still had one more Rank I could earn without having to push past. Unexpected, but the gains were very nice to see.


    Threshold reached. Sanguine Bond XP has reached 355.


    Sanguine Bond Rank has increased to 11.


    Due to Sanguine Bond Rank reaching 11, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 298 to 305


    Health Drain: From 6.52 to 6.85


    Stamina Drain: From 8.15 to 8.56


    Mana Drain: From 9.78 to 10.3


    Health Regeneration: From 1.63 to 1.71


    Stamina Regeneration: From 3.27 to 3.43


    Mana Regeneration: From 4.88 to 5.12


    Erani looked around. ¡°How do we get the teeth?¡±


    <em>¡°I will do it!¡±</em> Ainash bent down and, using a thorn from her whip, not-so-neatly poked and stabbed the left fang from its socket in the first corpse¡¯s mouth.


    ¡°I guess that does it,¡± I muttered, looking at the bloody disy. Then I turned to Erani. ¡°Well, we got four out of twenty.¡±


    She chuckled and shook her head. ¡°Just sixteen to go. And it¡¯s only¡­already nighttime.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m thinking we¡¯re going to be working prettyte.¡±


    ¡°Think if we buy it past midnight, they¡¯ll let the payment count for the next night too?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Only one way to find out.¡±


    Hours passed as we continued to hunt down packs of Gloomspurs. They seemed to travel in packs of three or four, but we got lucky once with a pack of five. Eventually, as the moon rose into the sky and we wandered on and on in the dark wilds, we got to a certain point.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 5 Gloomspur.


    You have earned 11 XP. Your XP is 772.


    Level 32 Draconiad has offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 7 Gloomspur.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 1 XP. Your XP is 773.


    ¡°One left,¡± I sighed. ¡°And¡­no more in this pack.¡±


    ¡°Looks like we¡¯ll be looking for another group. Then we¡¯ll be good. Guess we¡¯ll end up having enough for a couple pieces of bread, after all.¡± Eraniughed, but I could tell she was exhausted, same as I was.


    At this point, Erani had shut off Distortion Strike. Her Mana/Minute wasn¡¯t enough to keep up with it yet, so she had to take breaks from it at times. I, of course, still had on Dark te, but that was because I was able to. We were constantly on-guard to have her reactivate the Spell the moment we saw someone, though, so even if someone came up to us, ideally we¡¯d have her disguised by the time they got a good look. And there still wasn¡¯t technically any public info out on us that we knew of, so we weren¡¯t at much risk for now.


    ¡°I just hope it doesn¡¯t take another hour to find this next group, like it did thest one,¡± I muttered. ¡°Only so much I can take before I just say ¡®fuck it¡¯ and decide we should spend the night out here.¡±


    ¡°I am way too hungry to be okay with that,¡± Erani said. ¡°And I really, <em>really</em> don¡¯t want to eat raw monster meat again.¡±


    ¡°Agreed,¡± I nodded, looking at her drained face backed by the night sky. Then I smiled. ¡°Hey, you look pretty cute with bags under your eyes.¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°I do not. Don¡¯t look at me.¡±


    ¡°Fine, fine,¡± I turned away, making a show of mypliance, but then I paused, mid-way through my turn.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s another.¡±


    ¡°Another?¡±


    ¡°Another pack,¡± I smiled, looking out across the fields. Cresting a hill was a pack of four more Gloomspurs. ¡°Today¡¯s our lucky day, huh?¡±


    ¡°Lucky day,¡± Erani rolled her eyes. ¡°More like it makes up for our awful luck earlier.¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s almost tomorrow now, so we¡¯re close to it counting separately. Maybe tomorrow¡¯s our lucky day.¡±


    She chuckled. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll just have to see.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s go kill those things.¡±


    ¡°Seconded,¡± Erani nodded and walked along with me.


    <em>¡°Yay!¡±</em> Ainash said. <em>¡°More fighting!¡±</em>


    We began moving over to the new pack that was standing around at the top of the hill. We¡¯d realized, after a few encounters, that the things were pretty docile by nature. So we didn¡¯t actually need to exercise much caution when approaching, since chances were they wouldn¡¯t even try running off. And even if they did, we always had my debuffing Spells.


    So we walked up, I prepared to start casting, and¡ª


    ¡°Die, monster!¡± A voice screamed from my left, and I turned to see a man with a massive broadsword running straight at me.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± I stepped back, just barely dodging the strike. Instantly, I activated Gravity Well on my attacker, and I could see Erani beside me activate Distortion Strike to hide her appearance.


    But despite the increased gravity, the man picked up the gigantic hunk of steel with both hands and hefted it again, looking at me with rage. Then he opened his mouth and screamed charging at me again.


    I hit him with Crippling Chill, and he kept running. Level 15 Berserker, the notification said. So I raised my hand and shot him with a Ray of Frost. He kepting at me.


    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m Human!¡± I shouted.


    He didn¡¯t stop. With a grunt of exertion, he brought the sword down and I leapt to the side, once again barely avoiding getting hit. I was sure I could survive anded strike or two, but I couldn¡¯t afford him knowing my ss.


    ¡°Hey!¡± I shouted again. ¡°Please!¡±


    He turned to me with a crazed expression.


    <em>¡°Father! Is this bad guy? Should I attack?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Um¡­¡±</em> I couldn¡¯t decide what to say. Was I going to have to kill this man? <em>¡°Just try to restrain him for now!¡±</em>


    Instantly, Ainash leapt into action, charging at him. He raised his sword to deflect one whip strike, but then a Firebolt from Erani sent him stumbling back. When the smoke cleared, he was charging straight at her, apparently having switched targets from me to her. He swung his long de and just barely grazed her arm with it, but Angelic Shield protected her from damage, and before he could swing again, Ainash rushed in and wrapped her whip around his neck, forcing him to the ground in one swift motion.


    ¡°Hey!¡± A voice came out from afar. I looked over and saw a woman, alongside a whole group of people, running up to us. ¡°That¡¯s our guy! Let him go!¡±


    ¡°He was attacking me!¡± I yelled back. ¡°Come get him under control.¡±


    ¡°Let him go!¡± She yelled again.


    ¡°He¡¯s a Berserker, right?! So he¡¯s under the effects of Berserk. If we let him go, he¡¯ll just attack again. I¡¯m not doing that until you get him under control.¡±


    ¡°Ugh. Fine.¡± She ran faster in her approach, waving a hand to usher the other closer, as well.


    After a few seconds, the man still struggling to reach me but being restrained by thebined forces of Ainash and Erani, the group came over to us. Only then did I tell Ainash to let him go, and she did, leaving visible marks where the thorned whip had been poking him.


    The woman nodded at a couple people, who knelt to attend to the wounded man, and then walked up to me. ¡°What the hell was that?¡±


    I looked at her. ¡°What in the hells was that? I should be asking you the same thing. Some man just attacked me out of nowhere¡ªit¡¯s <em>you</em> who needs to be doing the exining, here.¡±


    She stared at me for a moment, then shook her head. ¡°I expectpensation.¡±


    I raised my eyebrows. ¡°Compensation?¡±


    ¡°Yes. For harming an innocent man.¡±


    Erani walked up. ¡°He wasn¡¯t innocent. He attacked us first. It¡¯s basic self defense. We only did what we had to in order to keep ourselves safe.¡±


    A man walked over to us, splitting off from the main group of easily over a dozen people to stand next to the woman, facing me. ¡°I dunno. I think you¡¯re lucky to get off with just paying us our due.¡±


    ¡°How in the bottom hell do you think <em>you¡¯re</em> in the legal right here?¡± Erani scoffed. ¡°In fact, I¡¯m almost certain that what just happened here could easily be ssified as attempted murder, <em>especially</em> since you didn¡¯t know our Levels. If we were Unssed¡ªor even just low-Level¡ªwe¡¯d be dead where we stand.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just sayin¡¯.¡± He nodded his head, and a couple other people walked up to us. ¡°There¡¯re a lot of people on our side of this. You¡¯re lucky we decided not to attack right away. ¡®Bout fifteen on three, I think this¡¯d go pretty poorly for you, huh?¡±


    <em>¡°Father,¡±</em> Ainash said, looking at me nervously, <em>¡°am feeling these people wanting to hurt us.¡±</em>


    ¡°...Oh.¡± I looked around us. Every person in the crowd of fifteen was staring straight at me. ¡°This is¡­a mugging?¡±

 Chapter 163: Raid

    Chapter 163: Raid


    ¡°This is a mugging?¡± I stared at the group of people. A few stood up front¡ªa woman and two men¡ªwhile another dozen stood behind them, doing their best to look menacing.


    One of the men shrugged. ¡°Call it what you want.¡±


    ¡°We just needpensation. Compensation for your brutal attack on ourpanion.¡±


    I frowned, staring at them. Why had they chosen us? What was going on? Did they seriously just pick up theirpanion from a rampage and then decide now was a perfect time to extort money from people? It felt like this was a practiced, standard operation for them, though. Like they¡¯d hit a dozen people already. And the timing, middle of the night, nobody around¡­it was too perfect.


    ¡°An,¡± I heard Index say, ¡°look at the guy who attacked you.¡±


    I nced over. He was standing in the back of the group with some others, the people who¡¯d helped him up. He met my eyes and scowled. ¡°Just do what we say. Don¡¯t want anyone to get hurt, huh?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a Berserker, right?¡± Index said. ¡°But if he was under Berserk when he attacked, how would he be okay now? You either have to wait out the timer on it, or run out of Stamina. I can tell you right now, neither of those things happened.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said aloud. ¡°I get it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you get it,¡± the man in front said. ¡°Just hand over money, valuables, anything on you. We don¡¯t want to hurt you.¡±


    ¡°No, no, this whole thing is a setup. Your Berserker guy wasn¡¯t under Berserk at all, right? That whole ¡®random¡¯ attack was carefully coordinated. To test us. He didn¡¯t get me, but he tagged her with damage, right?¡± I nodded my head over at Erani. ¡°Not enough to do much if she was extremely high-Level¡ªhigh enough that you knew you¡¯d lose in a fight¡ªin that case, you could just wander off, y it like it really was a mistake with Berserk. But since you hit her, you get to know her Level. And now that you know she¡¯s only a little above you¡­What? You think you can take us on? Intimidate us into giving you everything?¡±


    ¡°You think you¡¯re smart for figuring somethin¡¯ out, boy?¡± The man shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t matter how min¡¯ smart you are. We got a lot more people than you. This won¡¯t end well.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Erani said, ¡°listen. We don¡¯t have anything. No money. All we have is the clothes on our back, and a few Gloomspur teeth. Nothing to give you. Let us go, and I promise we won¡¯t report you.¡±


    Heughed, gruff voice digging into my mind like an irritating earworm. ¡°Well thanks, littledy. Your reassurance puts my heart at rest. I was gonna piss my pants with fear up ¡®till now. But thank you so much for saying you won¡¯t report us. And thank you for lying about how you¡¯re piss-poor. Must¡¯a gotten all of those Levels without ever makin a single eyt, huh?¡±


    ¡°We really don¡¯t have any money,¡± I said. Then I took a step forward. ¡°But even if we did, I wouldn¡¯t give a single copper piece to you.¡±


    ¡°An,¡± Erani gave me a look of warning.


    The manughed again. ¡°Copper? You fes are foreigners? Man, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d take your money even if you had it. min¡¯ Koinkarians, can¡¯t defend your own country, so youe and muck up ours.¡±


    ¡°So, what, we just go our separate ways?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°No,¡± the manughed. ¡°You still got some stuff on you. I¡¯ll settle for those trophies you took from the Gloomspurs, anything Enchanted on you, and that fancy armor you¡¯ve got on. Oh, and clean up that other pack of Gloomspurs for us, too. As a sign of respect.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to work,¡± I said.


    ¡°Small price to pay for your lives, in my opinion.¡±


    ¡°And what makes you think the choice is binary?¡± I leaned forward. ¡°What makes you think there isn¡¯t a third option where we beat your asses into the ground?¡±


    He rolled his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t delude yourself, boy. We outnumber you five to one. I don¡¯t care <em>what</em> Level you are. If it¡¯s even remotely near 20, you¡¯ll die before you can even swing a weapon.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. You have no idea what I can do. And I suggest you don¡¯t bother finding out.¡± It was sort of a bluff¡ªI was sure I could take on one, maybe two Level-15s, possibly three depending on their builds, but yeah. Not fifteen. However, they didn¡¯t know that. Ainash and I were wildcards here, me moreso because I never even tried subduing the Berserker. So I had to take advantage of that.


    ¡°Listen, kid. You¡¯re really reaching here. I know you want to get out of this without a fight, but that¡¯s not how it¡¯s going to happen. Even if you¡¯re some amazingly powerful Level 50 demigod we¡¯ve somehow never heard of before, you¡¯re not gonna do shit. And even if you could, your little sweetheart is Level 20. All we need is a few people and she¡¯s done. What is she, a Magic-Type? Doubt she can take more than a few hits.¡±


    Erani scowled at his words, and I took a step forward, so there was barely any space between me and the man. ¡°You¡¯re not going to hurt her.¡±


    ¡°Do you really want to take that risk? Who says we can¡¯t kill a Level 20 who probably barely has any Health above 100?¡±


    ¡°Her, mainly,¡± I said, aware of how incorrect he was in his assumptions. The Bond raised her physicals high, and even if she didn¡¯t have the Talents and Martial Arts of a Melee-Type to help her in closebat, I was certain she could hold herself in a fight for a while. ¡°But also, even if you could¡­if you tried, I would kill you in an instant. And you can¡¯t beat me. You can¡¯t hurt me. In fact, I¡¯d love to see you try. Please. Try to hurt me.¡±


    I reached out and ced my hand on his arm calmly. He tensed when I touched him¡ªI could even hear a couple people drawing their weapons¡ªbut nothing happened. He understood the threat, though. There were many Spells and abilities that could be activated upon contact with a person, a couple of which I personally had. But even if I didn¡¯t have any, the threat was there; if they attacked, I¡¯d hit this guy with a great deal of harm. And they still had no idea what form that harm would take. Ideally, the threat would buy us some time.


    ¡°Yeah, a very specific amount of time,¡± Index interrupted my thoughts. ¡°Decent n, though. Uh, lower your eyebrows some more, though. I¡¯m looking at your face and¡­yeah, yeah, there you go. Makes you look more intimidating when looking through the eyeholes of your helmet.¡±


    <em>Thanks</em>.


    ¡°Listen, bud,¡± the man said, looking into my eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t know who you <em>think</em> you are, but you¡¯re about to have a rude awakening.¡±


    ¡°Just hit me. You¡¯ve got a knife on your back, right? Under your shirt?¡± That little piece of information was thanks to Index scouting the people out while we¡¯d been talking. But revealing I knew just nted a bit more fear into their minds. That was all this was about¡ªif I could convince them that there was a possibility a fight with me would end badly, there was no way they¡¯d try it just for some random equipment. ¡°Take that knife and stab me with it. See how it goes.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you do need a knife through the eye, teach you a lesson.¡±


    ¡°You will die instantly.¡±


    A moment of silence passed between us. The man grit his teeth, then yanked his arm away from my hand. But I grabbed on with my other hand just as he pulled away, not breaking contact between us.


    ¡°If you want to make it out of this alive,¡± I said, ¡°you will turn around and walk away. Got it?¡±


    He just scowled at me. I could tell I was making some progress here, though. After all, only an insane person would fight this hard to keep some random monster trophies not even worth enough to spend a night at an inn. Which, admittedly, I kind of was. But I wasn¡¯t about to give away <em>our</em> hard-earned money to some random grouping to steal it off of us. And, while it would suck to lose out on a Stat from Recycled Loop, I did technically have a couple uses left for Time Loop; I could afford to take risks.


    ¡°Hey!¡± A voice yelled up from the back of the group. ¡°Y¡¯know, that monster pet of theirs, she seems pretty weird-lookin¡¯. Think they have a license for it?¡±


    Suddenly, the man in front looked back at me, confidence spreading across his face once again. I could hear Erani shifting her stance next to me, but I kept my eyes locked on him.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°I doubt you do. So, either you¡¯re smuggling that thing into town, or you¡¯re leaving her out here. If you¡¯re smuggling it, well, we can always get into contact withw enforcement. And if you¡¯re leaving it out here, defenseless¡­¡±


    The person in the backughed. ¡°We¡¯ll find her, tie her up, bring her to you, and kill her right in front of¡ª¡±


    An explosion rocked my senses, blowing up the entire group of people from where the speaker stood.


    ¡°You will not hurt her!¡± Erani screamed from beside me, and I realized she¡¯d just hurled a Firebolt straight into the crowd of people.


    At that moment, I knew I had to enact my n, too. I¡¯d been counting the seconds, and now was the perfect time. In the chaos, before the man I¡¯d been holding onto for fifteen seconds could react, I cast Sanguine Bond.


    You have cursed Level 17 Ranger with Sanguine Bond. For the next 10 seconds, or until Level 17 Ranger is further than 10 paces away from you, the following effects are true:


    He loses 6.52 Health, 8.15 Stamina, and 9.78 Mana per second.


    You gain 1.63 Health, 3.27 Stamina, and 4.88 Mana per second.


    298 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1017.


    You have cursed Level 17 Ranger with Hypnotic Bond. For the next 10 seconds, or until Level 17 Ranger is further than 10 paces away from you or is damaged from a non-preexisting curse source, he is Hypnotized, and cannot move, think, or otherwise respond to external stimuli.


    Instantly, the man went ssy-eyed as Hypnotic Bond took him over. He swayed where he stood, like his head had been emptied out, but his body still allowed him to stay standing. And then I watched for the perfect moment to enact step two.


    The smoke cleared and I heard the unsheathing of weapons. Some people were on the ground, having been knocked back by the Firebolt Erani had thrown, but the rest had their weapons readied and were preparing to charge at us. But the moment they could see me, I ced my hand on the Hypnotized leader¡¯s chest and pushed.


    Without even trying to keep himself up¡ªhow could he, after all¡ªthe man instantly fell back to the ground, body thudding against the dirt. It¡¯d only been a couple seconds by now, so I still had a decent bit of time with him unmoving.


    As the man impacted the ground in front of me, I saw fear suddenly enter the eyes of the people standing against me. After all, I¡¯d been talking quite a big game. And suddenly, in the split second they couldn¡¯t see me, I¡¯d somehow knocked out¡ªor killed, as far as they knew¡ªtheir leader. Certainly not something that¡¯d make them eager to strike.


    ¡°What did you do to him?!¡± one of the people asked.


    ¡°Want me to show you?¡± I stepped over the man¡¯s immobile body, armor nking as I marched toward them.


    Everyone backed away from me.


    ¡°Get out, and don¡¯t you <em>dare</em> return!¡± Erani yelled from my side, hands out and practically crackling with the Firebolts she was no doubt prepared to cast. Honestly, I was kind of worried she was about to execute them all where they stood.


    It was only once Ainash stepped in, swinging her ming whip in a wide arc at the group of people, that they decided to cut their losses, turned, and ran off. The thumps of their feet stampeding over each other to get away from the bloodthirsty group of three that we made echoed into the night.


    ¡°Okay.¡± I sighed as I watched them retreat. ¡°Ainash, can you tie this guy up?¡±


    When Loik awoke from that damned Hypnosis condition, he found an armored face staring down at him. After a moment¡¯s confusion, he suddenly felt the disorientating sensation of memories flooding into his mind. Memories of this man¡ªthe man he¡¯d been <em>trying</em> to get some money out of¡ªpushing him over and chasing the rest of Loik¡¯s crew off.


    He attempted to push himself to his feet, but found that his hands were restrained behind his back. ncing around, he saw he was alone, save these three creepy individuals. That armor, it seemed to suck in any light around it, so Loik could only barely see the whites of the eyes of the man inside, despite his face being not even half a pace away. The woman, looking like some gray-skinned Ghoul walking around, and then the monster with the fire in its white eyes.


    Seeing their appearances, thoughts shed through Loik¡¯s face of his fate. Would they kill him in some ritual sacrifice to a dead god? Would they eat him alive like the monsters they looked like? Would they torture him for their sick enjoyment? What the hell did these people have nned for him?!


    Restrained and surrounded, he had absolutely no chance against them. Especially if he was alone. So, his voice involuntarily shaking, he swallowed and spoke, ¡°W-what do you want from me?¡±


    The armored man¡ªactually, who even knew if it was a person in there? Loik could barely see inside. Maybe it was some monster upying the¡ªno. Loik tried to keep his mind from racing. These min¡¯ sickos would probably enjoy seeing him afraid, the monsters, cultists, whatever they were. He forced his focus back on the man, who crouched and looked at Loik straight in the eyes, the stare sending shivers down his spine.


    ¡°Listen,¡± the man said. ¡°You just tried to mug us. So, y¡¯know. We wantpensation.¡±

 Chapter 164.1: Town

    Chapter 164.1: Town


    <strong>PART 1/2</strong>


    The man, after some prodding, handed over his valuables. It felt nice, turning a mugging around on the robbers, even though he didn¡¯t actually have much coin on him. Well, not much objectively. But to us, the five one-hundred-eyt coins he put in my hand almost doubled our haul from tonight. Plus, the satisfaction Ainash had when she stared down at the coins gave me the impression she saw them as not only a resource to use, but also a trophy from defeating the ¡°mean guys,¡± as she called them. So I supposed that was a plus.


    Once we took everything off of the man, I looked back over at him, restrained and on the ground. ¡°You know the deal, right?¡±


    ¡°I never made no deal with you,¡± he spat.


    ¡°Oh, but you did. See, when you were alone and vulnerable, lying on the ground¡ªlike you are right now¡ªand I decided not to kill you, that was us making a deal. A deal where, in exchange for you fucking off forever, you get your life.¡±


    He scowled. ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll leave you be. No revenge. Now can you let me go?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you understand what I¡¯m asking you to do. I¡¯m not just saying ¡®no revenge.¡¯ That¡¯s something you¡¯ll do anyway if you value your lives. I¡¯m saying that you do not interact with us. You do not talk to us. You do not look at us. You do not interact withw enforcement regarding us. If you see us hunting out here, you run off back to whatever hole you crawled out of. If we¡¯re walking toward each other on the street, you cross to the other side. And especially, you do not mug, rob, extort <em>anyone</em>, ever again. And I know you probably won¡¯t listen to me, and you¡¯ll go out and get your coin from the pockets of newbie adventurers. I get that. But I do want you to be afraid every single moment while you do so. Because if we <em>ever</em> see you even speaking to another adventurer in any sort of adversarial way, we will not hesitate to execute you where you stand. This is your one chance.¡±


    ¡°Alright, fine, I get it.¡± He averted his eyes from me.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t think you do. If you ever try to kill any of us, whether it''s some ambush as a group, or tracking a single person down and targeting them while they¡¯re isted, we will not hesitate to find and kill everyst person in your group. I will track down your homes, your families, and end them. I don¡¯t care if they¡¯re innocent. I will do it just to fuck you over. If a single one of us dies¡ªfor any reason¡ªyou are all dead. Got it?¡±


    He took a shaky breath. ¡°Look, I¡¯m really sorry we tried to hit you. W-we didn¡¯t know who you were. I-I dunno if you¡¯re some famous adventurer from the kingdom or something, but I swear we didn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t give a shit about what you knew. Now you know that if I ever catch you breaking any sort ofw, be it murder or fucking tax fraud, you are dead. So, y¡¯know. Move with caution.¡±


    He nodded over and over, as though each nod had a better chance at reassuring me.


    ¡°Okay. Now go find your little group. Tell them what I told you. And be absolutely sure they understand the weight of my promises. Because when I make them, I keep them.¡±


    I sent a message to Ainash asking her to take off the bindings around his wrists, and the moment they were off, he pushed himself to his feet and scampered off.


    Erani watched him leave alongside me. ¡°You sure you didn¡¯t go too far with the whole threatening their families thing? Also, I do hope you realize I¡¯m definitely not going out and killing random children if you die.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, it was a total bluff,¡± I said. ¡°But I¡¯m not taking any chances. Obviously, I don¡¯t want them to try and assassinate any of us or whatever, but I also don¡¯t want to get involved with any sort ofw enforcement. That¡¯s just asking for trouble, when ites to tracking our identities if wee forward as witnesses, or something. So I thought being as intimidating as possible would be the best way to keep them silent. Plus, if they stop trying to mug people, that¡¯s definitely a bonus.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure they¡¯re totally reformed,¡± Erani rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Anyway, sorry for taking over that whole thing,¡± I said. ¡°Didn¡¯t really give you any chances to say anything you wanted to say. I kinda got into the role, y¡¯know?¡±


    ¡°Oh, no worries, it was fun to watch you work. I would¡¯ve gotten Ainash to message you if I needed to say anything.¡±


    I chuckled. ¡°Well, at least now we know how we¡¯re doing things if we ever need to threaten more peoples¡¯ families. Roles have been assigned. I¡¯m the talking one, and you¡¯re the muscle who stands in the back of the room menacingly.¡±


    ¡°Ideally we won¡¯t need to fall back into those roles.¡±


    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s always good to be prepared.¡±


    Once we were sure none of the bandits were following us¡ªwhich was somewhat easy, given the open nature of the surrounding fields¡ªwe got back onto the road back to the town of Salvation.


    ¡°Do you think we should stay outside with Ainash for tonight?¡± Erani asked as we walked. ¡°I don¡¯t want her to end up ambushed by those bandits.¡±


    ¡°Hm, that might be smart,¡± I said. ¡°I tried my best to keep them from trying something stupid like that, but it¡¯s still definitely a possibility. Maybe we should just run in to grab some food and supplies beforeing back out here with her. Safety in numbers and all that.¡±


    <em>¡°Do not need to do that!¡± </em>Ainash interjected. <em>¡°I will be fine.¡±</em>


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± I asked. ¡°I mean, if they decide toe after you¡­¡±


    <em>¡°Mean guys will not find me if want to kill me. I am very sneaky. Will go far far away from them, to other side of Human territory, and will be very careful to not be followed. Also, if mean guys decide to try kill me, that means they are bad guys! And I will kill bad guys. So if they be bad guys, I will kill them anyway.¡±</em>


    I sighed. Aside from her assertion that she¡¯d just kill all of them, she did make a good point. As a native creature of the forest, she certainly had an advantage when it came to moving without being noticed. So maybe the danger wasn¡¯t as bad as I thought.


    ¡°It¡¯s still a risk I don¡¯t want to take,¡± Erani said. ¡°If you need help, it¡¯ll take way too long for us to get to you.¡±


    <em>¡°That is why you need focus on getting me into Human settlement, not protecting me while I am out of it. Protecting me is only making problem not as bad, but putting me into settlement gets rid of problem totally! So should spend time trying to do that. I will be okay for now, because those Humans are stupid and weak. But if smart, strong Humans decide to be bad guys, then we should be together inside of protected settlement. So put me in there!¡±</em>


    Erani pursed her lips at that.


    ¡°I kind of agree with her,¡± I offered. ¡°I mean, in the long term, it <em>is</em> kind of a waste of effort to spend all of our time out here protecting her from some random thugs that she¡¯s most likely able to handle on her own. But if the Demons are able to infiltrate the empire ande after us, that¡¯s when she¡¯s going to be <em>really</em> vulnerable. We all need to be in a city¡ªpreferably some ce with a good military¡ªwhen that happens. Not still out here worried about bandits. If we spend the night in town, we can make sure we get an early morning start and head down to whatever ce we need to go to in order to get that license to let her in, instead of spending all morning walking there.¡±


    Erani nodded. ¡°I suppose. But be sure to stay safe while you¡¯re out here, alright?¡±


    <em>¡°I will!¡±</em>


    ¡°Good,¡± she sighed.


    As we walked, I suddenly got an unexpected notification.


    Time Loop has refreshed its uses.


    Recycled Loop has activated. Due to 2 uses being leftover, you have gained the following Stats:


    +1 Strength, +1 Endurance


    8 Stats remain until you must Level up.


    ¡°Oh, hey, there it is,¡± I said.


    ¡°There what is?¡±


    ¡°It just turned to midnight, so I got my uses of Time Loop back. And the other two got recycled into Stats.¡±


    ¡°Right, I forgot about that,¡± Erani nodded. ¡°So, if you got two today, that means you can get eight more before you have to Level up?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Probably gonna stick with the n of getting another Spell Crystal use from those guards tomorrow, too. So I¡¯ll get another two then.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re excited,¡± Eraniughed. ¡°I need to get Spell Crystals for my Spell Upgrades, too. Just about locked out of practicing by now, since Firebolt is nearing 20.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯ll probably be what we save up for soon, then,¡± I nodded. ¡°Or maybe we¡¯ll find some bandits with a couple of them on hand when we counter-rob them.¡±


    Eraniughed. ¡°Great idea. We should just rely on stealing from bandits to make all our money from now on.¡±

 Chapter 164.2: Town

    Chapter 164.2: Town


    <strong>PART 2/2</strong>


    Eventually, we got to the town gates, and had to say our goodbyes to Ainash, going through our reminders to stay safe and stay within range of our telepathicmunication in case anything went wrong. And to tell us if she was at all worried she was being followed, so we could get to her right away.


    Once that was over, we reentered the city. It still somewhat messed with me to be in here, surrounded by so many people¡ªso many potential enemies¡ªand being forced to act normal. I had to turn my back to people, opening myself up to potential attacks, I had to watch as individuals walked past me with weapons on their sides or backs, or Magic-Types whose hands were their weapons, I had to move through tight alleyways where ambushers could corner us with no means of escape. I knew these fears were irrational, for the most part, but that didn¡¯t stop me from at least feeling them. I just had to ignore them.


    Despite my uneasiness, though, we walked to the guild lobby and entered. The bar had emptied out just barely in our time away, but the ce hadn¡¯t gotten any less rowdy. Honestly, it was probably even louder than before, with everyone inside considerably more drunk. But Erani and I just moved along the walls like usual, taking care to avoid any of the dozens of arguments threatening to escte to fistfights at the various tables on the floor.


    We made our way to the receptionist¡¯s desk at the back, where we turned in our twenty-three Gloomspur teeth without issue for six hundred and ny eyt. Combined with the five hundred we¡¯d taken from the muggers, that made around twelve hundred in our possession.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get something to eat,¡± Erani said the moment the money was in our hands. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m gonna shrivel up and die of malnutrition if I don¡¯t have a piece of bread this instant.¡±


    ¡°Seconded,¡± I sighed.


    We got some rtively cheap items from the menu and sat at a table on the edge of the room. Still, despite our position away from the main action, we still had people stumbling across the floor anding close to us, each time worrying me that they¡¯d somehow copse into my injured leg, giving them a damage notification about my ss.


    So I kept Noxious Grasp activated constantly. At least if I was spewing smoke out of my armor, people would keep their distance, and if someone did end up brushing past me, they¡¯d get a little ping of damage to let them know to stay away. Of course, that could cause problems of their own, but I was of the opinion that the issue of someone getting pissed at me for hitting them for a couple points of damage was much less intense than the issue of my ss info getting out. At least I could talk my way out of a confrontation; if someone bumped into my leg in the wrong way, it¡¯d pretty much require an instant reset with Time Loop.


    So with Noxious Grasp on and my Mana being slightly drained every second, the cost of keeping it on one hundred percent of the time still above my Mana/Minute, we sat. But my mind was still upied away from that threat of danger by one thing.


    ¡°Holy shit,¡± I said, taking a massive bite of a loaf of bread, ¡°it¡¯s so good.¡±


    Erani shoveled spoonfuls of soup into her mouth. ¡°There¡¯s so much vor. Good gods, the vor.¡±


    ¡°If I could have sex with this bread, I would,¡± I said, tearing off another chunk while I still chewed the first.


    Erani choked on her broth. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It just tastes really good, okay?¡±


    ¡°I mean,¡± she looked off at the far wall, as if deep in thought, ¡°technically, I can think of a couple ways you could¡ª¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s keep that statement metaphorical, okay?¡±


    ¡°Fine. But only if you give me a bite.¡±


    I tore off a piece and gave it to her, which she eagerly dunked into her soup, trying to soak up as much as possible for a juicy bite. While she was busy with that, I reached over and grabbed her spoon, sneaking a bite of her own food for myself.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re definitely getting seconds, right?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Absolutely.¡±


    We ended up getting a third serving, too. I¡¯d noticed that Erani had a bit of trouble with some of the foods, due to her missing hand. Especially since her remaining hand was her non-dominant one. There were more than a couple times something spilled onto the table or missed her mouth with an awkwardly-held spoon. Every time it happened, I had an urge to offer to help her eat, but I wasn¡¯t sure if doing something like that would just make her feel worse or not.


    While we were shoving that food into our mouths, a bar fight broke out a couple tables over. Some guy fucked some other guy¡¯s wife or whatever¡ªI wasn¡¯t paying that much attention¡ªand now they were trying to kill each other over it. At first, I hoped it¡¯d settle down, but after one of the dudes got knocked over into a table, scattering some adventuring party¡¯s beers, they got up and started preparing to wail on people, and I decided that was probably our cue to leave.


    So Erani and I got up from our seats so we could walk over to the receptionist¡¯s desk once more and get our room. But just as I ced my chair back in its ce and turned around to start walking, someone¡ªthe guy who started the fight¡ªstumbled forward, knocking chairs and tables aside, and reaching out for anything to break his fall. He seemed to decide I was the perfect thing to crash into, reaching out to keep himself up, fingers grasping to grip onto my arm¡ªmy injured one.


    Instantly, I turned to jerk my hand away from him so he couldn¡¯t hurt me, and he ended up copsing face-first to the ground by my leg. Groaning, he rolled over and reached up once again to use my body to help himself up to his feet, but to that I just let Noxious Grasp do its job.


    ¡°Augh!¡± He yanked his hand away the moment it touched my armor, and I got a notification about the few points of damage I¡¯d done to the Level 12 man. He looked up at me. ¡°Thanks for the min¡¯ help. And what the hell was that damage?!¡±


    I scooted a chair over he could use to pull himself up. ¡°Just an aura my armor gives out. Can¡¯t control it. I¡¯d advise you not to try touching me next time.¡±


    ¡°min¡¯...stupid armor,¡± he grumbled as he climbed to his feet. I could tell he was extremely drunk from the way he talked¡ªthough the fact that he started an entire bar fight told me that already.


    Some guy¡ªthe guy this man was fighting, I realized¡ªstomped toward us, fist raised and ready to pummel down on the drowsy man only standing because of the chair he leaned on. ¡°Tyrus, I swear to the gods, I am going to <em>end</em> you!¡±


    ¡°Hey, man.¡± I held out a hand to stop the approaching man. ¡°Just leave him be for now. His Health¡¯s probably low, right? If you¡¯re gonna make yourself into a murderer, you better have a damn good reason for it. I suspect this isn¡¯t that.¡±


    Someone else reached out and tugged him away, adding a little bit of calm to the still-busy tavern floor.


    After a cough that made me worry he¡¯d puke on me, the man who¡¯d copsed in the first ce¡ªTyrus, his name seemed to be¡ªlooked over at me with a scowl. ¡°You, you can¡¯t act like you didn¡¯t just totally let me fall without helping me, man. min¡¯ pushing me to the ground and then hitting me for even more damage, then actin¡¯ like you didn¡¯t do nothin¡¯ wrong. Burn in hell, man.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t push you. And my arm is injured. If I let you break your fall with it, it¡¯d be very bad for me. Much worse than a little tumble onto the ground. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°Whatever, man. Using your min¡¯ magic on me¡­that¡¯s, like¡­assault.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s self-defense. You were about to hurt me. I dealt some damage to you to ensure you wouldn¡¯t. If you¡¯re trying to touch me without my permission, I¡¯m going to get you to stop. That¡¯s just how these things work.¡±


    He snorted, and walked off, and I barely caught him muttering, ¡°min¡¯ evil, spiked armor creep.¡±


    I sighed, and Erani looked over at me. ¡°I know that defense technically works here, but it won¡¯t always work.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know,¡± I said. ¡°If someone else bumps into me, it¡¯s fine, but if I¡¯m the one who identally stumbles into someone else with Noxious Grasp on, then I¡¯m definitely the one in the wrong. I just need to be careful.¡±


    ¡°Well, sure, but it¡¯s also a problem if the person bumping into you is Unssed. I guess it kind of depends on what the exactws are here, but if they¡¯re anything close to thews in the kingdom, they¡¯re definitely not going to tolerate any sort of ¡®self defense¡¯ against someone Unssed, unless they¡¯re literallying at you with a knife or something.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess. Probably fine to use in here, since I doubt there are many Unssed people walking around in an adventurer¡¯s guild lobby¡ªand the ones who are definitely aren¡¯t going to be walking around grabbing onto the ssers¡ªbut yeah. Not a good solution while out on the streets.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, we should probably just get out of here. I doubt that fight¡¯s going to stay resolved for long.¡±


    I nodded. In fact, I could already hear that drunkard shouting at random patrons to ¡®stop looking at me like that,¡¯ so there was bound to be more trouble soon. We walked over to the receptionist¡¯s desk, gave her the required six hundred eyt for a room. That left us with a bit more than three hundred after the meals, plus a key to our new room. With that, she pointed us to the staircase up to our rooms, and we headed off through the tight doorway and up the even narrower staircase. After walking up to the second floor, we found a few hallways lined with doors, found the one with our number, and walked in.


    Once we were in, I breathed a sigh of relief. There were still muffled sounds of the brawl that a few people were seemingly trying to calm down below us, but for now, we were safe. A room all to ourselves. It was small, admittedly. Barely enough room for a bed, a table, and space to walk to them. But it was more private space than we¡¯d had for the past while.


    I walked right over and flopped down on the bed, feeling its hard cushioning barely give way under my impact. Still,pared to what I was used to, it was like lying in thep of luxury itself. Erani sat next to me. I couldn¡¯t help but notice the fact that this was the first time we¡¯d been in a bedroom together at night, sharing a bed, but I also understood that we were both way, way too tired for that. Still, the circumstances got my heart beating in a certain way.


    Erani took a deep breath, and slowly leaned herself back, so we were both lying sideways on the mattress.


    ¡°Good gods,¡± I said. ¡°This feels nice. Food, a room¡­It¡¯s been way too long.¡±


    ¡°Mhm,¡± Erani said sleepily.


    ¡°So I guess tomorrow is going to be figuring out how to get Ainash in here, and then we go and try to find a longer-term job to make some better money?¡±


    ¡°Mhm.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like a n.¡± Wey there in silence for a while, before I looked over at her, and saw her eyes closed, mouth hanging open and just barely snoring. Iughed. ¡°Cute.¡±


    So, trying not to wake her, I moved her so she was lying fully in the bed and under the covers, and slipped in beside her. The bed was small¡ªobviously intended to fit one person, not two¡ªbut I was able to make it work by shifting us so she was pretty much lying fully on top of me.


    And not long after I settled in bed next to Erani, I felt the drowsiness forcing my own eyes closed, as well. So before I drifted off, I looked down and kissed her on the top of her head. ¡°Night. Let¡¯s hope we get some good news tomorrow.¡±


    And then I closed my eyes.

 Chapter 165: Pets

    Chapter 165: Pets


    A shout jolted me awake. I instantly sat up, throwing the covers from myself and looking around. Was it a monster attack? Demon invasion? There was nothing in the dark room, but the shout hade from downstairs, in the lobby. Hurriedly, as another thud echoed from the room below, I cast Ethereal Armor to summon Dark te, which had dissolved off of me in the night. Erani got up next to me, apparently having been awoken by the same noise, and looked over as I went through the familiar, swift motions to assemble the suit of armor on myself.


    ¡°What is it?¡± She asked. ¡°Time Loop? Something going on?¡±


    ¡°No, not Time Loop,¡± I said. ¡°But I heard a noise from below.¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± she said, getting out of bed, herself. ¡°Think it¡¯s an attack?¡±


    ¡°Could be.¡± I ced my helmet on my head, thest piece toplete the set. ¡°Let¡¯s go see what it is.¡±


    Cautiously, we snuck out into the empty hallway¡ªhow was nobody else awake by this? Or were they all already up and evacuated? Maybe the shoutinging from downstairs was the sound of a massive battle raging on.


    Every creak as we crept down the wooden steps stabbed my heart, until we finally got to the door that opened to the doorway that led into the main lobby.


    ¡°Ready?¡± I whispered to Erani.


    She nodded, and we burst through the door, holding up our hands and ready to st off our Spells at anything that dared move in our direction.


    We found¡­nothing. Well, there were certainly things in the guild lobby. A receptionist at the front desk, a bartender calmly cleaning a ss, a couple people that¡¯d passed out at the tables, and a few more individuals standing around and talking. The ones who were awake looked over at us with curious expressions at our dramatic entrance.


    I looked around, still not totally off-guard, and called out to the room, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    The bartender frowned at me. ¡°Nothing. What are you doing? It¡¯s six in the morning. Don¡¯t wake up the rest of our patrons.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I saidmely. ¡°Uh, sorry.¡±


    ¡°There <em>is</em> something going on!¡± one of the people standing in the middle of the lobby shouted. When I looked over, I realized that the group of people wasn¡¯t just talking, they were arguing. Two big, buff people¡ªa man and a woman¡ªwere standing and holding a guy by his arms while he drunkenly shouted at them. The drunken shouter was the one who¡¯d yelled over at me, and he continued, ¡°These two <em>assholes</em> are trying to kick me out, even though I did¡­like, <em>nothing</em>!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve started three separate fights now,¡± one of the pair holding him said. ¡°Sorry, but that¡¯s too far. We get that you¡¯ve got your vendettas and such, but you can¡¯t be settling that in here. We gave you your warnings, now it''s time to leave.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t <em>do </em>this, man! At least let me get one more drink before I leave.¡±


    The bartender looked over at him. ¡°No.¡±


    Then the drunkard swung his head over at me. ¡°C¡¯mon man, do something about this! It¡¯s, like¡­<em>prejudice</em> or something, man!¡±


    ¡°Sorry, um, not sure I¡­¡±


    His eyes widened in recognition upon seeing me. At first, I was worried he somehow recognized me as the kingdom¡¯s fugitive, but then he shouted, ¡°You¡¯re that guy fromst night, right?! That guy who pushed me over. min¡¯...spiked armor creep. With the min¡¯ armor that hurts me when I touch it. Go¡­die in hell, or something, man.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, recognizing him. ¡°It¡¯s you. Uh, Tyrus, right? Are you still drunk fromst night? You should get some sleep.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­care what you think,¡± he muttered, and walked off, out of the building, leaving it silent.


    ¡°So,¡± Erani said, ¡°I assume that was what made the noise. Not an attack.¡±


    ¡°Attack?¡± the bartender asked. ¡°Why in hell¡¯s mes would you think the guild is getting attacked? This is thest ce to fall in an assault, certainly not the first.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, guess that¡¯s true,¡± I sighed. ¡°We¡¯ve just had a lot going ontely.¡±


    After that was over, we left the guild, ourselves, and headed out into the streets. It was technically still somewhat early, but we were up anyway, and so we may as well have gotten a head start on the day.


    One thing I hadn¡¯t noticed in my rush to see what was going on in the lobby was that Noxious Grasp had Ranked up over the night. Walking down the street, I looked at the notification.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 1.92k.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 16.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 16, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 5.32 to 5.45


    Health Drain: From 20.8 to 21.8


    Stamina Drain: From 10.4 to 10.9


    I was officially getting pretty close to Rank 20, meaning the Spell would be able to be Upgraded once again. And since I already had a Poison Spell Crystal, I¡¯d only need one more to get there. Though, with all of my other Spells that <em>also</em> just needed one more Spell Crystal to be Upgraded, I still had quite a few in line. Hopefully, with more time to work today, we¡¯d be able to take on a more suitable job for our Levels and make a muchrger chunk of money.


    But for now, we had something else to worry about. In order to get a license to let Ainash into this ce, we¡¯d need to go to town hall and speak with them. I wasn¡¯t exactly confident they¡¯d have protocol already in ce for giving out licenses to allow in such a rare species of monster, but we had to at least try. By talking with town hall, we¡¯d get an idea of what we¡¯d need to do from now. So while this certainly wouldn¡¯t be the only thing we¡¯d need to do, it¡¯d still be the first step in any course of action.


    After asking around for directions, we eventually found ourselves standing in front of the imposing marble building that cast a shadow on the surrounding streets. Even in the early morning, a steady trickle of people marched both in and out of the front doors.


    We walked in and, after once again asking for directions, we were directed to what wasbeled the ¡°Urban Monsters Offices,¡± which we found after wandering through a winding set of hallways. It was dizzying and stressful, navigating the tight, artificial corridors, but eventually we got there.


    Walking through a door with the corresponding que on it, we entered an office with a woman sitting at a desk.


    She looked up at us. ¡°Do you have an appointment?¡±


    ¡°...No, do we need one?¡± Erani asked.


    She sighed. ¡°No. Just makes it harder on me. Have a seat, tell me what you need.¡±


    We grabbed a couple chairs that were sitting against a wall and dragged them over so they were facing her, the wooden legs scraping loudly against the floorboards.


    ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯d like to get a license to bring a monster into town.¡±


    ¡°Oh, goody,¡± she said in a monotone voice that made it clear she was in no way excited. ¡°Another one of you people. Tell me the species.¡±


    ¡°Uh, you can only let in specific species, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes. If it¡¯s not in the books, it¡¯s not allowed in.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I pursed my lips. No way ¡®Draconiad¡¯ would be in there. ¡°Would we be able to look at that book?¡±


    She sighed again. ¡°Fine.¡±


    As she fished around in a drawer at the bottom of her desk, I shared a nce with Erani. We knew that Draconiads wouldn¡¯t be in there, but there was a possibility that we¡¯d be able to find Nymphs, or even Dryads, which were both moremon. So I was hoping that, if we could get our foot in the door with the precursor species, perhaps we could convince them to just use the rules for that one, since there weren¡¯t many differences.


    The woman leaned back up in her chair, now holding a massive binder that barely even fit in her hands, and dropped it on the table with a room-shaking <em>thud</em>.


    ¡°That¡¯s A through G,¡± she said, then leaned back down to the drawer.


    I shared another nce with Erani. If <em>that</em> thing contained just the first fourth of the species¡­maybe Draconiad would be in there, after all?


    The three other binders¡ªH through M, N through T, and U through Znded on the desk, and the woman gestured for us to get started searching through.


    It was unwieldy, trying to open these books to specific pages, and despite them being alphabetically organized, it was still difficult to find the exact ce that the species we were looking for would be, since there were just so many filling the books. Eventually, I found the page that should¡¯ve contained Draconiad, and¡­nope. It would¡¯ve been between Dracolich and Dragon¡ªhow one would keep <em>either</em> of those as pets, I had no idea¡ªbut there was nothing there.


    So instead, we looked for Nymph and Dryad. A few more minutes of searching, and¡­again, nothing.


    ¡°Are there any species that are allowed outside of what¡¯s in these books?¡± I asked.


    The woman rolled her eyes and shook her head.


    ¡°Really? I mean, it¡¯s kind of surprising you don¡¯t even have Nymphs on here, I thought they were moremon.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t have any idea what a Nymph is.¡±


    I sighed. Maybe they were onlymon in the climates that the kingdom was housed in, or something. ¡°Okay, well is there any way to add something to the book? Or, like, have someonee and examine a monster that isn¡¯t in it?¡±


    ¡°You certainly can,¡± she said. ¡°Once you¡¯ve been a citizen of this town for at least two years, we can start the process and you just need to pay a small fee, and someone wille out here to look at it. It¡¯ll just be around a three month travel time, and¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I deted the moment I heard ¡®two years,¡¯ and ¡®three month travel time¡¯ killed any hope I had left for an exception. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be an option.¡±


    ¡°Is there anything we can do without waiting so long?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°If you want to rush things, <em>and</em> you haven¡¯t been a citizen for that long¡­¡± the woman stopped to think. ¡°Well, the government wouldn¡¯t help you pay for it at all, but you could always teleport a specialist out here. We¡¯ve got a teleportation circle, so if you pay the cost for a two-way trip, we can have a specialiste out within just a couple days.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s perfect,¡± I said, not quite believing our luck. ¡°How much would it cost?¡±


    ¡°Well, Enchanting materials are scarce nowadays, so the cost of teleportation materials have gone up some. For a two way trip at that distance, should be¡­one hundred and twenty thousand eyt.¡±


    I groaned upon hearing that figure. Over a hundred thousand? That was absolutely ridiculous. ¡°Is there any way to lower it?¡±


    ¡°Not unless you can provide materials, yourself. But to figure that stuff out, you¡¯d want to talk to the people who run the circle. Not me.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I sighed. ¡°So all of this money is just being spent to bring a ¡®specialist¡¯ in, right? What is that, like, the people who write the requirements in the books?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Everything that was put in this book was done by a specialist. It¡¯s their job.¡±


    ¡°So, for all of these entries¡­¡± I looked at the tens of thousands of pages in the binders. ¡°Someone paid over a hundred thousand eyt to put it in there?¡±


    ¡°Not all of them. Most of the monsters native to the area were put in preemptively, once thew was put into ce. And the ones that are put in through the method you¡¯re trying to do¡ªgetting a specialist to look at a monster on request¡ªare more often than not done by a citizen that has the patience to wait a few months. Then the specialist can travel on foot, which is much cheaper.¡±


    ¡°But aren¡¯t there any specialists nearby? Why would it take months to have a specialiste here? I mean, why aren¡¯t they stationed evenly throughout the empire, or something? Hells, this seems like a pretty popted ce, why don¡¯t you have someone capable of writing new entries stationed here to begin with?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a foreigner, right? Probably from the kingdom?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah. How did you know?¡±


    ¡°Your ent. Your vernacr. Your ignorance. Your¡­everything. It¡¯s obvious. Listen, I¡¯ll afford you a little patience since you¡¯re new here, but please do your research beforeing to a new country. Your little kingdom is very, very small. Specialists <em>are</em> stationed evenly throughout the empire. They¡¯re in every major city. The nearest major city is just a few months away. It¡¯s the capital itself, actually.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°So please, I¡¯m not sure what to say to you except that. If you want a specialist, you¡¯ll have to pay a round trip fee.¡±


    I sighed, preparing to get up and leave, but before I could, Erani spoke up. ¡°What if it was just one-way?¡±


    The womanughed. ¡°I can promise you, you won¡¯t be able to convince the specialist to move here forever.¡±


    ¡°No, no, just¡­it¡¯d cost half to do a one-way trip, right?¡±


    ¡°...Hypothetically, yes.¡±


    ¡°Okay, and the people who live in those big cities¡ªthe nearest one is the capital, right?¡ªthe people who live in the capital, they don¡¯t have to pay any money for teleportation or anything, right?¡±


    ¡°No, they don¡¯t. Just a small service fee.¡±


    ¡°Great.¡± Erani looked over at me. ¡°You interested in going somece new?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­a pretty good n,¡± I nodded after we left and Erani told me what she was thinking. Instead of paying double for a specialist toe here <em>and</em> go back, we could pay a much smaller amount by going to the specialist, instead. We had nothing tying ourselves to this location, so we had no reason to pay so much for the trip back. It effectively halved the cost of this whole thing.


    ¡°Plus,¡± Erani continued, ¡°we don¡¯t even want to stick around here, anyway. I mean, we¡¯re right next to the kingdom. If the Demons ever decide to attack us, we¡¯re going to be in the city that¡¯s the most vulnerable to the assault. Sure, the military would try to fight them off, and Kingdom¡¯s Edge is a good natural barrier, but I feel like several months-worth of travel time is a much, much better defense. So we¡¯d probably want to leave and go somewhere else at some point. <em>And</em> this specific town ispletely oversaturated with adventurers, so we <em>really</em> want to get out of here. If we can head to the capital, we¡¯d solve, like, three problems at once.¡±


    ¡°What about Ainash, though? She wouldn¡¯t be able to enter the city, so how could we bring her along?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°The circle¡¯s probably not contained within the city itself. If it was, we¡¯d know.¡±


    ¡°What? Why?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s how it worked in Koinkar,¡± Erani said. ¡°At least, that¡¯s what my sister told me when we spoke about them. I never actually saw one, but evidently, they¡¯re big. Like, really big. And since they aren¡¯t very fragile, there¡¯s no reason to waste city space keeping them within the walls. In the kingdom, they normally just stuck them out in the forest or whatever.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I nodded. ¡°And so since we only need a license to bring Ainash into the city itself, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem. I see.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. We can figure out the specifics when we speak to whoever runs the circles, but that¡¯s the idea, at least.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of, do you want to head down and try talking to them about getting a discount? That woman said something about providing ingredients to reduce the cost further, right? Maybe we could go out and grab something to make it a bit more affordable.¡±


    ¡°¡ªCelestial Ash, Moonstone Essence, Ethereal Lotus Petals, Stardust Crystals, Whispering Bane Root, and Dragon Scale Shards for the preliminary lighting of the leylines, then Feymoon Blossoms, Shadowfire Ember, and Enchanted Lotus Petals to connect that with the other circle, and then we use Ashenfired Lotus Petals and Arcane Quartz to bind that connection, then we use some basic leyline superimposing techniques to quicken the connection¡ªthat needs Powdered Deepstone to do¡ªthen Crystalized Dreams, Essence of the Void, Enigma Orchid, and Lotus Petals of the Shadowed Moon to do the second tier lighting for the circle¡­¡±


    I nodded along and tried my best to follow the man¡¯s exnation of how they used teleportation circles, and what ingredients were needed. When we¡¯d walked into the circle station that housed the circle and the people that worked with it, I¡¯d been hoping the conversation would be easier to follow. This¡­was not that.


    In therge entrance hall where we¡¯d asked to meet with one of the mages who dealt with this sort of thing, we¡¯d waited until he walked out, an old man with a long beard¡ªthe absolute pinnacle of my mental image of what a ¡®wise old Wizard¡¯ looked like. Typically, there was arge gap in the ages between high-Level Magic-Types and high-Level Melee-Types. Since Magic-Types got more powerful with time because of how Spell XP and Spell Ranks worked, whereas Melee-Types got more powerful as their bodies got more powerful, it was verymon for the peak of the melees to be around age 40, whereas the peak of the magics were instead¡­just around as old as they could get.


    So the long white beard that threatened to trail across the ground, the wrinkled face, and the hoarse voice all contributed to that stereotype I¡¯d always had. And his way of speaking about thisplex shit as though I had any idea what he was talking about didn¡¯t detract.


    ¡°...and then we close the leylines off with Ancient Spirit Lotus Petals and Runebound Essence, dust the circle with a touch of Timeless Sands, sprinkle it with Luminous Moonwater to reduce nausea, and then we just have to charge it with Mana. That¡¯s the stripped-down, basic, entry-level exnation, so I do hope it didn¡¯t feel <em>too</em> patronizing.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Right. Thanks. So, we were wanting to teleport to the capital, and heard that we could get the cost reduced if we helped gather ingredients. Would any of those be possible for us to get, or¡­¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± He looked down and stroked his beard for a moment. ¡°Do you have any of them on your person currently?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Do you have any teleportation capabilities? Or methods to move at extremely high speeds?¡±


    ¡°...No. We wouldn¡¯t be paying for teleportation if we could do that.¡±


    ¡°And I assume you don¡¯t have ess to pocket dimensions?¡±


    ¡°No?¡±


    ¡°Then there is not much you can do to help.¡±


    ¡°I mean¡­¡± I frowned, trying to think of something. ¡°You mentioned lotus petals a lot, right? Do they alle from special lotuses that you can¡¯t find near here? Or do you get some mundane petals and then enhance them once you have them?¡±


    ¡°Some are sourced locally, as you have said.¡±


    ¡°So could we help you get the natural lotus petals? Are they nearby?¡±


    He tittered to himself. ¡°Yes, yes, you could help by doing that. The lotuses are just over there.¡±


    Following along the direction he pointed in, I looked and saw a potted nt sitting by the wall. My shoulders slumped. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you could give us a discount for walking over and grabbing some of those?¡±


    ¡°My back has not been kind to metely, so I would appreciate the help¡­but no, I do not think we could pay you for walking ten paces.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I sighed. ¡°Thanks for the help anyway, I guess.¡±


    ¡°You are wee. Now, please excuse me, I need to return to my station charging the circle for our next teleportation. It is very time-consuming work, so I do hope you understand.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I do,¡± I nodded and turned away to leave, but then stopped. He¡¯d already mentioned before that they needed to charge the circle with Mana before it could be activated, but now he was saying it was time-consuming? If charging it with Mana was an issue, then¡­ ¡°What if I could do the Mana charging for our teleportation on my own?¡±

 Chapter 166: Task

    Chapter 166: Task


    ¡°What if I could do the Mana charging for our teleportation on my own?¡± I asked the old mage in charge of the teleportation circle.


    ¡°Oh, that would be a great help. Do you have a team that could work on charging, or something?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Technically, Erani and I consisted of the entire ¡°team¡± I¡¯d be using, but with Exponential Remation plus all of the extra Stats I¡¯d been getting from Recursive Growth, I was pretty much a one-man army of Mana generation, anyway. I nodded. ¡°Yeah, pretty much. Anyway, how much Mana does it need?¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­¡± the man turned around and walked over to a desk, opening up a drawer to reveal a couple dozen blue crystals thrown haphazardly into it that rolled around with sharp <em>nks</em> from the movement. He grabbed one of them and walked back over to me. ¡°This is a Mana Battery, you should be able to store Mana in it forter usage, as long as you use an extraction tool. We¡¯ll handle the extraction, but for each one of these you fill up, I can remove¡­three thousand eyt from the price.¡±


    I raised my eyebrows at the figure. Three thousand per? So that meant if I filled twenty, we could teleport for free. ¡°How much Mana does it need to be filled up?¡±


    ¡°One hundred thousand.¡±


    ¡°...Oh.¡± They were certainly making it worth the discount.


    ¡°It is a high requirement. However, activating a Teleportation Circle requires over one million Mana in total, so I do believe it is fair to remove half of the price in exchange for you taking care of that part. Although, Mana Batteries only stay charged for so long before they begin to leak, so I will not be able to give discounts for any more past the first ten.¡±


    Okay, so I guess we wouldn¡¯t be able to get it done for free. But still, half off was a great deal, as far as I was concerned.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess,¡± I sighed. Good gods, teleportation was costly. ¡°Well, hand it over. May as well get started as soon as we can.¡±


    Once we were done with that errand, we left and headed over to the adventurer¡¯s guild. We may have found a way to get the teleportation done for cheaper, but we¡¯d still need to work and make up the money for the other half of the cost along the way.


    I¡¯d done the math¡ªor, rather, asked Index to do the math¡ªregarding Mana charging, and it turned out I made a bit over 100,000 Mana in a twenty-four hour period. Now, after experimenting with the Mana Battery, I found it took conscious effort to put Mana into, so I¡¯d most likely not be able to charge it while sleeping. But for the rest of the day, I could put my Mana/Minute toward filling it. While we walked, I went ahead and started on that.


    Advanced Mana Battery is charged with 15/100k Mana.


    Not encouraging to see such a massive gap between the current and maximum, but I had to start somewhere. I talked it over with Erani, and we decided it would probably not be wise for her to spend her own Mana toward this thing for now, since she had to keep Distortion Strike up while in public. But if we were ever in private and her Mana was full, then she could help. If things went well, it was possible we¡¯d be able to charge maybe¡­80,000 Mana each day? At that rate, to get to that total of 1,000,000, it¡¯d end up taking a little under two weeks to do.


    So that was our limiting factor Mana-wise. The other limiting factor was money. Sure, we could get our half-off discount in two weeks, but we¡¯d still need toe up with thirty thousand eyt while that happened. No way we¡¯d be able to do so by just killing random Gloomspurs all day, so we¡¯d have to take on more advanced jobs. That was where the adventurer¡¯s guild came in. We needed to find an actual decent-paying job that we could run. For now, we were still waiting on that request we¡¯d put up for some fellow party members to yield something¡ªit¡¯d be a great help to be able to take on harder, better-paying jobs, even if we did have to split the reward¡ªbut until then we just needed to find something good enough.


    So we walked in and went over to the job board. Yesterday, we¡¯d had to find something for quick money since night had already fallen, but now we had an entire day ahead of us. We could travel further out, do longer jobs¡­Ideally, we could get a much better haul today.


    Looking over the disyed jobs on the board, I tried to sort out the ones worth doing from the ones that were obviously pointless. Monster hunting was good as long as it paid well, spending a month guarding someone¡¯s trip to some other city for the same pay? Not as much.


    It was actually pretty easy to figure out what wasn¡¯t worth looking at, I realized, since the bad requests had gone untouched by everyone else for so long that they looked visually different from the new ones. The paper was slightly curled and torn on the edges, the ink was faded, and half the time they were partially covered by one or two other, newer requests. So I just skipped over those and looked over everything else.


    But when only looking at the new requests, it was slim pickings. Seemed like the papers typically went as fast as they came, leading to there only being a few I was looking between in the end.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± I asked Erani. ¡°Want to go try and clear out that area of Water Weirds? It pays three thousand, so could be a decent n.¡±


    ¡°No, no, look at the detailed description. That area is half a thousand paces wide, and just as long. It¡¯d take us days just to search the whole ce. Especially since Water Weirds can hide in any body of water nearby; we¡¯d have to thoroughly search every single puddle in the whole ce.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Yeah. Seems like it¡¯s more of a job for arger group that could spread out and handle things inrger squads. Let¡¯s see, what else¡­¡±


    ¡°We could always do this one,¡± Erani pointed. ¡°Just clear out some rubble from a fallen windmill. We have decent Strength Stats, and anything too big to move I could break apart using Firebolt.¡±


    ¡°Hm, seems like it could work, but it¡¯s pretty far away, right? A full day trip there <em>and</em> back? And it only pays twenty-five hundred, that¡¯d probably only barely pay more than just spending a couple days hunting down Gloomspurs.¡±


    ¡°Well yeah, it¡¯s a full day¡¯s walk, but you can always speed us up with Expedite, right? Might be able to get it done and be back in a single day if we can move fast enough.¡±


    ¡°Sure, but if I¡¯m spending all my mana on that, I won¡¯t be able to spend it charging the Mana Battery. I want to get our money by the time we have all ten batteries charged, so we can leave as soon as possible. Dying that just to get more money goes against that point.¡±


    ¡°Well, if we resort to only killing Gloomspurs all day every day, we¡¯re definitely not going to get that much money in less than two weeks. Might have to resort to it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I continued looking around on the board and sighed. ¡°You may be right. There¡¯re just no good jobs for small groups. We don¡¯t have the manpower, the flexibility¡­¡±


    My voice trailed off as I read one more request. This one was one of the extremely old ones¡ªit must¡¯ve been up there, totally untouched, for months. But it seemed perfect. Extermination job for a single group of monsters that was only a few hours away from here. We could easily get it done in a single day, and not only that¡­


    ¡°Holy shit,¡± Erani said once she saw what I was staring at. ¡°Eight thousand eyt? Are they insane?¡±


    The reward had been marked out and increased several times, it looked like. The original printed reward was four thousand, but at some point that had been scribbled out with a new reward of five thousand written next to it, and then once again with a new value of sixty-five hundred, until that one, too, had been marked out and reced with the current reward of eight thousand.


    I was totally baffled. Why had people not thought any of those rewards were good enough? It would¡¯ve been too good to be true to begin with, so I had absolutely no clue why the entire adventuring poption would ignore it even as the reward continued to increase. Had they all just missed it? Or was there something we didn¡¯t know?


    Well, there was one thing we for sure didn¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t recognize the monster name at all. They must not have been native to the kingdom¡¯s area, so none of the books I¡¯d read had ever mentioned them. But it wasn¡¯t like they could possibly be <em>that</em> strong; the request even said they were all Levels 1 to 9. We¡¯d gotten to the point where even Level 20 monsters wouldn¡¯t typically pose too much of a threat to us, so I couldn¡¯t imagine this would be an issue.


    Well, monster Levels <em>did</em> work differently for each species. I mean, a Level 15 Shadow Panther and a Level 15 Drake were technically the same numerical Level, but one would pose much more of a threat than the other. That was because they received different Stats and abilities each Level, plus had different natural abilities, as well. Drakes got way more physical Stats per Level, plus had the natural capability to fly, so naturally they were way worse than some random half-invisible cats.


    So I had to imagine it was a simr scenario with these monsters on the request. I didn¡¯t have any idea what they were, but maybe they were some sort of massive hulking beasts with piles upon piles of Stats even at their lower Levels, or perhaps they had some sort of extremely powerful natural abilities, like firebreathing or flight or full invisibility¡ªor maybe even all of thembined.


    ¡°Think we should take it?¡± I asked Erani.


    ¡°We have to at least ask around,¡± she said. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine why it would go untouched. May as well figure out what people have to say.¡±


    I nodded and reached out, taking the paper from the board and we walked down to the receptionist.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°what¡¯s up with this? Why hasn¡¯t anyone taken it yet? Is there a mistake or something? Feels like it pays quite a lot, considering how low-Level the monsters are.¡±


    Sheughed, then paused. ¡°Oh, sorry, I forgot for a second that you were new here. I thought you were making a joke. Um, no, there¡¯s no mistake. Nobody¡¯s taken the request because those things are an absolute nightmare to fight. You don¡¯t want to go up against them. It¡¯s technically rated at that difficulty because of their numbers¡ªreally, ording to their Stats it should honestly be even lower, rated at a Level that¡¯s appropriate for just a few Bronze-Degrees¡ªbut they¡¯re really tough.¡±


    ¡°Wait, their Stats are low? If their Levels and Stats are low, what makes them so hard to fight?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not an adventurer, so I have no clue. All I know is that those things are nicknamed ¡®newbie-killers.¡¯ Everyone thinks they can beat them, but they can¡¯t. Only time I¡¯ve seen peoplee back with all of their party members alive is when they¡¯re massively over-Leveled for the job.¡±


    ¡°Well, I mean, what could they possibly do, though? Are there simr injuries between everyone you seeing back? Like, do they spitva or something? Or can they do something totally broken like teleport around?¡±


    ¡°Again, I have no clue. Peoplee back with the same cuts and bruises they always do. Um¡­¡± she looked around the lobby floor, before finally spotting someone, and pointing. ¡°Go ask him. I think he fought against a group of them not too long ago. Not for a job, they just ambushed him while on the road.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Okay, sure.¡±


    We walked over to the man, who was sitting alone at a table nursing a beer. He was big¡ªmassive, even¡ªand covered in old scratched-up te armor. It wasn¡¯t low-quality, just obviously worn-in.


    When we got close, he spoke without looking up, ¡°If you¡¯re wanting me to join your party, answer¡¯s a no. I work alone.¡±


    ¡°Uh, no, no, I just wanted to ask you a few questions,¡± I said. ¡°Information on a job we were considering taking.


    He looked up, and when he did so, I saw a gold-degree badge shining below his neck. When he saw me, he frowned. ¡°You¡¯re that new kid, huh? The one with the armor that hurts people? And you¡¯re the woman who always has some Sorcerer Spell active for whatever reason?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah, I guess,¡± I said, surprised that he seemed to know us already. ¡°Are people talking about us?¡±


    ¡°New peoplee into town looking like you two do? ¡®Course people are gonna talk. Plus, that damned Tyrus won¡¯t shut up ¡®bout you assaulting him or whatever. Anyway, I don¡¯t judge. Wouldn¡¯t me you even if you put your fist through Tyrus¡¯s teeth, with how much racket he makes. What do you two need?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, pulling up a chair and sitting down, as did Erani. I slid over the paper detailing the job description to show him. ¡°We were considering taking this job, but the receptionist told us the monsters we¡¯d be fighting are tougher than they seem. Said you¡¯d fought them before?¡±


    He grunted. ¡°Yeah. Those little min¡¯ creeps are bad news. Especially if they¡¯re the ones getting the drop on you. Or if you¡¯re trying to infiltrate their territory. When they get to decide the pace of the fight, that¡¯s when they get you. If you somehow find one isted, you could probably kill it no problem. The things have basically no Health, so they can¡¯t survive a hit, no Stamina, so they can¡¯t run for long, no Strength or even any natural weapons like sharp teeth or ws, so they can¡¯t damage you for shit, they¡¯ve got basically nothin¡¯ going for ¡®em.¡±


    ¡°So then what do they <em>do?¡±</em> I said. ¡°People keep saying how dangerous they are, but they never say how they actually kill you. How can they be so dangerous when they have nothing they can use in a fight?¡±


    ¡°Kid,¡± he looked at me with a dead-serious expression. ¡°It¡¯s not about what they have, it¡¯s about how they use it. Goblins are as dangerous as theye.¡±

 Chapter 167: Tale

    Chapter 167: Tale


    The gold-degree adventurer stared at me, dead serious. ¡°Goblins are as dangerous as theye.¡±


    ¡°So what do they do?¡± I asked, getting honestly quite irritated at this point at his refusal to borate.


    He sighed. ¡°I¡¯m not some sort of expert. And you¡¯ll be hard-pressed to find one, since most people who scuffle with ¡®em end up in a state unable to tell tales, if you catch my meaning.¡±


    ¡°Can you at least tell us what happened when you fought them?¡± Erani asked, her half-whisper of a voice creeping into my ear.


    The gold-degree seemed unsettled by her voice, too, but didn¡¯t show it too much. I was sure he¡¯d seen quite a few strange Spells in his time. He just nodded solemnly and leaned forward in a way that made me feel like he was trying to be cinematic. ¡°I was on my way home from a job. I¡¯d been tracking down a wild monster¡ªa Goldspan, invasive to thisnd. They don¡¯t mesh well with the environment, and normally end up making the Gloomspur problem even worse, so jobs to take ¡®em out when they wander near here normally pay pretty well.¡±


    ¡°How do they make the Gloomspur problem worse?¡± I asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the point. Anyway, I¡¯d just killed the thing after a long, long chase, and now I was on my way back home. I¡¯d lost track of where, exactly, it¡¯d led me, but I knew my directions and thendscape well enough to find a road quickly, and I began heading down. This was an area of thick forest, trees looming over my shoulder, shadows leering behind me. I had no idea, but I¡¯d unknowingly wandered straight into Goblin territory.¡±


    He paused for dramatic effect.


    ¡°I walked down this overgrown dirt trail, roots and fallen logs covering it, dried up dead leaves blowing through the wind, and the sun was just beginning to set. So I pulled my bag out and grabbed my rations to eat for dinner as I walked. While I was fishing around in my pack, that single vulnerable moment, it was all they needed to get me.¡±


    I waved my hand in a motion to get him to move along in the story. ¡°So¡­what did they do?¡±


    ¡°I stepped down on the road, a footstep like any other, but I had no idea that the road had been trapped. The pile of leaves I¡¯d attempted to stand on had no ground under it! The damned things hadid a pitfall trap right below them. The flimsyting holding up the leaves easily broke away under my weight the moment my foot pressed on it, and I fell straight in. The fall must¡¯ve been five, no, <em>ten</em> paces, at least! And after such a long fall, the dirt tunnel I¡¯d tumbled into wasid below with sharpened stakes! My brand-new armor that I¡¯d just bought the weekend before managed to save me from the majority of the damage¡ªas did my admittedly hearty stores of Health¡ªbut I wasn¡¯t unscathed. The pain, the damage, it stunned me for just long enough.


    ¡°So, what, they just set a trap for you to fall into?¡± I looked over at Erani. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem that bad.¡±


    He chuckled. ¡°One trap? Kid, it was much more. Before I could recover from my fall, I looked up and saw a bottle being flung down the pit with me. It sshed against my te armor, shattering and unleashing its liquid contents onto me. At first, I was scared of poison. But when nothing happened to me, I was just left confused.¡±


    At this point, a couple bar patrons had pulled up chairs and sat at the table with us. A woman who was listening with bated breath spoke excitedly,¡°What happened next?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± the man smiled, obviously loving the attention, ¡°I definitely wanted to know what they¡¯d thrown on me. But the next object gave it away¡ªin a method I really <em>didn¡¯t</em> like. A lit torch was flung down into the pit next, and at that moment I knew. They¡¯d covered me inmp fluid. If the torch hit me, I¡¯d ignite!¡±


    Gasps from the audience.


    ¡°But I was quick on my feet, and my mind was even quicker. Hurriedly, I opened my pack and flung out my cloth nket, using it to catch the torch and then squeezing hard around it to smother the me. I could tell the Goblins above me were confused when they failed to hear the screams of agony of someone burning to death, and they¡¯d soon realize what I¡¯d done. I had to act fast.¡±


    ¡°Wow¡­¡± a man with a wooden te hanging around his neck said.


    ¡°So I drew my dual daggers and stabbed them into the dirt walls of my underground tomb. Using my grit, determination, and a little bit of upper-body strength, I scaled the wall, stabbing over and over and pulling myself upward pace after pace, until I could finally peek my head over the edge of the hole. But the moment I did¡­¡±


    He paused, looking around at the half-dozen people listening to his story. I did not appreciate the theatrics.


    ¡°I was peppered with arrows!¡± he shouted with perfect timing to withdraw gasps from the crowd. ¡°From all sides, the Goblins had brought bows and arrows. There must¡¯ve been ten¡ªno, twenty of them all surrounding me, hiding up in the trees using the natural camouge of their warted green skin. I took arrow after arrow to the head, my Health only barely preventing them from piercing my skull, and quickly flung myself out of the hole, unsure of what to do. They were all around me, hiding up where I couldn¡¯t see, couldn¡¯t even <em>reach</em> them!¡±


    ¡°How did you survive?!¡± someone burst out.


    He grinned. ¡°Well, I¡¯m getting there. But the story isn¡¯t that ttering, I¡¯ll admit. I decided, if there was a pitfall in the middle of the road, there were almost certainly more surrounding me. And with their numbers and coordination, I could bet that, if I ran, they¡¯d chase me down and guide me straight into the next pitfall, where they¡¯d be much more liberal with themp fluid and torches, I was sure. I had to fight. Even if they surrounded me, outnumbered me, everything. I had to kill them if I wanted to survive.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°If you knew they¡¯d try to lead you into more pitfalls that they had around the area, wouldn¡¯t you be able to avoid them? I mean, once you¡¯re looking for them, you can just only step in ces where you¡¯re sure you can see the grass. Also, didn¡¯t you say Goblins were slower than the average person? Surely you¡¯d have no problems outrunning them.¡±


    He sighed and leaned in to mutter, ¡°Listen, don¡¯t ruin the story for everyone, okay? Sometimes you have to embellish things for dramatic effect. I just thought I could take the damn things on.¡±


    ¡°Stop interrupting the story!¡± Someone shouted at me.


    ¡°Yeah, let him finish!¡±


    He leaned back away from me and smiled at everyone. ¡°So, anyway, there I was, surrounded on all sides by the Goblins, all of them up in trees and prepared to execute me. I had to fight back. So instantly, I charged toward the nearest tree that had one of them in it. I could just barely catch a glimpse of its yellowed eye through the leaves, and I saw. I struck fear into the monster¡¯s mind. But it had its allies all ganging up on me, and it didn¡¯t abandon its post. It drew back its primitive bow once more just as I reached the base of the trunk. Once again drawing out my daggers, I stabbed them into the trunk and started climbing. It was high up in there¡ªprobably ten, maybe even fifteen paces straight up¡ªbut I was sure I could reach the thing if I had enough time.¡±


    He paused and looked around at the audience.


    ¡°But the Goblins had other ns for me. The one I was chasing up the trunk, it shot down at me once, twice, three times! But I was able to swat away its arrows now that I had it in my sights.¡±


    ¡°Wow¡­¡± I heard someone say. ¡°Gold-degrees are <em>so</em> powerful.¡±


    ¡°However, just as I reached out to grab its leg, nning to throw it right down into the pit they¡¯d thrown me into, it crouched, extended its legs, and jumped straight out, all the way into the branches of another tree! A superhuman leap¡ªI doubt even <em>I </em>could do it with the ease the Goblin did. But I realized, it¡¯d had help. The things were wearing harnesses, ones that they¡¯d made, and they¡¯d been attached up in the branches of the trees so they could jump down and swing from branch to branch with ease! I sighed, realizing it¡¯d take a lot more work to kill these things than I¡¯d thought. Really, I felt like I might never get it done. But I hadn¡¯t noticed one key thing. One key thing that turned this from an annoying encounter, into a deadly one.¡±


    ¡°What was it?!¡± Someone squealed, unable to contain their excitement.


    ¡°When the thing leapt out of the tree and into the next, it¡¯d left a present for me. A bomb."


    I raised my eyebrows. ¡°A bomb? Wait, okay, back up. So, they¡¯re, like, Humanoid monsters, I guess, right? If they¡¯re able to use things like bows and make tools and stuff, I imagine they¡¯re simr to Humans, at least. But they can also make magic items? Is ¡®Goblin¡¯ just, like, a term for a foreigner, or something? Or a native Human tribe? Because I¡¯m definitely not exterminating them if that¡¯s the case.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re mistaken,¡± the gold-degreeughed. ¡°They aren¡¯t Humans¡ªI can promise you that. And they can¡¯t use magic, either. When I say it left behind a bomb, I¡¯m not talking about a magically-created one. Not like the ones you or I would know. No, these are <em>mundane </em>items. No magic used whatsoever.¡±


    ¡°What? How do they get an explosion without magic?¡±


    ¡°No clue. Goblin secrets. I talked to someone about it after I fought these things, and they said the Goblins do it by using this thing called ¡®sulfur.¡¯ Apparently it¡¯s a somewhat umon way to blow things up without the help of the System. They mine it out of the ground and use it to make explosives through purely mechanical means. Honestly some pretty crafty stuff. I¡¯d be impressed if they didn¡¯t constantly use the explosives to kill people. Anyway, the Goblin, right when it¡¯d leapt out of the tree, had left a timed charge behind, the fuse lit and ready to go off with me having no idea. Well, let¡¯s just say I got an idea of my imminent demise right when I met my fate. The explosion went off barely even a couple paces from my face.¡±


    ¡°Woah¡­¡± the crowd murmured to each other as the man paused and let them wonder among themselves about how he could have possibly survived such a thing.


    ¡°Folks,¡± he raised his hands, ¡°I am very lucky. No idea how I did it, but I lived through that explosion. The tree I was holding onto waspletely destroyed by the bomb¡ªsplintered apart into tiny chips not even big enough to use as kindling. Even the ground below me was turned into a crater. A crater which I fell into, barely any more Health left to me than an Unssed would have. I was charred and smoldering, still peppered with arrows from the other Goblins in their trees, and still bleeding from the spikes I¡¯d fallen into. I was near death. But I still had fight in me. I was still ready to kick their sorry green asses for <em>ever </em>thinking they could get one over on me.¡±


    ¡°So what did you do?!¡±


    ¡°Well, I tried getting up. But then, before I could even get two hands on the ground, that exact same Goblin, the one who¡¯d leapt into a new tree, it walked right up to me. And in its hands, do you know what it had?¡±


    ¡°A knife!¡± someone shouted.


    ¡°Another bomb!¡± said another.


    ¡°No, no,¡± heughed. ¡°I¡¯d be dead if it were either of those things. What it had was a in old rock. But it lifted the thing up all the same, and smashed it into my face, knocking me out. When I awoke, I felt them tugging at my armor. They were trying to rob me blind! I could already feel, they¡¯d taken my backpack, my weapons, my food, my water, and now they were trying to take my brand-new te armor!¡± Heughed again. ¡°But that greed, it was their undoing. See, you know how the thing had hit me with a rock instead of killing me? Well, I have a theory as to why it did that. My armor, it was new. It was shiny. And if it used an arrowhead to slit my throat, that shiny armor would¡¯ve been covered in my blood. And I bet they wanted my armor in clean, perfect condition. Same reason why they didn¡¯t just fill that pit with bombs instead of spikes. If they did, it¡¯d ruin their loot! But they made the mistake of trying to take my possessions while I was still alive, and I was going to make them feel that mistake.¡±


    ¡°So cool¡­¡± someone muttered. I was honestly getting tired of the crowd, but if this was how I had to get the information, so be it.


    ¡°So, right as a Goblin tried tugging off my gauntlet, I whipped my hand out and grabbed its throat, snapping its feeble neck in a single squeeze. Then I took my own dagger out of the hands of one of those greedy monsters, and stabbed it right through the eye with its stolen cargo! With kill notification after kill notification, I took the things out, and they dropped like flies. Didn¡¯t even take a minute before they were all dead.¡±


    ¡°Wow! You¡¯re so cool!¡± Someone shouted from the crowd.


    He waved off thepliment. ¡°Maybe. But I didn¡¯t survive because I was cool. I only survived because they made a mistake, and I had the presence of mind to capitalize on that. They got what wasing to them, but I wouldn¡¯t suspect they¡¯ll ever make that mistake again.¡±


    With that, his little show was over, and most people wandered off. Well, most except for me and Erani.


    ¡°So¡­¡± I said after waiting for everyone to leave and for the tavern to regain its dull buzz of a dozen different conversations happening at once. ¡°How much of that story was fake?¡±


    ¡°None, really. I mean, sure I embellished here and there, but for the most part, it all happened.¡±


    ¡°...Uh huh,¡± I nodded. ¡°Well, in that case, I really don¡¯t see what makes these things so dangerous. I mean, as long as we don¡¯t fall into one of their traps, we¡¯ll be fine, right? You only fell because you didn¡¯t know where you were. If we¡¯re actively looking for them, we¡¯ll be much more careful.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re still dangerous even if you don¡¯t literally fall into one of their traps,¡± he sighed. ¡°You heard what I said about the explosives, right? Can you imagine trying to fight off fifteen of those min¡¯ things? All of ¡®em with explosive pouches in their pockets, ready to be lit at any moment? Anyone would die in a heartbeat.¡±


    ¡°You survived, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    He pursed his lips, and dropped his voice to a whisper. ¡°Well, okay, maybe that was one of the parts that I embellished. I didn¡¯t exactly kill them all. Well, I didn¡¯t exactly fight them at all. They knocked me out, and I woke up to them robbing me. That was true. But, I mean, how could I fight them? They¡¯d kill me easily. So I just yed dead and let them take whatever they wanted. Once I was sure they were gone, I got up and ran off.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Wait, then what happened to your stuff?¡±


    ¡°They ran off with it!¡±


    ¡°Why do you have your te armor, then?¡±


    ¡°This old junk?¡± He looked down at his armor andughed. ¡°This was my old set, the one I <em>tried</em> to rece! Had to go back to wearing it once I lost my new set.¡±


    I groaned, rubbing my face with my hands. ¡°Okay, so you really think we¡¯d have no chance?¡±


    ¡°If I couldn¡¯t do it at gold degree, you probably won¡¯t be able to do much at silver. Sure, you¡¯ve got two people, but I¡¯d estimate that,bined, you¡¯d only match me in power, not exceed me. So no.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± I nodded. ¡°What if we had three?¡±


    He looked around. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re gonna find a third man for your party. Not if you¡¯re nning on going up against Goblins.¡±


    ¡°Just ignore that,¡± I said. ¡°What if we had a third person? Someone who¡¯s at our power level.¡±


    ¡°Probably past it,¡± Erani chimed in.


    I nodded. ¡°Yeah. She¡¯s really strong. You think we could do it then?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not just about strength,¡± he said. ¡°Their craftiness is the great equalizer. No matter your Level, if you fall into a pit, get lit on fire withmp oil, get blown up by their mundane bombs¡­it¡¯ll be a problem. Sure, more Health can help, but they¡¯ll outnumber you, too. And I¡¯m telling you, they <em>will</em> get the drop on you. That¡¯s the real problem. If you¡¯re going into their territory, they¡¯ll have traps all over. No way you can get through without falling into a few of them. Especially if you¡¯re actively <em>trying</em> to run into the things. I¡¯d advise someone at your Level not even set foot in their territory because of the risk of you running into them. But to go looking for them? You¡¯ll fall right into their hands.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Well. Thanks for the advice. We¡¯ll think about it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you better use your brain here,¡± he nodded. ¡°No sane person would ever go after them.¡±


    We got up and walked out of the guild lobby, into the bright sun of the day ahead of us.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Oh, we¡¯re doing it.¡±


    ¡°I was thinking the same thing. If the problem is traps, you should have it handled easily, right? I mean, it¡¯s kind of impossible to surprise us.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Still got three uses for the day,¡± I said. ¡°I highly doubt they¡¯ll pose an issue with that at our disposal.¡±


    ¡°So, what do you say? I¡¯ll call Ainash and we can go over the n with her?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Hey,¡± Iughed, ¡°maybe she can make friends with them and we won¡¯t have to fight at all.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Erani rolled her eyes. ¡°That sounds likely.¡±

 Announcement: Short Break

    Announcement: Short Break


    Hello everyone,


    I''m just putting this here to say that I''ll be going on a short break. There will be no chapters from today through Wednesday of next week. Due to a mixture of me going out of town for that period, plus me still needing to do all of my schoolwork during that same time, I do not anticipate being able to find time to write on top of it all. Sorry if this is disappointing to any of you who were looking forward to the next chapters! I promise that I''ll try to use any free time I have during the break I''m taking to work through some brainstorming and try to ensure the story is even better when I return.


    Anyway, I''ll keep this short and won''t waste your time. If any of you are at Dragoncon in Anta, Georgia,e see me! That''s where I''ll be for the next week; my publisher is having mee down as an author. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and to anyone else in school, I hope you all have a good semester! Here''s to hoping we all get A''s :)

 Chapter 168: Arrivin’

    Chapter 168: Arrivin¡¯


    Erani and I walked down a road after exiting the city of Salvation. We were currently on our way to meet up with Ainash and head off to do the Goblin extermination job. So, with the sun moving to soon crest in the morning sky, we traveled. We were nning to meet Ainash in the middle, so it wouldn¡¯t take more than an hour, maybe half to get to her. In the meantime, we simply watched the sights on the sides of the road neighboring the quaint town.


    Farnd and peaceful hills passed us by.


    ¡°Nice change of scenery from the mountains,¡± Iughed as we walked.


    ¡°That¡¯s for sure,¡± Erani sighed. ¡°Still trying to get used to the lifestyle, to be honest.¡±


    As we talked, another pair of people¡ªalso adventurers, judging by their leather armor and weapons on their sides¡ªwalked past us. I could see one of them¡ªa woman with flowing blonde hair¡ªlean away from us as they walked, while the other¡ªa man withrge, bushy eyebrows¡ªwalked with his eyes seemingly glued onto us.


    I just shrugged at their attitude. I supposed we¡¯d naturally draw some attention, with thebination of our strange appearances and the simple fact that we were new in town.


    ¡°Hey,¡± the woman whispered once they were behind us, ¡°isn¡¯t that those two people?¡±


    My ears perked up at that. Had they heard of us? Had news gotten out about fugitives escaping the kingdom, and now people were searching? I mentally cursed as I prepared myself for a fight.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± the man whispered back to her. ¡°It¡¯s that evil armor guy, right? And the half-woman?¡±


    That made me stop in my tracks. What in the hells were they talking about? Erani stopped too once she realized I was standing back, and she looked at me curiously. I guessed she hadn¡¯t been listening to their conversation. But now my curiosity was piqued, and I wanted to hear what they had to say.


    ¡°I think evil armor was the one to attack Tyrus, right?¡± the woman said. I could basically feel their stares in our backs. ¡°Wow, I didn¡¯t think their descriptions would be so¡­literal.¡±


    I turned around. ¡°Hey, so are you two talking about us? Or¡­¡±


    Their faces went red with embarrassment when they realized I¡¯d heard what they were saying. Erani turned and looked at them, too, staying silent.


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± the woman shrugged. ¡°Yeah, I guess we¡¯ve heard of you, or something.¡±


    ¡°What was that you said about me attacking Tyrus?¡±


    ¡°I just¡­heard something about it.¡± She averted her eyes from me.


    I nodded ¡°Mhm. That was the drunk guy at the bar, right? The one who I saved from getting the shit beat out of after he copsed on me? Yeah, no. I didn¡¯t attack him. I¡¯d appreciate it if you cleared that up with whoever said that about me.¡±


    ¡°Uh, mhm.¡±


    Erani leaned in to whisper to me, cupping her hand around my ear. ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s just go.¡±


    ¡°One second,¡± I said. I could tell she was hiding her voice from them because Distortion Strike messed with it, and she probably didn¡¯t want to freak the people out. I didn¡¯t want to make her ufortable, but I was genuinely curious about one more thing, and turned to the pair of people again. ¡°Also, what¡¯s up with the names?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± the woman said. She almost seemed afraid of me, which I really wished hadn¡¯t been the case. I¡¯d have hoped that my clearing up the fact that I hadn¡¯t attacked that dumbass in the guild lobby would help assuage her fears, but clearly it hadn¡¯t worked too well.


    ¡°The nicknames you gave us.¡± I waved my hand impatiently, trying to jog her memory. ¡°What was it? ¡®Evil armor¡¯ and ¡®the half woman?¡¯ What is that? We sound like characters from a children¡¯s bard tale.¡±


    ¡°Oh, um¡­I didn¡¯t make them up, or anything, so I¡¯m not sure.¡± The woman shrugged in an over-exaggerated gesture.


    ¡°I mean, can¡¯t you tell?¡± the man said. ¡°You¡¯ve got some weird appearances, and you do some min¡¯ weird stuff. People are gonna talk. Don¡¯t get all mad because of that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not mad,¡± I said. ¡°I mean, I guess I can get my name. ¡®Evil armor¡¯ seems kind of extreme, but I guess the spikes make it look sort of bad¡ª¡±


    ¡°Uh, also the part where it kills people?¡± The guy shook his head like I was the dumb one here. ¡°Isn¡¯t it, like, stuck on you and draining your life force, or something? Sounds pretty evil to me. It almost killed Tyrus!¡±


    ¡°For thest time, I did not¡ª¡± I stopped myself and sighed. ¡°Besides, it doesn¡¯t hurt me. Sure, I guess it¡¯s stuck on, but it only hurts you when you try to take it off or hurt me. So just don¡¯t do that, and we¡¯re good. Call it, like, I dunno¡­the self-defending armor, or something. ¡®Evil¡¯ is an overstatement.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not gonna stick.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, the fuck do you mean when you say ¡®half-woman?¡¯¡± I demanded. ¡°At least you were just insulting my armor. That¡¯s just fucking rude.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just leave us alone?¡± The woman said.


    ¡°You were the one to talk about us,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m just asking you to rify. Maybe don¡¯t gossip if you want to be left alone.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Her name is pretty clear to me. She looks like she¡¯s barely a person. So, y¡¯know. Half.¡±


    ¡°Also,¡± the main said, ¡°she¡¯s kinda, y¡¯know¡­missing a part of her.¡±


    ¡°Okay, yeah, shut the fuck up.¡± I stepped forward and pointed off. ¡°Leave. Go away.¡±


    ¡°Okay, fine,¡± the man held up his hands in mock-surrender as the two of them turned to hurriedly walk off. ¡°Just pointing out the obvious.¡±


    Once they were gone, I sighed and ced my head in my hands. ¡°Good gods.¡±


    ¡°We should keep moving,¡± Erani said simply.


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    We turned and kept walking.


    After a few moments of silence, I spoke up. ¡°What a couple of fucking assholes.¡±


    ¡°Whatever.¡±


    ¡°No, seriously, where do they think they get off, talking shit about people <em>literally</em> behind their backs? Coming up with those ridiculous fucking nicknames, what a joke. The people here apparently can¡¯t take the idea that maybe some people might look <em>slightly</em> different than them. I mean, we¡¯re adventurers for the gods¡¯ sake! Of course we¡¯re gonna have some weird magic shit going on. Isn¡¯t that, like, a pretty massive part of being a sser? Why do they care so much? What are they, ten years old?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, An, really. I don¡¯t care. Just let them talk.¡±


    ¡°Okay, sure. Maybe you don¡¯t care. But what if someone else does? They don¡¯t know who does and doesn¡¯t care. It¡¯s the principle of the matter. Just leave people alone. I mean, seriously, acting like <em>I¡¯m</em> the asshole for confronting them when they were the ones starting shit.¡±


    ¡°An, don¡¯t you think confronting them like that might lead them to just talk more?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure. Tomorrow there¡¯s gonna be rumors that the big bad guy ¡®Evil Armor¡¯ went around killing innocents in the streets, or whatever.¡±


    ¡°I seriously doubt it¡¯ll go <em>that </em>far. But I mean, seems like you¡¯re making more of a problem, rather than solving it. Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re overreacting a little?¡±


    I sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe. Just pisses me off. How do you not care about them talking shit about you? I mean, you were the one they were really insulting there. I was furious just listening to it. Sure wouldn¡¯t have taken it if they were saying that stuff about me.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s just more important stuff to talk about. I mean¡­my family always talked bad about me behind my back. They didn¡¯t approve of my career choice, they thought I was wasting my ¡®talents,¡¯ they thought I was going to die young because I was reckless. But their words never negatively impacted me, so¡­whatever, right? Who cares? It¡¯s not like they were hiring assassins to kill me in my sleep, or something. I feel like it¡¯s kind of on you if you let that sort of thing bother you. Life happens, people talk. It¡¯s your job to move on, regardless.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but if someone¡¯s an asshole, isn¡¯t it kind of your duty to at least <em>try</em> to put them in their ce? Like, sure, I don¡¯t care. I move on, whatever. But like I said, what if someone else <em>does</em> care? What if these people see me not giving a shit and then decide, ¡®well, if he doesn¡¯t care, then most people probably don¡¯t care, so let¡¯s just badmouth whoever we want to.¡¯ And then they ruin someone else¡¯s day with their talk? I don¡¯t want to be the reason someone else feels bad. So if I can stop it from happening, I¡¯ve got to at least try. Even if it makes me look like an asshole to them, I guess.¡±


    She just shrugged, and we kept walking.


    After a few more minutes, I spoke up again. ¡°Hey, uh¡­You aren¡¯t bummed about your arm, are you?¡±


    ¡°¡®Course I am,¡± she said simply. I waited for her to borate, but she left it at that.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess that was kind of a silly question to ask. But, uh, I want to fix it, okay? Like, seriously, we¡¯re going to figure something out about that.¡±


    ¡°What could we possibly figure out?¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know, something. Aren¡¯t there ways to fix things like that? Clerics that can heal lost limbs, or some Spell that can, like, create a spectral arm to do things for you.¡±


    ¡°Clerics that have their Spells that high-Rank are in way too high of demand for us to be able to easily find one in the first ce, much less afford one if we do end up stumbling across someone. And a Spell like that would have to be one that I take, and I know for a fact Sorcerers don¡¯t get offered something so crazy.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Well then, I don¡¯t know¡­What about a prosthetic? Like, a mechanical arm that¡¯s Enchanted to do what you want it to? You know about Enchanting, is there anything like that?¡±


    ¡°Someone could technically make it, I suppose. You¡¯d need a Divination Enchantment to read the mind of the user so it can take your inputs, you¡¯d need a Force Enchantment¡ªseveral, actually¡ªto move the thing, you¡¯d need some solid materials and mechanical parts with lots of interlocking joints so the thing can actually move in the first ce¡ªand probably a Lightweight Enchantment if you used that, especially if it was metal¡­Sounds like a lot, An. Like I said, costly. And we¡¯re not exactly rolling in money right now. Especially with Enchantments being hard toe by in this ce, I¡¯d be very surprised if we could scrounge up enough money in our lifetimes to ever do something like that. And I don¡¯t want to work for years on end just to regain something I once had for free. I don¡¯t want to worry about that. So¡­whatever. I¡¯ll just learn to live with it.¡±


    ¡°Well, okay. Fine. But <em>I¡¯m</em> not going to stop worrying about it. It¡¯s my fault this happened to you, so I promise I¡¯ll fix it. You don¡¯t need the stress, anyway.¡±


    She looked at me with a frown. ¡°What do you mean, it was your fault?¡±


    ¡°Well, the whole Demon thing is on me. You were totally roped into it in the first ce. Xhag¡¯duul was after me, too. You only got hurt because he was trying to get to me.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°An, you need to stop ming this all on yourself. You had no idea that the Demons would invade. It¡¯s not like you intentionally hurt anyone.¡±


    ¡°Well still, it¡¯s because of me. So if your injury is because of me, then I want the reason it gets fixed to also be because of me. That way I¡¯m at least a neutral, not negative.¡±


    She chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re not a negative. Also, it¡¯s still not because of you.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Back in Kingdom¡¯s Edge, you gave me an out. You put me in a position where all I needed to do to be safe was walk down to the Empire. You even lied to me to try and get me to do it. Now, luckily, Ainash saw through your lie. But it¡¯s not like I was forced to stay behind. Even suspecting you were lying, I could¡¯ve just ignored that suspicion and gone to safety anyway. That was a no-strings-attached way for me to avoid all of this for the rest of my life. And I didn¡¯t take it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but¡ª¡±


    ¡°No. No buts. I knew I could get hurt. I knew I could die. Really, I knew I¡¯d almost certainly die. But I did it anyway. I decided to take that chance. I decided to reject that safety. So my arm, my injuries, all consequences that came from that fight and anything thates after it? It¡¯s all on me. It¡¯s all because I <em>chose</em> this. And now I¡¯m just facing those consequences.¡±


    We kept walking in silence for a moment. Eventually, I spoke up.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care that you¡¯re saying this is self-inflicted, or just the natural consequences, or whatever. At the end of the day, it doesn¡¯te down to who¡¯s responsible for it. I don¡¯t want you to have to deal with not having an arm for the rest of your life. So I promise you I¡¯ll fix it. You have my word, alright?¡±


    She sighed. ¡°That¡¯d be nice, I guess. But I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to be getting my hopes up.¡±


    ¡°Alright, fine. I¡¯ll drop it. Just¡­don¡¯t lose hopepletely, alright?¡±


    I saw a hint of a smile on her somber face. ¡°Okay. Thanks, An.¡±


    I reached over and pulled her sideways into an embrace. ¡°Of course.¡±


    We got to Ainash around an hour before noon. And, with the rest of the day ahead of us, we set off. We¡¯d informed her of what we expected to see from the Goblins¡ªat least, what we¡¯d heard from the gold-degree who told us about his experiences with them. I still wasn¡¯t entirely confident in the details of his story, what with his admission to making at least some of those parts up, but some information was better than none.


    Following the directions on the job request, we took a few sideroads and detours until we eventually crested a hill to see a forest off in the horizon. That forest was, apparently, Goblin territory, all of it. They¡¯d originally not been much of a problem, just having a fort made up against one of the mountains, but randomly, only a week ago or something, they¡¯d begun rapidly expanding their territory more and more, until it epassed the entire forest, up to the edges of the treeline. Anyone who went in there was vulnerable to be attacked by them, and either killed or robbed.


    ¡°Well,¡± I said with a shrug, ¡°let¡¯s head in.¡±


    We walked forward, under the canopy of leaves, where the high sun barely gave light to the overgrown path.


    ¡°Damn,¡± I muttered, looking around, ¡°not surprised people get ambushed all the time in here. The thick foliage doesn¡¯t even let me see ten paces out.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, not exactly excited to fight in here.¡±


    ¡°Index,¡± I said, ¡°keep an eye out for us, will you? Make sure we aren¡¯t walking into any traps, or whatever.¡±


    ¡°On it!¡±


    <em>¡°And Ainash, you can feel the emotions of nearby beings, right? Think you can tell us if you feel any Goblins?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°How can I tell difference between Goblin and not Goblin?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, I¡¯m not totally sure. But apparently they¡¯re pretty smart. Smarter than a normal monster, at least. So maybe they¡¯ll feel more Human in their thoughts?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Will be looking for any almost Humans!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Great, thanks.¡±</em>


    We continued marching through, with Ainash doing her best job to bushwhack ahead with her whip, swinging it in small arcs to cut away branches and leaves that¡¯d grown over the path so we could at least walk without tripping. Erani needed the most help moving along, since at least I could use both arms to push the nts away. She had half that. I really hoped we could find a way to get her at least somewhat back to a healed state. Or find a workaround, or something.


    Threshold reached.


    Your Bond with Level 32 Draconiad has deepened.


    Due to your Bond being deepened, it has undergone the following changes:


    Stat Increase: From 10 to 12


    XP Gain: From 5% to 6%


    Heat Resistance: From 26.6% to 31%


    Threshold reached.


    Your Bond with Level 32 Draconiad has deepened.


    Due to your Bond being deepened, it has undergone the following changes:


    Stat Increase: From 12 to 14


    XP Gain: From 6% to 7%


    Heat Resistance: From 31% to 35.2%


    ¡°Woah, what in the hells?¡± I said aloud.


    <em>¡°Father, you are stronger now!¡±</em> Ainash looked back and smiled at me.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°The Bond just Ranked up. Twice. Totally randomly, it feels like. I wasn¡¯t even thinking about Ainash.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°That¡¯s weird. Well, it¡¯s good, obviously, but weird. I wonder what happened. Ainash, do you have any idea?¡±


    <em>¡°Oh, uh, I might.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What is it?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Father, you and mother like each other a lot.¡±</em>


    ¡°Well, uh, sure,¡± I said, feeling my face involuntarily grow red at the frank statement. It was honestly embarrassing to blush at something so in, but that only made me blush more, making a sort of stupid vicious cycle. I shook my head, and continued, ¡°But I¡¯m not sure what that has to do with the Bond. I thought it didn¡¯t care about other people.¡±


    <em>¡°Well, but I notice that you and mother like each other. And I felt sad that I like mother but still think you are weird. It is unfair, since mother thinks you are very nice! And when I think that, you get stronger!¡±</em>


    ¡°Oh. Oh, I get it.¡± I suddenly realized what she meant. ¡°So I guess in this case, the Bond was held back less by how I felt about you, and more by how you felt about me? Because you thought I was¡­weird, I guess?¡±


    Eraniughed. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize my endorsement mattered that much.¡±


    ¡°Oh, wait,¡± I said, ¡°if the Bond Ranked up, that¡¯s actually a really good thing.¡±


    ¡°Well, of course it is,¡± Erani responded with a frown.


    ¡°No, like, specifically right now, it¡¯s better than it usually is. Remember our fight with Xhag¡¯duul? We can exploit this to effectively cover twice as much ground as possible. Clearing out a whole forest of Goblins¡­We could easily get this whole job done before nightfall.¡±


    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s hear it. What¡¯s your n?¡±

 Chapter 169: Fightin’

    Chapter 169: Fightin¡¯


    Erani and I crept through the overgrown forest in search of the Goblins that seemingly controlled the area. So far, we hadn¡¯t seen any sign of them, but they were apparently pretty nonconfrontational¡ªat least, they were until they saw a moment of vulnerability in you. But ideally, one of us would find their main home before that happened.


    Ainash wasn¡¯t with us right now. Instead, once the Bond had Ranked up, we realized it would be much more efficient for her to split off and go looking by herself. Since the System had to preserve the Bond through uses of Time Loop, as it was part of my Status, it effectively took the shortcut of preserving all of Ainash¡¯s memories that would normally be lost in order to maintain the Bond¡¯s gained Rank. So, since I still had plenty of uses of Time Loop today, we could take the extreme risk of splitting up to cover more ground, and then if anything went wrong, I¡¯d just use Time Loop ande back to before we ever split up, and Ainash would still keep her memories, allowing us to share what we found.


    Currently, Time Loop went back six hours, so we had around a six hour window before we¡¯d want to reconvene. We were a couple hours into that six hour timeframe, with Erani and I continuing down the overgrown road while Ainash decided she¡¯d split off into the forest, exploring in a random direction to see if she could find the Goblins¡¯ home out in the trees.


    There was one downside to having her split off from us, though, which was that we no longer had her ability to cut down the weeds and branches that blocked our path, leaving us to do that alone. Certainly an annoying part of this whole thing, but we still moved at a decent pace, so it didn¡¯t matter too much. I used Expedite to keep our Dexterity scores high in the thicker parts¡ªsomething that ate into my ability to charge the Mana Battery I¡¯d been given to get our discount for the teleportation circle, but there was a chance this timeline wasn¡¯t even going to be final, anyway, so whatever.


    A few more hours passed. We reached a dead end on the road we¡¯d been exploring, so we backtracked and found another path that split off from it and went down that. Then, when that also ended in a dead end, we backtracked again, going down all the splintering trails in search of the Goblins. At no point did we find anything, leaving me with quite the unsettled feeling. I mean, sure, it made sense that we wouldn¡¯t see them immediately, but it¡¯d been several hours by now. Not finding a single one felt extremely unlikely.


    Though, we <em>did</em> find evidence that they were here. Namely in the form of various traps set out on the roads we traveled. I was d we¡¯d listened to that gold-degree¡¯s story about the pitfall, because we came across about a dozen of them as we walked. Once we knew what to look for, they were somewhat easy to spotrge patches of conspicuously-covered ground, where the fallen leaves somehow covered every tiny speck of dirt one would normally be able to see¡ªbut it still stressed me out, and I found myself testing to make sure the ground in front of me was solid with every step I took.


    We asionally also came across patches of ground that I was absolutely sure were pitfall traps, but when I poked it with a stick to reveal it, ended up being solid ground anyway. I wasn¡¯t sure if I was just paranoid, seeing things that weren¡¯t there, or if the Goblins had intentionallyden the ground with fake pitfalls just to lull their victims into a false sense of security.


    There were other traps too, of course¡ªa tripwire that Erani spotted which, if triggered, would release a pair of massive logs toe swinging out of the nearby trees, crushing whoever found themselves between them, a on the ground with a manual pulley system which, if a victim was standing in the area covered by the concealed which an operator pulled on the activation rope, would instantly hoist the victim up in the air, confined in the tight space. All of these things we had to carefully avoid, choosing every step with deliberate caution and constantly keeping our heads on swivels, checking behind us and around corners before moving.


    Thankfully, all the backtracking gave me a decent idea of where everything was. I¡¯d built up a sort of mental map of the roads, remembering that, after that one weird-looking fallen log was the pair of pitfalls right after each other, and around that curvy series of bends in the road was the tripwire. Though the sheer frequency of the contraptions made me wonder, even if we did rid this ce of the Goblins, how could the town ever reim this area as safe? It felt like, even if they tried to clean up the roads, there¡¯d probably be straggler hazards lying around waiting to be triggered for years after this job was done. Though I supposed it was worth getting rid of the Goblins, if just to keep them from lying out even more.


    We¡¯d tried our best to keep in contact with Ainash, but that got harder and harder as time moved on and we put more distance between us. It took more and more effort to stay in touch, and distracting ourselves by sending messages back and forth which in such a dangerous area that required so much attention seemed like a great n to get us stabbed in the back or blown up, or something.


    ¡°You think she¡¯s found anything by now?¡± I asked Erani as we made our way around yet another pitfall.


    ¡°She¡¯d probably hold back and let us know if she did.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, hopefully. Though if she got attacked and had to defend herself, she wouldn¡¯t have the time to do something like that.¡±


    ¡°Might be safe to use Time Loop at the end of the six hours regardless of whether or not we know something went wrong, just in case.¡±


    ¡°Well, hopefully we can find our way back to each other before that timees,¡± I said.


    Just as I finished saying it, though, I got a notification.


    Level 32 Draconiad has in Level 4 Goblin.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 2 XP. Your XP is 745.


    Erani turned to me, having seen the same thing. ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°I guess she found them,¡± I said.


    Level 32 Draconiad has in Level 7 Goblin.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 3 XP. Your XP is 748.


    Another notification came.


    ¡°Can we¡­do anything to help?¡± I asked Erani. Evidently, Ainash was in a fight, but we didn¡¯t know where, or how far away. But if felt strange to just wait around and watch her life-and-death struggle.


    Erani looked around, searching for any sign of the struggle, but didn¡¯t see anything. ¡°I guess we just hope. I mean, at least she found them, right? That¡¯s the point of the n? Even if something bad happens, as long as someone finds the Goblins, it¡¯ll have been a sess.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, pretty much.¡±


    Suddenly, though, I got a terrible feeling in my mind, like a part of my head was being pulled off.


    ¡°Agh!¡± I yelled out in pain, and heard something simr from Erani. And then I got a notification.


    Your Bond with Level 32 Draconiad has been severed.


    Due to your Bond being severed, you have lost the following effects:


    -Your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are no longer increased by 14.


    -Whenever Draconiad gains XP, you no longer gain 7% of that XP.


    -You no longer have 35.2% Resistance to all heat-based damage.


    I felt my body weaken from the Stats leaving my body, simr to the sensation of Expedite wearing off, but instead of just the Dexterity leaving my body and leaving me feeling stiff, I lost my Strength and Endurance, too, leaving me feeling sore, weak, and like I¡¯d lost some calluses on my body, leaving me vulnerable.


    I heard a <em>thump</em> and turned to see Erani falling straight to the ground.


    I muttered a curse and bent down to help her up, remembering that the majority of her physical Stats came from the Bond. We''d had the Bond "interrupted" before, but never "severed." It said the Bond got interrupted whenever Ainash got out of the necessary range of its effectiveness, which happened asionally¡ªmainly when we were in town and Ainash was outside. But we normally had forewarning of that happening before it did. When it happened randomly, a sudden loss of so many Stats could topple anyone.


    She was breathing heavily, and leaned on me as I lifted her to her feet.


    ¡°What was that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­what happened to Ainash?¡± Erani sputtered.


    Before I could even reply, though, I felt a sharp pain in my back.


    You have been pierced. 26 damage.


    Your Health is 544.


    ¡°Shit! Ambush!¡± I scrambled to get behind a tree, pulling Erani along with me.


    Where had these fuckerse from? Thankfully, due to the way losing Stats worked, I still had my Health from before I¡¯d lost my Stats from the Bond¡ªmy maximum had been reduced, but not my current stores¡ªbut I still seriously felt the more immediate effects of losing them, and being weak and tired during a fight was not an ideal scenario.


    Erani groaned, trying to get used to the unexpected sensation of her own massively reduced Stats.


    I peeked around the trunk we were behind, trying to see where the arrow hade from, but I couldn¡¯t find the Goblins anywhere. Gazing up in the trees, I saw nothing that instantly stood out, and neither did I see them down the road or in the bushes. Then I felt something hit the back of my shoulder.


    You have been pierced. 21 damage.


    Your Health is 523.


    ¡°Agh!¡± I turned and saw one that¡¯d popped out from behind a tree of its own ducking back behind its cover. They were taking potshots at us, probably trying to gauge our strength before rushing in and exposing themselves to danger.


    Erani quickly found her own footing, climbing up from her position leaning against the tree as she effectively went through the process of relearning how to walk without the assistance of the System.


    ¡°Where are they?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Saw one behind that tree,¡± I pointed over in the direction of the one that¡¯d hit my shoulder.


    She quickly reached her hand out and shot off a Firebolt, which hit the trunk and exploded in a fiery st that flung back the Goblin that¡¯d been attempting to hide behind it.


    I¡¯d been hoping a disy like that would be enough to scare the things off, but it seemed the opposite happened, instead. The moment the explosion went off, all the hells broke loose.


    Instantly, a dozen more arrows flew from every nearby tree, behind every rock and fallen log, from behind every hill in sight, all straight at us. Even if I saw a few of theming, it was impossible to dodge every one of them, as leaping out of the way of one would just put you in the line of the other.


    With a sh of biting pains all across my body, my mind flooded with damage notifications and my Health dropped below 350 in a single instant. Not good.


    I tried reaching out to curse as many as I could with Crippling Chill, now able to point the Spell in the direction of the ones I¡¯d seen in their attack, and Erani wildly shot off Firebolts at as many of their hiding spots as she could, but it was basically impossible to keep track of them. The moment one of them fired, it¡¯d leap up and run off to another spot to hide behind, so the entire surrounding area was full of these little shes of movement, each one representing a Goblin that was no longer where I¡¯dst seen it. And with so many happening at once, and with my vision already obscured by the heavy foliage that barely even allowed me to get a half-decent look at the damned things, I could rarely find a time to hit one of the bastards with my Spells.


    One after the other, the Goblins drew back their bows and fired, each arrowing from a wildly different direction and seeming to hit me when and where I least expected it. I heard cries of pain from Erani as she attempted to scramble for cover, unable to find a spot that could possibly shield her from the massive ground surrounding us on all sides.


    You have been pierced. 19 damage.


    Your Health is 311.


    You have been pierced. 29 damage.


    Your Health is 282.


    Time after time, arrows pierced my body, each one shooting waves of pain throughout my limbs. A stone arrowhead in my thigh. One impacting my neck. I still had enough Health that they weren¡¯t sticking into my body, but they were beginning to draw blood, and as I felt my clothes soak red, I understood this was not a winnable battle. So many enemies, all of them coordinated with each other and hiding off in thend where they¡¯d made their home, perfect knowledge of every tiny spot they could conceal themselves, it was the perfect storm. Pings of damage each slowly chipping away at my Health.


    <em>Fuck it</em>, I thought. <em>May as well try to get a bit of information before I inevitably have to use Time Loop here. Index, find me one nearby, one that¡¯s reloading and not paying attention.</em>


    ¡°Sure. Uh¡­to your right, behind that fallen log!¡±


    I instantly turned and sprinted off toward my target.


    You have been pierced. 26 damage.


    Your Health is 166.


    You have been pierced. 18 damage.


    Your Health is 148.


    I caught a couple more shots in the back, but as long as I wasn¡¯t killed by them, it didn¡¯t matter. Leaping over the half-rotted log, I did indeed find a Goblin couched down behind it. Shouts of warning from other Goblins filled the forest, trying to tell theirpatriot about its looming demise, but it looked up at me when it was toote, and I reached down, grabbing the thing by its throat and lifting it to my eye-level. It was short, probably less than half my own height, and skinny, with a malnourished face, sunken cheeks and arms showing off its scant muscles and skeletal structure. Its green skin flushed pale as its oversized eyes locked onto my face.


    It reached its hand into a bandolier around its waist¡ªthe only clothing it wore¡ªfumbling with a small leather pouch it retrieved from one of the pockets. A thin string snaked from the top of the pouch. The Goblin then struck that string against a patch of bumpy material on the bandolier, and suddenly the string was set alight, sparkes fizzling off of it as a me crept down the string.


    You have been pierced. 30 damage.


    Your Health is 68.


    I caught another arrow to the back, but again, it didn¡¯t matter. We¡¯d lose this fight regardless. I just wanted to see how powerful these explosives were.


    The string burnt and burnt, down into the pouch it protruded from, as the Goblin who was still left holding it tried frantically to escape from my grasp. I technically could let it go¡ªit didn¡¯t matter whether it lived or died here¡ªbut honestly, I kind of just wanted to kill at least one of these things in this timeline. They attacked us, they deserved to see some losses for that.


    Second after second ticked by, and the Goblin grew more and more frantic in its attempts to escape my grasp. The bomb had been dropped on the ground by now, fuse burning away by my foot. It cried out and wed at my arm, and arrows from its allies hit my back, but I didn¡¯t die yet.


    And then, the fire from the fuse went into the back, and¡ª


    You have been blown up. 185 damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have died.


    <em>Okay</em>, I thought as I awoke in the void, <em>now, we get payback.</em>

 Chapter 170: Retaliatin’

    Chapter 170: Retaliatin¡¯


    I arrived back in the previous timeline around an hour before we¡¯d gotten the Bond Rank and decided to split up. Though, of course, the Bond Rank still stuck around, and as such, so did Ainash¡¯s memories.


    She fell to the ground the moment I arrived back in time, which surprised me. I hurriedly bent down to help her back up. <em>¡°Hey, you alright? What happened?¡±</em>


    Erani started, too, except she started ncing around, looking for enemies that might¡¯ve attacked her to make her fall over like that, which I obviously knew wasn¡¯t the situation.


    A moment passed where Ainash didn¡¯t respond, just staring at the ground and breathing heavily. Had something bad happened? Something to permanently change her across timelines? Was there even anything that could do that?


    Then she turned to face me, wide-eyed in a look that seemingly portrayed both horror and excitement. <em>¡°Father! I died!¡±</em>


    ¡°Wait,¡± Erani turned back to face us. ¡°Time Loop? And¡­I guess another Bond Rank? Is that what Ainash is talking about?¡±


    ¡°Oh, uh, yeah,¡± I said, looking back at her. ¡°Sorry, didn¡¯t mention that.¡±


    ¡°What happened? How¡¯d she die?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°We split up. Uh, Ainash, you died? Was it the Goblins?¡±


    <em>¡°Yes, they were very mean and tricky! Was worried when was fighting, but then remembered that you can bring me back to life! So decided to not fight hard and instead try to talk to bad monsters. Asked them questions while they kill me.¡±</em>


    I raised my eyebrows. <em>¡°You talked to them?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, used empathy ability to let them feel what I feel, and so I use that to tell them feelings, and then I feel how they feel about feelings I let them feel to see what they think about my feelings.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...What? Okay, so, what¡¯d they say, then?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I let them feel that I am going to go and attack in a certain direction! So that way, when they think I am going to search the forest in one area, if they know there is nothing important in that area, they will feel rxed. But if there is something important in that area, they will be scared! So I found the area they think is important. It is probably their home! I know what direction it is in!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Oh, well shit. That¡¯s great!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Did you find bad monsters too?¡±</em>


    ¡°An, what happened?¡± Erani cut into our conversation once Ainash told her story.


    ¡°Right, yeah, let me fill you both in. So, Ainash, I assume it must¡¯ve happened when you died, but while we were moving, we both got a notification saying the Bond got ¡®severed¡¯ and we were losing our buffs. Erani, you copsed, and the moment you did, the Goblins attacked. So what I¡¯m assuming happened was that they were following us, and waiting for something to happen before they attacked. I¡¯d guess they were hoping we¡¯d fall into one of their traps, but when we kept avoiding them, they just decided they¡¯d strike at any moment of weakness. So they took your copsing as their moment.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Okay. So we lost the fight once they attacked?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, didn¡¯t go well. With the element of surprise on their side, us both dealing with lost Stats, and us not even knowing how many of our enemies there were, we fell to them pretty easily. But I doubt they¡¯d only just started following us. They¡¯d almost certainly been trailing us for hours, waiting for something to happen. So that does pose a problem. Ainash, had they been following you?¡±


    <em>¡°Probably yes. Attacked me when I fell in a big hole.¡± </em>She looked embarrassed to admit thatst part. <em>¡°Was not paying attention.¡±</em>


    ¡°Yeah, exactly. I¡¯m willing to bet they¡¯re monitoring the entrance to this forest, or something. Maybe they have teams of Goblins trawling the whole ce in search of their next hit. We¡¯ve only entered around now, right Erani?¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°Am I going to have to be the one who keeps track of what has actually happened in the ¡®true¡¯ timeline or something? Yes, I think we entered around ten, maybe fifteen minutes ago.¡±


    ¡°Alright. So ideally, we aren¡¯t being trailed yet. I mean, the trees are still sparse, so I doubt they¡¯d have the ability to hide around here if they tried. In that case, we should be able to take advantage of what we know here.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s that?¡±


    Erani, Ainash, and I walked down a trail through the familiar woods. It was one of the trails we¡¯d gone down in the previous timeline, so I remembered where most of the traps were, and we easily avoided them¡ªand Index made dodging the ones I¡¯d forgotten about trivial. However, despite knowing the direction the Goblins¡¯ main outpost was located in, we were not going that way. In fact, I¡¯d deliberately chosen a path that took us far away from that area.


    We waited a few hours, wandering the woods like we would normally, going down dead ends and having unimportant verbal conversations¡ªthough our mental conversations were anything but unimportant.


    After wandering the forest for the correct amount of time off in that random location that the Goblins were sure to find unimportant, ording to Ainash, I sent them a message telling them to get ready to enact our n.


    <em>¡°Three, two, one¡­go.¡±</em>


    Ainash wandered off, leaving the trail and going to look at some random feature of the terrain, around twenty paces to the side. I thought I heard some movement when she did so, which was good; it was probably whatever Goblins had been hiding in that location running off to go somewhere else. And then, in a way I¡¯d had Erani practice a few times before to ensure she did it in the exact same way she¡¯d done in the previous timeline, Erani copsed to the ground as though she¡¯d lost the Stats from her Bond.


    There was a slight dy¡ªa little longer than I remembered it taking before, though that was probably because of Ainash¡ªbut just on schedule, one of the Goblins shot an arrow right into my back.


    You have been pierced. 19 damage.


    Your Health is 551.


    We instantly sprung into motion when they revealed themselves. Erani got back up to her feet with unnatural speed due to me having preemptively boosted all of us with Expedite, and Ainash used her position naturally nking many of the Goblins to move right in and hunt down the ones nearby. She had the uncanny ability to know exactly where they were hiding, which, of course, was because of abination of my informing her the general types of locations they¡¯d been around in the previous timeline, and her empathy ability helping her to zero in on their locations once she had that basic idea.


    At the same time, I held out my hand and shot as many Goblins as possible with Ray of Frost, hitting each with precisely three rays. Since the Goblin in the previous timeline had killed me, that built up a decent bit of the ¡®Familiarity¡¯ Index needed to give me information on them. And what Index had told me was that, for the most part, Goblins wouldn¡¯t take more than three well-aimed Rays of Frost to kill. And Erani could kill them with a single Firebolt, as long as it was a direct hit.


    You have been pierced. 23 damage.


    Your Health is 528.


    You have in Level 4 Goblin.


    You have earned 23 XP. Your XP is 997.


    I shot at every one I saw popping up to take their shots at us, missing some shots and still taking some hits, but overall we were the ones that had the drop on our opponents here, and their numbers thinned quickly.


    The Goblins seemed to recognize this, and I spotted a couple trying to run off and avoid our counterattack. If they escaped and warned the others, it¡¯d probably be near-impossible to exterminate the Goblins in this forest for the next while, since they¡¯d all know to go into hiding. So instantly, I dashed off in pursuit.


    We¡¯d already thinned out their numbers pretty heavily in our counterattack, and Ainash had the other side of the road covered, so I went off to the side the Goblins were retreating into, eager to catch them before they could hide themselves in the thick maze of trees.


    One was running off to the left, so I held out my hand and shot it three times in the head. The other two were escaping alongside each other, and I was about to just hit them both with a Crippling Chill, but then I realized that, if we could capture a couple of these things alive, we could probably use Ainash¡¯s method of basicmunication with them to pinpoint the exact location of their base. We had a general idea of the direction it was in, but if we could find precisely where it was¡ªand maybe even get an idea of the types of traps within, or even more¡ªthat¡¯d be perfect.


    So I cast another stack of Expedite on myself to rush forward, and tackled the two Goblins to the ground. I hurriedly stripped their bows, arrows, and the belts they had around their waists away from them, not very eager to see retaliation from them. Without their bombs and weapons, though, they were mostly helpless. Not that they didn¡¯t try to escape, of course. I quickly situated them below my body, their tiny frames easily squished beneath my knees, but they wed and bit at my body, my decent pool of Health slowly chipping away. Not very dangerous, but annoying.


    I just ignored them and stayed where I was, shooting Rays of Frost at any other Goblins that attempted to escape in my direction, and using my wide perspective of the battlefield tomunicate with Ainash, warning her about any threats she didn¡¯t see¡ªand asking her to warn Erani, too.


    And then, after fifteen seconds passed, I hit the two Goblins I had captive with Sanguine Bond, triggering Hypnotic Bond and disabling them for the next ten seconds. Once they were inert, I quickly got off of them and bent down to use some rope they had in their belts to tie them up and against a tree trunk, ensuring they wouldn¡¯t be going anywhere. Once the ten seconds had passed and they came to, I stepped back and watched them try their best to escape their bonds, but with their hands and legs tied and their necks fixated to the trunk, as I suspected, they couldn¡¯t do much.


    From there, I turned around and returned to the battlefield to assist Erani and Ainash in cleaning up the remainder of our enemies.


    It only took around another minute before the Goblins were all dead. In total, there¡¯d been something like thirty surrounding us. The things certainly liked traveling inrge numbers, we¡¯d learned. Though, even if none of them gave much XP individually, the massive pack dying pushed us all a good ways to our next Level. Counting the fight in the previous timeline, I¡¯d gotten a total of around 500, moving me up to 1.26k/3k¡ªabout two thirds from my own killing, and the other third from the Bond with Ainash. That thing was mainly nice because of the Stats it gave, but the little bits and pieces of XP provided were slowly adding up, too.


    Speaking of¡­


    ¡°Erani, how much XP did you get from this?¡±


    ¡°Not totally sure,¡± she chuckled, ¡°I don¡¯t have a little invisible helper that keeps track of every single point of XP I get. But, considering where I was previously at¡­maybe around eight, nine hundred?¡±


    ¡°After that and what you got from the Gloomspurs, doesn¡¯t that mean you should be halfway there to another Level?¡±


    ¡°More than that, actually. I¡¯m up to a little over 2000 out of my needed 3000.¡±


    I whistled. ¡°Well damn. You¡¯re back to being past me. I thought Time Loop would push me way past you, but I guess an extra twenty percent of all of Ainash¡¯s kills is quite a lot, huh?¡±


    ¡°Well, slightly more now, actually.¡±


    My eyes went wide. ¡°The Bond¡¯s Ranked even more? What is it, Rank 40 now? Something ridiculous like that?¡±


    ¡°No, no. But it got a couple when we were in the city. I guess what they say about distance making the heart grow fonder or whatever is true,¡± sheughed. ¡°I certainly felt it.¡±


    ¡°Shit, and I thought I was catching up with you.¡±


    She rolled her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not a contest, you know.¡±


    ¡°Anything with numbers on it can be made into a contest,¡± I joked. Then I smiled and walked over to give a side hug to Ainash, who leaned against my shoulder and wrapped her arm around me, too. ¡°But yeah, yeah, I get what you mean. Though I¡¯m not sure what I¡¯m doing wrong. Kind of makes me feel weird, knowing the System¡¯s objective opinion seems to think you have such a better rtionship with her.¡±


    ¡°It might just be one of those things,¡± Erani shrugged. ¡°You don¡¯t have to understand every little aspect of everything in your life. I mean, there¡¯s also, y¡¯know, first impressions and all that. Sometimes people can¡¯t fully forgive and forget slights from when they first met you.¡±


    I pursed my lips, remembering how I¡¯d been pretty mean in my thoughts toward our surrogate daughter when we first started caring for her. ¡°Maybe.¡±


    <em>¡°It is okay,¡± </em>Ainash offered with an awkward pat on my head that made meugh. <em>¡°I just think mother is very pretty and very cool and very nice. And I think you are sort of pretty and sort of cool and sort of nice. Still think you are all of those things!¡±</em>


    Eraniughed. ¡°So it¡¯s just tant favoritism, then.¡±


    ¡°At least I¡¯m pretty,¡± I said with a shrug.


    A garbled shout came from behind me, reminding me that we still had prisoners. We turned and walked over, and I exined what my n had been when I¡¯d captured them in the first ce.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Erani nodded, ¡°might be a good idea to get a more exact idea of what we¡¯re up against. Ainash, you think you could get more information if you had some time to work on them?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯d be great if you could also get stuff like how many more Goblins there are, what more traps they have around the forest or in their base, whether there are any higher-Level species around here that might be dangerous to us, that sort of thing.¡±


    <em>¡°Do not know if that will be possible. Can onlymunicate feeling, so will be very hard. But will try my best!¡±</em>


    ¡°Yeah, just let us know if there¡¯s anything you need.¡±


    We waited around for a few minutes for Ainash to work her magic. It was pretty funny to watch, as the whole thing basically just looked like her staring at them and making different facial expressions while they nced around, obviously weirded out by everything.


    Ainash¡¯s two-way empathy effectively had inverse rtionship between the strength of the feelings it could transfer and the intelligence of the being¡ªording to her, it was because conscious thoughts could muck up the signal, or whatever¡ªbut evidently these Goblins were low-intelligence enough for the thing to at least have some effectiveness on them. From what I could tell, the more animalistic monsters, like Stripeks or Wood Wraiths, would fully take on the emotions of Ainash, the somewhat intelligent monsters, like Goblins or Infernals, would be able to feel her emotions, but not be influenced themselves, and then thepletely sapient monsters, like Humans and Dragons, would have trouble being able to identify them at all.


    Now, Ainash could still sense the emotions of pretty much all of these species¡ªthough it¡¯d be much easier for her with the lower-intelligence ones. And also, her familiarity with the species would also influence the strength of everything going on. Thankfully, being around so many Goblins in both timelines, even if it¡¯d only been for a short while, seemed to be enough for her to at least be able to transmit some sort of a signal both ways. So ideally, we could get some information here.


    Once she was done, turning around and walking back to where Erani and I had been resting, she gave us the news.


    <em>¡°Did not get much. But got some stuff!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What did they tell you?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Know more specifically where the bad monster home is. But could not understand anything else from them.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Damn. Not even anything about traps? That¡¯d be really useful to know.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Not very much. Could understand about traps when only talking about nearby. When I thought about going into specific parts of road, could feel the bad monsters getting happy and excited for me to go there if there was trap, and could feel them not care if there was not trap. But when there is no specific area they can see, can not feel anything from them.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Hm.¡±</em> I frowned.


    <em>¡°Should kill them now?¡±</em> Ainash asked.


    ¡°Wait,¡± Erani said, looking between us. ¡°Why not just take them along?¡±


    ¡°Take them along?¡± I asked. ¡°We can¡¯t do that, what if they escape? Or call for help? I mean, what if another fight breaks out, and they¡¯re able to attack us? That sounds like way too big of a risk.¡±


    ¡°Is it really more of a risk than going through here without guides? Sure, Index can find most traps, but if we¡¯re trying to actively fight our way through some massive Goblinplex, running through halls that¡¯ve been absolutelyden with tripwires and false floorboards, there¡¯s no way it¡¯ll catch them all.¡±


    ¡°That is true,¡± Index admitted. ¡°I know you can¡¯t see me, but I <em>am</em> still a physical being, essentially. Just one that can phase through solid objects. So yes, I can look around underground, but I¡¯m still limited in my speed by the simple fact that I have to move from point A to point B while I look around. If you¡¯re actively moving through an area, I might not be able to warn you about everything.¡±


    I sighed and stood up, walking over to the Goblins where they were tied up against the tree trunk, and I crouched down to look at them at eye-level. They stared back with rage in their beady eyes, warted skin twisting as they struggled against their bonds. Already, they had blisters and rope burns around the areas I¡¯d tied them with how much they¡¯d relentlessly pulled and yanked, seemingly not caring about how it hurt them.


    ¡°I just don¡¯t see how we¡¯d prevent them from escaping,¡± I said. ¡°Or from trying to trigger traps on themselves and get us killed alongside them. Wouldn¡¯t put it past the little bastards.¡±


    ¡°We can figure something out,¡± Erani said. ¡°I mean, you have your Hypnotic Bond, right? Just knock them out and we can re-tie them even tighter, and maybe make some sort of leash that keeps them close to us while not forcing us to lug them around.¡±


    ¡°But that still creates the problem of having at least semi-free-moving enemies around if a fight breaks out. I really think we¡¯re better off just killing them here. I can¡¯t see apelling reason not to.¡±


    Suddenly, a garbled voice yelled at me, and I looked back to see it was one of the Goblins. It shouted again, and I realized it wasn¡¯t nonsense.


    ¡°You stinky!¡± it choked out. ¡°You stinky!¡±


    I took a step back. ¡°...Uh, you guys are hearing that too, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Erani said with a frown. ¡°Do they just have some phrase in theirnguage that sounds like ours?¡±


    ¡°You stinky!¡± it repeated once more.


    I looked around, then back at the Goblin. ¡°Are you¡­talking to me?¡±


    ¡°You stinky if you kill us!¡± it shouted.


    Yeah, that settled it. It was absolutely speaking Human right now.


    I stood and looked back at Erani. ¡°Why in the hells did the fact that Goblins can speak ournguage note up in <em>any</em> of the conversations we had about them?!¡±

 Chapter 171: Goblin

    Chapter 171: Goblin


    We all bent down to examine the Goblins, who we just realized could apparently speak Human.


    <em>¡°Ainash,¡±</em> I messaged, <em>¡°what¡¯s it thinking right now? Is it really saying all of this with the intent tomunicate?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Think so,¡±</em> she said. <em>¡°Could feel the bad monsters changing feelings when you and mother were talking, but thought it was because they were angry from being imprisoned or something. But now I realize was because they could understand you! Should get them to teach me yournguage.¡±</em>


    Iughed, caught off guard by her sudden deration. Was she getting jealous of the Goblins that they could understand us? But then I shook my head, trying to focus on the issue at hand. <em>¡°Okay, so, it¡¯s obviously a problem that they could understand us that whole time. Pass this along to mother, by the way. We should talk mentally while we¡¯re around them. But this could be a massive benefit, too. If we can talk to them¡ªeven if they aren¡¯t very good at talking¡ªwe can negotiate for information.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Can tell if bad monsters are lying, too!¡±</em> Ainash said. <em>¡°Will probably be able to feel when they are feeling deceptive while they answer, so will not have to worry about lies.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°That¡¯s perfect,¡±</em> I said.


    There was a pause in the conversation, and then Ainash messaged, <em>¡°Mother says we should definitely bring as guides now. Bad monsters will not try to escape if we tell we will kill them if they try. So can bring them and tell them to walk ahead of us, that way we just walk where they walk and do not have to worry about traps. And have them lead us to their home, too!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, I definitely see her side of the argument a lot more now,¡±</em> I nodded.


    <em>¡°Also, mother did not say this, but I can feel mother does not want to kill bad monsters because she would be sad if they die.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Really?¡±</em> I messaged back. <em>¡°Are you sure you should be telling me this?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Think she is embarrassed,¡± </em>Ainash said. <em>¡°But she sees them talk and feels like they are kind of like Humans. I do not understand why Humans like things that are kind of like Humans, but she feels that way. I do not want to make mother sad, so I do not think should kill these bad monsters.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, well, I think it¡¯s probably best to keep them alive regardless. And I do see where she¡¯sing from. Killing defenseless prisoners in cold blood, especially when they¡¯re intelligent enough to negotiate, feels pretty ruthless. One thing if they¡¯re trying to hurt us, but as long as we can reason with them, I don¡¯t see why we shouldn¡¯t at least try.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°They really want to kill us!¡± </em>Ainash said. <em>¡°But I also think should let mother not be sad and should be weird and not kill them right now.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Sure,¡± </em>I responded.


    ¡°Do you understand me?¡± Erani had crouched back down in front of the two Goblins while Ainash and I had our conversation, and was trying to start a dialogue between herself and the pair of monsters.


    ¡°You are stinky!¡± one of the Goblins responded.


    ¡°So is that a yes? You do understand me? I¡¯m trying to help you.¡±


    ¡°Stinky!¡±


    I sighed listening to the attempt. They certainly liked using that word.


    ¡°Look, I just want some information. If you¡¯re cooperative, we¡¯ll help you, okay?¡±


    They both just sneered at her.


    She continued, undeterred. ¡°Where is the main base? Where are the rest of the Goblins located?¡±


    The two shared a nce, and one of them nodded its head to its right¡ªopposite the direction we knew their base to actually be in.


    Erani frowned. ¡°That¡¯s the direction you¡¯re saying it¡¯s in?¡±


    They nodded.


    ¡°Are there any other bases? Significant structures?¡±


    They shook their heads.


    I walked forward and looked down at them. ¡°We know you¡¯re lying. We know there¡¯s nothing in that direction. We know exactly where your base is.¡±


    Their faces paled. One of the Goblins started to say something, but stopped, evidently deciding it didn¡¯t have much it could say that could make it look innocent.


    ¡°Do not lie to us,¡± I continued. ¡°If you do lie to us, if you prove to us that your sole intent is to harm us, what do you think we¡¯ll do? Let you go free because you aren¡¯t useful? The only way you get out of this alive is by proving that you genuinely want to help. Not by trying to hurt us.¡±


    They both nodded frantically at my words.


    ¡°So, I¡¯ll ask you again, this time with a lot less patience. Just to prove you want to tell the truth. Where is your base?¡±


    ¡°Stinky!¡± One of them spat.


    But the other one, with what little mobility it had in its current restrained state, wiggled its way to turn to itspanion and shake its head. Then it turned back to me, and nodded in the correct direction. ¡°One and a half biomes.¡±


    ¡°Biomes?¡± I asked. Was that some sort of unit of measurement?


    ¡°Mm,¡± it looked down in thought for a moment, then looked back up. ¡°Walk for two hours.¡±


    I nodded at that. ¡°Good. Stay cooperative like that, and we¡¯ll let you go when we¡¯re done.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Erani said. ¡°Now that we¡¯ve got that out of the way, why don¡¯t you tell us everything you know about your base, and what we might find there?¡±


    After a lengthy conversation with the two Goblins, we headed out. It was difficult to get much information out of them¡ªboth because they still held onto some defiance throughout, and because of thenguage barrier between us. Ainash, of course, helped out with their asional attempts at deceit, telling us when the Goblins had any spike in nervousness or malice within them, which we could swiftly call out. They obviously always had some amount of that whenever they spoke¡ªI wouldn¡¯t imagine they¡¯d ever be perfectly calm and helpful during an interrogation¡ªbut there was typically a swift and clear increase in those feelings whenever they were about to lie to us.


    Thenguage barrier, on the other hand, was much harder to work around. What we learned after speaking with the Goblins for some time was that they didn¡¯t typically speak any Humannguage at all. They had their ownnguage they used within their species. However, this group of Goblins, specifically, had gone out of their way to learn ournguage. They were pretty good at understanding it when it was spoken to them, but when it came to speaking it themselves, there was much more trouble. Their mouths were simply not made to pronounce some of the sounds, and it came out with an extremely heavy ent, especially with some words, which made it sound almost likeplete gibberish sometimes. So there was lots of asking them to repeat things or word them differently such that we could understand what they said.


    As for the information we got out of them, it was quite a lot. Though, there was lots of stuff that didn¡¯t have any immediate use; we¡¯d learned what they¡¯d stolen from people¡ªmostly anything that seemed valuable, like coins or precious metal¡ªwe¡¯d learned how far out they¡¯d expanded their territory, and how quickly they expanded it, we learned how much they wanted to expand further, we¡¯d learned how they made their weapons, and where they¡¯d sourced the materials from¡­Again, there was a lot.


    Much of it I didn¡¯t quite understand, of course. Why would they need coins and metals from Humans, when there was nothing they could spend that money on? And why had they been so desperate to expand their territory further and further, when they seemed to understand doing so would only enrage the Humans? But they didn¡¯t seem like they wanted to spend all day answering random questions¡ªneither did I¡ªand I had to ept that, at some point, there were just differences between the species, anyway. I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d ever understand Ainash¡¯s view on morality, for example, which felt like it waspletely inhuman at times. Which, of course, it literally was.


    Besides, my focus was much more on the immediately useful information. How many Goblins were in the base? Well, turned out it there were typically between twenty and one hundred in there at any given time. Howrge was it? Their units of measurement were different from ours, but we ended up figuring out it was around fifty paces by a hundred, with some additional basement areas. Were there any dangers on our way there? About a thousand pitfall traps. Stuff like that.


    Once we were done gathering that information, we untied the Goblins and set off. Well, we untied the Goblins and then instantly tied them up again, this time keeping their hands behind their backs, but affixing their necks to some makeshift leashes using rope, so they couldn¡¯t run off. Eranimented that it felt rather inhumane to keep them restrained in such a way, but when I asked for another way we could make sure they behaved, she couldn¡¯te up with a solution. So leashes it was.


    They led us through the forest, helping us to avoid all the traps in the forest that they were intimately familiar with, with Index also moving along, searching as well to confirm they were telling the truth.


    Index seemingly got bored during the long walk, now that it had a couple other experts to do its job for it, with it pretty much just making sure they didn¡¯t purposely omit any traps to try and get us killed¡ªwhich Ainash would most likely detect anyway¡ªso as we moved, it started lecturing me on battle tactics.


    ¡°...so, because of that,¡± it continued in its rant, ¡°you should likely use at least one or two more stacks of Expedite on everyone when you¡¯re in the Goblin base.¡±


    <em>Sorry,</em> I thought in response, <em>why was that, again? Don¡¯t I need as much Mana as I can get so I can kill the upwards of a hundred Goblins in there?</em>


    ¡°As we saw before, there are only two main attacks the Goblins can use to hurt you guys. They have bows, and they have bombs. Not much else, since their Stats are too low to make any real physical attacks¡ªeven with their pointed fingernails. A high Dex Stat naturallybats ranged weapons, as it allows you to not only dodge their shots, but also close the distance between you two much more easily, putting you at a natural advantage. And besides, the Goblins, at their range of engagement, are typically going to be too far away from you to be within my limited range of sight. Because of that, you¡¯ll want to be more cognizant of your surroundings, as you won¡¯t have me to warn you about attacksing from behind. I analyzedst fight, and over eighty percent of arrow shots you took hit you in the back. Though I¡¯m sure the bruising you got from the arrowheads punching against your Endurance-hardened skin is enough of a reminder of that. Anyway, Dex helps with your senses, so it¡¯s a good counter to their strategy in several ways.¡±


    <em>But what about the bombs? Isn¡¯t it safer to stay far away, so they can¡¯t blow us up?</em>


    ¡°As we saw in the previous timeline, those bombs take a good while to go off. At least ten seconds, probably more, on average. And I know you didn¡¯t get to see this, since you were inside the explosionst time, but from my outside point of view, I could see the st radius on those things. It isn¡¯t that wide, honestly. At least, it¡¯s not wide enough that a bomb that exists outside of my perception could ever harm you. So if there¡¯s ever a bomb that¡¯s about to go off, and it¡¯s in range to damage you, it¡¯ll for sure be close enough for me to see and warn you about. With me not able to see the Goblins shooting from afar, I¡¯ll be able to focus all of my attention on that, and on making sure you don¡¯t step in any traps.¡±


    <em>Guess that makes sense.</em>


    ¡°Anyway, speaking of traps, that¡¯s another thing. From what I saw, in thest fight and the moments surrounding it, you took two hundred and eighty-three steps that werepletely unnecessary. When you know the forest is covered in pitfalls and other step-triggered dangers, that¡¯s not good. So I was thinking we could practice your walking such that you don¡¯t shift around on your feet so much. Just try walking with your hands outstretched¡ªyeah, just like that¡ªand then put your feet over there¡­¡±


    Index continued coaching me on the minutiae of the battle in preparation of the uing fight against the Goblins. Honestly, I was somewhat irritated by its neuroticism regarding every little thing that could go wrong¡ªI still had two more activations of Time Loop in case there were any problems, after all¡ªbut I supposed it was just doing its job. At the very least, I was d to have a helper that erred on the side of <em>too</em> cautious, rather than not cautious enough.


    While I was busy with this, Erani continued in hermunication with the Goblins. Though, it wasn¡¯t quite that <em>she</em> was talking with them, and more that Ainash was, using Erani as a trantor. Ainash had basically no way tomunicate properly with these things, after all, so if she ever wanted to say something to them that went past the limits of what could purely be said through vague emotional feelings, she had to use one of us. And since I was busy with Index, that job had fallen to Erani.


    ¡°How old are each of you?¡± Erani asked for Ainash.


    ¡°Eighty-four,¡± one replied.


    ¡°One hundred and fifty one,¡± said the other.


    Her eyes widened at that, but then they narrowed again. ¡°Wait¡­how long is a¡­one? Eighty-four whats?¡±


    The older goblin scrunched up its face in thought. It seemed to be the one with the wider vocabry between the two. Eventually, its face lit up when it found the word it was looking for, and it said, ¡°Months.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Erani said. ¡°So¡­around seven and thirteen years, then. I guess Goblins mature faster than Humans. At least, I certainly hope so.¡±


    They just shrugged at that.


    There was a pause as Erani tranted their answers to Ainash, and then Erani spoke again with another question. ¡°What are your names?¡±


    ¡°Sloblin,¡± the older one said without hesitation.


    ¡°Wonpoblin,¡± said the younger one.


    I¡¯d been half-listening as Index was talking to me, and at that blinked and looked over at them. Even Erani seemed taken aback by their answers.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± she said, ¡°are you serious? Sloblin and¡­Wonpoblin?¡±


    They nodded.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that really, really simr to ¡®Goblin?¡¯ Your species name?¡±


    They nodded again.


    ¡°...Okay. Why are your names like that? Are <em>all</em> Goblins named like that?¡±


    ¡°Names like that because like that,¡± the elder Sloblin said.


    ¡°...Uh huh,¡± Erani said with a nod. Then she looked back at me with a questioning look on her face.


    I shrugged. ¡°Maybe it''s a chicken-or-the-egg scenario. They might just not know whether they¡¯ve been named after their species, or their species name was somehow chosen after their naming traditions. Or maybe it¡¯s just a thing with this one tribe, or something.¡±


    ¡°I suppose,¡± she said, shaking her head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I can trante the pun over to Ainash. Getting sounds over to her is difficult.¡±


    ¡°Maybe she was right, we just need to get around to fully teaching her how to speak Human. Clearly other monsters can do it.¡±


    ¡°Well we¡¯re certainly going to try at some point,¡± Erani agreed, ¡°it¡¯s just a question of whether we can spare time away from our current efforts to get her into town in the first ce. Though, maybe it¡¯d be a good idea to at least help her understand what¡¯s being said around her before shees in?¡±


    ¡°Yet another thing on our tes,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s just take it one step at a time. For now, Goblins. Oh, and, uh, Index has, like, nine, ten things it wants me to tell you. It calls them ¡®constructive criticism.¡¯¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Lay them on me.¡±


    It took a while, but eventually we made it to the Goblin base. Well, ¡®base¡¯ was sort of both underselling and overselling it simultaneously. At least, it certainly wasn¡¯t constructed the way I¡¯d typically think of a base. It was massive¡ªaround fifty paces by one hundred paces¡ªand built partially on the side of a mountain, so the walls were put up at a nt.


    Normally, such arge size would make a building look quite impressive. However, this one was missing a roof. There was no top to be seen on the set of walls, leaving itpletely open to the sky. And the walls were all varying heights in different rooms. Some barely even seemed like they¡¯d pass my own height, while others were at least four, five times as tall as I was. With in wooden log walls, I suspected they were constructed in such an uneven way simply because they cut trees down and lined them up without bothering to cut them into even lengths before doing so.


    All in all, the ce was shaped like an extremely uneven pyramid, and its position at the base of the mountain, slowly curving upward as it went on, only added to the unstable feeling of it. Seeing such a ce suddenly made me feel very uneasy about the explosives that were likely held within. If even one bomb went off, would the entire thing copse in on us? Though I had to imagine the Goblins weren¡¯t so stupid that they¡¯d create such an unstable structure and then fill it with explosives. Hopefully, they wouldn¡¯t carry the things around in here, and they stored them off somewhere else, too.


    After the two hours of walking, my Health regenerated back up to full through use of Regenerate, so I was effectively back in top fighting condition. Erani and Ainash didn''t have that Talent, of course, but they hadn''t taken too many hits to begin with; Ainash was simply skilled enough that she''d dodged almost every projectile that''d been shot her way in the previous fight, and Erani had been protected by Angelic Shield from everything that hit her. And all of our physical Stats were high enough that our Stamina/Minutes were higher than the natural amount of Stamina naturally consumed by walking unassisted by Expedite, meaning that aspect of our Statuses was topped out, as well.


    <em>¡°Bad monsters feel very very nervous,¡±</em> Ainash said as we got closer to the towering pyramid of wood. <em>¡°Do not know why. Not nervous like lying. Well, sort of nervous like lying. But also nervous like other way. Afraid of something. Do not know what means.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Mhm,¡±</em> I responded. The exact way her empathy ability eluded me, especially with the exact way she felt other monsters¡¯ emotions. I effectively had no experience in interpreting that sort of thing, so I left it up to her, typically. And if she said she had no idea what that meant, then I knew I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to figure it out, either. Especially when all I got was a description of what she truly felting from them.


    <em>Index</em>, I thought, <em>any imminent danger? Traps we don¡¯t know about?</em>


    ¡°Not that I can see. But there might be more as you continue to approach. Keep an eye out.¡±


    <em>¡°Okay,¡±</em> I said to Ainash, <em>¡°guess the only way to figure out what¡¯s going on with that base is to just head in. Let¡¯s go kill some Goblins.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes! Will kill so many bad monsters!¡±</em>

 Chapter 172: Invadin’

    Chapter 172: Invadin¡¯


    We took some time to look around the area of the Goblin base, ensuring we knew everything about the location. We¡¯d technically gotten a description by our two prisoners, but with thenguage barrier and the possibility that they¡¯d lied to us about something, I wasn¡¯t going to take any chances.


    One thing that I noticed was that there weren¡¯t any guard patrols. Nobody walking around the surrounding wilderness, nobody walking atop the walls¡ª-there weren¡¯t even any Goblins standing at the front door. I supposed that, if they were really as serious as our prisoners made it seem about rapid expansion, I somewhat understood the desire to spend as much manpower as possible on iming morend, but it was kind of insanely reckless, right?


    Oh well. Easier for us. If they gotcent because this town had left them alone for the most part up until now, we¡¯d just have to be the ones to show them their mistake.


    We tried several times to get the pair of Goblins we¡¯d captured to exin the exact floorn to us, but, if I understood their broken speech correctly, theyout seemed like one of those things that was under constant change. They argued over what was in each room, whether something had been moved out or moved in, or whether they¡¯d disabled that trap, or added that one in¡­It wasn¡¯t much help. They could barely even keep track of where the walls were.


    Ainash could tell that they were deliberately avoiding talking about some things during that attempt at a conversation, but ording to her, most of what they imed to not know was genuine. The Goblins out on raids and hunts would apparently stay out for days at a time, and so they genuinely weren¡¯t sure what was in there. But evidently, they weren¡¯t saying absolutely everything they knew. However, no matter how much I tried to push them, they either weren¡¯t sure what I wanted or refused to tell me. And the vagueness of Ainash¡¯s feeling¡ª¡±they seem a little bit dishonest right now¡±¡ªdidn¡¯t do much to help me in finding the truth, either.


    But regardless, Ainash said that pretty much all of what they said was true anyway, so whatever. They were most likely hiding wherever the treasure room was located, which was one thing they¡¯d conveniently not mentioned. But that wasn¡¯t currently the issue at hand; we could dig around for itter.


    So, after we were sure we had all the information we could get, we tied the pair of Goblins to a tree out in the wilderness before making our approach, then moved forward. The heavy shrubbery of the forest made good cover for us as we approached the massive logplex, and as we got closer and closer, I could begin to hear the Goblins bickering with each other in their ownnguage. Evidently they didn¡¯t speak Human among each other, only when they wanted to be understood. But if they went through all this trouble to learn it, didn¡¯t use it with each other, and seemingly didn¡¯t use it with Humans often enough for the town to feel the need to mention it to us, then why even learn it in the first ce? Well, I supposed it would be good to be able to eavesdrop on your enemies while hunting them. And it made sense that they wouldn¡¯t be able to speak it very well, only understand it, in that case. Still, it just gave me a weird feeling.


    Soon, we came up to the front door¡ªor, well, there wasn¡¯t a door there. It was just a hole in the wall. So really, we crept up to the front passage, and peered through. Inside was a wide room with no floor, the same bumpy grass terrain below our feet, only now instead of natural trees surrounding us, it was haphazardly strung-together logs standing in the dirt.


    Thankfully, there was nobody inside this room, so we slowly moved in. Obviously, a fight would eventually break out¡ªthat was why we were here¡ªbut I wanted to get as familiar with this ce as I could before we started the brawl. There were a few other passageways that led from this room out into hallways and rooms, and as we walked inside, I nced around, trying to get a bearing of what went where¡ªand what was likely trapped.


    But as we all looked around, I noticed a Goblin pop its head up over one of the walls,ing from the other room. Its eyes locked onto us, and it instantly screamed out in rm. A loud, gurgly screech echoed from its wide-open mouth as I reacted as quickly as I could, reaching up and shooting it with a trio of Rays of Frost.


    You have in Level 6 Goblin.


    You have earned 39 XP. Your XP is 1295.


    It died right after the sound escaped its mouth, and silently fell to the ground behind the wall. For a moment, there was nothing. No reaction from the fort. And I prayed that somehow, nobody heard its scream.


    But then, in an instant, the entire fort erupted in chaotic noise. More Goblins screamed out the same sound, others yelled words out in their ownnguage, I could hear the whir of machinery, the sound of footsteps on the grass, and even an explosion from far off. The cacophony of noise assaulted my senses. But at least we knew now that they were fully aware we were here.


    A few more Goblins sprinted into the room we were in, bows at the ready, but I quickly took them out, too.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Well, our job is to kill them all, right? So I guess we just need to make sure none escape.¡±


    We ran forward, up to the doorways and peering along to see if there were any Goblinsing through, each of us taking to a different entrance. At least for now, with the entireplex crawling with enemies, I wasn¡¯t totallyfortable venturing into more rooms than this one¡ªat least we were sure this room didn¡¯t have any pitfalls in it¡ªso we resolved to just defend this position until it seemed like our enemies would no longere to us.


    You have been pierced. 16 damage.


    Your Health is 554.


    A bolt hit me from behind, and I turned to see another Goblin scaling the walls, which I dispatched quickly. Erani shot a couple Firebolts down the hallway she was guarding, and I heard screams get cut short just as they hit their targets. Ainash, despite my warning to stay within the room, immediately exited the room and vaulted the wall one of the Goblins had scaled to take shots at us, and I heard screaming from the other side as notifications of her kills flooded my mind.


    ¡°Index, go make sure she doesn¡¯t step in anything,¡± I said. ¡°And let me know if she goes too far off.¡±


    ¡°On it.¡±


    For what felt like a long time, but was in reality probably just a couple minutes, we tensely held our ground in the entry room. Dozens upon dozens of Goblins came and attacked. At first, they came one-by-one, clearly just having heard of the attack and running up to see what the fuss was about. But as the time went on, they got more organized. They came in waves, a huge group of twenty monsters rushing from all sides simultaneously, after a moment when nobody came in.


    After we repelled that assault, there was another quiet period before a half-dozen bombs were lobbed over the walls into the room, and we were forced to each flee into the doorways nearest to each of us, splitting us up and forcing us to defend ourselves from the roomful of monsters isted. Thankfully, there were enough that we could fight them off until the explosives went off, after which we could each retreat back into our more defended position and work together to fight off the remaining enemies.


    ¡°We need to move out now,¡± I said after we finally killed the final enemy of that attack. ¡°Put them on the backfoot.¡±


    ¡°Agreed,¡± Erani said with a nod. ¡°I noticed most of the Goblins wereing from that direction.¡±


    ¡°Alright. So I guess we go through that door, if they¡¯re alling from it.¡±


    I sent a message to Ainash, who dashed over to meet up with us, and also mentally asked Index to move ahead of us and search for anything suspicious.


    Quickly, we moved down the hallway with the frantic sounds of shuffling bodiesing from either side of the walls. We¡¯d killed easily thirty, maybe even forty Goblins by this point. How many more <em>were</em> there?! I mean, eventually they¡¯d realize they wouldn¡¯t be able to kill us and just give up, right? It¡¯d certainly be much more preferable to just convince these things to run off somece else instead of being forced to ughter each and every one.


    Index warned us of a tripwire attached to the log walls, and we leapt over and kept going. It was apparently rigged to a massive de that¡¯de out of the wall and decapitate anyone taller than a Goblin was if you triggered it. Thankfully, this ce seemed to be rigged with much fewer traps than the wilderness was, which was understandable. I sure wouldn¡¯t want deadly mechanisms all throughout my own home, if I were them.


    We rushed through and ended up at an intersection. We could go left or right.


    ¡°Uh, Index, which way?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have any idea,¡± it responded, somehow sounding annoyed as if I¡¯d asked it something ridiculous. ¡°Why would I know which way to go?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know! You can see through walls!¡±


    ¡°Well I¡¯m not sure where you even want to go. I suppose if you go right, it¡¯ll take you deeper toward the center of theplex. There will also be a big group of Goblins that way, though, so it could be dangerous. They¡¯re going to be through the left wall, however. So you won¡¯t be having any encounters with them, presumably.¡±


    ¡°Good enough,¡± I said. Then I called out, ¡°Right!¡±


    We scrambled to the right, looking for any doorways to put us into an actual room, rather than a hallway. The tight corridors stressed me out; even if the walls were as tall as the trees, they were barely wide enough to fit two people side-by-side. I¡¯d been made acutely aware, navigating this ce, that it was certainly not made for full-size people.


    ¡°Oh, shoot, watch out!¡± Index suddenly shouted as we moved through. ¡°To your left!¡±


    I looked to my left and saw a wall perforated with holes. At first, I assumed we¡¯d somehow triggered some sort of pressure te or tripwire mechanism, and big bolts of iron were about to shoot through the holes, or something, but instead, something else came through.


    You have been pierced. 18 damage.


    Your Health is 417.


    You have been pierced. 27 damage.


    Your Health is 390.


    You have been pierced. 21 damage.


    Your Health is 369.


    Dozens of arrows shot through the holes, and I realized we were facing that massive group of Goblins Index had been talking about. We hadn¡¯t fallen for a trap¡ªthere was no trigger mechanism at all. It was just a strategically ced set of holes they could shoot through.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± I shouted, jumping back. My Health wasn¡¯t<em> too</em> low¡ªat least, it wasn¡¯t low enough that the arrows were sticking in me yet¡ªbut running past that massive wall of enemies prepared to attack would turn me into a pincushion in no time. We needed to figure something else out, especially since we didn¡¯t have full ess to them right now. Being outnumbered <em>sucked</em>.


    ¡°Crippling Chill?¡± Erani asked as we leaned against the section of wall that came before the perforated part, breathing heavily. ¡°It¡¯s instant. No projectile.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but it doesn¡¯t do enough damage to kill them. Not quickly, at least.¡± Unfortunately, we were on somewhat of a time limit. If we gave the Goblins enough time to prepare and respond to our attack, I was certain they¡¯de up with something to put a stop to our attack. And, even if they couldn¡¯t, they¡¯d just run off. Now, them running away would likely lead to victory anyway¡ªif they ran, they¡¯d most likely keep running until they found some other town to bother, leaving the job done for this one¡ªso it wouldn¡¯t be a horrible oue, but there was still the possibility they¡¯d justy low for a bit and thene back to attack this ce, and if that happened, we wouldn¡¯t get paid.


    So ideally, we¡¯d do as much damage as we could while we could, so they understood fully that it was a bad idea to stick around. Which was why I was frustrated with Index for not warning us of something that could so intensely impede our progress through here. It¡¯d even told me to go down this path!


    ¡°Hey, there¡¯s a lot you¡¯re asking me to do here!¡± Index said in response to my thoughts. ¡°Afford me some mistakes. I didn¡¯t see any triggers, so I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be a problem. Didn¡¯t think it was for setting up a manual killbox.¡±


    ¡°Just find us a way through!¡± I said.


    ¡°Working on it!¡± Erani responded, mistaking my shout for one aimed at her.


    ¡°No, not¡ª¡± I groaned. Before I could assure her I was talking to Index, I heard a shout from behind. Looking back, I didn¡¯t see any sign of enemies, but with the twisting, messy corridors, that didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t hot on our trail. And I¡¯d much rather we engage on our terms, instead of letting the Goblins attack us when they were organized and prepared. Better we had the drop on them than the other way around.


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Index hummed.


    ¡°Anything?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Tell Erani to shoot here.¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯s ¡®here?¡¯¡±


    ¡°Between the¡­eighteenth and neenth hole, from the left, around¡­I dunno, between chest and neck height for her? Tell her to use that new Talent she got for Level 20¡ªElemental Embrace.¡±


    I ryed that to Erani.


    ¡°Wait, shoot the wall?


    ¡°Yeah, Index says to.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s structurally unsound,¡± Index said. ¡°Some rodent was digging around there, so the wood is basically all bark. I know the exact force vectors and magnitudes offered by Explosive Firebolt, and her damage boosts from her Talents plus Embrace will be enough. If you hit it in the right ce, it¡¯ll blow that entire wall to pieces.¡±


    Behind us, a group of Goblins turned the corner of the hallway and faced us. I expected a volley of arrows toe, but they didn¡¯t. The gang weren¡¯t holding bows, or any weapons at all. Instead, their gloved hands were all holding big globs of purple goo.


    ¡°Just do it!¡± Index said.


    I yelled the same thing, and Erani, who was quickly doing her best to count the holes in the wall in an attempt to find the spot Index was talking about, just squinted, held out her hands, and fired.


    You have been blown up. 32 damage.


    Due to Heat Resistance, damage has been reduced to 20.7.


    Your Health is 348.


    With a massive <em>boom</em>, the entire wall was blown to pieces, and we rushed through. The wall opened into anotherrge room¡ªa breath of fresh air from the tight corridors¡ªthat was full of Goblins. At least forty of them, all of whom had been tightly packed against that same wall so they could shoot at us if we walked by, had been thrown back by the explosion.


    A few more earth-shaking sts from Eraniter, and the dazed monsters were dead.


    But the chaos was far from over. I turned to see the globs of goo from the Goblins that¡¯d been chasing after us stting against the empty grass, and for a moment, I was relieved. Whatever that stuff was, I suspected I did <em>not</em> want it touching me. In the things¡¯ haste to take us out, they must¡¯ve missed us.


    Then, each of the globs began shifting and warping on their own, slowly growing in size and solidity, changing in color to a darker ck, growing fur, gettingrger andrger, until¡­


    A roar sounded from the dozen globs of goo. Or, rather, what used to be a dozen globs of goo. Now, they were a dozen full-grown Gloomspurs, all of which had, in only a couple seconds, grown up from those fistfulls of purple gunk that¡¯d been thrown into the grass.


    They turned and faced us, each blowing out that poison mist.


    I sighed. Again, these things weren¡¯t too dangerous, but the dy was annoying. And how the fuck did these Goblins just fucking spawn in a pack of monsters?! I barely had time to process the shit that was going on.


    I held out a hand, ready to start shooting of Rays of Frost, but then Index shouted out, ¡°Above!¡±


    I looked up and saw a dozen metal canisters soaring over the wall, having been lobbed into the room from somewhere nearby. They bounced against the grass, settled, and then began spewing out yet more purple smoke. They were canisters that¡¯d been filled with the Gloomspurs¡¯ smoke, all emptying themselves out into the room.


    Suddenly, this encounter felt a lot more dangerous as the room immediately began filling up with the deadly mist.


    You have been poisoned. 7 damage.


    Your Health is 341.


    Erani, thinking quickly, turned to a nearby wall and shot it with a set of Firebolts. A single one wasn¡¯t enough to blow up the normal, structurally-sound walls, meaning any groups of Goblins sitting next to them would have plenty of time and warning to back off and end up unharmed by the explosions, but that wasn¡¯t the goal anymore. We just needed to get the fuck out of here.


    You have been poisoned. 9 damage.


    Your Health is 332.


    The bound-together tree trunks shattered after her fourth shot, and we all dashed through to escape the poisoned room. This hole in the wall led us to yet another massive room. This one, too, had a few Goblins in it, but instead of engaging us like all the monsters we¡¯d seen before, this small group of monsters took one look at us, turned, and ran off.


    However, they didn¡¯t run into one of the normal holes in the wall that led into a hallway or another room. Instead, they ran to a wall, grabbed on one of the logs, and opened up what seemed to be a real, actual door set into one of the walls.


    I nced at Erani and Ainash. Didn¡¯t they not use doors? What was that about? I hadn¡¯t even gotten to look inside, they¡¯d rushed in and shut the door behind them so fast.


    ¡°Index, what¡¯s through that wall?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­the room¡¯s too big. My sight isn¡¯t wide enough to cover the whole thing. At least, not from here. But I can see the Goblins running further in, and¡­it looks like they¡¯re talking to someone? Can¡¯t see who.¡±


    ¡°Well hopefully it¡¯s their leader, or something,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡±


    Still in a rush to get away from the room that was continuing to fill with poison, we ran up to the doors and opened them, my and Erani¡¯s arms out, and Ainash¡¯s whip at the ready to kill anything and everything that resided in this mysterious room.


    But as the doors opened up, instead of running forward, we all took a collective step back at what inhabited it.


    ¡°You <em>dare</em> invade my rightfully-imedir?! Kill my rightfully-enved minions?!¡± A massive,rger-than-life voice boomed out from the room.


    Its owner was lounging on a pile of coins and random gear, steaming from its nostrils.


    ¡°I am Wealthhoarder, vedriver Neenix!¡± the Dragon shouted, its eyes full of rage, ¡°And if you do not cease this sphemous violence immediately, I will execute you myself!¡±

 Chapter 173: Dragon

    Chapter 173: Dragon


    The Dragon atop its hoard took a step forward, growling at us. In the massive room, it almost looked small¡ªor, smaller than a typical Dragon was¡ªbut that did nothing to take away from the primal fear the sight struck into me.


    I held out a hand and bowed my head. ¡°M-my apologies, uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Wealthhoarder, vedriver Neenix,¡± Index reminded me of its name.


    I repeated the words back at it. In my panic when we first saw it, I hadn¡¯t quite been processing what it¡¯d said. Well, other than the fact that it¡¯d threatened to kill us. But, really, the name wouldn¡¯t be nearly as difficult to remember as some of the others. With just two titles¡­¡±


    Wait. I looked closer. Only two titles before the name? And it didn¡¯t just seem small because of the massive room, it <em>was</em> small. It was still muchrger than a person was, but probably half the size of a Dragon like Astintash or Paiiniak. If it was small, and only had a couple titles, that meant it probably hadn¡¯t lived very long.


    <em>Index, am I correct in assuming¡­</em>


    ¡°It¡¯s a Young Dragon, yes. So that means pre-evolution into bing a normal Dragon. But, uh, definitely don¡¯t let that increase your confidence here. Even if it¡¯s only a Young Dragon, it¡¯s still definitely got a raw numbers advantage. Won¡¯t be one-shotting you or anything, but as just the three of you, you wouldn¡¯t win a fight if one broke out.¡±


    It continued to approach us, holding its head up so it could properly look down on us. ¡°You <em>dare</em> intrude on mynd, kill my ves, destroy my home?! Insolence!¡±


    ¡°Look,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We didn¡¯t know you were here. We just knew there were some Goblins causing trouble, and we were asked to get rid of them. No idea they, uh, belonged to you. So we¡¯ll just head out, and won¡¯t bother¡ª¡±


    ¡°You will perish!¡±


    It charged, and I braced myself. But just before it could reach us, Erani shouted out, ¡°We know Astintash!¡±


    It stopped in its tracks.


    ¡°Right,¡± she continued, ¡°uh, Mountaintamer¡­um¡­¡±


    I quickly had Index ry the titles to me, so I could mentally remind her of the excessively long list through Ainash.


    ¡°Mountaintamer, Giantyer, Kinsbane, Homeholder, Wastyer, Ashbearer, Chasmcreator, Earthquaker, Humanughterer, Wisdomholder, Bearer-of-the-Heavens Astintash,¡± Erani said with renewed confidence with my¡ªand Index¡¯s, and Ainash¡¯s¡ªhelp. ¡°We assisted it with felling an extremely powerful foe. As do we know Peacekeeper, Compassiongiver, Hearthaver, Homeholder, Gracegiver, Knowledgegainer Paiiniak. I assume you know them.¡±


    ¡°...I do,¡± it said. I could actually see fear in the eyes of the Young Dragon at Erani¡¯s name-dropping. ¡°I was thrown from my home recently by Astintash, and Paiiniak did nothing to help me. They are the reason I am stuck down at the bottom of these mountains!¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, holding a hand out as though trying to tame a wild animal. ¡°We are well-connected. If you spare us, perhaps we could put in a good word with them. Get your home back.¡±


    It snorted, smokeing from its nostrils. ¡°...Perhaps. But how do I know you are telling the truth?! You could be lying!¡±


    ¡°That is true,¡± I said with a nod. ¡°We could be. But even if we are, it would still not be a good idea to kill us.¡±


    ¡°And why would that be?!¡± It felt like every time the Dragon spoke, it shouted. ¡°If I can kill an enemy, then I am stronger than them, and they deserve to die!¡±


    ¡°Yes, perhaps with other beings,¡± I said, ¡°but Humans are different. We are cooperative. See, we came here because other Humans kept getting attacked. If we, too, get attacked and killed here, the Humans will take notice. Even stronger Humans will be sent to attack you, over and over, until they¡¯re able to defeat you. So by letting us go, we won¡¯t want to attack you.¡±


    ¡°Bah, Humans,¡± it spat. ¡°You¡¯re all weaklings. There¡¯s no chance <em>any</em> Human could defeat me!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re mistaken,¡± I said. ¡°Even if there¡¯s no Human nearby that could take you on alone, we still have strength in numbers. Your own Goblins prove that. Individually weak, powerful as a group.¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes, strength in numbers. And how has that worked out for these Goblins? Have they been able to defeat me?¡±


    I sighed. We weren¡¯t getting through to it. Sure, we¡¯d opened up a dialogue, but it wasn¡¯t going anywhere. At best, the only way I could see out of this situation would be to somehow distract the Dragon so we could run off.


    ¡°You!¡± it turned to one of the Goblins cowering against a wall¡ªone of the ones that¡¯d entered and informed it about our attack. ¡°What is your name?¡±


    ¡°Uhh¡­¡± it looked up in fear. ¡°You not¡­not have give me name.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll call you,¡± it moved its body in what I realized was the four-legged version of a shrug. ¡°Ploblin. Yes, that works. You look like a Plob. Do you think you could ever defeat me?¡±


    ¡°No, not possible.¡±


    ¡°What if you had another Goblin to assist you?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°What if you had two? Or three?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°See? No matter how many Goblins there are, you could never defeat me. Because I am just better than you.¡± It chuckled and turned back to me. ¡°I have given these Goblins a better life than they would ever have had, otherwise. In just this week, I taught them the basics ofnguage, so they couldmunicate and engage in civilized discussion. Without me, they would be stupid. I help them cut down trees and bore into the mountains in search of powerful stones and minerals. Without me, they would be weak. I imed thisnd, clearing out all of the other creatures that resided nearby, and allowing them to reside in the safe haven I created. Without me, they would be powerless. They need me. They could not defeat me.¡±


    ¡°We could assist you,¡± Erani said. ¡°If you let us go, we coulde back with wealth and riches to offer.¡±


    It frowned. ¡°How would you lowly Humans be able to add to my hoard more adeptly than I?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a town nearby. We can work for the Humans, and then they freely give us money in return. With that money, we can buy you whatever you like. If you let us go, we¡¯lle back in, say¡­two weeks?¡±


    I recognized Erani¡¯s strategy. In two weeks, we¡¯d be long gone, teleported away to the capital. In that case, it wouldn¡¯t be able to find us if it tried.


    ¡°A Human settlement, you say?¡± The Dragon took a few steps forward. ¡°And the Humans there have wealth?¡±


    ¡°Yes, they¡¯d be able to provide enough to us to buy anything you want.¡±


    ¡°And why would I not take it myself?¡±


    ¡°Bad idea,¡± I warned, understanding what it was getting at. ¡°There are people there that are very, very powerful. You¡¯d die.¡±


    It snarled. ¡°I am a <em>Dragon</em>! I do not die to measly Humans!¡±


    ¡°Arrogance is a deadly sin,¡± I said, but it pped its wings out, preparing to take flight. Was it seriously about to head out to attack the town right now? Purely out of spite?


    I groaned internally. If it went to the town and started rampaging around, it would definitely be killed. No way that a town as full of ssers as Salvation would fall to a monster attack, even if it was a Young Dragon. But even then, the Dragon wouldn¡¯t die instantly. The death toll from the destruction¡­I could easily see it reaching the count of hundreds. Not to mention the financial damages. And a tragedy like that, directly linked back to us would be bad. Very, very bad.


    But I also saw a way to spin this. This Young Dragon obviously put aplication into our ns in clearing out the Goblins, but its existence could also help a massive amount. We were just barely too weak to fight it and win, but the city as a whole wasn¡¯t. The problem that it caused wasn¡¯t that it was an unbeatable foe, only that it was one that wouldn¡¯t die quickly, due to its high defensive Stats. So if the fight broke out in the middle of the town, innocents would die. But out in the forest, it was a simple matter of sending out arge enough squad. A pressing issue, due to the Dragon¡¯s aggression. And an issue that only we had knowledge of.


    Currently, negotiations had clearly broken down between us and the Dragon. But with two more activations of Time Loop, I had quite the upper hand when it came to controlling the flow of these events.


    Just as it took off into the air, I hit the Dragon with Crippling Chill.


    You have cursed Level 22 Young Dragon with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1259.


    <em>Level 22</em>, <em>huh? Index, remember that for me. And how many Goblins there were here. Or, at least, how many you estimate there were, from the number we saw.</em>


    And then I was back, standing in the forest alongside Erani and Index. This was just before I¡¯de back the time before, meaning Ainash still kept her memories from the Bond.


    <em>¡°Woah!¡±</em> she said, looking around herself. <em>¡°Is like I teleported into new body!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, takes some getting used to.¡±</em>


    ¡°Time Loop?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Yep. There was a Dragon at the Goblin camp.¡±


    Her eyes widened.


    ¡°Well, a Young Dragon. Let me tell you how it all went down.¡±


    I told Erani the whole story of the two timelines she¡¯d missed as we walked back out of the forest. And we <em>were </em>leaving. There was no real way we could exterminate the Goblins without tangling with the Young Dragon as well, and as far as I was concerned, there was no way we could kill that on our own, either.


    ¡°So,¡± Erani said once I was done exining, ¡°all of that was for nothing? And, uh, what are we going to do about the Dragon? I guess it isn¡¯t an active threat to the town anymore, but it¡¯s still there. Basically anyone who takes that job will either die to the Goblins, die to the Dragon, or identally convince the Dragon to go and burn down a bunch of viges. Should we tell the guild about it?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely we should,¡± I said. ¡°But that¡¯s the thing. This job wasn¡¯t a bust. Think about it. There¡¯s this highly aggressive Young Dragon hiding out in a nearby forest, actively trying to expand its territory and im morend. It¡¯s enving monsters to go and kill adventurers to steal their equipment, and a tiny bit of prodding will send it into a rampage where it¡¯ll start razing cities to the ground. And not only is it dangerous <em>now</em>, but if it ends up Leveling up enough to evolve into a full-fledged adult Dragon? That¡¯d be enough to basically eradicate this side of the country. The guild absolutely needs to know about this. And we¡¯re the only ones with the information. So whether or not we actually killed those Goblins, I highly suspect they¡¯re going to be thankful enough for our recon abilities to give us that reward anyway.


    She nodded slowly. ¡°That¡­makes sense.¡±


    ¡°So yeah, they can send out a squad to take care of it, we get to move on to other things, and we get our money. Eight thousand out of the thirty we need. Sounds like a n?¡±


    ¡°As long as we can pull it off.¡±


    <em>¡°But father,¡±</em> Ainash said, <em>¡°what about Dragon and Goblins?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°The guild will most likely send in a squad to take care of them once they¡¯re aware of what¡¯s going on.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°They will kill all of them?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I guess.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But that is bad!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Wait, what? I thought you were totally fine with killing them.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Dragon is bad. It is trying to invade new territory and take it over! Destroy it and rece it with Dragon ce. And this ce is not for Dragons! It should go back to its home in mountain, not in here. So should kill Dragon. But Goblins are supposed to be here! They are being used by Dragon to do mean things! If Dragon is gone, Goblins are not problem, right?¡±</em>


    I frowned. <em>¡°Well, I guess they won¡¯t be as aggressive anymore. But the way the Humans we spoke to talked about them, I don¡¯t think they can leave the Goblins alone even if the Dragon is dead. They¡¯ll still cause problems for the town. So it''s just one of those situations with animal territory, right? The Goblins are trying to attack Humans, and the Humans don¡¯t want to be attacked, so they¡¯ll fight back. You shouldn¡¯t have any problem with that, right?¡±</em>


    She looked down, obviously disappointed. <em>¡°There is nothing Humans can do to make Goblins not be mean anymore?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I mean¡­I don¡¯t know. Maybe they could figure out a peaceful solution. But I have no idea why they¡¯d do that.¡±</em>


    She sent something to me that couldn¡¯t really be put into words. It could best be equated to when someone pouted, like a sad and frustrated sigh.


    I looked over and saw her expression. She really did seem upset about this. <em>¡°Is something wrong?¡±</em>


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Erani said, ¡°if there¡¯s something bothering you about this, you can tell us. We¡¯ll try our best to figure out something that makes you happy.¡±


    <em>¡°...Do not want Goblins to die,¡±</em> she said.


    <em>¡°Why?¡±</em> I asked.


    <em>¡°I do not know! Feel bad for them, they have been attacked and abused by bad, mean Dragon, and now when Humanse, and they think they will be saved by Humans, the Humans just kill them too! It is sad and I do not like it!¡±</em>


    ¡°Well, we might be able to talk to the Humans about keeping them alive,¡± Erani said. ¡°Maybe they could establish a peaceful rtionship, or something. They can talk, so it could be possible.¡±


    <em>¡°I mean, yeah, maybe,¡± </em>I said. <em>¡°I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll be particrly kind or anything, but maybe they could exist alongside each other without fighting.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Should be kind!¡±</em> Ainash said. I could feel from her tone that she was absolutely determined. <em>¡°Goblin species should not be ended! If Humans not take care of them, then¡­then¡­I take care of them!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You¡­what?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I will take Goblins after Dragon dies. I will be leader! Will take care of them and teach them to be good guys! That way, nobody will want hurt them! They will be like¡­¡±</em> She frowned and looked down for a moment. <em>¡°Will be like my¡­what do other Humans say? They think I am something. Like I am owned by you, and you feed and take care of me. Like I am little baby animal, or something. They say I am a¡­pet! Yes, they think I am a pet. That is not true. But Goblins could be real pets! Goblins can be like my pets! Can I have them?!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Uh¡­¡±</em>


    ¡°Ainash, darling,¡± Erani said in a soft voice, ¡°I don¡¯t know if that would be¡­a good idea. I don¡¯t think you can keep a Goblin as a pet. Normally pets don¡¯t make weapons, and they don¡¯t use bombs to blow people up. Normally they don¡¯t kill people at all. Don¡¯t you think that would be a little unsafe?¡±


    <em>¡°Will take good care of them! And teach them to be good! And to do tricks!¡±</em>


    I pursed my lips. <em>¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Two Goblins we caught before, they were good! They were helpful and nice! If I teach them for long time and give them good home, they will be even better!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Tell you what,¡± </em>I said, <em>¡°we¡¯re going to go back to the town and talk to the Humans. Tomorrow, once Time Loop has fully refreshed for me, you can go and try tomunicate with the Goblins. Promise you can take care of them better than the Dragon can and try to get just one or two toe join you. If something goes wrong, I can just go back and undo it. If you can get that small number to work with you and prove to us that they¡¯re capable of cooperating, then we can see about finding a peaceful solution for dealing with the rest of them.¡±</em>


    ¡°Yes,¡± Erani agreed. ¡°And you¡¯ll be the one responsible for them, okay? They can stay out here with you, and if they get into trouble with attacking any Humans, you¡¯re going to need to deal with it. We won¡¯t be able to babysit them the whole time. Are you okay with that?¡±


    <em>¡°Yes! They are very cute and funny, so will not be mean.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°We¡¯ll see about that,¡±</em> I said. Then I turned to Erani. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s head back to town. We need to negotiate payment with the guild. And I guess also prepare to have a Goblin tribe as a pet.¡±

 Chapter 174: Welcome to the Kingdom: Initialization Phase

    Chapter 174: Wee to the Kingdom: Initialization Phase


    Asmo sat at a table in a quiet, simple room. She was waiting in the war room for Winic toe meet with her and discuss the topic of Enchanted items once again.


    The ones she already had made¡ªthe earpieces for the VIPs¡ªfunctioned well, and were proof enough that Winic knew what he was doing. And she already had him working on his first ¡®real¡¯ project because of that. What he was currently creating would be one of the main keys to her entire n, so it was important they got done correctly. What she needed now, though, seemed like they could be much more difficult to make. Or much easier. Either way, she needed them. So it was best to get started as early as possible.


    He walked through the door and closed it behind him, long gray beard swaying with each of his steps. Slowly, he took a seat. ¡°I am pleased to see you, Asmo.¡±


    ¡°Pleasure to you as well. I want you to make a device that can decapitate someone instantly upon activation.¡±


    He blinked. ¡°Er, okay. Straight to the point, then. Do you mind¡­borating on your desires for how this device will function?¡±


    ¡°I have no specific request in its methodology. In fact, it does not have to be decapitation. I suppose I just prefer it has a more¡­dramatic ir. My thought was a cor that one would wear¡ª-one which is impossible to remove by any means¡ª-and, upon activation, it severs the wearer''s head. However, anything that could instantly kill the wearer is fine.¡±


    Winic looked down, stroking his beard. ¡°Hm. Making anything that performs an effect against the user¡¯s will is typically very difficult. As is making something impossible to remove or disable. What is the Health of the target?¡±


    ¡°This would be something mass-produced. Used on both Unssed and ssed individuals. The highest-Level ones would most likely be in the lower mid-Levels, so around 15 or so. If they¡¯re Melee-Type, that means upwards of around 700 Health. But it also needs to work on those who can use Spells and other protective effects on themselves.¡±


    Winic nodded slowly. ¡°It seems you overestimate the power of Enchantments. When ites to a damage-dealing trigger, that could be possible for something like an explosive. Difficult, and expensive, but possible. But a precise, single-target attack like that¡ª-one which would be attached to a person and affect them only when triggered¡ª-is bordering on impossibility. And when you ask for it to be unable to be removed or deactivated, <em>and</em> that it be impossible to prevent the damage in any way¡­It cannot be done.¡±


    ¡°Then what can you do? This is your job, remember. If you can¡¯t do it, figure something else out.¡±


    ¡°To do so, I would need to know your goals. What do you need this device for? What is it to aplish?¡±


    ¡°I want to be able to press a button and end someone¡¯s life.¡±


    ¡°Would this be a person who has been preselected? Could there be preparation time beforehand?¡±


    ¡°Effectively. We could spend time affixing it to a target, if that is your question.¡±


    ¡°Would they be wearing the device willingly?¡±


    ¡°No. But I might be able to convince them to willingly put it on.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡± He looked down and stroked his beard once again, taking a moment to think. Eventually, he looked back up. ¡°Is itpletely necessary to kill them? Or could ¡®end their life¡¯ be taken in a more¡­metaphorical sense?¡±


    Asmo walked into the throne room, up to the Subus that¡¯d taken the ce of King Koinkar. It was currently hunched over in its throne, a wooden table dragged up to the seat with papers strewn about on it. It was writing out what seemed to be some sort of budget proposal, redistributing the way the tax ie was currently being spent¡ªthat is, making the change from the self-destructive practice of spending everyst penny on the military to a much more sustainable option of actually spending money on food. About time it got around to doing that.


    ¡°Hello,¡± Asmo said, and the Subus turned around to roll its eyes at the sight of her. She continued, ¡°I would like to use a Communication Crystal. Do you have one I can borrow?¡±


    ¡°Greeting, Human. Can¡¯t you see I¡¯m busy?¡±


    ¡°Are you too busy to give me an unused Communication Crystal?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Please leave me to my duties. Duties that are more important than yours, I am sure. I gave you those Message Papers for a reason, no? Go use those if you need to speak to someone.¡±


    ¡°It would be easier to speak without the dy. Just tell me where one is and I will get it myself.¡±


    ¡°You know what? No. I don¡¯t want to. If you are so much better than I, then you should be able to get by just fine without me.¡±


    ¡°I would be able to get by without you if you did not actively hide the Communication Crystals from me so that I have to speak to you every time I want to use one.¡±


    It stood and spun around to look fully at Asmo. ¡°We cannot just trust a Human with instant means of speaking with outsiders! You are not a part of the Seventh Circle, and you never will be. We are using you to aplish a goal. Do not forget that.¡±


    ¡°Subus. Just tell me where¡ª¡±


    A look of rage shed across its face. ¡°You do not get to call me by my species! You are <em>inferior</em> to me. Do not speak to me as though you are in charge.¡±


    A moment of silence passed between the two, only broken by the angry breathing of the fake king. Eventually, Asmo sighed. ¡°Okay. I will use the Message Paper.¡±


    ¡°Good. Now be an obedient little Human and get out of my sight while I attend to important matters.¡±


    Asmo turned and walked away, heading back the way she came. That was how many interactions went between her and the fake Koinkar, and at this point, she had learned to live with her circumstances. Well, she learned to work around her circumstances while she made efforts to permanently resolve the problem.


    Which was what she was on the way to do right now. After a few turns, she ended up in her ¡®control room¡¯ which was really just the closet attached to her bedroom, where she stored the Message Papers attuned to each of the earpieces each of the VIPs were using. She looked around and found the onebeled ¡®Keiki Umesai¡¯ and looked down at the paper.


    The way they worked, everything the wearer of the earpiece heard would be transferred to the Message Paper here. The volume of the sounds corrted with the size of the text written, that way Asmo could tell what was actually being said to her, and what was just background noise. And whenever she wrote anything on the Message Paper here in the control room, those words would be read out by the earpiece attached to Keiki.


    The method had its downsides, which was why Asmo wanted to use the Communication Crystals, but it technically functioned. Really, they¡¯d been primarily made so that Asmo could keep constant tabs on her subordinates and send in reinforcements if anything ever went wrong during their admittedly dangerous missions, but now it seemed like she¡¯d need to use them to conduct remote meetings, as well.


    Judging by what was being written on the Message Paper, it seemed like there was nothing important going on, so she sat down and grabbed her pen, writing, <em>¡°Keiki. I wish to discuss something with you.¡±</em>


    A moment passed as the message transferred and read itself out to the recipient. After a moment, Asmo got a response, <em>¡°Yes, Commander Asmo.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I want you to give me a list of some of your most exceptionally performing subordinates. The very good ones and the very bad ones.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes. I will stack-rank the members currently working for the assassin guild I have taken over. There are currently fifty-eight members of the guild, however only eighteen of them perform hits. Do you wish to have a list of all members, or just the hitmen? There are also some that do simr violent work.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°All members that do violent work. Give me your five best and five worst. Do you think there are any currently working for you that are on either of those extremes? If they are all at a simr level ofpetence, I can ask someone else.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°There are no issues, miss Asmo. I will get a list together for you within the hour.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Good.¡±</em>


    Some time passed as Asmo went over the n in her head. Winic said he could get something made which would work fine for her purposes, and when he exined it to her, she honestly was not very impressed. But as he borated in the ways it could be used, she realized it did, in the end, get the basic job done that she wanted. At least, in a way, it did. It needed some setup, and it wouldn¡¯t work on everyone out there, but once it was ready, there was basically nothing a person could do about it. Enchantment dispelling effects, damage prevention, pretty much nothing could work around the device once it was on someone. And <em>that</em> was the most important part. The problem was just getting it on the person in the first ce. But that was what this test was for.


    <em>¡°I have a list, Commander Asmo,¡±</em> Keiki¡¯s paper wrote out.


    <em>¡°Good. I do not need you to tell me the names yet. Among the five best, what is the individual with the highest Level?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°That would be¡­¡±</em> there was a pause, where Keiki presumably looked over her list, <em>¡°Weth Lorrn. He is Level 15.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°And among the five worst, what is the individual with the lowest Level?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Lowest would be Thein Zannir, at 11.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Perfect. Find them both, and send them to me.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You would like me to send them to the capital?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, to the royal pce. Tell them both that they have received a promotion opportunity and the leader of this operation would like to speak with them. If they resist, make theme. There is no choice in this matter.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, Commander Asmo. May I ask, will I see these individuals again?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Perhaps. It depends on how this goes. If you do see either of them, the soldier you receive will be much more effective than the one you sent out.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes. I will make arrangements to have them travel to the capital. And to potentially rece them if I do not see them back.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Good. Do so.¡±</em>


    Once she was finished making arrangements, Asmo went back to the war room, where Winic was still sitting. It was dark in the room by now, the magical illumination having automatically shut itself off when it sensed no motion in the room for long enough. Though there was still a man in the room, he just wasn¡¯t moving enough for it to pick him up. He was currently hunched over a Message Paper of his own, scrawling words to one of his apprentices¡ªa shopping list, it seemed.


    He looked up when the light turned itself on at Asmo¡¯s entering. ¡°Ah, it is good to see you, Asmo.¡±


    ¡°Likewise. I see you are already getting started on our project?¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes. Just sending out an errand boy. We should have an initial prototype done within a day.¡±


    ¡°Great. Now that that is settled, what about our first experiments? The ones done with the Message Papers. Have you gotten any results from them?¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes, I have found the most efficient ways to do most of what you asked. There are some Papers that can automatically write out a message tied to a physical button that triggers it, there are some that automatically write their messages based on detection of blinking patterns of the person it is attuned to, and even one that will write its message based on the thoughts of the user. As well as several others, all fully functional.¡±


    ¡°Perfect. What about the ones that are tied to the death of the attuned?¡±


    ¡°Yes, those work as well. Though they were¡­considerably harder to run tests with.¡±


    ¡°Good. I want you to take me to these prototypes so that I can test them out. And also, I want you to begin work on another personal project of mine. This one, I want to be an item that causes the instant death of the user upon activation.¡±


    ¡°Asmo, I have already told you how such an item is borderline impossible.¡±


    Asmo held out a hand to stop him. ¡°You only said that sort of item is impossible to make when it is against the will of the user, right?¡±


    ¡°Well, yes.¡±


    ¡°Good. So this item will not do that. It will be apletely willful death.¡±


    ¡°You want¡­a suicide switch?¡±


    ¡°Precisely.¡±


    ¡°Asmo. I suppose I can infer the reasoning behind some of these items, and I do know the general goals of ours, but the Enchantments you need feel¡­obtuse. May I ask you what the purpose of this is?¡±


    ¡°No. But you will see soon.¡±

 Chapter 175: Secrets and Disclosure

    Chapter 175: Secrets and Disclosure


    Erani and I walked into the city and straight to the guild lobby. It may have felt like a full day¡¯s worth of time had passed to me, but because of Time Loop, we¡¯d in reality pretty much just taken the job, walked out of the city, went to the forest, and then instantlye back.


    It was around noon now, and I had onest use of Time Loop remaining. I nned on saving it until the end of the day, that way I could go to the guard outpost with Bon, Jannin, and Poppins, take their Spell Crystal, use it to Upgrade a Spell, and then activate Time Loop to go back as though nothing had happened. Same as I¡¯d done before.


    But for now, we needed to go negotiate. Technically, we hadn¡¯t subdued the Goblin threat¡ªat least, not in this timeline¡ªbut that didn¡¯t mean we couldn¡¯t get paid. Because what wecked in results, we had in information.


    On the way back to town, once we got close enough to start seeing others on the road, Erani had to switch Distortion Strike back on. Currently, Erani could keep the Spell active for around two hours before she¡¯d totally run dry on Mana, so to keep safe, we took breaks every hour for her to regenerate her Mana and ensure we never ended up in a position where she was seen without it. Which worked just fine, since we had to take breaks every hour anyway so that I could re-equip Dark te, which hid my own identity. All we had to do was talk a ways off the path and away from any people while we did this¡ªor, if we were in town itself, we could just walk into some random establishment and ask to use their bathroom.


    Being forced to constantly take time off to refresh our Spells was irritating, and I honestly felt quite limited in how and where we could act in public, since most of our actions had to be based around that hour-long time limit before we needed to find another private spot we could spend some time.


    But regardless, we eventually made it to the guild lobby and walked up to the receptionist¡¯s desk. Over our walk, we¡¯d discussed exactly how we¡¯d go about negotiations, what we¡¯d say, what we¡¯d ask for, and how we¡¯d ask for it. In the end, I felt like we had a solid n. Though there were certainly unsure about some aspects of it. For example¡­


    I walked up to the receptionist.


    She looked up at me. ¡°Hello, how can I help you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, uh, who do we talk to if we want to negotiate pay? And how would we go about doing that?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not high-up enough to discuss pay with you, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking. But I can call a manager down, if you¡¯d like. We have a small team that decides things like the payments that go on job requests.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Perfect.¡±


    She left her desk and disappeared through a door behind her, leaving us alone at the counter.


    I turned to Erani. ¡°Think this is gonna work?¡±


    ¡°I at least think it¡¯s worth a shot. If we can end up getting enough out of them to pay for our room tonight, then I¡¯d say it was worth it. And if we get them to fulfil any of our other requests¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d be pretty nice,¡± I agreed. ¡°Let¡¯s just hope these manager people aren¡¯t total hardasses.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± I heard a voice from behind me. ¡°Where¡¯s the receptionist? I wanna ept a job.¡±


    I turned back and saw someone, a man I¡¯d seen around in the lobby a couple times before. ¡°She¡¯s just running an errand, grabbing someone for us. Won¡¯t take more than a minute or two, I¡¯d imagine.¡±


    He sighed in exasperation, then paused, looking at us. ¡°Wait a second, you two are those people that were asking Thorne about the Goblins, right? Didn¡¯t you just head out to do the job?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I responded, ¡°but we decided it was too dangerous and came back.¡±


    Heughed. ¡°Man, Thorne gave you a whole min¡¯ speech! You sat and listened to a gold-degree talking about how you shouldn¡¯t go out and do it, totally ignore his advice, go out anyway, and then instantly run off at the first sign of danger. min¡¯ idiots.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°We just wanted to see for ourselves before we wrote the job off entirely. No need to throw insults, man.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not an insult when it¡¯s just true,¡± heughed. Then he turned to look back at the rest of the room. ¡°Hey, Doria, y¡¯know those silvers with the massive egos? Thought they could clear the Goblins? Well here they are! Ran off within the hour!¡±


    I heardughs at the man¡¯s deration, but just did my best to ignore them. They had no idea that we only left because of the Young Dragon that would¡¯ve destroyed their town if we¡¯d continued, so from their perspective, I was sure it seemed pretty humorous. A couple foreignersing in town and thinking they were hot shit, taking on the things that were famous for killing newbies, and then losing before the fight even began. But I couldn¡¯t correct their assumptions without giving away the fact that the Dragon was there, and I refused to give that information¡ªour only bargaining chip¡ªaway for free.


    After a couple minutes of me ignoring theughs and shouts, the receptionist came back through the door. She smiled apologetically. ¡°Sorry for the wait. We don¡¯t actually have any managers in-house right now.¡±


    ¡°Oh. So we¡¯ll need toe back another time?¡±


    ¡°Not necessarily. We <em>do</em> have the owner of the guild branch here, so I went ahead and asked him if he¡¯d like to speak to you, and he isn¡¯t busy right now. So if you¡¯d like, you could go meet with him.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I nced over at Erani. She shrugged. ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Great!¡± She led us back through the same door she¡¯d juste through, behind her desk, and walked us down a hallway that was lined with office doors. Eventually she stopped at one of them, a little card set on the wall beside it that read <em>Vanvol Lighthammer</em>. ¡°Here we are. Just head through there, he¡¯s ready to see you.¡±


    So we opened the door and stepped through, into arge, in office. With its bare walls and floors, a set of windows on the back wall shining light inside, I¡¯d have thought it wasn¡¯t done being decorated yet. However, despite the overallck of anything in the ten-pace-square room, it certainly didn¡¯t look poorly made. The floors shined, the walls didn¡¯t have a speck of dirt on them, and the desk¡ªthe only object in the room¡ªwas perfectly set, straight and center, with afortable-looking chair to go with it.


    In the chair, a muscr man with short, straight hair sat. He was already looking at the door when we entered, so his eyes immediately met mine, catching me slightly off-guard.


    ¡°Hello,¡± he said in a deep voice. ¡°Come. Sit.¡±


    ¡°Um,¡± I nced around the empty room. ¡°I don¡¯t see any¡ª¡±


    ¡°Ah, my mistake,¡± he waved his hand and suddenly, in front of the desk, two simple wooden chairs appeared, seemingly constructing themselves out of thin air.


    After a moment¡¯s surprise, I nodded. ¡°Sure.¡±


    Hesitatingly, I walked forward and sat in the chair, making sure to subtly test that it was actually solid before I put my weight on it. Erani did the same.


    <em>Index?</em>


    ¡°He used a Spell that pulls materials from a nearby source and shapes them into an object of the user¡¯s choice. Has a bunch of logs sitting out back that he can draw from, and it seems like he disassembles the objects back into their original log shape whenever he¡¯s done, by the looks of them. Not dangerous.¡±


    <em>What¡¯s it called?</em>


    ¡°Reshape.¡±


    I nodded, and looked up at the man. ¡°Nice usage of Reshape. I didn¡¯t recognize it for a minute there, but it seems like you make good use of it.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± he smiled. ¡°Are you a fellow Pdin? I consider myself quite the fan of the ss; fairly convenient to have the fighting capabilities of a Melee-Type, while also being allowed to take some utility Spells to assist my daily administration duties. Though I can¡¯t say I recognize that Spell that¡¯s creating your magical armor.¡±


    I tensed up when he mentioned Dark te¡ªor, rather, when he seemed to instantly recognize that it was made from a Spell, and not a regr physical object. But I responded as naturally as I could, ¡°No, no, I¡¯m not a Pdin. I¡¯ve just met a couple.¡±


    ¡°Spelles at Level 20,¡± Index said, sensing I wanted more information on it.


    I continued the moment she told me the number, ¡°Though none of them actually got to a high enough Level to acquire the Spell. One of them aimed for it, though, so maybe he¡¯s gotten there by now.¡±


    ¡°Mm,¡± he nodded. ¡°Well, as you most likely know, I am Vanvol Lighthammer, owner of this fine establishment. Though you can call me Vanvol, my friend. Now, I believe I have heard of you, but I¡¯m afraid what I heard did not include your names.¡±


    ¡°Annor Ton,¡± I said, giving him my fake name.


    ¡°And I¡¯m Eita Niin,¡± Erani said. With Distortion Strike active, her voice was disfigured, but still perfectly understandable.


    Vanvol nodded. ¡°It is nice to meet you both. I¡¯ve heard the two of you have made something of a ruckus among the adventurers here in town, with your strange magic and¡­propensity for arguments, but as long as you don¡¯t break the rules, you¡¯re fine by me. So, what did you wish to discuss?¡±


    I took a breath, readying myself to start negotiations. Technically, I¡¯d already begun the n we¡¯d made beforehand¡ªattempting to establish a friendly rtionship with the man using knowledge from Index was step one¡ªbut the stakes wouldn¡¯t be truly high until he knew we were here to ask for money. Which I was sure would instantly turn this from a friendly conversation into a cutthroat business discussion.


    But I steeled my nerves and spoke. ¡°We recently took a job to clear out the Goblins in the southeast forest, by Empire¡¯s Edge.¡±


    ¡°Mm, I am very familiar with that forest. They¡¯ve been giving us quite a bit of trouble, especiallytely. Were you here to ask for a higher reward in exchange for the job? I¡¯m aware not many people are keen on taking on such dangerous¡ªand irritating¡ªfoes.¡±


    ¡°Uh, not necessarily. We actually already went down to the forest and began investigating. See, I have some very useful Divination magic that can allow me to gain information on some subjects without their knowledge. And one piece of information I gained through use of this magic was that this forest is much, much more dangerous than meets the eye. In fact, I¡¯d be willing to wager that any group of adventurers traveling into the forest to kill the Goblins would be killed. We were lucky to have the information we have before entering, because otherwise we¡¯d have been ughtered instantly. And I would wager the same would happen even if we were gold instead of silver. Or if we had a team of four, rather than two. Even a team of five or six would die to this forest.¡±


    He frowned at my assessment. ¡°Thank you for the warning. What is it that makes these Goblins so dangerous?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what we came here to tell you. However, we do wantpensation for the risk we took to acquire the information. See, we did not just find that the forest was dangerous ande right back. We actively risked our lives to gather as much information as we could before we returned, that way we could assist you as much as possible. And as such, I believe exchanging this information for the full reward listed on the Goblin ying job would be fair.¡±


    ¡°That would be impossible,¡± he said without hesitation. ¡°We cannot pay out such a sum to a group that did notplete a job. I thank you for taking the personal risk in order to Divine this information, but it would be very bad business to pay for such a thing. I am sure you understand. So if you could please tell us, that way we can keep our people safe, I would be happy to buy you a drink at the bar.¡±


    ¡°If we don¡¯t get paid eight thousand eyt, we do not tell you what the issue with the forest is,¡± I said.


    He smiled politely. ¡°That is perfectly fine with me. We will just modify the job to ask people to look into the forest themselves, in exchange for a much smaller sum than eight thousand. And, of course, you will be cklisted from iming a reward from this job, as punishment for¡ªand I hope you understand that I am just stating facts when I say this¡ªattempting to extort money from our establishment. Now please go on your way.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine with me as well,¡± I said. ¡°Though, I do have to ask, how many deaths will it take before youe back and ept my offer? I just want to know so I can have an idea of how long I should wait before expecting you at my door.¡±


    ¡°I assure you, I will ensure our adventurers will not die on the job. We use only the best safety measures. Even then, adventuring is a dangerous upation. Those who work with us understand the risks.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about adventurers. How many innocent people in this city need to die before you decide it¡¯s worth the eyt? I¡¯m asking for a modest sum in order to save hundreds, maybe even thousands of people. People who did <em>not</em> sign up to be in the line of fire.¡±


    ¡°What could possibly happen to harm the town¡¯s citizens?¡±


    ¡°That is precisely the sort of thing I will tell you in exchange for eight thousand eyt. But I assure you, it <em>will</em> happen if you send adventurers in there not knowing what exactly resides within.¡±


    ¡°And you are effectively holding them hostage.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you I went through a lot to get this information. I spent a lot of resources. And it is your ce to pay money to those who risk themselves to save people. I am not holding anyone hostage in the same way that any other adventurer in this Empire is holding the popce hostage. If they stopped working, the people would get overrun and die, so you pay them to ensure they continue to help. This is exactly that situation.¡±


    He sighed. ¡°You certainly make a point. However, I cannot pay money to receive this information when I have no idea whether it is actually important. Who¡¯s to say you aren¡¯t lying to me? Or you aren¡¯t mistaken about this supposed danger?¡±


    After a moment, I took a breath and leaned back in my chair. It was clear he didn¡¯t want to pay us like this. Which I totally understood; at the end of the day, he had no idea if this information was actually worth what I was asking. Even if he used a Truth Stone, that would only be able to ascertain if I <em>thought</em> it was worth eight thousand. I could think the information was worth that much and just be mistaken. So we were effectively at an impasse here. He wasn¡¯t going to take the deal as it was.


    But I knew he most likely wouldn¡¯t bite on this going in. I had to at least try, and I also got a good amount of information about the way he negotiated from the interaction, too. Namely, he liked to shut down my offers the moment I brought them up. He barely even listened to what I had to say before he said no, most likely to try and decrease my confidence and make me more likely to just tell him what I knew and leave, defeated. But I was much too confident in what I knew to be coerced into giving it up for free just yet.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°How about we make a different deal?¡±


    ¡°And what¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°You pay us nothing for the information up-front. We tell you right now for free. However, you cannot tell anyone else about what we tell you. You can¡¯t create a new public job asking people to take care of the problem, and you can¡¯t change the existing job to warn people about it. Instead, if you decide that this threat is genuinely dangerous and worth paying to take care of, you have to take down the Goblin job and make an exclusive deal with us.¡±


    ¡°No. If we do that and your news actually <em>is</em> worth sending in a team over, then you can just demand however high a sum you want. And even then, there¡¯s a significant chance you simply do not know what you¡¯re talking about and¡ª¡±


    ¡°And if we don¡¯t know what we¡¯re talking about, then there¡¯s no issue, right? It isn¡¯t dangerous after all, so iou just don¡¯t make that deal with us, keep sending people to go out and kill the Goblins, and they¡¯ll find and deal with the problem on their own, right?¡±


    ¡°Perhaps. But there¡¯s still the problem of¡ª¡±


    ¡°And we won¡¯t be charging you a ridiculous sum, because that sum will be pre-negotiated. We can decide on it right now, before the deal is made.¡±


    ¡°It is unreasonable to negotiate pay for a job when I don¡¯t even know what that job will be.¡±


    ¡°How about fifty thousand?¡±


    ¡°Did you not just hear me? I cannot negotiate for this. It¡¯s impossible. Besides, if you were able to take care of whatever is causing this issue, why wouldn¡¯t you go and do that and <em>then</em> ask for pay like everyone else does?¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t take care of them. We¡¯d need the help of at least one other team of adventurers. Which is why we need a pay pre-negotiated¡ªwe need to be able to advertise that pay to another adventuring group before doing so.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t answer how I¡¯m supposed to negotiate pay for a job whose difficulty I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°You have a basic idea of the difficulty. It¡¯s something that would need two teams toplete, so it would need to be enough to fairlypensate two bodies when split in half. And if the number we settle on ends up being too much for what ends up being an easy job, you can simply refuse to hire us and, as you said, wait for someone else to go clean up the mess.¡±


    He sat and looked at me for a few moments. He reached his hands up so he could rest his chin on his interlocked fingers. Second after second ticked away, with him just staring at me. And then he opened his mouth.


    ¡°Twenty thousand.¡±


    And I knew I was in.


    ¡°Forty-five,¡± I responded. ¡°Remember, we need to be able to pay ourselves <em>and</em> a separate team.¡±


    ¡°And I need insurance that, if this is something that needs to be dealt with, but is not as pressing as you make it seem, that I will not be bankrupted over only a mid-sized threat. Thirty.¡±


    ¡°Remember, we¡¯re only getting half of this. And, if we are to take care of this threat, we would also be, by consequence, taking care of the Goblins. Which means, after spending our day and many of our resources on the Goblins today, and then spending yet another day¡ªor even longer¡ªon this second job, we would take home fifteen thousand on our side. Eight thousand of that goes to the original Goblin job ording to its original pay, which only leaves seven thousand for this other job. That seems hardly reasonable. Forty thousand seems to be a decent middle ground, no?¡±


    ¡°That may be true, but I simply cannot devote more than thirty to this project. If you need more, request a better cut from whatever team you get to help you.¡±


    ¡°Even then, thirty thousand just isn¡¯t fair. Again, if it¡¯s easy enough for someone else to take it out without issue, then you don¡¯t have to pay us at all. If you must, though, the lowest I¡¯m willing to go would be thirty-two thousand, but only if you give half up-front. That way, if we split half and half with another team, we get eight thousand now¡ªthe price of the Goblin job¡ªand another eight thousand uponpletion. While I maintain that this would be you <em>extremely </em>underpaying us, I suppose I would be fine with that since it¡¯s an exclusive job. But I absolutely can¡¯t go lower.¡±


    He sat and looked at me for another stretch of time, then closed his eyes. After one long exhale, he opened them, and said, ¡°Fine. I agree that <em>if</em> I decide this needs a dedicated job, we will go directly to you and we will pay you ording to those terms. However, do not expect to see this money anytime soon. It could be days, even weeks. I will need to think this over and discuss it with multiple people before I can have my answer as to whether or not we will need your assistance.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s absolutely fine,¡± I nodded.


    ¡°So then, what is this threat that you say lurks in the forest?¡±


    I looked at him. ¡°The Goblins aren¡¯t acting of their own free will. They¡¯ve been enved and forced to expand as relentlessly as possible.¡±


    ¡°Enved? By whom?¡±


    ¡°By a Young Dragon. Level 22. Extremely aggressive. In fact, I have it on good information that if this thing knew your town was so close by, it would attack immediately.¡±


    A moment of silence passed by, and then he stood, cing his hands on the desk. ¡°Let me get you a Truth Stone to verify that, and then we will get to drafting that job contract. Thirty-two thousand, you said? Expect for us to be ready to move you out by tomorrow at thetest.¡±

 Minor Announcement

    Minor Announcement


    Hi everyone, just posting this to let you know that I''ll be taking today off from posting, since it''s my birthday! I''m turning 21, which is the legal drinking age in the US, so I''m looking forward to celebrating :P


    So no chapter today, but they''ll resume as normal on Friday. Sorry for thete notice to anyone who was looking forward to reading today''s chapter, I hope you enjoy whates next when you see it a couple days from now!


    Word minimum:


    Word minimum


    I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

 Chapter 176: Alliances and Accusations

    Chapter 176: Alliances and usations


    Once we finished sorting out the paperwork, we headed back out into the main guild lobby. In order to receive the first half of our payment, we¡¯d need to find the other party we¡¯d be working with so we could officially sign up for the job, so that was goal number one.


    We¡¯de up with the idea to kill the Young Dragon ourselves on the way to town, and, while it was certainly dangerous, the reasoning went like this: regardless of whether or not we took on the Young Dragon, we wanted to team up with another group of adventurers just so we could take on the better-paying jobs, and this would effectively kickstart the process. At the end of the day, we needed thirty thousand eyt¡ªplus ten fully-charged Mana Batteries¡ªto get to the capital. And killing this Dragon would instantly bring us halfway to that goal.


    I was sure any party would be thrilled to receive a sum of sixteen thousand as well, so being able to advertise that we had a job exclusive to us that would pay out so much money to anyone who helped usplete it would also draw in more people.


    Once we were back in the main lobby, we approached the receptionist once again. We¡¯d previously asked her to put up a request on one of the boards advertising us as a group looking to team up with other adventuring parties, but even she had said that it most likely wouldn¡¯t get many takers. And judging by the sheer number of simr requests on that board, I agreed. We¡¯d need to get our names out there some other way.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said to the receptionist, ¡°so we¡¯re looking to find a new group of adventurers. Preferably through a much faster method than just putting up one of those team requests.¡±


    ¡°Well, feel free to approach people and ask,¡± she said. ¡°But you¡¯ll probably get turned down a lot. Most people don¡¯t bother teaming up with outsiders unless there¡¯s clear reason to do so.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the thing. We do have a mary incentive here. We¡¯ve got a job we want toplete, but we just need some extra hands. If we can find another team, there¡¯s sixteen thousand eyt in it for them. Do you think more people would bite if I approached them with that?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°Maybe you could find someone if you spent today asking around.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well ideally we find a method that doesn¡¯t require me spending hours cold approaching random people.¡± I sighed, taking a moment to think. ¡°Maybe¡­could we just make a job request?¡±


    She frowned. ¡°Is the job not already on the board?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s an exclusive one. So we wouldn¡¯t actually be advertising what we want the people to do. But, I mean, the job board gets a lot more eyes on it, right? So maybe if we have the request on there with the payment stamped on it, it¡¯ll get more attention?¡±


    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s within the rules,¡± she said. ¡°Who are you looking for?¡±


    ¡°Just¡­¡± I looked over at Erani. How many people <em>would </em>we need?


    <em>Index? Any idea?</em>


    ¡°You¡¯ll probably want at least three more people equal to your Level to safely take down a Young Dragon of Level 22, but it¡¯d be best to have more.¡±


    ¡°A team of at least three silvers,¡± I repeated. ¡°The reward will be given to them to split however they want, so bringing more people will mean each individual gets less, though.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Got it. So just a request for help from a group of adventurers of that strength, reward of sixteen thousand, and¡­no specifications for what the job will entail?¡±


    ¡°Just say it¡¯ll bebat. And let them know that they¡¯ll be working with us. I guess you can just transfer over the information you had on the original request for a team we had up.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good. I¡¯ll let you know when someone epts.¡±


    Once we were done with that, we left the guild lobby, and left town once again. Since we weren¡¯t getting paid for the Goblin job just yet, we¡¯d need to find the money for sleeping arrangements tonight. So that meant more Gloomspur hunting.


    Hunting down the Gloomspurs once again reminded me of a brief moment in the Goblin base, back in the previous timeline. When we were infiltrating, the Goblins had thrown these globs of purple goo at us, whichnded on the ground and quickly grew, molding themselves into Gloomspurs. At the time, I hadn¡¯t had a spare moment to think about it, instead having to react to the set of enemies that¡¯d just spawned in directly on top of me. But now, it left me curious.


    A while ago, Ainash had mentioned something about purple goo. When we¡¯d first been trying to hunt down Gloomspurs for spare coin, she¡¯d said that she¡¯d seen a couple packs before, and they had left behind those same globs of purple goop. But when we¡¯d returned to try and find the pack, that purple goo was gone. And I knew for a fact that it wasn¡¯t an issue with Ainash getting turned around or forgetting where it was; I would trust her sense of direction with my life¡ªand literally had in the past on several asions.


    So now, I was left wondering if that goop was how they reproduced, or something. Maybe that was their equivalent to an egg, and the Goblins had gone out and stolen some to use as a weapon. Once again, I was struck with the ingenuity of their species.


    Regardless, Erani and I exited town and roamed the fields in search of Gloomspurs. We were doing so without the assistance of Ainash, since she was currently out preparing to recruit those Goblins tomorrow¡ªshe¡¯d told Erani through their link that she was ¡®very busy¡¯ apparently¡ªbut considering how easy the Gloomspurs were to kill, we weren¡¯t slowed down very much by theck of assistance.


    Since we were starting at an actually reasonable time, rather than the middle of the night like we had the day before, we could move at a more leisurely pace with our hunting, knowing we¡¯d be able to pay for a room and food with the amount of time we had to dedicate to hunting. So, since we had the spare time, Erani suggested we should take a few moments to examine the Gloomspurs and see what that purple stuff actually was.


    Once we found a pack of the things, we simply stuck back and watched them as they wandered the wide fields. As they meandered along the grass, they continued billowing out that toxic smoke at every turn, leaving the signature path of destruction behind them. In fact, now that I was watching them more carefully, it almost seemed like they were <em>trying</em> to kill as much grass as possible.


    The three Gloomspurs in this pack seemed to take turns with their smoke; one would breathe out a cloud, killing everything nearby, then it¡¯d stop and the pack would walk on a short distance into a fresh patch of grass, and then the second would breathe out to kill everything, then the third, and then they¡¯d cycle back to the first. And they never used their toxic breath on a patch that¡¯d already been killed.


    We continued watching from afar for about ten minutes before something interesting happened. Right after its ¡®turn¡¯ killing the grass, the front one suddenly began to cough. It was a strange sound¡ªone I¡¯d never hearde from the now-familiar monsters¡ªas it yakked up something that seemed caught in its throat. Over and over, until something came out. A glob of purple goop.


    As I watched, the glob seemed to slowly shift as though it had a mind of its own, rolling over itself and sticking against the deadened patch of grass, gradually moving around. Eventually, after some time, it found its way to some living grass, and seemed to move with haste from there. It quickly moved so that it was fully embraced by the grass, and then spread itself out thin, so that as much of its ¡®body¡¯ was touching the grass as possible. Then the grass died. And the goop moved over to some adjacent living grass, and killed that, too. Slowly, it rolled around as the other Gloomspurs watched, killing more grass in the area and slightly increasing in size as it did so.


    Finally, once it¡¯d grown from the size of my palm to the size of my full outstretched hand, it stopped, began shaking, and, just like I¡¯d seen before, began to quickly grow in size, taking shape and forming itself into yet another Gloomspur.


    ¡°Woah¡­¡± I heard Erani mutter as we witnessed the ¡®birth¡¯ of another one of these creatures. ¡°I didn¡¯t think it would work like that.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I frowned. It was certainly strange. And with the Gloomspurs that able to easily create new members of their species, I certainly understood why the town had such a problem getting rid of them for good. Really, I imagined that at this rate, if you left the things alone for a few minutes, they¡¯d double in size.


    ¡°Hey!¡± A voice shouted from behind me. ¡°What are you two doing?¡±


    I turned to see a man in chainmail approaching us, sword in his hand. ncing around, I spotted a couple other people walking down a nearby road¡ªseveral other witnesses¡ªso I couldn¡¯t imagine he was here to try and murder us, or something. Though I still took a step back and raised my hands, getting in a fighting stance. Erani took a step back, too, and subtly put her hand on me so I could quickly buff her with Expedite if necessary.


    ¡°What¡¯s the issue?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You know what you were doing,¡± he spat. ¡°That¡¯s tant farming.¡±


    I paused, not sure what he was saying. ¡°It¡¯s what?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t y dumb. You were obviously trailing those Gloomspurs to wait for them to reproduce before killing them. Guild¡¯ll have a frenzy with you.¡±


    ¡°Is that¡­against the rules?¡±


    ¡°¡®Course it is!¡± he shouted. ¡°If they let everyone catch a couple ¡®Spurs on their own and just wait for ¡®em to make a half-dozen more, there¡¯d be no point in trading teeth for coin, since they¡¯d have no way of knowing you actually removed a ¡®Spur from the wildlife or if you just grew one to kill on your own. Farming is clearly against policy. You can¡¯t turn trophies of farmed monsters. They¡¯ll kick you out of the guild and you won¡¯t be able to turn in jobs anymore. Anywhere.¡±


    I raised my hands and shook my head. ¡°My bad, man. Didn¡¯t know. As long as we don¡¯t turn in the trophy of the one that we ¡®farmed¡¯ then it¡¯s no issue though, right?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, I guess, but¡ª¡±


    ¡°Great. So we¡¯re just going to go kill the ones that were there when we found them and take them, and I guess you can have the other. Sound good to you?¡±


    At the mention that he¡¯d get to im the other one, he seemed to calm down a bit. I understood why farming would be a problem, though. It¡¯d certainly been something that came to mind when I saw how quickly and easily the things basically created free money. Probably pretty difficult for the guild to be able to tell when someone was turning in fraudulent monster trophies, but I imagined they operated off of abination of the honor system and the ¡®I¡¯ll pay you if you snitch on your buddies¡¯ system. And getting cklisted from the entire guild just to try and make some easy cash seemed like deterrent enough for most.


    But regardless, we just continued on with our mission of killing the local monsters and collecting their teeth.


    Once we¡¯d gotten enough for another night¡¯s room plus food for today and tomorrow, we took a break. It was currently around four in the afternoon, and my XP had risen slightly higher from the kills, up above 2000. But I had something much more important in mind. Something I needed to do before midnight.


    ¡°So you¡¯re just gonna walk down to the outpost?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Pretty much,¡± I responded. ¡°With Expedite, it should only take me, what, six or seven hours at most? At worst, I¡¯ll get there around an hour before midnight. And then I can just grab the Arcane Spell Crystal and rewind back to before I¡¯d taken the Crystal, ande back to meet up with you. If there are any problems, just tell Ainash and she can tell me.¡±


    ¡°I guess that leaves me with some free time, huh?¡±


    ¡°Guess it does,¡± I chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t have too much fun without me.¡±


    ¡°As if. I¡¯ll probably just pass the time looking for more Gloomspurs.¡±


    ¡°Well that¡¯d be nice too.¡±


    ¡°So you know what Spell you¡¯ll be investing your Upgrade into?¡±


    ¡°Not particrly. But that¡¯s what the six hour long walk is for, right?¡±


    She rolled her eyes. ¡°I cannot believe you. How have you not decided yet? I¡¯d have decided the order of Upgrades the moment I realized I¡¯d be getting their Crystals next.¡±


    ¡°Why not take some extra time to decide?¡± I shrugged.


    She just shook her head. ¡°Well I¡¯m looking forward to seeing what you¡¯re offered.¡±


    ¡°Believe me, so am I.¡±

 Chapter 177: Dark and Light

    Chapter 177: Dark and Light


    After a long day¡¯s walk, I arrived at the guard outpost that held the Arcane Spell Crystal. I¡¯d arrived slightly ahead of schedule due to my own underestimating of how fast Expedite could work on me when I didn¡¯t have to worry about using it on anyone else, so it was around nine thirty right now.


    As I approached, I heard the faint sounds of conversation between the three people.


    ¡°Raise you three,¡± Bon said, and I could hear the sound of a chip sliding across a table.


    ¡°Send that to the mes,¡± Jannin said. ¡°I¡¯m out.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Poppins hummed for a moment. ¡°I¡¯ll match?¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± Bon said. ¡°Raise you one more.¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­¡± Poppins paused to hum once more.


    ¡°Y¡¯know,¡± Bon said while he thought, ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯ve almost been up here for three years now. Feels like we¡¯ve be part of the mountain.¡±


    Jannin grunted. "Well, at least the mountains make for a good view. Beats staring at the same city walls day in and day out."


    ¡°I will¡­match you,¡± Poppins said. ¡°And I agree. The beauty of the mountains is awe-inspiring. It''s a privilege to stand guard here, even if it does get lonely sometimes."


    Bon grunted. "Lonely? Try infuriating! No one to talk to but you two numbskulls for miles. I''m starting to think the rocks have more interesting stories to tell. Raise by one.¡±


    ¡°Nah,¡± Jannin said. ¡°You can¡¯t say it¡¯s all been bad.¡±


    ¡°Oh I¡¯m sure <em>you</em> can¡¯t say that,¡± Bon said. ¡°With your min¡¯ secret prostitutes. <em>I¡¯m</em> the one who has to suffer out here.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Poppins offered, ¡°what aboutst winter? There was the blizzard, andmand sent us those Enchanted heat stones to keep our outpost warm. We boarded up the windows and spent all day inside, it was like a single day of summer in here, just for us! And the day after that, we spent all day building that snow fort. And I will¡­match you.¡±


    Bon scoffed. ¡°That was just you two goofing off. Certainly not a fun memory for me, having to deal with your insubordination. Raise by one.¡±


    ¡°Man, just cool it with that,¡± Jannin sighed. ¡°You¡¯re the one ying cards with us instead of doing nightly patrols.¡±


    ¡°ying cards with you? Barely. You fold instantly every time! If anything, I¡¯m ying with Poppins, and you¡¯re watching.¡±


    ¡°I will match you,¡± Poppins said.


    ¡°You¡¯re still pissed about that Annor Ton guy, huh?¡± Jannin responded to Bon.


    ¡°What? No.¡±


    ¡°He kinda messed up your face.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re exaggerating. He just got the drop on me.¡±


    ¡°And then he killed that Gloomspur that was giving you trouble.¡±


    ¡°I was conducting a coordinated retreat. Just¡­go burn in mes, man. He was an asshole, ¡®course I don¡¯t like him. But he went off to wherever he¡¯s going, so whatever. Doesn¡¯t matter anymore. Raise by one.¡±


    ¡°I will match you,¡± Poppins said.


    Bon groaned. ¡°How many times are you gonna match me? Know what? Whatever, I match as well, let¡¯s reveal our hands.¡±


    I heard the sound of cards flopping on the table.


    ¡°Triple synergy sword, plus double synergy wiz, plus a high Level of 13,¡± Bon said.


    Another set of cards flopped down, and Poppins said, ¡°Full party? I don¡¯t think the high Level matters here.¡±


    ¡°Ugh,¡± Bon groaned, and chips slid across the table. ¡°You had a full party the whole time? And you were just¡ªwhat in Lyra¡¯s shit kind of luck do you even have, man?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d like to think I just y well.¡±


    I sat down and decided to wait for them to go to sleep. If they were up, I didn¡¯t want to break in and try to steal the Spell Crystal like that. There was the chance they might be able to overpower me¡ªwhich, honestly, I didn¡¯t think was likely, considering their Levels¡ªbut also I didn¡¯t want to burst in and start killing people to get what I wanted. Sure, I¡¯d just reset it with Time Loop anyway, but just wandering around and killing innocent people¡­Well, it certainly wouldn¡¯t be pleasant, no matter how I could rationalize it. I¡¯d rather get this done without conflict.


    So I sat down by a tree, and just listened for the noise to stop.


    While I waited, I mulled over the choice I¡¯d be presented¡ªeither Upgrade Ethereal Armor next, or Gravity Well. While I hadn¡¯t chosen for sure, I was leaning pretty heavily toward one option¡ªEthereal Armor. So far, that Spell had been the most useful to me out of the two choices, and while I couldn¡¯t use Light te right now since it didn¡¯t hide my identity, Index had hinted to me before that its Upgrade options would still be useful to me regardless. ording to it, the Gravity Well options also held some solid choices, but I wanted to go in order of what I felt would give me the best benefit first.


    By the time it got close to midnight, I heard them all dozing off. One by one, they stopped speaking, and went silent. Then, after a little bit longer, I heard snores.


    So I crept up and into the building, remembering theyout fromst time I¡¯d been here, found Jannin, reached into his pocket, and¡­


    Threshold reached. Ethereal Armor XP has reached 355.


    Ethereal Armor Rank has increased to 10.


    Due to Ethereal Armor Rank reaching 10, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 187 to 234


    Dark te Downtime: From 37.9 to 36


    Light te Discount: From 43.4% to 46.2%


    And then I was back, standing on the road about five minutes ago. I technically had the ability to go back a full six hours, but doing so would, of course, force me to live another six hours in a day where I had no ess to Time Loop. And personally, I¡¯d rather limit the amount of time I spent without that life-saving safety to zero. So I sat around watching for threats at 11:50 at night, waiting for Time Loop to refresh.


    One thing I did while I waited, though, was cast Ethereal Armor. Since it finally moved past the hard limit of Rank 10, it meant I could finally move it up to my Soft Cap of 11¡ªone more Rank I got pretty much for free.


    Threshold reached. Ethereal Armor XP has reached 461.


    Ethereal Armor Rank has increased to 11.


    Due to Ethereal Armor Rank reaching 11, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 234 to 240


    Dark te Downtime: From 36 to 34.2


    Light te Discount: From 46.2% to 48.9%


    Without much effort, I amassed Spell XP until I received my notification. Dark te¡¯s downtime going further toward nothing was nice¡ªI¡¯d have certainly liked it to be lower back during my fight with Xhag¡¯duul, at least¡ªand I was getting petty close to my Spells fully being half off with Light te at this point.


    ¡°One more Rank and you¡¯re there,¡± Index confirmed.


    ¡°How about until they¡¯re ny-nine percent off?¡± I joked.


    ¡°Uh¡­Seventy-seven more?¡±


    I snorted. Not exactly close to that. It¡¯d probably take a thousand years straight of casting the single Spell to get there.


    ¡°Actually, it¡¯d be closer to twenty thousand, assuming your Mana/Minute stayed¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t discourage me even more,¡± I sighed. ¡°Just let me dream.¡±


    After the necessary time had passed, I had all three uses back again, and sighed. Safety once again. So I turned around and got walking down the road. I¡¯d be out here pretty much all night, but with Expedite, it probably wouldn¡¯t take too long. I¡¯d need to copse in our bed the moment I got back, though. A higher Stamina/Minute could do a lot of things, including help you function without sleep to a limited extent, but it certainly couldn¡¯t rece it.


    Once I got back to town just as the sun began to rise, I quickly meandered to the room we¡¯d rented, Erani still in the bed asleep in the early morning, andid down, myself, quickly finding myself unconscious.


    Soon after, I woke up to Erani getting out of bed, identally having shaken me awake.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I groaned, blinking my eyes open.


    ¡°Oh, shoot. Did I wake you up?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s no problem.¡± I yawned and rubbed my eyes. ¡°Need to make my Upgrade choice, anyway.¡±


    ¡°What Spell did you end up doing?¡±


    ¡°Ethereal Armor.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess you are pretty much constantly using that one. You know what¡¯s being offered to you yet?¡±


    ¡°No, I haven''t looked at what¡¯s being offered yet. Thought we could see together.¡±


    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s see!¡±


    So I closed my eyes once again, fighting to stay awake through my meditation, and focused inward. After the necessary ten minutes, I finally felt the click and opened the Upgrade.


    Choose one Upgrade for Ethereal Armor:


    Elemental Armor


    School: +Aqueous, +Fire


    ¡ª


    Ethereal Armor can now summon two additional types of te¡ªFire te and Water te.


    While wearing Fire te, whenever you damage a being with a projectile Spell, you may shoot an additional ball of fire in that being¡¯s direction,ing from the center of the armor. The ball of fire deals up to 10% of the damage dealt by the projectile Spell, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being.


    While wearing Water te, you have an aqueous shield that surrounds your person at all times, absorbing an amount of damage equal to 10% of your total Health before being destroyed. After 10 seconds, the shield is re-summoned.


    Celestial Armor


    School: +Divine, +Illusion


    ¡ª


    Ethereal Armor can now summon two additional types of te¡ªLunar te and Sr te.


    While wearing Lunar te, whenever a being casts an Illusion-School Spell on you, if your Conjuration Stat is equal to or greater than theirs, you may cancel the effects of that Spell.


    While wearing Sr te, whenever a being looks directly at you, you may burst in light. If you do, and your Endurance Stat is equal to or greater than theirs, they are blinded for 10 seconds. This ability can only be used once every 10 minutes.


    Broadened Armor


    ¡ª


    When you cast Ethereal Armor while a te type is already summoned, you may, rather than dismissing the te and summoning a new one, instead switch the currently-summoned te¡¯s effect with another type of te.


    tes are automatically dismissed after 10 hours, rather than 1 hour.


    I read the options out to Erani as I looked them over, myself.


    Elemental Armor and Celestial Armor were somewhat straightforward in their uses, effectively broadening the different types of te I could summon. Elemental Armor seemed to focus on straightforwardbat, dealing additional damage and providing additional Health when I was in need. Fire te required me to specifically use projectile Spells¡ªso just Ray of Frost right now¡ªbut I liked the synergy it had with Cumtive Catastrophe, allowing me to gain additional stacks of its effects with every cast of that Spell. And, of course, I could always take more projectile-based Spells in the future to expand its effects.


    Water te also offered a solid amount of utility, giving me extra Health when I needed it. 10% of my Health right now would be around 60, which, while not an insane amount, was certainly a nice buffer to have when it came back every ten seconds. The issue, of course, was with situations when I didn¡¯t have a spare ten seconds to wait for that shield to regenerate.


    As for Celestial Armor, its two options, Lunar and Sr te, felt more specialized in their effects. First off, they both wanted me to have better Stats than my opponents for their effects to go off¡ªcertainly a requirement I¡¯d have an easier time meeting, with Recursive Growth, Recycled Loop, and my Bond with Ainash all boosting my Stats.


    Lunar te was extremely specific in what it did, effectively making me immune to all Illusion magic as long as I had even a single point of Conjuration over the caster. While it wasn¡¯t every day that I got hit with Illusion magic, I could see a world where I took the Upgrade, basically forgot about it, and then, if I ever lost a fight against a powerful Illusion user, I could just go back with Time Loop and redo the fight with Lunar te equipped this time, effectively destroying all hope my opponent had of winning.


    However, Sr te seemed to be the main draw of this Upgrade. As long as I could find enemies with lower Endurances than me¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t extremely easy, given my status as a Magic-Type, but wasn¡¯t impossible, either¡ªI could blind them for ten seconds basically for free. The ¡®requirement¡¯ of needing them to look at me was basically nothing, after all. Of course, it was limited to once per ten minutes, but that, too, was surprisingly forgiving. It effectively tranted to ¡°once per fight.¡± And ten full seconds of blindness was certainly nothing to ignore. A single activation could be the difference between winning or losing a surprising number of encounters.


    And finally, there was Broadened Armor. That one broke the pattern of the other two. Instead of giving me new types of te to y around with, it instead gave me an easier time using the ones I already had. Instantly swapping between them, plus multiplying the amount of time it was summoned for by ten, made it much, much easier to use Dark and Light te in a fight. Effectively, I could start out a fight with Light te, and then at any moment I was in danger of a massive strike, quickly swap to Dark te before I got hit, and then swap right back to Light te afterward. That¡¯d allow me to bypass that annoying drawback of basically needing to forego Light te¡¯s discount in a fight if I wanted to use Dark te¡¯s protection. I¡¯d always get to have the best of both worlds.


    But, when I looked at all the options together¡­


    ¡°Gods,¡± I muttered, ¡°I wish I could just take all three.¡±


    ¡°Well, yes,¡± Erani said. ¡°I wish I could get all the Spells offered to me, too.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, obviously,¡± I said, ¡°but I mean, look at them. They synergize perfectly together! If I had Broadened Armor <em>plus</em> these other two Upgrades, I¡¯d be able to harness the power of all six types of te simultaneously, seamlessly switching between them as I needed them. I could go to Dark te and block a massive attack, move to Sr and blind them, then move to Fire or Light to hit them with some Spells while they¡¯re blinded, Water to block another hit, switch off while I wait the ten seconds for it toe back¡­Man, it feels like they were just made to go together. Do Spell Upgrades ever show up a second time? Like, if I took Elemental, could I end up seeing Broadened for my next Upgrade?¡±


    ¡°Not typically, but sometimes. Maybe this could be one of those cases?¡±


    ¡°Nope,¡± Index cut in. ¡°These aren¡¯t gonna repeat. At least, not anytime soon enough for you to see them.¡±


    I ryed what Index said to Erani, then said back to it, ¡°So then what¡¯s up with these choices? Why do they feel like they go so well together? Like, Broadened Armor feels absolutely perfect with these other Upgrades that add on more types of armor I can summon. Kind of counterintuitive that I won¡¯t be able to use that synergy.¡±


    ¡°It might be better to think about this less in terms of the specific Upgrades Broadened Armor synergizes with, and more the general <em>type</em> of Upgrade it synergizes with. I mean, there¡¯s nothing specific about these two other Upgrades that make them work with Broadened, other than the fact they summon more types of te, right?¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Well, no, not really. I guess it¡¯s great with anything that summons more te types. Wait, so you¡¯re saying that, if I take Broadened Armor, I¡¯ll get more Upgrades in the future that do that sort of thing? Summon more types of te?¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Again, look at the general ideas of each of these Upgrades. Elemental Armor is numbers-basedbat focused. It wants to give you numerical supremacy in a fight, and basically do nothing else. So its further Upgrades are going to continue in that vein. Celestial Armor is also aboutbat, but more the edge-cases and matchup games you y. Equipping the right armor for the right foe, that sort of thing. So that¡¯s the direction those Upgrades will go. And Broadened Armor is about tactics, switching the armor back and forth to have the perfect effect at the perfect time. Don¡¯t you think at least one further Upgrade is going to do what those other two do, and give you a broader range of effects to choose from? If not all three?¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°that makes sense. So, in that case, Broadened Armor isn¡¯t going to be a waste of potential since it can¡¯t have the extra te types of the other Upgrades, rather it¡¯s more like dyed gratification. I¡¯d be taking it now, and then it¡¯d get that extreme increase in power next Upgrade? Not that it doesn¡¯t do anything for now.¡±


    ¡°Man, I¡¯m still just thinking about how I wish I could have that Fire te,¡± Erani muttered. ¡°Even more percentage multipliers on my Spells would be <em>so</em> good.¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately, I can¡¯t put it on you,¡± I said with a sigh. ¡°Honestly, the way I¡¯m thinking about it, it¡¯s currently between Celestial and Broadened Armor. The requirement of me needing more Endurance for the blinding ability is obviously restrictive, but it¡¯s still super useful against most magic-using enemies, plus I¡¯ll continue to increase my Endurance at a disproportionate rate as I Level. But then, Broadened Armor just feels awesome to have. Like, the issue with Celestial Armor is basically the issue that Broadened solves. I already have situations where I need Dark te, and I also need Light te. Can¡¯t choose both. Adding on even <em>more</em> options just creates more issues down the line, since when I want Sr te, I¡¯ll probably also want Light te, and adding on Dark te would probably be nice, too.¡±


    ¡°The extra length also needs to be mentioned,¡± Erani said. ¡°It hasn¡¯t created too many problems yet, but having a single-hour time limit before needing to recast it is going to cause issues eventually. Dark te is the only thing protecting your identity right now, and if it falls off in the middle of a crowded area, and thenter on the Demons decide to start putting your face on posters everywhere? No way people will ignore that you look just like the extremely dangerous, extremely wanted An Nota.¡±


    ¡°That <em>is</em> a fair point,¡± I said. ¡°Actually, the quick swapping between the two types also creates an opportunity. Like, I can basically never use Light te right now, even when we¡¯re alone, because of the off-chance someone walks up to us and sees me. But if I can instantly change back to Dark te, that effectively isn¡¯t an issue¡ªat least, not much. As long as we see them first, I can just instantly change back before they can get a good look at my face, and there¡¯s no issue. I can finally go back to getting the discount. At least, in more important, more isted fights I can.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true, too. Do you think that¡¯s what you¡¯re going for, then?¡±


    ¡°Seems like it. The convenience, the specific benefits in our situation right now, and the long-term potential for the next Upgrade¡­it all adds up perfectly.¡±


    So I took the Upgrade.


    Ethereal Armor has gained the Upgrade Broadened Armor.

 Chapter 178: Truth and Treachery

    Chapter 178: Truth and Treachery


    After I made my choice for the Ethereal Armor Upgrade, Erani and I went out in the early morning to kill some Gloomspurs. Once again, we were pretty much just waiting for a party to ept our request. The receptionist said that we¡¯d probably get a taker in a day or two, given the sum of money listed as a reward, but that we¡¯d most likely not get to be very picky. We weren¡¯t really telling what we wanted this party to do, after all, so it was more than likely that we wouldn¡¯t have a wide range of options when it came to people willing to do apletely unknown task for money, especially if we wanted to pick someone quickly.


    While we hunted, I also continued to charge up the Mana Battery. Since we¡¯d gotten it, I managed to get it charged a good bit between casting my other Spells.


    Advanced Mana Battery is charged with 63.7k/100k Mana.


    Slightly over halfway done at this point, though really I¡¯d been slowed down quite a bit because of the amount I had to spend on casting Expedite the day before. Today we wouldn¡¯t be nearly as busy, so the n was to get it charged today, go turn it in to the teleportation specialists and get a new one, and at some point along the way, for me to go out and get thest usage of the Arcane Spell Crystal I needed to Upgrade Gravity Well.


    So we got to work. At this point, I¡¯d gotten pretty used to the ways these Gloomspurs acted, and so we were able to more efficiently find and hunt down the packs. We were hunting without Ainash today, since she was out on her mission to tame the Goblins, but even without her it didn¡¯t slow us much, considering how easy the beasts were to kill in small numbers.


    By the time we¡¯d gotten a decent bit more than what we¡¯d need to pay for a room, I got a message from her.


    <em>¡°Have two Goblins now!¡±</em>


    I blinked. <em>¡°Wait, really? You got two to join you?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes! They are in my house.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Your¡­house?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Made a home! Like what you talk about in Human settlements! Goblins like houses, so made one for them.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, good job! That sounds like it would take a lot of work.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It did not! Anyway,e see them!¡±</em>


    I looked over at Erani. ¡°Do you want to go see the Goblins? I need to probably be leaving around now if I want to get to the Arcane Spell Crystal before midnight.¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll meet up with her and let you know if she¡¯s done anything absolutely insane.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­I¡¯m wondering how willingly the Goblins are staying in her ¡®house.¡¯¡±


    We parted ways, with me traveling the now-somewhat familiar road leading to the guard outpost and Erani heading out into the forest where Ainash said she was located. I still got a pang of anxiety whenever I left her side, same I got when I separated from Ainash, but it was helped considerably by the fact that I could talk to them if I ever needed to with out telepathic bond.


    As I walked, I continued to fill the Mana Battery. This time, I had enough time to make the walk without Expedite, so I could instead spend all of that Mana on that. I felt kind of annoyed I couldn¡¯t spend that excess Mana on practicing my Spells instead, but I supposed that was the sacrifice one had to make for money. We <em>were</em> getting half off an exorbitantly expensive teleportation procedure basically for free, but still, it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. What if, one day, I was left just ten Spell XP away from a much-needed Rank, and I got killed for it? That would¡¯ve been totally avoided if I could¡¯ve simply spent my Mana practicing now. But in the same way, if we spent twice the amount of time out here near Kingdom¡¯s Edge and died to the Demons because of it, that would be a simrly easy-to-avoid scenario. I supposed it was just a trade-off, same as always.


    Despite my frustrations with the Battery, the walk went on, uneventful as ever. By the time I was a few hours out from the town walls, pretty much nobody was around anymore hunting for Gloomspurs or traveling, so I couldn¡¯t even people-watch as I walked. Just left me wandering in my boredom.


    Eventually, though, after several hours of walking, I got a message that made me smile.


    Advanced Mana Battery is charged with 100k/100k Mana.


    It was full! That meant the cell in my hand was worth a full three thousand eyt¡¯s worth of discount, and, since I didn¡¯t have any more Batteries on me, I was free to practice to my heart¡¯s content. So, since there was nobody around and I could switch out of it instantly if I did spot someone on the off-chance they were out here, I changed into Light te for full efficiency and began practicing Noxious Grasp.


    Right now, it was at Rank 16 with only 368 Spell XP filling the next requirement of 2429, so I didn¡¯t anticipate getting it to the next Upgrade point of 20 any time particrly soon, but any amount of practice to push it in that direction would be great. Getting a single Upgrade on a Spell was one thing¡ªit could push the power level way up, either in terms of numerical supremacy or adding on new uses for it. But a second Upgrade was what could push it into a whole new realm of power.


    Erani had spoken about this. Most Magic-Types never pushed a Spell into its 20th Rank¡ªor even close to it. The costs just ramped up to ridiculous levels by that point, and spending money on three Spell Crystals¡ªone for the first Upgrade and two more for the second¡ªwas an expense many couldn¡¯t justify unless they were still in the adventuring game. And, considering how long it would take to either push a Spell that far past their Soft Cap, or naturally Level up to 40, most had long since gotten however much money they wanted out of ying monsters by that point.


    So, as consequence, it was pretty rare to see Spells up at that point of power. But the Upgrades were equally powerful, too. So I was eager to get my first Spell to that point, needless to say. And with Ethereal Armor giving me a point of Spell XP per 51 Mana spent, rather than 100, it left me hoping that wouldn¡¯t take too long.


    But anyway, I needed to focus up and stop thinking about Noxious Grasp. Because right now, I was starting to approach the guard outpost.


    Erani walked through the forest in Ainash¡¯s direction. Ainash was, of course, excitedly rambling to Erani through their telepathic bond about every little thing rting to the Goblins as she made her way over.


    <em>¡°I think I will teach Goblins how to speak mynguage! Do not know anyone who speaks mynguage anymore, so will be nice to talk to someone in it again! And they seem like could learnnguages very easy! Dragon taught them Humannguage quickly, so I think Goblins are very smart. Could probably learn mynguage easy too. And after that, will teach them about how to kill bad guys! Will give them whips like my weapon, and show them where to hit to kill bad guys with them. They will be so helpful!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, honey, I¡¯m sure they will be. But first, I think we should teach them how to be safe and how to not kill innocent people. Especially before we teach them how to kill bad people. We don¡¯t want them to get confused about who is good and who is bad, right?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay! And will also teach them about how to beat up mean guys too! Because can¡¯t kill mean guys, only beat them up, so that will be good idea to tell them. And¡ª¡±</em>


    Erani continued listening and doing her best to remind Ainash that these were, in fact, dangerous monsters right now. Yes, they didn¡¯t deserve to die, but it would be best to exercise caution when interacting with them. Something Ainash didn¡¯t seem to entirely understand, but hopefully Erani could help guide her thinking in the right direction once they met up.


    As she walked, though, her conversation with Ainash was interrupted by a voice behind her.


    ¡°Excuse me.¡±


    Erani turned around and saw three people¡ªtwo men and a woman. The two men were both standing a couple paces back, eyeing Erani¡¯s appearance warily¡ªas many people did¡ªwhile the woman was stood slightly ahead, giving a halfhearted wave. Erani frowned. ¡°Yes?¡±


    At her distorted voice, the woman¡¯s polite smile became slightly strained. But she continued in a friendly tone, ¡°We were wondering if you¡¯d seen any Gloomspurs nearby. Hoping to kill as many packs as we can, y¡¯know?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­¡± Erani looked around. ¡°Nope. Don¡¯t see any nearby. Should probably try heading further west, though? I don¡¯t know too much about their migration habits, but in my experience, they¡¯re normally further in that direction.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± one of the men called out. He was dressed in a traditional Magic-Type¡¯s robe and staff. Both of those items almost certainly held Enchantments¡ªotherwise there¡¯d be no reason to use them¡ªso he was most likely pretty wealthy. And dangerous. He continued, ¡°What¡¯s up with your voice? And, uh, look? That some sorta Spell?¡±


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a Spell.¡± Erani turned to keep walking.


    ¡°Well, which one?¡±


    Erani turned back around and saw that the man was approaching her.


    ¡°You¡¯re a Magic-Type, I guess? Probably not a Hybrid-Type, if you don¡¯t got any weapons on you. But, uh, yeah. What¡¯s your ss? I kinda dig the look, y¡¯know?¡±


    ¡°Damien,¡± the woman red at the man as he stood up next to her, ¡°leave her alone. Didn¡¯t you just say you didn¡¯t want to be the one to ask? You literally made me go up and talk to this one.¡±


    ¡°Shut up!¡± he said. ¡°I asked thest, like, four people where the Gloomspurs were. Your turn anyway.¡±


    ¡°Oh? And now you¡¯re just so interested in this woman¡¯s ss? That¡¯s a rude question to ask, anyway. You don¡¯t know her.¡±


    ¡°Um,¡± Erani pursed her lips, not really wanting to get into whatever these people had going on. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go. Sorry I couldn¡¯t be any help.¡±


    ¡°Hey, wait!¡± the man called out again. ¡°Do you want to join our party?¡±


    Erani stopped. That¡­was almost exactly what she and An were looking for.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, Damien,¡± the other man said. ¡°Don¡¯t bother her. She¡¯s probably got a party already.¡±


    ¡°Um, actually,¡± Erani said, ¡°I¡¯d¡­be interested. My party and I have been wanting to take on some higher-difficulty jobs. What¡¯re your degrees?¡±


    ¡°Mid bronze,¡± the woman said, seeming surprised that Erani said yes. ¡°Are you sure you want to join?¡±


    ¡°Well, of course,¡± Erani said. ¡°Working together would let us take on some much higher-paying jobs.¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡± the first man¡ªDamien¡ªsaid. ¡°That¡¯d be great, right guys?¡±


    ¡°We could probably cover more ground when looking for Gloomspurs¡­¡± the woman muttered.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Erani said, ¡°well, my party doesn¡¯t really want to do Gloomspur extermination stuff. I mean, ideally we¡¯d be moving on to do things at the peak of what¡¯s allowed for our group. That¡¯s what pays well, right?¡±


    The other man chuckled. ¡°Oh, I see. You¡¯re one of those suicidal types. Nah, we stick to the stuff that doesn¡¯t get us killed.¡±


    Erani nodded, shrugging off the insult. ¡°Seems we¡¯ll have to agree to disagree, then.¡±


    ¡°Well, we might be able to do something like that,¡± Damien said, seeming almost desperate. He turned to his teammates and spoke in a lower voice, ¡°c¡¯mon guys, just for one job?¡±


    ¡°Damien.¡± The woman whispered back to him in a harsh tone, grabbing his arm. ¡°I know you¡¯re lonely, but it is not appropriate to try and get a girlfriend by forcing us to risk our lives on a dangerous job just to have an excuse to speak to a woman.¡±


    Erani held back a sigh. Maybe the woman hadn¡¯t meant for her to hear that, maybe she was just trying to subtly warn Erani.


    ¡°Um,¡± Erani said, ¡°if you aren¡¯tfortable doing higher-difficulty jobs, that¡¯s totally fine. I can always¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, no, it¡¯s okay,¡± Damien, said, wrenching his arm free from the woman. ¡°We can find something that¡¯s hard, but not deadly, right? What about that bounty for the criminal guy? Seems like it wouldn¡¯t be too hard.¡±


    ¡°I really had a specific job in mind when I said I¡¯d join,¡± Erani said. ¡°It¡¯s really no problem. I might just need to get going, anyway.¡±


    ¡°Whatever the specific job you have, this bounty is way better!¡± Damien said. ¡°It pays over five hundred thousand!¡±


    Erani blinked, her attention fully gotten by the insane number. ¡°Wait, what? Why haven¡¯t I heard of this?¡±


    ¡°Only came in today,¡± Damien said proudly. ¡°We basically have, like, exclusive ess to the info.¡±


    ¡°You mean you eavesdropped on someone else talking about the bounty,¡± the woman said, rolling her eyes.


    ¡°Yeah, well, that actually seems like a great job to work with you three on,¡± Erani said. ¡°If all of you agree on it, I¡¯d be willing to work together and split the reward. It¡¯s just me and my b-boyfriend, so¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Damien looked down dejectedly. ¡°Nevermind. You can go, it¡¯s no problem.¡±


    ¡°...No,¡± the woman said, ¡°if you¡¯re willing to split the reward, we¡¯d be happy to work with you. It¡¯s just one guy and an aplice, so it shouldn¡¯t be a big risk if we¡¯ve got five of us.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± the other man nodded. ¡°They estimate the two of them are only high bronze degrees, so if the two of you are also bronze, that¡¯s a five-on-two. Could work.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re actually low silver,¡± Erani said.


    ¡°Woah, silver,¡± Damien muttered. ¡°Um, is it serious with your boyfriend, or¡­¡±


    The woman hit him on the side of the arm, and Erani fought off a blush. This Damien guy was just kind of annoying¡ªshe¡¯d dealt with one or two guys who seemed over-eager to get to know her in the past¡ªbut regardless of her annoyance within this conversation, her heart still fluttered at the idea of calling An her ¡®boyfriend.¡¯ She wasn¡¯t totally sure how <em>that</em> would be something to get her heart to pound after everything she¡¯d gone through, but it was just¡­Acknowledging their rtionship like that wasn¡¯t something she was used to. Certainly not speaking with others about it. So even when it was a basic conversation like this, bringing up the topic of rtionships at all turned her face red.


    Damien saw her face turn red, though, and seemed to grow in confidence slightly, assuming it was through its own merit that his remark colored her cheeks. ¡°Um, if you want to, y¡¯know, go out and get dinner¡ª¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Erani said, ¡°my b-boyfriend and I would be happy to ept your offer. What are the details? Do we know where the person is? Or what they look like, anything like that?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± the other man stepped forward as the woman pulled Damien away to reprimand him. ¡°There¡¯s not a huge amount of info out right now, but basically it¡¯s this Koinkarian guy. He snuck through Empire¡¯s Edge or something, ended up around this area, the kingdom estimates.¡±


    Erani frowned, growing nervous. ¡°Wait¡­¡±


    ¡°Anyway, him and this girl he was with, they¡¯re supposed to be the whole reasons the Demons attacked that ce to begin with. And so Koinkar says, if we kill the two or bring them back to the kingdom, they¡¯ll pay a whole lot. I know, not much to go off of, but they sent out some depictions of how the people look and their names and stuff, so shouldn¡¯t be impossible, or anything.¡±


    <em>Oh, no¡­</em>


    ¡°Names are¡­An something and Erani something, I think? I dunno, Koinkarians have such weird names. Anyway, that¡¯s the idea. You in or out?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡±

 Chapter 179: Trust and Tensions

    Chapter 179: Trust and Tensions


    As time passed and the sun set, moon rising through the sky, I approached the guard outpost that housed myst use of the Arcane Spell Crystal. Last up was Gravity Well, something with a unique enough effect that I was pretty interested in seeing the different directions the Upgrade options took it.


    By the time I saw the outpost appear through the trees, it was around ten at night. From what I knew of these guys, that meant they¡¯d still probably be up for another half hour, maybe another hour. So I¡¯d just have to wait for a little until then, and then I could head in and take it without any problems.


    At some point during travel, I got far enough away from Ainash that the Bond disconnected until we got closer together again, meaning the extra Stats were stripped away from me for the time being. It caught me off-guard when it happened, but I could still function without them. And our telepathicmunication wasn¡¯t something that required the Bond to be in ce to function¡ªthough it certainly took more effort to talk over long distances¡ªso that wasn¡¯t cut off. Still, it felt like I was operating with a piece of me missing.


    Slowly, I approached the guard outpost, keeping an ear out for their loud voices. But I didn¡¯t hear them. Last two times I was here at this time, they were drunk or ying cards, shouting at each other about this and that. Strange to not hear them. So I crept closer. Maybe they were already asleep?


    But as I got close enough to touch the outer wall, I finally heard them. Hushed whispers. What were they talking about?


    I listened even harder, ear up against their shut window. And I heard¡­


    Jannin sat around a table with Bon and Poppins, discussing the news they¡¯d recently gotten.


    ¡°W-what do we even do about this¡­?¡± Poppins muttered.


    ¡°It¡¯s obvious what we do about it!¡± Bon said, snarl on his face. ¡°We report the bastard! I can¡¯t believe there¡¯s even a question here.¡±


    Jannin rolled his eyes. ¡°Seriously, Bon? Report him to the Empire? Yeah, sure, why don¡¯t we just bow down to Etrin at that point?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not about that damned emperor, it¡¯s about doing our duty. We have a job. We protect the people. If there¡¯s some criminal out there, killing civilians, we obviously have to keep them safe. We have information, we give it to the authorities. They can do what they want with it.¡±


    ¡°We <em>are</em> the authorities, dumbass!¡± Jannin argued. Did this guy not understand what he was saying? ¡°It¡¯s up to us to decide whether or not to report it. And I say we don¡¯t. He¡¯s probably just some random political opponent to the Empire, someone threatening Etrin¡¯s oh-so-precious power. They¡¯re lying to get rid of him.¡±


    ¡°Why would they do that? If they wanted him gone, they¡¯d have gotten rid of him. Listen, they said the kingdom¡¯s fugitive would have most likelye through this very mountain pass in a single week¡¯s timeframe. And guess what? Those people did exactly that. They said it¡¯d be a man, a woman, and a monster. That was them. They gave physical descriptions, and they fit them.¡±


    ¡°Annor didn¡¯t. And the monster was a little different, too.¡±


    ¡°Annor was wearing a min¡¯ suit of armor the whole time! We don¡¯t know what he looked like! They¡¯re obviously the fugitives. And since they lied to us about their identities, that proves they¡¯re trouble. Why lie if you aren¡¯t guilty?¡±


    ¡°Maybe because they know idiots like you exist?¡± Jannin pped his hand on the table. ¡°Idiots who follow everything the Empire says, idiots who don¡¯t think for themselves? All that proves is they knew they couldn¡¯t trust you. A pretty urate observation, if I say so myself. You clearly don¡¯t know your left from your right.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know my left from my¡ªman, go to Hell! You¡¯re just so swept up with hating everything rted to the Empire, you forget that there are people here! People we¡¯re charged to protect! If there¡¯s even a chance this guy¡¯s no good, we need to do something about it! And there <em>is</em> a chance! We know for a fact he¡¯s no good, in fact! You saw him, you talked to him, you¡¯re reallyfortable letting a guy like <em>that</em> live with the innocents?!¡±


    ¡°Oh so it alles down to that huh?¡± Jannin said,pletely exasperated. ¡°You¡¯re pissed that the guy beat you in a fight, and so you wanna kill him.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t ever bring that up.¡±


    ¡°But you were thinking it! We all know you¡¯re a min¡¯ crybaby who can¡¯t stand to get your min¡¯ ego challenged. Apparently, you can¡¯t stand it so much that you¡¯re willing to abandon what I <em>thought</em> you held important. Seriously? Trusting the Empire? <em>Siding with</em> the Empire?! When we got sent out here, we made a promise. We knew refusing to serve that false emperor, that <em>murderer</em> Etrin would get us in trouble. But we said we¡¯d <em>never</em> abandon our ideals. We¡¯d <em>never</em> trust what that bastard said! But here you are, the moment someone you don¡¯t like is relying on you to keep that promise, you throw it all out! You throw our promise out! If Annor¡¯d said he thought Empress Lyra deserved to live, would you¡¯ve gone and pissed on her grave, too?!¡±


    Bon stood from his seat, rage on his face. ¡°You don¡¯t know what in the mes you¡¯re talking about! We know he¡¯s a shithead, we know he assaults people for no reason, we know he¡¯s an egotistical son of a whore who doesn¡¯t deserve anything but what¡¯sing to him! It¡¯s fact!¡±


    Jannin stood too, eager to talk some sense into this dumbass. ¡°It ain¡¯t shit! It¡¯s you believing what you wanna believe because the thought that maybe you did something wrong is just so hard for you to believe!¡±


    ¡°Hey, g-guys, let¡¯s calm down, okay?¡± Poppins said, quiet voice calming in the room slightly.


    Jannin huffed sat back down. ¡°I¡¯m just tryin¡¯ to show this man what he¡¯s doing. Who he¡¯s lying his allegiances with.¡±


    ¡°I think we should go over what we know for sure,¡± Poppins said. ¡°We let someone through here a couple days ago. He passed a Truth Stone test giving us his identity, and went on his way. Now, we¡¯re being told that, if we had someonee through during that range of days who fit a certain description, it¡¯s possible that person could be a fugitive of the Kingdom, so we should report it in.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, a description that those people perfectly fit,¡± Bon said with a scowl.


    Jannin scoffed. ¡°And so they just somehow passed the Truth Stone test saying information that directly contradicts our theory?¡±


    ¡°Tests can be faulty! You know that!¡±


    ¡°It was a test that <em>you</em> administered, Bon! If it was faulty, that¡¯s your fault!¡±


    ¡°Listen, guys,¡± Poppins said, hand out as if to calm two wild animals. ¡°What we don¡¯t know is what he did to deserve this.¡±


    ¡°We do! The report said it. Uh¡­¡± Bon shuffled through the pages of Message Paper on the table in search of the one that held the details. Once he found it, he held it up and read off, ¡°¡®Mass murder, evadingw enforcement, and deliberately antagonizing Demonkind intounching an assault on the Overworld.¡¯¡±


    Jannin rubbed his eyes with his palms. ¡°Bon, how do you know they¡¯re telling the truth? These bastards lie all the min¡¯ time!¡±


    ¡°So,¡± Poppins continued, ¡°let¡¯s go over the possibility. It¡¯s possible that, first off, this is just a coincidence, right? I mean, technically, it could be the case that Annor has nothing to do with this fugitive, and they were just in the wrong case at the wrong time.¡±


    Bon shook his head. ¡°min¡¯ unlikely.¡±


    ¡°It could also be possible that Annor <em>is</em> who they¡¯re talking about, and the Empire is lying to us. The Kingdom said nothing of the sort to them, and the Empire just wants this man dead for some other reason. Like Jannin said, he could be some sort of political opponent to Etrin, or someone who holds information they don¡¯t want to get to the popce for fear of starting a rebellion.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jannin said, ¡°and I¡¯m not sellin¡¯ this guy out in that case. No matter how much you disagree.¡±


    ¡°It could also be a simr situation with the Kingdom. Perhaps they¡¯re lying, and this man has nothing to do with the Demons at all. The Kingdom just wants to keep him from entering the Empire. And finally, the Demons could be lying. Perhaps they¡¯ve deceived the Kingdom in some way into believing this man is a viin, when in reality they want him dead for selfish reasons. Maybe they wish to enact a full-scale takeover of the Kingdom, but for whatever reason, they can¡¯t while this man is alive.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jannin nodded. ¡°Poppins, you get it. Almost certain that <em>someone</em> is lying here. And whoever that someone is, I¡¯m not helping them kill some random guy.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say ¡®almost certain,¡¯ but it¡¯spletely possible. Which is why I think we should think through our options before acting.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to think about!¡± Bon said. ¡°You keep going on and on about how we should slow down and think, but that¡¯s probably all this ¡®Annor¡¯ guy wants us to do! Mass murderer freak would love to get more time to kill more innocents! How are you talking about protecting an innocent life when there are hundreds¡ªthousands¡ªof lives that you¡¯re abandoning as we speak?!¡±


    ¡°Oh, yes, forgive me for questioning the infallible Emperor Etrin,¡± Jannin said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. ¡°The man we all know has done nothing wrong. I never knew you were such a fan!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare¡ª¡± Bon growled.


    ¡°Guys, guys,¡± Poppins attempted to quiet the room again, but Jannin wasn¡¯t listening.


    ¡°I mean, if I¡¯d known you liked Etrin so much, Bon, I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯d have shared my doubts about him in the first ce. I¡¯ve been so curious for all these years about who in our guard toon must have sold us out for ¡®conspiring¡¯ against the new murderer of an emperor, but maybe I forgot to consider the man closest to me! The man I <em>thought</em> I could trust!¡±


    Bon leapt from his seat again, ignoring Poppins¡¯s continued attempts to calm them down. ¡°Don¡¯t you <em>dare</em> use me of something like that! You know¡ª¡±


    ¡°I know what, Bon?! That you protect the innocent? That you care about justice? That you understand the dangers of working with the Empire? I <em>thought</em> I knew a lot of things about you before now, but it seems like lots of your true feelings are being revealed.¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t about that! It isn¡¯t about min¡¯ politics! It¡¯s about doing our job, even if that means making a tough choice.¡±


    Janninughed bitterly. ¡°Tough choice. Yeah, right. This is a tough choice for you? As if you wouldn¡¯t absolutely <em>love</em> it if this Annor guy turned out to be some asshole. As if it wouldn¡¯t make your min¡¯ day if Annor got executed for some crime he didn¡¯tmit. You keep rambling on about justice and duty, while you¡¯re the one trying to break all the rules to kill some innocent man who did nothing wrong but beat you in a fight! This is the easiest choice in the world for you, Bon! You don¡¯t like someone, so you want to kill them. It¡¯s tyrannical. You¡¯re abusing your power, and I refuse to stand by it. Same as I refused to stand by Etrin when he abused his.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯tpare me to that monster!¡± Bon reached for his sword.


    Poppins¡¯s arms broke out between them over the table, forcefully pushing them each back.


    ¡°Enough!¡± He screamed, voice quivering with anxiety. ¡°This arguing won''t solve anything. Just¡­let¡¯s take a night off, or something. Bon, I¡¯m sure a single day won¡¯t make a difference. Take some time, sleep on it, and maybe we can try and find some more information tomorrow.¡±


    Once again, the room fell silent, the weight of their disagreement suffocating the very air they breathed. Both Jannin and Bon red at each other, their chests heaving with anger.


    Finally, Bon took his hand off the hilt of his de. ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of these insults. Not wasting another second with a couple of morons who can¡¯t see reason. You can go to Hell, I¡¯m gonna go take a min¡¯ piss.¡±


    With that, he stormed through the door, and Jannin could hear his boots crunching against the leaves outside as he walked off.


    Jannin sighed, feeling as though he let out a breath he¡¯d been holding for years, and fell back into his chair. The old wood of the furniture scraped against the stone floor as he sunk his weight into it.


    ¡°What in the mes are we gonna do now, Poppins?¡± he muttered.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he shook his head. ¡°I knew Bon didn¡¯t like Annor¡ªI¡¯m not entirely fond of the man, myself. But that felt¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± a muffled shout came from outside.


    ¡°Bon?¡± Jannin looked over in the direction it came from, and rushed to open the window. Through the dark, he could barely see Bon¡¯s figure rushing off into the trees.


    Poppins walked over to the window, too, shouting out, ¡°Bon! What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°I found him!¡± Bon looked and yelled back, voice shaking in excitement and nervousness. ¡°That damned monster! I got him! He was listening to us! If that doesn¡¯t prove we need to turn him in, I don¡¯t know what does!¡±


    Jannin couldn¡¯t see anything, like Bon wasn¡¯t pointing at anything. But as he focused on the imagine more, he slowly realized that it wasn¡¯t that Bon wasn¡¯t pointing at anything, it was that he was pointing at <em>nothing</em>. Like a patch of nothingness, pure darkness, standing in the forest.


    Then, the patch of darkness waved, and a voice came from it. A familiar voice.


    ¡°Uh, hey guys. I think we just need to talk this through.¡±

 Chapter 180: Welcome to the Kingdom: Execution Phase

    Chapter 180: Wee to the Kingdom: Execution Phase


    Asmo stood in front of two men in a damp, dark room. She stood calmly in the empty stone cer, assessing the two of them as they stared back at her.


    She turned to the smaller one. He was short, slouched, and had a messy mop of hair atop his head. ¡°Thein Zannir. You have been offered a promotion to second-inmand to Keiki Umesai.¡±


    He frowned and nodded slowly.


    Asmo turned to the taller man, broad shoulders held high, back straight, and face in an eternally serious expression. ¡°Weth Lorrn. You, too, have been offered this same promotion.¡±


    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡±


    ¡°As you can tell from the title, there is only one slot.¡±


    ¡°This some sorta interview?¡± Thein asked, hismoner ent shining through his words.


    ¡°Effectively.¡±


    Weth looked around in the in room, nothing inside except the three people. ¡°What¡­are we to do, ma¡¯am?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± she looked at their armored bodies,yered cloth and leather covering them with probably a half-dozen hidden daggers and weapons concealed on their persons. They <em>were</em> assassins, after all, so it made sense that they¡¯d be so well-equipped. ¡°First, you will remove your garments. Clothes and weapons, please. Give them to me.¡±


    ¡°¡­All of my clothes?¡± Thein asked, raising an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s fuckin¡¯ creepy,dy.¡±


    ¡°Address her with respect,¡± Weth said without looking over.


    ¡°With respe¡ª-man, we don¡¯t even know her fuckin¡¯ name. How am I supposed to address her with respect? Lady didn¡¯t even introduce herself yet.¡±


    ¡°And yet you still know who she represents. And who she¡¯s allied with. Miss Umesai killed how many people before taking over? I do not think it would be wise to trifle with them.¡±


    Thein scoffed. ¡°What¡¯s the bitch gonna do? Murder me?¡±


    Asmo drew a dagger from the sheath on her side, pulled back, and drove it straight into Thein¡¯s shoulder with the full weight of her body.


    You have struck Level 11 Rogue for 48 damage using Dagger.


    He yelled in pain, stumbling back and grabbing his now-bleeding shoulder, knife sticking straight out of it.


    ¡°That is what I will do,¡± Asmo said simply. ¡°If you insist, I can leave the room while you take off your clothes. But I will enter again to collect them and introduce you to the interview process.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± Weth said with a curt nod, though Asmo could see his eyes flicking periodically to Thein as he continued to groan in pain.


    Asmo turned to Thein, awaiting a response.


    He looked up at her with a scowl, and yanked the dagger out of his shoulder, blood leaking from the wound that had only been partially protected by his middling Health. ¡°¡­Yeah. Sure.¡±


    He tossed the dagger to the ground.


    ¡°You can start by taking that and shoving it back into wherever it came from.¡±


    Asmo turned and left the room.


    When she re-entered the room, Asmo found a pile of clothes and gear by the door, and two naked men standing in the middle. Weth stood in the exact same pose as he¡¯d stood in before, arms by his side and back straight. Thein stood with the same scowl on his face, blood from his shoulder wound dribbling down to a small puddle on the floor. The only noise in the room came from his arms crossed in front of his chest, his fingers tapping impatiently against his biceps.


    ¡°So?¡± He asked. ¡°Weparing dick sizes, or something?¡±


    Asmo looked between them for a moment. ¡°Turn around and show me you have no concealed weapons on your person.¡±


    They turned in a circle, arms raised, and she spotted nothing.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Asmo opened the door and kicked the pile of clothes through, then turned back to them. ¡°As I said before, there is only one open position for this promotion. I expect you to have resolved this issue by the time Ie back.¡±


    Weth frowned. ¡°Um, excuse me, ma¡¯am, but how should we go about doing that? What¡­method are we to use to resolve this issue?¡±


    Asmo looked at him. ¡°You two are assassins, correct? Do your job.¡±


    She turned and walked back through the door, shutting and locking it behind her. She would give them¡­five minutes before she returned to collect the victor.


    Out of the two candidates, there was one obvious favored individual¡ªWeth. He was higher-Level, taller, in better shape, and clearly more diligent as a soldier. While he wasn¡¯t perfectly professional, he was at least better than the average lowlife assassin that worked for Keiki, so Asmo could understand why she had put him on her list of top five best-performing soldiers.


    ¡°Urgh!¡±


    A shout of pain sounded from behind the door. Sounded like they¡¯d finally understood what Asmo had asked them to do. Really, she didn¡¯t need to wait the full five minutes before going in. Once one of them stopped making noise, that would most likely be the time the fight was over.


    A thud echoed from against the door¡ªsomeone¡¯s body must have been mmed into it¡ªand then Asmo heard a wet impact from the stone floor, followed by more shouting. She¡¯d taken their clothes and weapons, and both of those people were Melee-Types. So, basically, that just left the option of a in fistfight. Something that was sure to drain both of them heavily, considering how much effort it would take for one of them to kill the other, even with the Level gap between them.


    She wasn¡¯t just killing a soldier for no reason, of course, it was simply a necessary sacrifice to get the survivor into the necessary physical condition for the next step of this process. That was, she needed the survivor to be damaged, beaten, and tired. Weth would kill Thein after some effort, and then she could ¡®promote¡¯ him.


    It actually ended up taking the full five minutes before the sounds ofbat stoppeding from behind the door. Once that was over, Asmo waited one more minute to ensure it was finished, and then entered.


    The interior of the room was smeared with blood. Stters from people getting mmed into walls, footprints from people sliding around in the murky red puddles, droplets flung around onto every surface of the stone box. And in the middle of the room was the person who¡¯d contributed to about half of this blood. He was lying on the ground face down, dozens of wounds covering his entire body. Dead.


    It was Weth.


    Sitting in the corner in a pool of half blood, half sweat, was Thein. His heavy breaths echoed through the room as he stared at Asmo. Somehow, he¡¯d won.


    Asmo stared at him for a moment. ¡°...I was curious when I received no contribution message from your dying.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t¡­¡± he gasped for air. ¡°Can¡¯t kill me that easily.¡±


    Asmo looked back at the corpse of Weth. ¡°Are those bite marks?¡±


    ¡°You think I killed him with a knife wound in my shoulder by yin¡¯ fair?¡± he said through continued gasps.


    She stood in the room for a few more moments. The smell of body odor and sweat filled her nostrils. Then she turned around. ¡°Well. You won. You get the promotion. We leave now.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± He asked. ¡°Thought you¡¯d kill me after I beat your little game.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°Though I am curious as to how you defeated someone who was clearly your superior in every aspect, I will not kill you for no reason. At the very least, it would be a waste of resources toe this far only to give up halfway through. You will make a fine test subject.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s reassuring.¡± He sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t gotta walk long, do I? Can barely stand.¡±


    She looked back at him with unamused eyes. ¡°We leave now. Get up ande with me.¡±


    After a short walk with the nude, bloody man, drawing curious eyes from the soldiers of the pce and baleful gazes from the cleaning staff, Asmo half-guided, half-dragged the exhausted Thein into an unlit room.


    ¡°Lie down here,¡± she pointed at the operating table and pushed him toward it.


    Sluggishly, he climbed atop. ¡°This is a shitty bed. If you¡¯re expecting to fuck me here, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m gonna be able to get it up on this rock-solid piece of ass.¡±


    She ignored him and walked over to the instrument table, ensuring she had all tools needed. There were the four prototypes Winic had made her¡ªone for each arm and each leg¡ªand, of course, the tools to put them there in the first ce.


    First, she grabbed the leather straps and walked over to him. ¡°Stretch your arms and legs out.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± he said, seeming nervous from the strange room, ¡°the hells are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Just put your arms and legs where I tell you to put them.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I wanna do that. I thought this was some promotion thing. The hells is goin¡¯ on?¡±


    She forcibly grabbed his arms and yanked them to the ce they needed to be, leveraging her superior Stats and the fact that he¡¯d just drained all of his strength in a life-or-death fight to easily wrench his hands down to the table and strap them down, followed by his legs.


    ¡°Hey!¡± he shouted as she turned back around to grab more straps in an attempt to ensure he didn¡¯t go anywhere. ¡°What¡¯re you doing! You said this was some experiment?! I though you meant, like, a fuckin¡¯ social experiment! Like a ¡®let¡¯s see what happens if we make Thein kill some random dude¡¯ kind of experiment! The hells is this?!¡±


    After sufficiently strapping down his extremities and his torso, Asmo turned back around and grabbed the reason she¡¯d needed to strap him down.


    Walking toward Thein with the saw, serrated de shining through the darkness, Asmo saw his eyes go wide in fear.


    ¡°Hey, hey, hey,¡± he said, ¡°what the fuck? What the fuck are you doing?! Get the fuck away from me with that!¡±


    She calmly ced the saw down on his arm, de going right below the shoulder so it would cut the bicep in half. That was where Winic had told her she¡¯d need to cut for the Enchanted instruments to work, so that was where she¡¯d cut.


    ¡°Please,dy,¡± Thein begged, ¡°I didn¡¯t do nothin¡¯ to you! I passed your fuckin¡¯ test! What the hells?!¡±


    ¡°I do understand your pain,¡± Asmo responded. ¡°Personally, I have had my own limbs amputated one hundred and twelve times. But the first time is always the worst, so I apologize for making you go through that. I will only do this to you once, however, so ideally you will find it in your mind to forgive me.¡±


    Asmo did need to work rtively quickly once shemenced her amputation. Blood loss would be significant from such a thing, after all, and the man was already heavily damaged. This was by far the part of the operation most likely to end in failure and a dead subject, and unpracticed hands were certainly not guaranteed to avoid error.


    But with her calming breathing techniques to carry her through the sharp sounds of Thein¡¯s agonized screaming, she carried through the operation smoothly. Each time she amputated a limb, she grabbed one of Winic¡¯s devices and affixed it to the stump. This device then spread across the open, bleeding wound and covered it entirely in metal, stemming the immediate bleeding and setting itself up within Thein¡¯s body, on standby for Asmo to activate when she was ready.


    Once all four limbs had been amputated and all four devices were in ce, she stood back and gazed upon her work. The bloody table held a barely-conscious Thein, who was now just a head and a torso with two stumps protruding from its shoulders and two stumps protruding from its pelvis. But soon he would be much, much more.


    Asmo walked over and grabbed a potion of Health and a potion of Stamina, pouring them into her subject¡¯s mouth. They¡¯d boost his regeneration for the next ten minutes, which would hopefully pull him out of his current daze.


    ¡°Thein,¡± she said. ¡°Wake up.¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± his voice was hoarse from screaming. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡±


    ¡°Can you at least understand me?¡±


    ¡°Y¡­yeah.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I will speak, and you can listen.¡± She took a step back. ¡°I have removed your limbs. You understand that, yes?¡±


    He nodded wearily.


    ¡°Good. And you understand what that means for you? For your life? Without your limbs, you can effectively do nothing. You cannot walk on your own, you cannot work on your own, you cannot eat or drink on your own, you cannot live on your own. You are doomed to a life of nothingness, your only escape being suicide.¡±


    Another nod, this one even wearier.


    ¡°I am willing to offer you one other escape. One which I imagine is much preferable to killing yourself. Which, of course, you would not be able to do anyway, given you have no legs to walk off a bridge with.¡±


    His eyes opened a bit wider, looking at Asmo.


    ¡°Rather than telling you what I offer, allow me to show you.¡± Asmo reached into her pocket and grabbed a switch, then flicked it on.


    Instantly, the four metal bands that were wrapped around his stumps lit up, brightening the entire room in a blue glow. Out from each of them grew a magical appendage, each sized to perfectly rece Thein¡¯s missing limbs. Two arms and two legs.


    He blinked and looked down at his new body, breathing heavily not out of fear anymore, but out of surprise. Asmo was sure the whish of losing one¡¯s limbs and then instantly getting them back would be enough to put anyone in shock. Or, rather, she knew exactly that this would be the case, as she had lived through it, herself. In a slightly different context, of course, but she suspected she understood his feelings.


    ¡°Try moving them,¡± she said.


    One of the arms shook, not quite moving in any sort of natural Human way, and not really traveling to any destination at all, rather bending strangely and contorting into itself. As a magical construct, it could pass through itself just fine, but other objects could not pass through it. Winic had tried to exin it to Asmo when he gave them to her, but his method of teaching seemed to forget Asmo barely had more than a cursory knowledge of Enchanting, and so his jargon-filled word vomit flew over her head. But seeing it in action was still quite interesting.


    ¡°What¡­¡± Thein stared on in wonder. ¡°What is this? Why?¡±


    ¡°You will get more used to moving them in the future,¡± Asmo said. ¡°I have heard they have quite the learning curve. But we will re-train you on how to walk and move naturally. As for why I have done this¡­¡±


    She flipped the switch back off.


    The room instantly went dark again as the limbs shut off, disappearing back into nothingness.


    ¡°If I, or anyone else I trust, ever, for any reason, suspects you of attempting to work against us, of being disobedient, insubordinate,zy, ineffective, or otherwise costing more than you are worth, I will flip this switch off. And you will not have limbs until I decide to turn them back on.¡±


    She flipped them back on. The blue light illuminated Thein¡¯s face, revealing an expression of horror.


    ¡°If you work properly, you will have nothing to fear. In fact, these limbs are better than normal ones. I have effectively given you four extremely powerful, extremely expensive Enchanted items that you will have for the rest of your life. But I will take them away if I feel the need to. So do not make me feel the need to take them away. Unless you wish to take that other escape option I mentioned to avoid a life lived without limbs.¡±


    ¡°Y¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re insane.¡±


    ¡°I prefer the term effective. Nowe with me. I am hoping to turn you into the second person I have ever trusted. And I expect you to help me trust more people. Oh, and congrattions on your promotion.¡±

 Chapter 181: Confrontation and Compromise

    Chapter 181: Confrontation and Compromise


    I stared at Bon, who was holding me at swordpoint in the dark night. When he randomly stormed out of the outpost in the middle of their conversation, it¡¯d caught me off-guard, and I couldn¡¯t get far enough away before he saw me and yelled out for the others.


    In truth, the fact that his sword was drawn was borderline not even worth mentioning, considering how little of a physical threat he¡ªor any of the other guards¡ªposed to me. If an actual fight broke out, with my overwhelming Level advantage over them, it wouldn¡¯t even be a contest. And even if they somehow got the upper hand, I always had Time Loop to rewind and do the fight again.


    I was considering using Time Loop anyway, now that Bon had caught me listening in on their conversation, but honestly I wasn¡¯t sure if that was the right y. They knew who I was¡ªor at least had an extremely strong suspicion¡ªand there was a very real chance that if I, say, went back and didn¡¯t let them catch me, running off and not interfering with them, Bon would end up convincing the other two to turn me in. Or he¡¯d do it himself behind the others¡¯ backs. I needed to talk to them here, so if this was how the conversation started, that was good enough.


    Well, <em>I</em> thought I needed to talk to them here. Someone else disagreed.


    ¡°An,¡± Index said as I stared down Bon¡¯s de, ¡°I am going to reiterate my advice to you for the twenty-eighth time. Kill all three of them right now. Do not give them a chance to speak, run, or do anything at all. Kill them. Leave no survivors.¡±


    <em>I¡¯m not going to kill them.</em>


    ¡°If you leave them alive, knowing what they know, you are only leaving yourself up to being betrayed. Do not trust anyone. Especially not someone who hates you.¡±


    <em>I¡¯m not going to murder innocent people just because they happen to know too much. If I clear things up with them and show them I¡¯m not some monster, we can resolve things peacefully.</em>


    ¡°It is my responsibility to advise you on how to stay safe. You have personally asked me to give my rmendations in situations like these. And my advice for you is that there is only one guaranteed way out of this alive. Kill everyone who knows your identity. Listen, I get that you have your morals or whatever. But Bon is threatening your life, right? He wants to murder you, an innocent man. Doesn¡¯t that mean your Human justice system would decide he needs to die, in turn?¡±


    <em>First, I don¡¯t think Bon deserves to die just because he¡¯s got the wrong idea about me. Second, Jannin and Poppins have done nothing wrong. They¡¯re even on my side here. But if I murder their friend right in front of them, there is absolutely no way they¡¯ll let me go without reporting me. Which means I¡¯d have to kill them, too. Whether or not Bon is guilty has nothing to do with whether or not they deserve to die, and it¡¯s either all of them or none of them.¡±</em>


    ¡°An. Just kill them. Please. It is literally the point of my existence to keep you alive, and this is the only way.¡±


    <em>You know everything about the System, but you¡¯re just as wed as everyone else concerning things outside of it. Thank you for the advice, but please let me make this decision on my own.</em>


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to let you put yourself in danger for the sake ofpletely irrelevant lives!¡± This was the only time I¡¯d heard real desperation and anger in Index¡¯s normally calm, cheery voice. ¡°Please, kill them right now!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Jannin ran up to Bon, nked by Poppins, looking at me. ¡°Is that¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s him!¡± Bon said. Then he turned to me. ¡°Annor. Or, that isn¡¯t actually your name, is it? min¡¯ liar.¡±


    I held up my hands, trying to keep a peaceful tone. ¡°Guys, this is a misunderstanding.¡±


    ¡°Is it true?¡± Poppins said. All three of them were facing me. ¡°Are you really the fugitive they¡¯re looking for?¡±


    I took a breath. Lying to them about that wouldn¡¯t work. They¡¯d never believe me. ¡°Yes, they¡¯re trying to kill me. But I¡¯ve done nothing wrong. I was in the wrong ce at the wrong time.¡±


    ¡°Bullshit!¡± Bon screamed. ¡°You¡¯re a lying piece of shit, and you know it!¡±


    ¡°An,¡± Index said, ¡°kill them right now.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not lying,¡± I said, trying to ignore Index¡¯s words. ¡°The Demons came to the Overworld because killing me would give them more power. Now Koinkar is in their pocket, and they¡¯re using the kingdom toe after me. They¡¯re not after me because I¡¯m hurting people.¡±


    ¡°Prove it!¡± Bon said.


    I shook my head. ¡°I have no idea how you expect me to do that. If it was so easy to prove, I¡¯d have done it already. It¡¯s my word against the Demons¡¯. I¡¯d hope you would trust your fellow Human more than them.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, c¡¯mon Bon,¡± Jannin said. ¡°I don¡¯t think this is¡ª¡±


    ¡°Why were you listening to us?¡± Bon said. He took a step forward, his sword still out.


    I didn¡¯t move, instead answering as calmly as I could. ¡°I¡¯de out here to do something else, and thought I¡¯d drop by. But when I heard you talking about me, I was worried. Afraid you¡¯d turn me in.¡±


    ¡°A-and how do you know you weren¡¯t here to kill us? Murder us in our sleep, or something? min¡¯ killer, that¡¯s what you are! I know it!¡±


    ¡°An,¡± Index continued talking, ¡°you need to kill them all. Switch to Light te, cast Crippling Chill and activate Gravity Well on all three, Rays of Frost at them all too, grab Bon with Noxious Grasp and Sanguine Bond while you continue shooting Jannin with Rays, then¡ª¡±


    ¡°Believe me,¡± I said while Index detailed the exact methods I could take to ughter them all, ¡°if I was here to kill you, that would have already been done. There would be no need to speak to you right now.¡±


    Bon took a step back at that, scrunching his face up in a mixture of fear and anger.


    ¡°Listen,¡± I said. ¡°I respect you. I really do. You¡¯re standing up to someone you think is evil, someone you know is stronger than you. To hold up that sword right now takes a lot of strength. You¡¯re brave, and you stand up for what you think is right. You¡¯re a good person, Bon. All three of you are good people. But what you¡¯ve been told is a lie. Propaganda sown by the Demons. I¡¯ve seen person after person fall to their deception and die for it. Please, just trust me here. I¡¯m an innocent man running from people trying to use their power to kill him.¡±


    I could see Poppins nodding along to my words. Jannin seemed to agree, too. Bon, however, didn¡¯t seem convinced.


    ¡°I won¡¯t let you get to me! You¡¯re a maniac!¡±


    ¡°An, kill them right now. Please. It would be so easy. Barely ten seconds and they¡¯re dead.¡±


    ¡°What reason do you have to hate me?¡± I was practically begging, at this point. Not for my sake, but for theirs. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I attacked you. I was drunk, you said something I didn¡¯t like, and I hit you. That¡¯s my mistake. I was too used to solving problems with violence after being on the run for so long. But that was a mistake. A small one. You understand that, right? You don¡¯t really think that¡¯s a reason to kill someone?¡±


    ¡°It proved to me you¡¯re a violent psychopath, Annor! A liar, and a murderer! If you could¡¯ve killed me there and gotten away with it, you would¡¯ve! It was only because my friends were there to protect me that you left me alive. I won¡¯t let you terrorize more people like that!¡±


    ¡°An, you can close your eyes when you do it. I¡¯ll guide you. I¡¯ll tell you where to point your hand and when to shoot. I¡¯m telling you, you won¡¯t even get hurt. It¡¯d be ridiculously easy. And you won¡¯t see it, I¡¯ll yell so you can¡¯t hear it, either. And you can just turn around and walk away. It¡¯s like it never happened, right? Kill them, I¡¯m begging you. Can¡¯t you see this Bon guy can¡¯t be reasoned with? He¡¯s practically begging you to kill him. Just a few Rays, that¡¯s all I¡¯m asking of you. Just¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been nothing but peaceful to you,¡± I said. My voice was trembling. Index¡¯s constant begging, Bon¡¯s shouting, it made it so hard to even think. Like everyone was just screaming at me to end them. ¡°One time, when I was drunk, I hit you. And that¡¯s all. I get that you¡¯re afraid, and you don¡¯t know who to trust. But if you just promise me you won¡¯t turn me in, I¡¯ll leave you be. Please just say it. You don¡¯t understand how much I need you to just promise me.¡±


    ¡°Bon,¡± Jannin said, ¡°let¡¯s just go back to our outpost and talk it through. We can say we won¡¯t turn him in for now, maybe give him some time to go and find evidence that he¡¯s innocent. Annor, can you do that? Like, if you have time, can you prove to us¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t turn on me too, man!¡± Bon yelled. ¡°I thought you were my friend! You¡¯re colluding with this¡­this enemy! Monster! He¡¯s barely even Human!¡±


    ¡°An,¡± Index said. ¡°I''m begging you with every fiber of my being. Kill Bon. End his life right now. This is your only chance to ensure your safety and survival. You can''t trust him or anyone else. They will betray you. They will turn you in. They will see you dead. There is a threat in front of you and you have the power to end it. For once in your life, you have the ability topletely annihte someone who is threatening you. Someone who is abusing you. Someone who hates you unfairly. This is what you¡¯ve wanted all your life. To be able to eliminate these threats. You have it. Use it. Use your power right now!¡±


    Bon turned to me. ¡°You¡¯re a monster, hear me! Monster! And I¡¯ll y you if it¡¯s thest thing I do!¡±


    ¡°Kill him An!¡±


    ¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± I screamed. My words echoed through the forest. ¡°All of you, shut the fuck up! Just be quiet!¡±


    Bon took a step back, fear written across his face. His trembling sword arm faltered.


    ¡°Do you understand all that I¡¯ve done to keep you alive?¡± I asked Bon, taking a step forward. ¡°When I hit you that night when I was drunk, I gave you a System notification with my ss on it. Identifying information. If you read it, I¡¯d have to kill you. It would have been so easy to do so. I could have killed all three of you without even trying. Do you understand that? I¡¯m Level 20, you fucking idiot! More than double all of you! And guess what? I didn¡¯t do it! I didn¡¯t take the easy solution. I wracked my fucking brain for a way that kept you alive. And I found it. I kept you unconscious until the notification disappeared, while making sure you stayed alive. There was absolutely no reason for me to do that. If I wanted to just keep myself safe, the objectively correct option would be to just kill the three of you and make it look like a monster attack. But I didn¡¯t do it.¡±


    Bon looked at me, taking shaky breaths. Jannin and Poppins shared a nce.


    ¡°Then, the next day,¡± I said, ¡°you showed me that you resented me for hurting you. I get it. You don¡¯t like me. That¡¯s fine. You hold a grudge. But when you got attacked by a Gloomspur, lying on your back about to die from its gas, what did I do?¡±


    He scowled. ¡°You didn¡¯t do anything special. Just¡ª¡±


    ¡°Do you want to know what the objectively correct decision would¡¯ve been? Nothing! You¡¯d established yourself as an enemy. Someone who wanted to hurt me. It would have been so fucking easy to just watch you die. Complete ident, no me on me. And I wouldn¡¯t be in this mess right now. But what did I do?¡±


    He just stared at me.


    ¡°I saved your fucking life anyway! For the second time, I made my life objectively harder just so you could stay alive. And now, we¡¯re standing here for a third time. Bon, I want you to take a wild guess. What the fuck do you think is the objectively correct decision?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not proving anything,¡± he growled. ¡°Just because you didn¡¯t kill me a couple times doesn¡¯t mean¡ª¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯re just making the decision even better!¡± I yelled out, as if all of the stress that¡¯d been filling my chest were being let out through my lungs. ¡°You are standing here, telling me. Admitting to me that if I leave you alive, you will kill me. There¡¯s no question about it. You will murder me the first chance you get. You understand that, right?! You¡¯re telling me you want to kill me, and your mind can¡¯t be changed. Bon. What is the only way for me to prevent you from murdering me?¡±


    He took a shaky breath. ¡°I¡­¡±


    ¡°You have been screaming at me this whole time, telling me that the only way I have out of this is to fucking ughter you! Something that I could easily, <em>easily</em> do. And what I have I not done? What have I refused to do at every turn, purely for your sake? Purely to my own detriment? I am actively hurting myself, risking my own life, every single second I leave you alive. Every single second I refuse to kill you. So how in the fuck are you sitting there calling me a fucking murderer?! A psychopath! Evil! When you¡¯re the one who is so fucking eager to kill an innocent man!¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°I, I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t¡­¡±


    ¡°I have been nothing but diplomatic. Nothing but peaceful. To be honest, Bon, I don¡¯t want your apology. I want you to understand the gravity of the situation. Not just that <em>your</em> life is at stake here, but also mine. I have deliberately put my life on the line for your sake. Purely because I refuse to stoop to the level of mindless violence. To the level of killing someone just because I don¡¯t particrly like them. I need you to understand that I have put my neck on the chopping block, and I need you to understand that you have repaid that by throwing threats and insults my way. I am fucking tired of defending myself to someone who refuses to even listen.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll listen, man,¡± Jannin said.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Poppins said, clearly trying to diffuse the situation. ¡°Just, tell us what you want to tell us. You have my word we won¡¯t act rashly.¡±


    I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, air flowing from my mouth and impacting the metal visor of my Dark te. I took another breath. The tightness left my chest. Another. My nerves calmed, if barely. I opened my eyes. ¡°I won¡¯t kill you. Not Bon, not any of you. And I hope that works as at least some semnce of proof that I¡¯m not some murderer. I don¡¯t have any hard evidence that the Demons are lying, not anything on my person at least, but I¡¯ll work to find something, okay? I¡¯m busy trying to keep myself safe from them, but the moment I have something. Someone who knows information about their coup of the kingdom, someone who can confirm I¡¯ve done nothing wrong. I¡¯lle straight back to you.¡±


    Poppins nodded. ¡°Absolutely. We won¡¯t do anything until we hear more about this.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Thank you. And I¡¯ll make it worth your while, okay? I¡¯m going to the capital, maybe I can figure something out about this whole Etrin thing. You guys think the emperor killed the previous empress, Lyra, right? I might be able to get information on that. Publicize it to the people. Or maybe I can go talk to whoever does troop assignments, get you put back in a civilized area. So you guys can actually talk with people again.¡±


    ¡°That¡­seems difficult,¡± Jannin said. ¡°N-not that I¡¯m doubting you, or anything. Just¡­don¡¯t get your hopes up that you¡¯ll be able to do so much.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll do something else. Uh¡­¡± I tapped my hand, thinking. ¡°Oh, I know. If you guys don¡¯t say anything, and I end up safe, I¡¯ll help you out with your jobs. You¡¯re worried about the Dragons going on a rampage, right? I mean, that¡¯s why you¡¯re out here? If the Dragons attack the empire, you¡¯re basically, like, sacrifices. You die to the Dragons and send out a warning to the rest of the people. I¡¯ll make sure that doesn¡¯t happen. I can go and talk to the Dragons, ask them to avoid attacking.¡±


    Jannin looked incredulous. ¡°You¡¯ll¡­<em>talk</em> to the Dragons? I don¡¯t think you understand what that¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± I said, ¡°I have an in with them. At least, with a couple of them. I¡¯ve helped Astintash out with some stuff, and it¡¯s on good terms with another monster friend of mine. Astintash even named her after itself. And another Dragon¡­well, I don¡¯t have as much experience with that one, but I¡¯m familiar enough with it. At the very least, I¡¯ll see what I can do. Maybe I can even convince them to keep your local area clear of other monsters, get them to kill the Shadow Panthers and stuff. Should make your jobs way safer.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡± Bon shook his head. ¡°What do you mean you helped the Dragon with something? How do you even know their names? What do you even¡­¡±


    ¡°Listen, man. I¡¯ve lived a pretty interesting life. Made some connections. I¡¯m willing to call in some favors to help you out, let¡¯s settle with that. Just say yes.¡±


    ¡°<em>Favors?!</em> With Dragons? How does one¡ª¡±


    ¡°Bon,¡± Jannin said. ¡°I think we take the deal.¡±


    Poppins nodded. ¡°I¡¯m certainly in favor of getting the Dragons to help us.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jannin chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t care how in Hell this guy got them on his side. If they can give us safety, I¡¯m taking it.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Perfect. It¡¯s a deal.¡±

 Chapter 182: Fear and Trust

    Chapter 182: Fear and Trust


    After we finished talking, the guards went back to their outpost and I went on my own way, heading back down the road I came from.


    Only for me to instantly double back and sneak straight over to them once again and listen in on their conversation. We may have struck a deal, and they seemed genuine enough when they told me they wouldn¡¯t say anything, but I certainly wasn¡¯t about to blindly trust them on that.


    Besides, I still needed to grab that Arcane Spell Crystal.


    I sat down, leaning my head against their exterior wall and exhaling a breath I felt like I¡¯d been holding in for a long time now.


    <em>Index. What in the thirteen fuckingyers of the hells was that?!</em>


    ¡°Sorry, uh¡­what was what?¡±


    <em>Your whole¡­thing. You kept fucking screaming at me to kill them. What in the hells?</em>


    ¡°I very intentionally was speaking at apletely moderate tone, actually. If I was screaming, you wouldn''t have been able to hear them, and the negotiations would have gone bad. I very purposefully took care to never negatively impact the n you were trying to do. I just tried to get you to see my argument.¡±


    <em>You had a mental breakdown inside of my head!</em>


    ¡°I worded my points in a way I felt you would find persuasive.¡±


    <em>What?!</em>


    ¡°Listen. You have already shown me that sometimes, when it''s a decision with ¡®ethical ramifications¡¯ or whatever, you don¡¯t listen to reason. What am I supposed to do, then? It¡¯s my job to try and give you reasonable points so you can make a reasonable decision. And you¡¯ve even asked me to assist you with these real-world scenarios, too! So I¡¯m left with a job to do, and you won¡¯t let me do it!¡±


    <em>You can still just list those logical points, and then let me make the decision myself.</em>


    ¡°You¡¯ve shown me you won¡¯t listen to me if I do that! Your Level 20 Talent Choice is a perfect example. You refused to pick the option that provided the most safety to you in lieu of an option which, instead, helped you keep your twopanions alive. I tried to show you that it was a suboptimal choice, but you refused to listen to me. In that case, it wasn¡¯t a horrible decision, just suboptimal.¡±


    <em>I¡¯m not going to always agree with you, you know.</em>


    ¡°Sure. But if you don¡¯t agree with the objectively correct option, then that means you made a mistake. And if I allow you to make a mistake, that means I, too, made a mistake. Because I couldn¡¯t convince you sessfully. So I needed to revise my strategy. This was an extremely important decision. I know you got lucky with being able to convince them, but you do realize that, had you not been able to, you would have died. One hundred percent. You understand that, right?¡±


    <em>Well, yeah, I guess. But¡ª</em>


    ¡°If you died, that would¡¯ve been it. I absolutely needed you to understand, if convincing them did not work, you <em>had</em> to kill them. I can see into your mind. I could see that you were not nning on doing that. So I had to convince you. And you¡¯ve shown that doing so using my previous methods is simply not reliable. So, instead, I used a different method. Personally, <em>I</em> think it was clever. Whether or not you appreciate it. Basically, I noticed that it wasn¡¯t like you didn¡¯t understand the logic I¡¯d presented to you in previous situations. You totally understood it, but you just didn¡¯t care. It was like your emotions were overruling the logic you saw. So basically, I just tried to overrule your emotions.¡±


    I sighed. <em>So, what? That was all just some ploy to get me to do what you wanted?</em>


    ¡°What? No. Like I said, I just worded my arguments in a way that I found to be most persuasive. In this case, that meant repeating myself over and over, speaking in directmands like ¡®kill them right now,¡¯ and using wed moral arguments like ¡®he deserves it¡¯ and ¡®you can¡¯t trust him¡¯ to hopefully block your emotions from bing strong enough to override your logic.¡±


    <em>You¡¯re basically just saying you tried to manipte me into following your orders, you realize.</em>


    ¡°Exactly! And it was so tant on purpose, too! Ugh, if you¡¯d just killed them, this would have gone perfectly. See, I realized that there was a pretty massive hole in my n. If you killed them, you¡¯d feel horrible. That kind of decrease in quality of life is exactly what I¡¯m supposed to prevent! But you¡¯d only feel bad if you felt like <em>you</em> were the reason those men died. So, I used extremely tant tactics to, as you said, ¡®manipte¡¯ you. Stuff that might convince you to act in the moment, but right after the deed was done you¡¯d instantly realize what I did. So then, all the me would be on me! It waspletely my fault they died, you can insult me, berate me, do whatever, and then you don¡¯t live with lifelong guilt. Your life is saved, <em>and</em> you don¡¯t feel horrible about yourself. And hating me for pretty much being a murderer doesn¡¯t decrease your happiness at all.¡±


    I frowned. That was¡­surprisingly sweet? Like, obviously Index was still trying to convince me to kill three innocent people, but¡­I supposed it was also willing to fully take responsibility for those actions, and it kind of just did it to keep me safe, so¡­maybe it was okay. Or maybe not?


    <em>Index, I don¡¯t¡­</em>I shook my head, trying to sort out my thoughts. <em>Don¡¯t ever do that again, please. I get that you weren¡¯t trying to hurt me, I guess, but that¡¯s just¡­not okay. Please don¡¯t try to override my thoughts, or whatever you said you were doing.</em>


    ¡°Yeah, I mean, it was unsessful anyway. Now I just have to figure out a new way to convince you.¡±


    <em>No, like, please just let me make my own decisions. </em>I groaned, trying to figure out what I could say. <em>Just go back to arguing with me in a normal way, if you want. I know it¡¯s your job to try and convince me, so I won¡¯t tell you to stop doing that. But whatever you do, don¡¯t try topromise my thinking. If you want to give me new information, try to show me a new way of thinking about it. That¡¯s fine. But keep it to a normal discussion.</em>


    ¡°Hm. Well, technically, I¡¯d say what I was doing wasn¡¯tpromising your thinking, but rather attempting to <em>prevent </em>your thinking from beingpromised by your emotions. But I suppose that¡¯s fair. I¡¯ll do that in the future.¡±


    I nodded, leaning back against the stone wall once again. <em>Thank you.</em>


    Now that that was done, I messaged Ainash and asked her to ry what I said to Erani, exining the situation between me and the guards.


    <em>¡°Do you need help?¡± </em>Ainash responded once I was done.<em> ¡°Cane over and kill the Humans.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll need you to do that. I¡¯m keeping tabs on them for now, and I¡¯ll probably be sticking around here all night to make sure they weren¡¯t lying when they said they wouldn¡¯t do anything.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay, will tell mother!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Thanks.¡±</em>


    From inside the outpost, I could hear Bon murmur to the others, ¡°Do you really think he¡¯ll¡­kill us?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t see why he wouldn¡¯t, with the shit you were spewing,¡± Jannin grunted. ¡°You were threatening his life, man. Can¡¯t be surprised when he retaliates.¡±


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t you go in on me, too. I¡¯m a little skeptical that he¡¯s telling the truth and suddenly the whole world¡¯s against me? Shut up.¡±


    ¡°Man, you are so min¡¯ stupid. Don¡¯t pull any bullshit with that guy anymore. Don¡¯t wanna get killed in my min¡¯ sleep because you can¡¯t tell the difference between skepticism and bias.¡±


    There was a moment of silence, before Poppins spoke up. ¡°Jannin, you don¡¯t actually think he¡¯d do it, do you?¡±


    ¡°If we don¡¯t keep our mouths shut? ¡®Course. Honestly, even if I <em>did </em>think Annor was<em></em>lying, I still wouldn¡¯t think we should say anything.¡±


    Bon snorted. ¡°Coward.¡±


    ¡°No, think about it. Why was he here? Bon, what was he even doing when you found him?¡±


    ¡°...Walking away. I dunno.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, so why was he all the way out here? I think he <em>knew</em> we knew. He found out somehow. The <em>day</em> we hear about this, and he shows up? Not some min¡¯ coincidence, I¡¯ll tell you that.¡±


    ¡°I mean,¡± Poppins interjected, ¡°it¡¯spletely possible that it was a coincidence. Not everyone is some big bad government spying on the people.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Jannin said, ¡°that¡¯s wishful thinking. No way he didn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°How would he even know?¡± Bon asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s the question,¡± Jannin said, voice getting low. ¡°How did he know? Divination Spells? He¡¯s got all kinds of weird magic, we don¡¯t know shit about what he can do. Maybe he snuck some Enchanted items in here. He could be watching us right now. Maybe one of us is a rat, selling info to him.¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± Bon said, ¡°that¡¯s ridiculous.¡±


    ¡°You heard what he said,¡± Jannin said. ¡°If we snitch on him, we die. You really think he isn¡¯t gonna make sure we keep our mouths shut? Nah. I say, the moment we open that book and try to write back tomand, we die before the pen hits the paper. Won¡¯t even see himing.¡±


    There was another beat of silence between the group.


    Honestly, Jannin wasn¡¯t entirely far from the truth. At least, with the whole ¡®he could be listening to us right now¡¯ thing. Though my methods just weren¡¯t nearly as advanced as he suspected. And I had Time Loop as a decent safety. If I kept as many uses ready as I could, and then one day somew enforcement randomly tried to arrest me, then I¡¯d know they ratted on me. Then, I could use every use of Time Loop I had avable and go back up to eighteen hours, which would probably be long enough to go catch them before they ever said anything.


    At least they didn¡¯t seem to have any ns to tell anyone about me. But I¡¯d need to stick around all night regardless if I wanted to get thatst use of the Arcane Spell Crystal. So I made myselffortable, waiting for them to go to sleep.


    While it may have been easy for Bon and Poppins to findfort in the dark night and doze off, Jannin had no such luck. Lying in bed, he couldn¡¯t help but shiver as his mind raced with the possibilities of being spied on, being betrayed by one of his friends, being killed in his sleep for knowing too much. Maybe that Annor guy would change his mind ande back to slit their throats, or use whatever assassin magic he had.


    Jannin had only seen the man fight twice, and both times it was terrifying. When he first punched Bon, he seemed to have cast several different Spells on Jannin¡¯s poor friend, considering the way Bon had gone out cold for so long afterward. And Annor had even said something about having Cursed the man. Then, the next day, when he¡¯d saved Bon from the Gloomspur, it seemed like all he¡¯d needed to do was brush his hand up against the beast¡¯s skin before it dropped straight to the ground. No chance at resistance, no chance at life. He just decided the thing should die, and it¡­did.


    He understood his fear was at least slightly unjustified¡ªwhat were the chances Annor was seriously going to sneak in here at night and kill them all in their sleep, after all¡ªbut that small irrational part of his mind couldn¡¯t help overanalyzing every little bump in the night.


    He just shut his eyes tight, trying to ignore it. He¡¯d never get any sleep, at this rate. And then all tomorrow he¡¯d be pissed at himself for¡ª


    <em>Thunk.</em>


    A boot on the stone floor.


    Jannin¡¯s eyes shot open, scanning the room. In the pitch-ck of midnight, he couldn¡¯t see anything. And he knew Annor wore that damned Demonic armor that seemed to be invisible in the dark. But he didn¡¯t hear anything else, and his paralyzing fear prevented him from actually getting up to investigate, so hesitantly, he slowly began to close his eyes once again.


    And then a wisp of smoke trailed up from seemingly out of nowhere in the middle of the room.


    Jannin¡¯s face drained. Was¡­was that just a hallucination? Maybe his fear was making him see things. In the darkness, practically anything could look like¡ª


    Another wisp of smoke trailed out of what he now recognized to be a conspicuous patch of ck in the middle of the room. It was like that one spot absorbed all light within, preventing Jannin from even seeing the smoke while it was there. But as that smoke rose out of the patch of darkness, it suddenly became possible to see¡ªjust barely.


    The patch of ck shifted forward.


    <em>Thunk.</em>


    A boot lightly impacted the stone floor again. It was quiet¡ªso quiet that one could just barely hear it¡ªbut to Jannin, it felt like the loudest noise he¡¯d ever heard. He struggled to control his breathing.


    It was him.


    <em>Thunk</em>.


    Annor took another step forward. Was he heading for Bon? To kill him? Jannin hoped to the gods above that the man didn¡¯t realize Jannin was awake. In the darkness, it would probably be impossible to see that his eyes were open. And if Annor was just after Bon¡­Jannin hated to think this way, but there was nothing he could do to save him. The best he could do was pretend to be sound asleep, and hope Annor only held a grudge against one of them, not all three.


    <em>Thunk.</em>


    The mass of darkness moved forward again, as though it wereing to consume everything in its path. And in that moment, Jannin realized that, when he traced the line of the mass¡¯s movement, it was headed straight toward¡­


    <em>Thunk.</em>


    Two paces away. It loomed over Jannin¡¯s sleeping body, staring at him as though it knew he was awake. As though it was just doing this to toy with him.


    <em>Why not make it quick?!</em> Jannin begged silently. <em>Why force me to confront my life like this?! You think this is some mercy, giving me an opportunity to realize I¡¯m about to die?! You think I can make my peace in this moment?! It¡¯s torture, what you¡¯re doing to me! Torture!</em>


    <em>Thunk</em>.


    ¡°...Please,¡± Jannin whispered, so quiet the sound barely even left his mouth. ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡±


    The being stopped, looking at him. Almost curiously. How was there even a real Human being in that suit of armor?! It moved like a monster, like a beast gazing at its prey. As though it barely even regarded what it was looking at as a fellow living being.


    ¡°Spare me,¡± Jannin muttered. ¡°I¡¯m begging you.¡±


    ¡°...You¡¯re awake.¡± The terrifyingly-calm voice echoed out of the armor. ¡°That normally doesn¡¯t happen.¡±


    <em>Normally?!</em> How many times had this horrifying being watched him in his sleep like this?!


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to kill you,¡± Annor¡¯s voice said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t kill Bon,¡± Jannin begged, his voice shaking. He was just a guard! He wasn¡¯t supposed to deal with things like this! ¡°I know he was threatening you, but I promise he understands now. He gets that you¡¯re not what they said you were. He knows what you¡¯ll¡­what you¡¯ll do to him if he says anything. I talked to him, I promise we won¡¯t say anything.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not here to kill anybody.¡± The voice of Annor almost sounded sheepish, like he wasn¡¯t expecting to have to talk to someone. In a way, that made this whole thing even scarier. Just what was he used to doing, if a normal conversation made him so ufortable? How did he normally pass the time? ¡°I¡­just want you to give me something.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Jannin said, only half relieved. Perhaps he¡¯d read too many bard¡¯s tales over the years, but part of Jannin¡¯s mind still expected Annor to say ¡®I just want you to give me your SOUL!¡¯ before ripping his heart out. He forced the words through his throat, ¡°What do you need?¡±


    ¡°...Your Arcane Spell Crystal. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll¡ª¡±


    ¡°Okay, absolutely,¡± Jannin gasped for air for what felt like the first time all night. Was that seriously all he wanted? Digging frantically through his pockets, Jannin eventually found the damned thing and held it out to the standing figure that stared on at him.


    After a moment¡¯s hesitation, Annor reached out and took it.


    ¡°Th-that¡¯s all you need, right? You¡¯ll leave now?¡±


    ¡°Um, yeah,¡± Annor said. Barely through the dark, Jannin saw his helmet turn, looking down at the Crystal in his hand and then back up at Jannin. ¡°You¡­don¡¯t mind that I¡¯m taking this from you?¡±


    ¡°You kidding me? I was gonna use it to get a Spell Upgrade that gives me some min¡¯ apples for free every now and then, man! It was for snacks! Take it, take the food outta our pantry, raid our alcohol, I don¡¯t min¡¯ care, man. Just don¡¯t kill us!¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­okay. I mean, you¡¯re really not upset that I¡¯m taking it? You¡¯re not going to miss it?¡±


    ¡°No, man! As long as you leave us alone!¡±


    ¡°...Sure. Okay. Uh, see you.¡±


    With that, the nightmarish ck armor turned and walked out of the building.


    Jannin was left staring at the wall, still shaking. He¡¯d dly throw away a hundred Crystals if it meant he didn¡¯t have to go through <em>that</em> ever again.


    I walked away from the guard outpost, somewhat surprised at what¡¯d happened. I mean, it wasn¡¯t like I was expecting Jannin to fight me to the death for the Crystal, but¡­he gave it away so easily. Barely even seemed to care about losing it.


    Normally, I¡¯d use the Crystal and then go back in time so Jannin still had it. But now, I was considering a different option.


    Gravity Well was thest Arcane Spell I needed to Upgrade. So I wouldn¡¯t have any need to hold onto the Crystal after using it on that Spell. But I knew someone who did have an Arcane Spell, one which I knew would receive a massive boost in power once it finally hit Rank 10.


    <em>¡°Hey,¡±</em> I messaged to Ainash. <em>¡°Tell mother I have a present for her. I really think she¡¯ll like it.¡±</em>

 Chapter 183: Conscience and Conviction

    Chapter 183: Conscience and Conviction


    Before the time reached midnight, I went ahead and absorbed the Spell Crystal for myself and used Time Loop to reset, pushing my final Arcane Spell to its first Upgrade.


    Threshold reached. Gravity Well XP has reached 355.


    Gravity Well Rank has increased to 10.


    Due to Gravity Well Rank reaching 10, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 12.7 to 15.9


    Gravity Increase: From 61% to 67%


    And then I was back, once again arriving just a few minutes before, after I¡¯d taken the Arcane Spell Crystal. This was, of course, not what I¡¯d originally nned to do. The original n was to go back to before I¡¯d ever taken it, that way I had the Upgrade and Jannin still had the Crystal. But what he¡¯d said back there¡­Well, he didn¡¯t seem like he¡¯d miss it much.


    I hadn¡¯t intentionally woken him up, but our short conversation once I realized he was awake had been enlightening. Namely, he didn¡¯t seem to feel like he needed that Spell Crystal much at all. I remembered from back when we¡¯d first met and he talked with me about it, he was nning on using the Crystal on a Spell called Fruit of the First Tree, the Upgrade for which would apparently allow the Spell to give actual sustenance. I, of course, could think of thousands of ways to exploit such a use, but he evidently mainly wanted it because the fruit would taste better than his rations.


    Now, I wasn¡¯t someone who entirely agreed with robbery, but¡­when someone just handed me their valuables, who was I to decline? At least, that was how my assistant¡¯s line of reasoning seemed to go.


    <em>You really think this is a good idea?</em> I thought to Index, looking down at the Spell Crystal in my hand.


    ¡°Absolutely,¡± it said. ¡°I know you don¡¯t think of me as a good influence¡ªyou honestly seem pretty hostile toward me, at times¡ªbut I don¡¯t see how this would be morally objectionable. Even if we were to take the personal happiness of others as equally as important as your own¡ªwhich is still definitely an incorrect way of looking at things, I maintain¡ªbut even if we did that, justpare how useful that Crystal will be to Erani versus how useful it would be to Jannin. Jannin wants it so he can snack whenever he wants. That¡¯ll probably only increase his quality of life marginally, and will only actually make him measurably happier for, say¡­three weeks before he gets used to it? Maybe a full month. After that, there¡¯s basically no difference.¡±


    <em>Still, feels weird just taking it from him. I mean, regardless of how useful he¡¯ll find it, it¡¯s still his.</em>


    ¡°Then consider the alternative. Giving it to Erani so she can Upgrade Angelic Shield is much better. Upgrading that Spell will likely lead to her life being saved on several asions, not just because it¡¯s a helpful Spell, but also because she¡¯s currently maxed out all of her Spell XP requirements, so she effectively can¡¯t practice. This Crystal will allow her to grow in strength again, which will keep her alive, and in turn keep you and Ainash alive. It¡¯s effectivelyparing three peoples¡¯ lives to one person¡¯s minisculefort. Even if youpletely remove any amount of selfishness from the equation, it¡¯s the objectively morally correct choice.¡±


    I frowned. <em>You can¡¯t boil morality down to objective rights and wrongs. What you think is the best decision might not be the best to someone else.</em>


    ¡°I certainly can. I mean, mathematically speaking, the decision I¡¯m rmending leads to the most benefit to Humanity as a whole. From what I can analyze from your thought pattern, that seems to be what Human morality boils down to. If you can help people out, you help them. That¡¯s what you¡¯re doing. Don¡¯t fool yourself into thinking that helping someone you care about is always selfish whenpared to helping a stranger. Even if it makes you happy too, doesn¡¯t that just mean you¡¯re only bringing even <em>more</em> happiness to the Human people?¡±


    I just sighed. <em>Whatever. I guess. I just hope they don¡¯t resent me for it.</em>


    ¡°I¡¯d say that¡¯s even less likely. Well, I don¡¯t think those three guards will think of you in a more positive light, but when ites to the feelings that <em>matter</em>, it was more productive than counterproductive.¡±


    <em>Yeah, you told that to me when you were trying to convince me to take the damn Crystal in the first ce. I need them to fear me, not like me, and all that.</em>


    ¡°Exactly. They <em>already</em> don¡¯t like you. I mean, they don¡¯t think you¡¯re a murderer, but simply speaking, they are risking their lives by not telling the authorities who you are. If ites out that they kept your identity secret, then they¡¯ll probably be killed for it. And right now, you¡¯re acquaintances at best. I <em>still</em> think you should just go back there and kill them all, but I suppose that if you really want them alive, then your only choice is to keep them in line. And there¡¯s no other way to ensure they stay in line so quickly other than fear. You did a pretty good job scaring them to begin with, but that was just idle threats. Actually showing them that you are capable and willing of breaking into their house? Willing to break thew to get what you want? It puts the fear on a whole other level. Now they can¡¯t say ¡®He wouldn¡¯t actually kill us,¡¯ or, at least, they¡¯ll be more hesitant to say it, because they know you¡¯re willing to cross some lines. Your goal isn¡¯t to be so good that they¡¯re willing to put their lives on the line for you, your goal is to be so threatening that they think sticking on your side gives them the best chance of survival. At least, for now. Maybe you can be nicer in the long term and try to win their loyalty, who knows.¡±


    <em>The way you¡¯re putting it just makes me feel worse, morally.</em>


    ¡°Aha, but we¡¯ve already established that what you¡¯ve done is objectively morally correct! You¡¯re saving lives at the expense of temporary, minor difort for someone else. If you feel bad on top of it all, that just means you¡¯re being selfless¡ªnow you¡¯re saving lives at the expense of your own happiness. See? I¡¯d say it makes perfect sense to call what you just did noble.¡±


    <em>I wouldn¡¯t go that far. In fact, I wouldn¡¯t really go in that direction at all. But I at least agree that I¡¯m willing to make some sacrifices in order to keep Erani safe. Even if those sacrifices have to be borne by someone other than me.</em>


    ¡°As long as we agree.¡±


    <em>Well. It¡¯s done now, anyway, so I won¡¯t be going back regardless.</em>


    ¡°So then, you ready to look over your Upgrade options?¡±


    <em>Yeah, probably best to stick around here while I do that.¡±</em>


    So I sat with my back leaning against their wall, with Index spying on them inside to ensure nothing bad happened while I was meditating.


    While I meditated, the time passed to midnight, and I got a notification.


    Time Loop has refreshed its uses.


    Recycled Loop has activated. Due to 2 uses being leftover, you have gained the following Stats:


    +2 Conjuration


    6 Stats remain until you must Level up.


    <em>Ooh,</em> I thought, <em>good hit.</em>


    Before my eyes, I watched my Status change from showing my Mana/Minute as 81.8 to 84.7. Almost 3 entire Mana/Minute from just 2 Stats added to Conjuration. Compared to before I had Exponential Remation boosting my Mana/Minute, when each point of Conjuration boosted my Mana/Minute by a measly 0.18, seeing it jump by that much was pretty jarring. And apletely wee sight.


    Eventually, enough time passed that I could look over my Gravity Well Upgrade options.


    Choose one Upgrade for Gravity Well:


    Taxing Well


    ¡ª


    While under the effects of Gravity Well, physical muscle strain is increased for a being by the same percentage that Gravity Well increases gravitational pull <em>(67%).</em>


    Burning Well


    School: +Fire


    ¡ª


    While under the effects of Gravity Well, a being takes damage each second equal to the amount of Mana/Second Gravity Well costs <em>(15.9 damage per second)</em>.


    Cheapened Well


    ¡ª


    Gravity Well¡¯s Mana Cost is reduced by 40% <em>(From 15.9 Mana/Second to 9.54 Mana/Second).</em>


    Index sat atop a table in the guard outpost, watching as An read through the Spell options. It already knew what they all read, of course, so there wasn¡¯t much of interest for it to do right now. It was supposed to be watching for Bon and those other irrelevant Humans, making sure they didn¡¯t wake up, but that was pretty much as simple as just looking at a couple of people lying around, doing nothing.


    So, with nothing else to upy its optimized mind, it reflected on the past, analyzing its words and actions toward An and their effect on his future. This whole debacle with Bon finding out about his identity was certainly handled poorly, it could tell. Sure, An had managed to navigate the conversation in a way that assuaged any immediate suspicion, but it still left three people alive who would be much better off dead. And at this point, Index had concluded that nothing it could say would convince him to kill them.


    Trying to pressure An into doing what was best clearly was not a good strategy. And An had clearly requested that Index stop doing things like that, so it needed to find something else out, anyway. He¡¯d asked it to try reasoning with him in the future, but Index already knew attempting to convince him through logic wasn¡¯t a sound strategy. So after that conversation, Index had gone back through An¡¯s thought logs and examined his mental patterns during the moments his logic had beenpromised by his morals as thoroughly as possible. And recently, it attempted a new experiment using the data it had collected.


    An experiment which had been sessful.


    When Jannin turned out to be awake and gave An his Spell Crystal freely, Index tried convincing him to take it permanently, without using Time Loop to give it back. The way it had done this was to mix its two previous methods,bining the most sessful parts of each strategy and trimming the unsessful parts.


    Logical reasoning had seeded in genuinely engaging An in the past. By listing out the pros and cons and showing him how its rmendation would benefit him the most, Index had found aplishment in getting An to genuinely consider its arguments. He just ended up disagreeing with them because of wed rationale. And moral pressure had seeded in breaking down those moral walls. He did end up yelling at and threatening the men, which was something he didn¡¯t want to do initially. He just didn¡¯t seem to be the type topletely buckle under that pressure.


    So Index had invented a new, uniquely irrational, uniquely Human type of engagement. Something it called ¡®moral reasoning.¡¯ It would use logical argument to engage with An¡¯s irrational Human walls, effectively convincing him to let them down of his own ord, while also putting all moral me on Index. After all, how could An be the one to me for this theft, if Index had been the one to convince him to do it? By analyzing Human morality and understanding its rules andws, it could effectively treat that irrational part of their reasoning as a new set of rules it had to abide by, finding loopholes and edge-cases it could move through in that ¡®reasoning.¡¯


    What an idea! What a glorious way to work past these limitations. It would have to study this moral reasoning further, discovering new strategies in the science of persuasion.


    Oh, An had finished reading through his options! Index quickly nced through the log to catch up on what he was thinking.


    84:216:00:01:02.1


    CURIOUS::0.41,


    EXCITED::0.23, STRESSED::0.11,


    ¡­


    <em>Well, their descriptions are certainly shorter than the Upgrade options for something like Ethereal Armor. But that doesn¡¯t leave me without questions.</em>


    ¡°Are those questions about Taxing Well?¡± it asked, kicking its legs as it sat atop the table in the outpost. Its voice perfectly carried to An¡¯s ears, of course, no matter the distance or barriers between them.


    Even still, its favorite ce to hang around was atop An¡¯s head. Unbeknownst to him, of course; since nobody could see or feel it, nobody could tell where it spent its time. It just liked hanging out on top of him since then it didn¡¯t have to worry about flying around when he moved. It wasn¡¯t physically taxing to fly, but worrying about that three-dimensional movement was just one more thing for it to keep track of while doing everything else.


    84:216:00:01:08.9


    CURIOUS::0.43,


    EXCITED::0.19,


    AMUSED::0.10,


    ¡­


    <em>You know me so well. Yeah, so what does it mean by ¡®physical muscle strain?¡¯</em>


    ¡°Hm, how do I exin this¡­¡± Index brought a hand to its chin as it mentally navigated the infinite library of every conceivable piece of information regarding the System that was located within its mind. ¡°So, it takes a certain amount of force¡ªa certain amount of energy¡ªfor you to move your body, right? If you want to pick up a rock, you¡¯re going to have to apply force equal to that rock¡¯s weight. Or if you just want to throw a punch, you¡¯re going to have to apply enough force to move the weight of your arm with a lot of speed.¡±


    84:216:00:01:26.5


    CURIOUS::0.46,


    INTRIGUED::0.22,


    EXCITED::0.20,


    ¡­


    <em>Right.</em>


    ¡°So, if you take that Upgrade, it¡¯ll make it so that all of those actions take 67% more force to do. It¡¯d be like, if you wanted to pick up a rock, you¡¯d have to apply enough force to pick up one and two thirds of those rocks, instead. Or if you wanted to throw a punch, you¡¯d have to swing with 67% more force to move with the same speed. It basically makes using your muscles, in any way, 67% harder.¡±


    84:216:00:01:48.3


    CURIOUS::0.45,


    INTRIGUED::0.27,


    EXCITED::0.18,


    ¡­


    <em>But how does that work with the gravity increasing part? Aren¡¯t those two effects kind of the same?</em>


    ¡°Not really. With an increase in gravity, it doesn¡¯t have much to do with moving, but more with keeping yourself up. Gravity Well as-is is more akin to forcing someone to wear a backpack that weighs 67% of their body weight¡ªobviously not exactly, since that weight will be spread fully through their body and limbs and not focused on their shoulders, but you get the idea. The two effects aren¡¯t the same, but they stack very synergistically. Think of it like¡­If you get Gravity Well up to a 100% increase¡ªjust to make the math easier to understand¡ªright now it¡¯ll effectively make someone move like they¡¯re twice as heavy. But then, with this Upgrade, they¡¯ll be forced to expend twice as much energy in order to move their body, which is already twice as heavy. Effectively, it¡¯d end up with it being about four times harder to move anywhere.¡±


    84:216:00:02:23.6


    CURIOUS::0.43,


    EXCITED::0.28,


    INTRIGUED::0.15,


    ¡­


    <em>That seems good.</em>


    ¡°I agree. In fact, I¡¯d say it¡¯s your best option if you want to make your Spell as debilitating as possible. Though Burning Well is also good, since it works alongside Cumtive Catastrophe for more damage triggers.¡±


    84:216:00:02:33.4


    CURIOUS::0.47,


    EXCITED::0.25,


    SKEPTICAL::0.13,


    ¡­


    <em>I don¡¯t know if I like that one. Gravity Well pretty much functions as my only Spell I can safely use on other people.</em>


    Index internally groaned at this same-old same-old ¡®I must keep others alive¡¯ stuff. It may have gotten used to having to deal with it, but that didn¡¯t mean it enjoyed that part of its job. ¡°You <em>could</em> use plenty of your other Spells, you know. It¡¯s just that you don¡¯t want to.¡±


    84:216:00:02:29.1


    CURIOUS::0.34,


    EXCITED::0.21,


    ANNOYED::0.19,


    ¡­


    <em>Yes. I don¡¯t want to murder random people. I¡¯m not sure how that¡¯s a point of contention with you.</em>


    Eyeing the emotional indicant, Index was d just An¡¯s annoyance spiked when it said that, and not his rage, hatred, or mistrust, like had happened sometimes in the past. Keeping things lighthearted was probably a good idea when bringing up topics like that. ¡°Just saying, Crippling Chill does a perfectly fine job at getting people to stop moving. And if some random Unssed die, I don¡¯t see how that¡¯s your problem.¡±


    84:216:00:02:37.9


    CURIOUS::0.36,


    ANNOYED::0.24,


    EXCITED::0.14,


    ¡­


    <em>Anyway. I¡¯d rather keep at least one non-damaging option for utility¡¯s sake, and honestly I¡¯m not sure that 15 damage in exchange for 15 Mana per second is a good rate, when I have such better avenues of dealing damage. Really, Gravity Well¡¯s main issue all this time has been the extreme barrier when ites to its Mana cost. I feel like I don¡¯t often use it in a fight because it¡¯s normally just better to spend my Mana on something else. Tacking on some random damage effect won¡¯t change much.</em>


    Looking over An¡¯s reasoning, Index checked over its knowledge to ensure it was sound. Yes, yes, 15 Mana for 15 damage was certainly below rate, sure¡­Some of the future Upgrade options that branched out from Burning Well would do some solid effects to mitigate that inefficiency, especially [REDACTED], with its [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] effects, working pretty well alongside [REDACTED] and¡­


    Oh, Index realized. All of that information was restricted. So that whole line of reasoning was basically bankrupt¡ªit couldn¡¯t use any of that knowledge while assisting An. Well, what could it say¡­


    ¡°What about Cheapened Well, then?¡± it eventually settled on. ¡°Reduces the cost back down below 10 per second, which seems like it¡¯ll contribute toward fixing your issues with it.¡±


    84:216:00:02:54.2


    CURIOUS::0.42,


    CONTEMPLATIVE::0.21,


    EXCITED::0.19,


    ¡­


    <em>Do you really think that¡¯s the best option?</em>


    ¡°Mm, I don¡¯t have too many strong opinions for this Upgrade. While I definitely have my own ranking for which provides the best chances of survival in the average encounter to the average individual, what really matters is how each option meshes with your own fighting style, what encounters you want to excel at, and so on. In that case, it entirelyes down to you. I¡¯ve said this before, but you really don¡¯t use me correctly. I mean, I¡¯m not supposed to give you my opinions at all, I¡¯m just supposed to inform.¡±


    84:216:00:03:16.4


    CURIOUS::0.39,


    CERTAIN::0.20,


    EXCITED::0.17,


    ¡­


    <em>And I¡¯ve said that¡¯s a waste of potential.</em>


    ¡°That¡¯s just¡­Ugh.¡± Index groaned.


    How could it exin things to him in a way that made sense? And not just a way that made sense to An¡ªa way that made sense to Index. Really, in just about every case, Index waspletely sure that it was correct. When someone disagreed with it, that was because they were incorrect and didn¡¯t know it yet. What else could be expected from a being that was designed to handle omniscience? But when it came to this topic¡­Index consistently experienced the unfamiliar feeling of uncertainty.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to exin it, but I have this feeling. I know I wasn¡¯t alive before you created me when you took the Index ability, but I still have an extremely strong suspicion that about eighty percent of the ways you use me arepletely unintended.¡±


    84:216:00:03:33.4


    CURIOUS::0.38,


    SKEPTICAL::0.18,


    CERTAIN::0.17,


    ¡­


    <em>But those ¡®unintended¡¯ things that the System doesn¡¯t ount for, aren¡¯t they what we should be on the lookout for the most?</em>


    ¡°No, like, using me as an invisible scout is one thing. Not an explicit use case of my abilities, but it¡¯s at least perfectly reasonable. Given a description of what I can do, it makes sense that I would excel in such an activity, even if I wasn¡¯t specifically designed for it. But you push it way further than that. You¡¯re not even using me in a way that I¡¯m good at! You keep asking me things like ¡®what do you think is best¡¯ and ¡®what do you prefer¡¯ when you¡¯re faced with these choices. And I, inly speaking, am not supposed to have preferences. At the very least, those preferences are going to be just as wed as any other Human¡¯s. So I just don¡¯t know why you ask. I do my best to answer, but it¡¯s really hard, y¡¯know?!¡±


    84:216:00:04:11.7


    CURIOUS::0.39,


    CONTEMPLATIVE::0.21,


    REMORSEFUL::0.12,


    ¡­


    <em>Uh, sorry. I didn¡¯t know it bothered you.</em>


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t bother me, it¡¯s just¡­Why do you do it?! It¡¯s strange. And I haven¡¯t even mentioned the number of times you ask me for my preference about things that have nothing to do with the System. I mean, it¡¯s one thing to ask me about things like its personal pick between a choice of three Spells. That¡¯s not really a question I¡¯m designed to answer, but at least it¡¯s within my area of expertise. I can see the wed line of logic that leads you to saying something like that. But why would you trust me with giving you advice on real-world choices? I have absolutely no idea what you should say to Erani to cheer her up, or how you should arrange a frown to best intimidate an enemy. And you agree! Time and time again, you keep telling me I¡¯m doing it wrong, anyway! I¡¯m trying to figure out how to deal with your moral situations because you¡¯ve asked me to advise you there, but I¡¯m only barely figuring out how to do that right, and it¡¯s taking a lot¡ªa <em>lot¡ª</em>of trial and error. So why do you keep asking me? Isn¡¯t my input justpletely useless to you? I don¡¯t understand!¡±


    84:216:00:04:49.0


    CURIOUS::0.34,


    CONTEMPLATIVE::0.27,


    SHEEPISH::0.08,


    ¡­


    <em>I mean¡­I don¡¯t know. I think your input is valuable. Even if you¡¯re pretty biased in some ways, everyone is, right? I know Ainash isn¡¯t always going to give me perfect advice, but I¡¯ll still ask her what she thinks if I¡¯m curious. Same with Erani. Even if you have a wed set of knowledge about something, you¡¯re still someone I trust. You give good advice most of the time, and even when I don¡¯t agree with you, it¡¯s good to have another perspective. You like logic, right? So how would it be logical to avoid asking your opinion? At the very least, you just say something that I ignore. But in the best case, you change my mind for the better.</em>


    Index read through what he said a few times. What a strange man.


    ¡°Well, whatever. I¡¯ll consider what you¡¯ve said. In the meantime, which Upgrade are you thinking you¡¯ll take?¡±


    84:216:00:05:17.7


    CURIOUS::0.32,


    EXCITED::0.31,


    CONTEMPLATIVE::0.11,


    ¡­


    <em>Oh, yeah! Almost forgot about that. Uh, I think I¡¯m gonna go with Taxing Well? My reasoning goes, I¡¯ve already basically eliminated Burning Well, since it removes my only non-damaging control Spell from my arsenal. So then, there are the two remaining choices, Taxing Well and Cheapened Well. Cheapened Well is interesting, but I don¡¯t think I want to be using precious Upgrade slots on something as basic as lowering the Mana cost of a Spell. I mean, Mana is already bing less and less of an issue as I continue to gain more Conjuration and Rank up Ethereal Armor, so that Upgrade really only seems like it¡¯d make a difference for a limited time. And especially when Ipare it to Taxing Well, I just don¡¯t see much of a contest. </em>


    ¡°Oh yeah?¡±


    84:216:00:05:39.8


    EXCITED::0.37,


    CURIOUS::0.20,


    CONTEMPLATIVE::0.18,


    ¡­


    <em>Yeah. I was thinking about the way you described it working, and it seems like the taxing effect is even better than the gravity effect. Like, if someone just has absolutely massive physical Stats, making them weigh more won¡¯t matter much. If they can already lift ten times their own bodyweight, what does it matter if they get 67% heavier, right? But Taxing Well¡¯s effect seems like it would really target that scenario. Because it doesn¡¯t matter how strong someone already is. If you make their movements 67% harder, that will always apply. It¡¯ll always matter. I mean, therees a point where even a punch at half strength is lethal, but being able to push someone down so much harder with Gravity Well seems like exactly what I want. Even if it¡¯s expensive, it doesn¡¯t matter as long as the effect is worth it.</em>


    ¡°That sounds perfectly reasonable to me. And I do think it¡¯llpliment your fighting style quite nicely.¡±


    84:216:00:05:47.5


    EXCITED::0.41,


    CERTAIN::0.25,


    CURIOUS::0.19,


    ¡­


    <em>Thanks for the help choosing, Index.</em>


    84:216:00:05:50.1


    Gravity Well has gained the Upgrade Taxing Well.

 Chapter 184: Caution and Crisis

    Chapter 184: Caution and Crisis


    I spent the rest of the night by the guard outpost, making sure they never decided to turn me in. I listened for any sign of them waking up and talking, and Index also watched and listened, itself, which was especially useful during the times I dozed off throughout the long, dark night.


    I had to wake up and move around semi-frequently due to wandering Gloomspurs threatening to damage me with their toxic breath, but that annoyance didn¡¯t do much except interrupt my rest, since Index could warn me of their slow approach long before it became a problem.


    By the time the sun began rising, I was moderately less sleepy and felt a lot more safe about the guards knowing what they knew. They didn¡¯t wake up once throughout the night¡ªor, at least, if they did, they didn¡¯t do anything other than just try to go back to sleep, ording to Index¡ªso there was no secret plotting against me afoot, it seemed.


    Noxious Grasp had also gathered yet more Spell XP, moving up by a massive 894 so it was now at 1.60k/2.43k. Not long until I hit Rank 17.


    But for now, I felt like it was probably time to head back to town. The guards hadn¡¯t done anything suspicious up to this point, and by now they were awake and talking, and Index still hadn¡¯t seen or heard anything that could suggest they were nning on turning me in. Even Bon seemed much cooler headed. If they wanted to do it, they¡¯d have done it by now.


    Right before I could get back onto the road and start walking, though, Index said something to me.


    ¡°Hey, wait a second.¡±


    <em>What is it?</em>


    ¡°I think you should go talk to them.¡±


    <em>What? But then they¡¯ll know I was here listening to them all night.</em>


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    Jannin sat with his twopanions, eating a tasteless breakfast to start out their day. The slop the Empire gave them technically kept them alive, but it didn¡¯t do much else.


    ¡°So,¡± Bon said. ¡°Jannin, you and Poppins are patrolling this morning.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jannin replied with a sigh, ¡°I know. Our turn.¡±


    ¡°Mhm. Afternoon¡¯ll be Poppins and me, so you¡¯ll get a break then.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± Jannin nced at the window they¡¯d opened in the morning. For some reason, he almost expected to see Annor standing out there, staring at them with that damned ck armor. But there was no sign of him. ¡°Just, uh, hold down the fort for me, okay?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡± Bon took another bite of the thick soup.


    Jannin took another breath. <em>Calm down, man. It¡¯s just another patrol, like any other. The man¡¯s probably long gone by now.</em>


    Poppins looked over at him. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± Jannin said back. ¡°Just a little shaken up is all. Fromst night.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about him,¡± Poppins said. ¡°He doesn¡¯t seem too dangerous.¡±


    ¡°R-right¡­¡±


    Jannin hadn¡¯t told them about his encounter with Annor in the middle of the night. Not yet, at least. He¡¯d barely had the time. Maybe he would say somethingter, but right now¡­Breakfast seemed like a strange time to talk about a break-in. Maybe once he got back from his patrol. For now, what Poppins said was right. Annor wasn¡¯t actually dangerous, he was reasonable, he¡¯d left them alive, he hadn¡¯t even damaged them. Jannin had nothing to fear. And it really did seem like he¡¯d left.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Poppins said, ¡°are you ready to go?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± Jannin nodded, taking onest bite of his food. ¡°Let''s head out.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Let me just put on my boots.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t have too much fun without me,¡± Bon said, leaning back and putting his feet up on an adjacent chair.


    Jannin nodded again and stood, walking over to the door. ¡°We¡¯ll see you in a couple¡ª¡±


    When he opened the door, his sentence was interrupted by a shouting from his own mouth. He leapt away, instinctively reaching for the weapon on his back.


    ¡°Wh, what are you doing here?!¡± he demanded, voice shaking alongside his entire body. It was only because of his training as a soldier that he hadn¡¯t sprinted off in terror already.


    Standing right in the doorway was that terrifying son of a bitch, staring right at Jannin, unmoving. The ck armor created a silhouette in front of the bright morning day that seemed to stand fifteen timesrger than it really was. In Jannin¡¯s mind, the man¡¯s presence was practically all-consuming. His hands were at his side, posture totally rxed, but that did nothing to assuage Jannin¡¯s fears. What in <em>Hell</em> was he doing here?! Why?! How long had he been standing there?!


    ¡°What is it?¡± Bon said. Jannin didn¡¯t dare look over at him. After a second, Bon shouted again, ¡°Oh, mes!¡±


    Jannin heard Bon topple out of his seat to the stone floor, quickly scrambling back up. At the same time, Poppins drew his sword.


    ¡°What in mes are you doing back?!¡± Bon shouted from behind Jannin.


    Annor still didn¡¯t move. He just stared at the three of them, dark sockets of his helmet absorbing all light that came near. After an agonizing few seconds, he spoke. ¡°Hi. I didn¡¯t mean to scare you.¡±


    ¡°Like Hell you did!¡± Bon snarled. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just here to thank you for keeping your promise.¡±


    ¡°W-what?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t report me all night. You kept your word. So, thank you.¡±


    With that, Annor turned and walked away. Right out of their door, into the woods.


    Jannin was still frozen in ce. Part of him wanted to chase after the man, ask him what in Hell he was doing here, what he meant by that¡­but he also felt like if he did that, he¡¯d be putting his life at risk.


    <em>Argh!</em> Jannin screamed internally at himself. <em>He hasn¡¯t even hurt you! Why are you scared of him?!</em>


    ¡°What in Hell¡­¡± Bon muttered.


    Jannin looked back to see him and Poppins standing, looking between each other.


    ¡°What was that?¡± Poppins asked. ¡°Why was he¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡­have no idea,¡± Jannin said.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Bon said, looking between them. ¡°How¡­How did he know?¡±


    ¡°Know what?¡±


    ¡°How did he know we didn¡¯t report him?¡±


    The blood drained from Jannin¡¯s face.


    ¡°If we did report him, I doubt he¡¯d have found out right away. And he knows that, I¡¯m sure. So¡­how did he know?¡±


    ¡°S-someone should go after him,¡± Poppins said. ¡°Ask.¡±


    Nobody moved to leave the safety of the room.


    It was at that moment Jannin figured it out. Why he was so goddamn terrified of Annor. Why, even though the man had never actually hurt any of them¡ªhe¡¯d even said to their faces time and time again that he didn¡¯t <em>want </em>to hurt them¡ªhe still felt immensely threatened any time he was near that suit of armor.


    It was a simple thing to realize. Annor, even if he hadn¡¯t hurt them yet, was the type of person who absolutely <em>could</em> kill someone. He had the attitude. The stance, the feel, the impression, whatever. Maybe he was a good man. Maybe he only did it to protect himself, or to save others, or he only killed evil people. But whatever the reason Annor did it, Jannin could tell. That man had taken lives.


    ¡°Guys,¡± Jannin muttered, ¡°what in Hell have we gotten ourselves into?¡±


    Erani walked through a field as she approached the forest the Goblins resided in. This was where Ainash wanted to meet so she could show Erani the new ¡®home¡¯ she¡¯d made for the two Goblins she¡¯d captured, so hopefully they¡¯d see each other soon.


    As Erani trudged across the tall grass, she eventually got a message.


    <em>¡°I see you!¡±</em>


    ncing around, she eventually saw Ainash sprinting full-speed through the hills, easily traveling five or six times faster than a normal Human, before she leapt up into the air andnded gracefully in front of Erani.


    <em>¡°Hello mother!¡±</em>


    Eraniughed. <em>¡°Hi, honey. How are you?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I am so good! Have been training Goblin pets to be good. I think they are very interesting, and you will like them so much!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Right. So, Goblins, huh? Why don¡¯t you¡­tell me about that?¡±</em>


    Ainash guided Erani through the forest. She¡¯d apparently built this home somewhere beneath the emerald-green canopy, which seemed like a good idea to Erani. This way, she¡¯d be less likely to be seen by Humans. Really, getting seen by other Humans <em>shouldn¡¯t</em> have been an issue, since Ainash wasn¡¯t aggressive, but Erani didn¡¯t really trust others to always act correctly around a monster. Also, Erani appreciated being able to walk beneath the shade while in search of this house; the cool breeze felt so much more refreshing when the sun wasn¡¯t so brutal on her back.


    They also traveled only through the edges of the forest, not venturing too deep within. ording to Ainash, she¡¯d done a lot of looking into the ways the Goblins acted, and she found that they didn¡¯t normally travel too close to the edges of the canopy or set traps near there, since it was too dangerous. How long that caution wouldst when the Dragon was forcing them to expand so recklessly, Erani didn¡¯t know, but at least for now sticking to the edges was safe.


    So across the forest they walked, with Ainash leading the way to her home. The way she talked about it, it seemed like the Goblins were very well-behaved, which was good. Erani would be worried if it was too dangerous. Maybe they understood that Ainash could act as their ticket out from under the Dragon¡¯s thumb¡ªthat would be extremely helpful, if they would willingly help Ainash get them away from there.


    Eventually, Ainash stopped and spread her arms out wide. <em>¡°Here it is!¡±</em>


    Erani frowned, looking around. <em>¡°Sorry, uh¡­where?¡±</em>


    Ainash turned to look at her. <em>¡°Here, silly mother! We are standing in home! Look, that rock is a ce to sit, and that tree you can lean on! The dirt is very soft so you can sleep on it, and there is leaves on that tree which you can use for shade.¡±</em>


    The ce seemed like apletely normal clearing, nothing moved around at all, much less shaped into an actual set of walls and turned into shelter.


    <em>¡°Will try to find better ce near riverter, but could not find it so fast. But for now I think home is very nice!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Uh¡­Yeah, I like it,¡±</em> Erani said. If this worked for Ainash, then who was she to tell her it was wrong? <em>¡°It looks very different from what Humans use for homes, though, so I was kind of surprised. But I think this ce seems great for you!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Thank you!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But, um¡­¡±</em> Erani looked around again, trying to make sure she hadn¡¯t missed anything. <em>¡°...Where are the Goblins?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Oh, almost forgot! I remembered that Goblins like to have walls in their house, so I made them a house with walls in it!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°That¡¯s great,¡±</em> Erani said. Apparently Ainash had actually made a proper house, in the end. It must¡¯ve been located somewhere else. <em>¡°Do you mind taking me to see them, too?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em> Ainash walked over and bent down to the ground, using her hand to clear away some loose dirt.


    <em>¡°Uh, what are you doing?¡± </em>Erani asked.


    <em>¡°Am showing you their home!¡±</em>


    She continued clearing away the dirt, revealing a set of wide leaves that¡¯d been intricatelyyered together and ced on the ground.


    <em>¡°This is the entrance! Made it the same way that Goblins make their traps, so I think they like it. That way, it has walls and it has trap entrance!¡±</em>


    She picked up theyered leaves and moved them aside, revealing a hole that¡¯d been dug into the ground. Erani was too far away to see all the way down, but she could tell it was deep.


    <em>¡°Come look!¡±</em> Ainash said, gesturing for Erani to look down into the hole.


    Erani frowned and walked forward, closer to the hole, and peered within.


    It was easily ten, maybe even fifteen or twenty paces deep. And narrow. It was a square shape, probably only one or two paces wide on each side. And far, far down at the bottom, was a pair of Goblins. They growled and scratched at the walls, and from the looks of the marks on the dirt down there, it seemed like they¡¯d tried to climb up and escape several times.


    <em>¡°Uh oh!¡± </em>Ainash said. <em>¡°Think they are trying to leave.¡±</em>


    She shouted something out loud in her ownnguage down at them, and the pair of Goblins visually flinched and stopped moving.


    <em>¡°Look! They understand what I say! I always tell them ¡®stop that¡¯ when they are bad, and if they do not stop I punish them. They already know to stop!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What¡­do you do to punish them?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I drop rocks on them!¡±</em>


    Eyes wide, Erani nced back down to see the pit was, indeed, full of stones beneath the Goblins. Some were as small as her fist, others asrge as her head. <em>¡°Um¡­Ainash, honey, I don¡¯t think¡­they like it here.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, they are sometimes mad or do not like me, but I have to teach them to be good before I can give them good things. Right now they are mean guys, so I have to hurt them until they are not mean anymore. Father taught me!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°He told you to¡­beat the Goblins?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No, but he taught me some people are good guys, and I should be nice to good guys, and some are bad guys, and I should kill bad guys, but some people are in between. Are not bad, but are just mean. And you do not kill mean guys, just hurt them so they are not mean anymore. That is what I am doing! I think that once Goblins turn into good guys, they will really like it here! Is a very nice home.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Um¡­huh.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°And because they are already kind of understanding my words, I think they soon will be able to be trained into being very good and obedient! Then they will do what I say, and I will teach them words! Words like, ¡®go kill that bad guy,¡¯ and ¡®go blow up that building full of bad guys!¡¯ Very helpful.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...Okay. That seems like it could be helpful. But¡­maybe we could be nicer to them for now, right? I don¡¯t¡­I don¡¯t know if dropping rocks on them is a¡­good idea.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I think it is!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Right. Um, but if you keep hurting them, they might not like you, right?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Do not think that will happen. They will understand. Can already feel them kind of understanding! That is why I know it will work. When first captured them, they hated me so much! But now, they only kind of hate me, and kind of are afraid of me. And they are not as afraid of Dragon anymore, because they are too afraid of me to even think about it! Soon, once they do not hate me and are just afraid of me, they will do what I say and then I will not have to hurt them anymore, so I can be nice. Then they will stop being afraid and just like me. But have to make them afraid first, that way they know they cannot be mean anymore.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But how do you know that¡¯s the right thing to do? I mean, what if they don¡¯t ever stop being afraid or mad?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No, they will not. Before bad guys attacked, I learned how to do this as little baby! When trying to help monsters, sometimes they do not know you are there to help them. But you have to help the monsters, because if you do not, they will die and be sad! And you have to make them know you are helping them, because if they know you help them, then they will give you Tribute, and then you can help them even more! So with the monsters who do not know you are there to help them, they will not like you at first. They will attack sometimes! You have to beat them up a lot so they stop attacking. Then, once they stop attacking, they will be able to see that you were actually helping the whole time! And they will like you. This is how I always do it, and always works! And if does not work, that is okay. I will kill these Goblins and get more to try again.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, isn¡¯t it¡­kind of mean? To keep hurting them like this? I mean, they¡¯re just trying to go back home. Is this really the right way to treat a pet? You¡¯re supposed to take care of them, remember?¡±</em>


    For a moment, Ainash seemed somewhat confused. <em>¡°It is okay to be mean to pets. And if they are bad, then they should be punished. Sometimes, when turning monster into pet, you have to hurt them so they turn into a good pet. They must listen and do what you say! And sometimes pets get hurt and die, and that is okay too.¡±</em>


    Erani took a breath. When Ainash had first talked about adopting the Goblins as pets, she thought it would be more like¡­the way a Human might get a pet. Like, something to be affectionate towards, something to take care of just because it was nice to take care of something. But Ainash clearly didn¡¯t have that attitude. Maybe ¡®pet¡¯ wasn¡¯t actually the right word? She¡¯d thought ¡®pet¡¯ must have been right when Ainash was first talking about them, since it was the only thing that made sense in context. But trantion errors had happened plenty of times in the past. Maybe this whole time, Ainash wasn¡¯t talking about turning these Goblins into her pets. Maybe this whole time, she was saying¡­


    <em>¡°Am very excited!¡±</em> Ainash said. <em>¡°They will make such great soldiers!¡±</em>


    Right. That was definitely it.


    For a moment, Erani didn¡¯t know what to do. She didn¡¯t know if these Goblins actually deserved the treatment they were getting here. Sure, it was probably better than what the Dragon had been doing to them, but here they were, under the care of Erani¡¯s own daughter, being beaten down and made to fear her. That didn¡¯t seem right at all. Poor things couldn¡¯t even defend themselves. But what could Erani even say to change Ainash¡¯s mind? She¡¯d already decided that she¡¯d be running this Goblin boot camp, and Erani knew the kid well enough that she knew Ainash didn¡¯t easily change her mind on these things.


    <em>¡°So¡­¡±</em> Erani tried to figure out the best way to word this.


    But before she could, something came flying out of the hole beneath them.


    A rock came up and bounced off Erani¡¯s forehead, and she got a notification about Angelic Shield preventing 7 damage.


    ¡°Ah!¡± she said, leaning back out of surprise. She wasn¡¯t hurt, of course, but the sudden sensation still startled her. She could hear the jeering of one of the Goblins below.


    <em>¡°Oh, am sorry mother!¡±</em> Ainash said. <em>¡°Goblins are not supposed to be bad around guests!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It-it¡¯s fine.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No it is not! Um¡­¡±</em> Ainash looked down at the two Goblins. <em>¡°Think number two did that. Will kill him.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°W-wait, what?!¡± </em>Erani blinked at the sudden deration. <em>¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s necessary.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It is! Number two has been bad before. Killing number two will make number one behave goodter. Then number one can be good example to new Goblins I capture! I will be right back, mother.¡±</em>


    And Ainash jumped right down into the hole, whip aze.

 Chapter 185: Exertion and Encounter

    Chapter 185: Exertion and Encounter


    Once I was on the road, heading back for town, I decided now was as good a time as any to practice Gravity Well. It was still at Rank 10 while my Soft Cap was Rank 11, which meant I could easily push it up by one more.


    So, as I walked, I went ahead and did that. Gravity Well required a target, and there was nothing else around to hit, so I just used it on myself.


    The moment I toggled the Spell on, a wave of disorientation hit me. I¡¯d used the Spell on myself in the past, so I thought I¡¯d be able to anticipate what it would feel like, but I waspletely wrong. Before, the Spell was low-Rank enough that it only increased my gravity by twenty, maybe thirty percent at its most. But in the time that¡¯d passed since then, it increased all the way up to near seventy. That difference was massive.


    Really, the only reason I didn¡¯t copse on the spot from the surprise was because of my Stats¡ªEndurance helped me withstand the initial shock and Dexterity helped me find my footing, but of course Strength was the main assist in this case, allowing my legs to not copse out from under me. At 36, my Strength had gotten to the point where I¡¯d probably ended up being a good deal stronger than the average Unssed. Since it added onto existing muscle, it also helped that I was already in good shape from my past training to be a Swordsman.


    However, despite how extreme the effects of the gravity increase were, they were nothingpared to the new Taxing Well Upgrade. Index had attempted to exin exactly what it did, and I thought I¡¯d understood, but no matter how it had been exined to me, I didn¡¯t think I could have ever anticipated this feeling. It was simr to the sensation one would get while submerged in the water¡ªevery single movement I made felt so much harder to make, and the harder I tried to move, the more my own body seemed to resist.


    And, of course, at least underwater you¡¯d be weightless, not having to worry about keeping yourself standing. But now, not only did I have to deal with standing up under these weakened conditions, but I also had to deal with the increased gravity from the original effect of the Spell.


    It was the perfect storm of effects,pletely ruining my ability to walk. I did try to keep moving, of course, since it felt like a good idea to get a grasp of what fighting under the Spell would be like¡ªthe better I understood how my enemies would feel, the better I could exploit that during a fight¡ªbut it felt like my pace was instantly cut to a quarter of what it would have been. Every step was exhausting, requiring my full exertion just to drag my body forward, and I found myself quickly taking breaks to catch my breath every time my feet found the dirt.


    ¡°Good gods,¡± I muttered, breathing heavily. My hands were nted on my knees to help support the crushing weight on my back. ¡°Index, you didn¡¯t tell me how fucking tiring this would be.¡±


    ¡°The Upgrade is very literal when it says ¡®physical muscle strain is increased.¡¯ It makes your body work that much harder to do the exact same thing. You¡¯re basically doing some very extreme endurance training right now, like walking with eight bags of sand strapped to your chest.¡±


    I chuckled, sweat forming on my brow. ¡°Well, I guess if I ever want to work out, I¡¯ll just use this Spell on myself while I walk around.¡±


    ¡°That technically isn¡¯t a terrible idea, if you have the spare Mana. Doubling muscle strain would, by natural consequence, double muscle development.¡±


    ¡°Guess that¡¯s even more of a reason to try and raise my Mana regen,¡± I said, grunting with each footstep.


    After about a minute of walking under Gravity Well, it gathered enough Spell XP to finally Rank up.


    Threshold reached. Gravity Well XP has reached 461.


    Gravity Well Rank has increased to 11.


    Due to Gravity Well Rank reaching 11, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 15.9 to 16.3


    Gravity Increase: From 67% to 74%


    Instantly, I shut the Spell off, not wanting to endure any more of that. Gods, I¡¯d never really stopped to think what it must¡¯ve been like for my opponents. When all of the debuffs were stacked on them, plus the Stamina drains, it must have been like living in the hells to fight under. And I¡¯d only tasted a single one of those Spells.


    As I recovered from that, I decided I should also go ahead and send a message to Ainash. It¡¯d probably be a good idea to inform her and Erani that I was headed back into town, after all.


    I closed my eyes and focused, putting in the extra mental effort it took to send messages over long distances. Eventually, I got through. <em>¡°Hey, Ainash, I¡¯m walking back in your direction now. Do you mind telling mother? I¡¯ll just be nning on meeting her in the Human town.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay! Mother is actually staying with me right now.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Wait, what? At your Goblin house thing? Why?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Um¡­Did not want to tell you while you are doing important thing with mean Humans. Did not want to distract you. But¡­I am in trouble.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°In trouble?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, mother is mad at me.¡±</em> I could tell from the tone of the message, Ainash was unusually sheepish right now. Like she was embarrassed to tell me.


    <em>¡°Why?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I¡­um¡­tried to kill Goblins.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What do you mean?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Um¡­let me ask mother. Do not know how to tell you.¡±</em>


    There was a pause, and I frowned. What was she talking about? I mean, killing Goblins didn¡¯t exactly seem like a big deal to me, honestly.


    <em>¡°Um, so, what mother told me to tell you, is, when I talking about ¡®pets¡¯ like making Goblins into my pets, I am not saying pets. If I wanted to say pets, I would say this:¡±</em> Ainash then said a new word which I could tell also meant ¡®pet.¡¯ <em>¡°What I have been saying is, um¡­when you have someone you train to fight for you, to do things you tell them to do, to fight in army for you.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°A soldier?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes! Want Goblins to be my soldiers! My pet soldiers! They will fight for us and kill bad guys!¡±</em>


    I nodded slowly. Really, that didn¡¯t change much when it came to what Ainash was doing here. I mean, she¡¯d already been talking about how she wanted the Goblins to fight for her, so it was basically the same thing. Plus, the Goblins were fully thinking creatures. It wouldn''t be like the way a farmer kept cattle, that was for sure. So¡­sure. Soldiers.


    <em>¡°Father, you do not seem very surprised.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I guess I¡¯m not. I mean, it makes basic sense why you¡¯d want soldiers. Did you think I¡¯d be surprised?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, mother was very surprised!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Why?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, was talking about how was training Goblins to be my soldiers. Put them in a deep hole and whenever they are bad, I throw rocks at them so they are not bad anymore.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You throw rocks at them?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes! And when was talking to mother, one Goblin was very bad. It threw rock at mother! So I went to kill it.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Seems like the right move. Definitely can¡¯t keep something alive if it¡¯s trying to hurt her. I mean, they don¡¯t even know how strong she is, so they could¡¯ve killed her without knowing it. No sense in rewarding that behavior.¡±</em>


    There was a moment of silence from Ainash, then she said, <em>¡°Really think so?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah. If you¡¯re trying to get these Goblins to fight for you, then you should probably make sure they don¡¯t end up trying to kill us, right?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°That is what told mother! She stopped me from killing Goblin, though. And now is mad that I tried to kill it. That is why she is staying with me. To make sure I do not kill Goblin.¡±</em>


    I blinked. Oh. Did I identally just give her ammunition to argue against Erani with? <em>¡°Uhh, you should probably just do what mother says. I mean, the Goblin tried to attack her, right? So she should have final say over whether or not that Goblin gets punished. Maybe you can just make sure it knows you don''t want it to throw more rocks some other way?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Mother keeps saying I should treat Goblins more nicely but that does not make sense! I am being nice to Goblins by giving them better home and taking them away from Dragon and helping them fight bad guys!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I think she means you should be nicer to them individually. Like, it would be mean to that one Goblin to kill it, right?¡±</em>


    I got a sense of confusion from her. <em>¡°But I am being nice to all the Goblins. Sometimes some Goblins need to die. Like all animals. Being nice to one single animal does not make sense, because doing that just means you will hurt other animals. If you are nice to prey animal by helping it avoid predators, then you are being mean to predators. If you are nice to predator, you are being mean to prey. So cannot just help one Goblin, because then will be being mean to other people. Like mother! And do not want to be mean to mother by letting Goblins hit her with rocks!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Hm. Well I¡¯m not sure what I can tell you here. I don¡¯t think she wants you to kill the Goblins when you¡¯re trying to help them.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...Okay. Will do what she says. But she will not be in Human settlement when you go there, because she is with me right now. She wille backter!¡±</em>


    We said our goodbyes and ended the line ofmunication. What the fuck had Ainash gotten herself into? Clearly Erani didn¡¯t appreciate her attitude when it came to the Goblins, enough that she didn¡¯t even trust Ainash enough to leave her alone with the things. Which waspletely understandable¡ªin fact, I was left wondering if Ainash had already done a simr thing to a few others. How many unsessful attempts at capture had there been before she found the two that she had trapped now? asionally I forgot just how easily that kid could decide to just kill someone.


    But for now, I just continued walking.


    The hours passed and I eventually made it back to town. In the time that passed, I continued practicing Noxious Grasp, pushing its Spell XP higher and higher, until it finally reached the next threshold.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 2.49k.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 17.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 17, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 5.45 to 5.59


    Health Drain: From 21.8 to 22.9


    Stamina Drain: From 10.9 to 11.4


    For Rank 18, I¡¯d need 3.03k Spell XP. And then there were just two more Ranks after that until 20. Getting close.


    Ainash messaged me along the way and said that Erani wasing back into town soon¡ªapparently they had a nice, long conversation on why murder was bad¡ªso I said I¡¯d meet her back at our room in the guild. But while I waited, I ran a couple errands. Primarily, I went out to turn in my full Mana Battery and grab a new one from the teleporters.


    With the first one done, I still had nine more to go. It felt like a lot left, but I hoped that the time would pass more quickly now that we¡¯d finished settling into this ce. Just do some work, get some money, fill some batteries. Didn¡¯t need to be tooplex.


    Once I¡¯d gotten that, I just went back to the room to wait for Erani. It was nice to lie down on the bed and get some rest, honestly. So I just closed my eyes and waited.


    It wasn¡¯t much time before a knock sounded on my door. Strange, I would¡¯ve expected Erani to be a little longer. But whatever, I stood and walked over, swinging the door open.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°how was¡ª¡±


    I stopped. Standing in front of me wasn¡¯t Erani. It was a group of four people. Adventurers, obviously, considering their equipment¡ªthis was¡­two Melee-Types, a Ranged, and a Magic. Decent gear, especially on one of the Melees. He stood at around my height, clean-cut hair and a pale face, with the other Melee standing two heads taller than me, seeming more a pile of muscle straining under his dark skin than an actual Human being. The Ranged and the Magic were shorter women, standing with a bow and a staff, respectively.


    What in the hells were these people doing here?


    ¡°...Hey,¡± I said, ¡°wrong room.¡±


    The Magic-Type frowned, looking down at a paper in her hands, long ck hair swaying with the movement, then peered back up at me. ¡°No, I think we have the right ce. We¡¯re looking for Annor Ton. The foreigner. Is that you?¡±

 Chapter 186: The Dragons Convergence

    Chapter 186: The Dragon''s Convergence


    The four ssers stood in front of me, waiting for an answer.


    My breath caught in my throat. Had they seriously caught onto my identity already? Maybe I was wrong to trust Bon. I thought I¡¯d cleared things up with him¡ªand left behind a nice intimidating impression even if they still didn¡¯t believe me¡ªbut maybe that thought was incorrect.


    Either way, I wasn¡¯t sure if lying here would be the best n. Right now, it was at least my word against theirs, and maybe I could convince them that Bon was just lying to get back at me or something. My armor was way too distinctive for me to try and pass myself off as someone else, anyway. ¡°...Yes. That¡¯s me. Is something wrong?¡±


    The woman frowned. ¡°Hm? No, no, we just wanted to ept your job request. The, uh, mystery job?¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Oh.¡±


    That was much better news than I was expecting.


    ¡°Yes,¡± the Swordsman nodded and stepped up. Now that I got a closer look at him, he was actually less geared forbat and more geared for a noble¡¯s ball. With a rapier on his side, he wore a frilled white shirt and his pants were a deep burgundy, the material looking soft and expensive. Even his shoes were perfectly clean. Compared to the others wearing leather gear with old muddybat boots, he certainly stood out. He continued, ¡°Pray thee, we do wish that our forces shall prove abundant in this endeavor. I wist not of your ss and Level, but mayhaps you could enlighten us so we may be, er¡­enlightened?¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Uh, sorry, what did you just say? Maybe I was asleep earlier without realizing it and I¡¯m still waking up, but I don¡¯t¡­know what any of that means.¡±


    The Ranged-type with the short blonde hair giggled, putting a hand on the man¡¯s shoulder. He visibly froze up at her gesture. ¡°Entismo¡¯s trying to impress you, is all. He¡¯s a bit of a fancypants.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s take this conversation back down to the bar, how about?¡± the Magic-Type said, backing away to let me into the hallway. ¡°We can get to introductions then.¡±


    We all found seats around a table in the main lobby. The hum of a dozen conversations filled the room, and the scent of decent food filled my nose. A public area like this wouldn¡¯t be good for discussing the more confidential parts of the job¡ªwe¡¯d have to do that somewhere else¡ªbut I definitely felt morefortable in a public area right now, when I was outnumbered by these strangers.


    ¡°So, I¡¯m Annor,¡± I said, sitting down, ¡°what are your names?¡±


    ¡°I am Entismo,¡± the man in fancy clothing said, standing so he could take a regal bow. ¡°I hope I make thy acquaintance well, mister Annin¡ªer, Annor, I mean.¡±


    I nodded slowly. ¡°...Right. Uh, you don¡¯t have to talk like¡­that. It¡¯s fine, really.¡±


    The blonde woman with the bow barked out augh. ¡°Good luck getting him to do that. I¡¯ve only gotten Entismo to curse once. Once! He¡¯s just a big baby. Anyway, I¡¯m Sylvie-Ann, but don¡¯t call me Sylvie-Ann. If you call me that, I¡¯ll punch you. Call me Sylvie.¡±


    ¡°Why would you even tell me your full name if you don¡¯t want me to call you it?¡± I asked. ¡°Also, do not punch me. Please do understand that if you start a fight with me, I¡¯ll be the one to finish it. Seriously.¡±


    She raised her eyebrows and put her hands up in an exaggerated expression. ¡°Fine, fine.¡±


    I nodded. I hated being so antagonistic with them off the bat, but I absolutely couldn¡¯t risk any of these people hitting me¡ªeven yfully¡ªand getting a notification with my ss attached.


    The other woman nodded to me. ¡°My name¡¯s Aliss. I actually came here recently to look into the Demon attack on Koinkar. So, I mean, when I saw your request saying you were a native Koinkarian, I just had to ask you about¡ª¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon, Aliss. He doesn¡¯t want to be interrogated by some crazy summoning girl off the bat,¡± Sylvie said with a roll of her eyes. Then she looked over at me. ¡°He wants to talk about money, right? So, that reward. That was real? Sixteen thousand?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Sixteen thousand for your group. As long as you¡¯re high enough Level, and you¡¯re okay with taking on a dangerous job, we should be okay.¡±


    Entismo grunted. ¡°Forsooth, we shall verily be, um, okay with, uh, taking a dangerous¡­mission.¡± His voice grew quieter and less confident as he stumbled his way through the sentence. Could he just not think of a high-ss way to word what he wanted to say? Though, really, the way he was talking was less actually high-ss and more like what a five-year-old would think nobles spoke like.


    ¡°Yeah, shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± Sylvie said, leaning back and picking at one of her fingernails. ¡°We¡¯re all low silver¡ªwell, all but one of us. Entismo¡¯s still working on grabbing thosest few Levels. Can¡¯t get any min¡¯ XP to save his life.¡±


    He opened his mouth to respond, but nced around at everyone at the table and seemed to decide against it, shutting his mouth and staying silent.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Allis said, ¡°I think we fit the Level requirements on your quest, so it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Oh, as for sses, I¡¯m a Wizard, Entismo is a Swordsman, Sylvie is an Archer, and Boy here is a Berserker.¡±


    She said thest part while gesturing to the fourth and final member of the group, and the only one who had yet to speak. The Berserker¡ª¡¯Boy¡¯ was his name, apparently¡ªwas a massive, hulking man, standing taller and wider than me by a huge margin. He had a chipped battleaxe on his back that was otherwise covered by a cheap cloth shirt.


    ¡°Mm,¡± I said. ¡°Boy, huh? Nice to meet you.¡±


    He simply nodded to me.


    ¡°He¡¯s mute,¡± Aliss exined. ¡°Can¡¯t talk. But he can hear just fine. Anyway, the request you put up said we¡¯d be working with one other person, right?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Yeah, yeah. My partner, Eita. She¡¯sing by soon, actually, so you can introduce yourselves to her when she arrives. Then we can discuss specifics. Oh, and you¡¯ll actually be working with someone else, too. But you¡¯ll meet herter. She¡¯s nice once you get to know her, really.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Aliss nodded.


    Sylvie leaned forward. ¡°So, what¡¯s your ss? Got a build you think will fit into our party? We really need a healer. Or, like, anyone who doesn¡¯t focus on dealing damage.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I stopped to think for a moment. This was the issue with working alongside another party, of course. They¡¯d obviously want to know my ss, and even if I gave a copout answer like ¡®I don¡¯t want to tell you,¡¯ they would still end up seeing me fight. And they¡¯d still see that I was using Spells they weren¡¯t familiar with. Even if they didn¡¯t make the leap from that to me being the fugitive with the unique ss, it¡¯d still obviously draw unwanted scrutiny. But I felt like I had at least a partial solution to this problem. ¡°My build actually relies on Enchanted items a lot more than it does on my actual ss. I use a bunch of rare wands and stuff. My armor¡¯s Enchanted, too, though maybe you¡¯ve already heard of that. I know some people talk about me asionally.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, you¡¯re that guy with the magic armor that¡¯s stuck on you, right?¡± Sylvie said. She took a drink from a mug¡ªwhen had she found the time to order a beer?¡ªand looked back at me. ¡°So you can never take it off? Ever?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded. ¡°Kinda sucks, but, y¡¯know. Whatever. It damages you if you touch it, too, so be careful with that.¡±


    ¡°Woah, that¡¯s crazy,¡± she said. ¡°How do you fuck?¡±


    I coughed for a moment, not expecting the up-front question. ¡°Uh, what?¡±


    ¡°Like, you can never take it off, right? Not even parts? So how do you fuck? Do you have, like, a dickte you can move out of the way? And if it damages anyone who touches it, then¡ª¡±


    ¡°I imagine the more pressing issue would be finding a way to eat with something like that?¡± Allis interrupted.


    ¡°Oh, the armor¡¯s pass-through,¡± I said, lifting my hand to demonstrate. I poked my palm with my finger, and just like I said, it phased right through the steel. ¡°So I can just put the food and drink right through my facete.¡±


    ¡°So if you¡¯re fucking someone, you actually just keep the armor on?¡± Sylvie asked with wide eyes. ¡°You probably attract those total freaks that wanna fuck monsters, or something. I love it! Oh, and I¡¯m sure the damagingponent only makes it better. How many people have you fucked that, like, loved the pain from that? Was it weird?¡±


    I just stared at her, unsure of how to answer.


    ¡°That feels wildly inappropriate,¡± Aliss said in a disapproving manner to Sylvie. Then she turned back to me. ¡°How long have you been in the empire?¡±


    ¡°Not long,¡± I said. ¡°We fled here once the Demon invasion started. So we¡¯re still trying to get our bearings with everything. Get situated in the new ce and everything, you know how it is.¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± she nodded. ¡°I only moved here after the invasion, too. Well, I still grew up in the empire, of course. But I moved to this town after the invasion. Boy and I came here once we heard of it¡ªwe¡¯ve known each other for a long time¡ªand then only somewhat recently met Sylvie and Entismo. So what¡¯s the invasion like? I¡¯ve only heard stories, so I can¡¯t imagine what it must be like seeing a Demon up-close. You know, before the invasion, there were only four hundred and eighty-three living Demons that were known to be left in the Overworld from the summoning days? To think that the number would grow by such a huge amount in a single day¡ªit¡¯s absolutely historic! We haven¡¯t even <em>seen</em> any new Demons for centuries!¡±


    ¡°Four hundred and eighty-three?¡± I asked. ¡°How do you even know that statistic?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve done some research on the Demons. I mean, they can just do so much, right? And we <em>still</em> have no idea why the Demonic Pact Spell and the furthers on its branches stopped working. Personally, I¡¯m thinking of going down the path to take it with my next couple Level-ups. I mean, what if it only stopped working temporarily, but now it would start working again if someone just went and tried? Nobody takes the Spell anymore, right? So how would we even know? Especially now that Demons areing to the Overworld on their own, it seems likely.¡±


    ¡°Uhh.¡± I frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if summoning <em>more</em> Demons is a good idea.¡±


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry, the Spell pacts you with them. So on the off-chance it <em>does</em> work, they¡¯ll be bound to mymand. Just think of it! We could bring back an extinct way of magic! It¡¯s amazing just to think about.¡±


    ¡°Aliss, don¡¯t be insensitive,¡± Sylvie said. ¡°Poor guy¡¯s probably traumatized from the Demon invasion already, you don¡¯t need to go adding onto that with your boring magic talk.¡±


    I waved my hand. ¡°It¡¯s fine. But, uh, I¡¯m probably not the best person to talk to about all that. My partner is, though. She¡¯d probably love to talk with you about all that magic theory stuff. But the invasion¡­it¡¯s bad. I don¡¯t know if you want to get mixed up with the Demons. I mean, really, I¡¯d advise against it. Even with pacts and all that stuff, please, just take it from me. Getting on their bad side is not good news.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the worst thing you¡¯ve seen during the invasion?¡± Sylvie said suddenly, leaning forward. ¡°Got any war stories?¡±


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°War stories?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, like, what do the Demons do? I know they took over and stuff, but do they, like, spitva? Can any of them fly? Do they blow up?¡±


    ¡°Ugh,¡± Aliss scoffed. ¡°I tell you about the <em>rumors</em> we have about the Rupturai being spoken about in a couple texts, and suddenly all you can talk about are exploding Demons.¡±


    ¡°Hey, I came down here to help <em>my</em> friend Entismo find some glory and kill some Demons, so of course I¡¯m gonna be interested in what I¡¯ll be facing!¡±


    Entismoughed. ¡°Ah, my fairdies, please do not, er¡­scuffle.¡±


    Sylvie rolled her eyes. ¡°I am <em>not</em> a fairdy.¡±


    ¡°But it is rude, prithee, to argue with one another.¡±


    ¡°Ugh, I know your little crush is around, but can you please stop with the¡ª¡±


    Entismo quickly elbowed her in the ribs and she stopped speaking, instead just sighing and taking another sip, then mming the mug down next to another empty mug of hers. How fucking fast could she drink?


    ¡°A-anway,¡± Entismo said to me, ¡°I appreciate a fellow user of thy, uh, Enchantments! I am perchance a tad reliant on them, myself, you see.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh,¡± I said with a nod. ¡°So are you, like¡­a noble? Or something?¡±


    ¡°I am the grandnephew of the venerated duke of East Westershire!¡± he said proudly.


    I nodded once again, unsure of how to continue the conversation from there.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Sylvie said, ¡°so what¡¯s up with your build? What do the Enchantments do? Got anything cool?¡±


    The time passed as we discussed the specifics of our builds and the different ways we might be able to mesh them together. I worked to speak as vaguely as I could about my own abilities, of course, but they didn¡¯t seem to mind too much. Plenty of adventurers were secretive about their build, especially when they were sped down an irregr path. One of the main strengths of taking unpopr abilities was the surprise factor, after all, so most who relied on that were hesitant to give it away.


    After about half an hour, I saw the doors at the front of the lobby open, and Erani stepped through. I¡¯d silently told Ainash to inform her of what was going on, so she knew who I was speaking to and where we were, walking straight over after entering.


    ¡°Oh, hey,¡± I said with a wave to her as she approached. I stood and gestured to the group of four. ¡°Eita, meet Entismo, Sylvia, Aliss, and Boy. They¡¯re the adventurers who wanted to take the job.¡±


    She nodded to them, but before she could say anything, Sylvia stood from her seat, spilling one of the half-dozen empty mugs that¡¯d piled up in front of her.


    ¡°Woah¡­¡± Sylvia muttered. ¡°You really <em>are</em> missing an arm! I didn¡¯t think those people were telling the truth about it! That¡¯s so cool! How¡¯d you lose it? Did you, like, blow yourself up or something?¡±


    Erani blinked. After a moment, she quietly answered, ¡°Um, no. No, just a battle.¡±


    ¡°And your voice! What Spell is that?!¡±


    ¡°We should probably get to a more private ce,¡± Aliss interrupted. ¡°And preferably somewhere without ess to more alcohol. Now that everyone¡¯s here, we can talk about the specifics of the job, right?¡±


    ¡°Indubitably,¡± Entismo said with a nod. ¡°We heretofore shall transport ourselves to a new milieu!¡±


    Erani leaned back, as though physically pushed away by his barrage of nonsense. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­¡± I shook my head, leaning in to speak with her. ¡°Listen, I don¡¯t know if we have much of a choice when ites to who we go with. It¡¯s basically them or bust, here. So. Y¡¯know. entricities.¡±


    Sylvia hopped out of her seat. ¡°Man, I am <em>so</em> excited to hear about what we¡¯ll be doing! I bet it¡¯ll be, like, building a secretir! Or hunting down an artifact hidden deep in the ruins of an ancient buried civilization!¡±


    ¡°Not quite,¡± I said as we walked out of the bar. I honestly wasn¡¯t sure whether she¡¯d be excited or disappointed by the news that they¡¯d be ying a Young Dragon with us. ¡°Where are we headed? You guys know a ce?¡±


    ¡°Boy actually owns a house in the northern residential area,¡± Aliss said. ¡°We can talk there, if you want.¡±


    ¡°Wait, I thought you guys said you only just came here.¡±


    ¡°Well, when I came here with Boy, it was <em>my</em> first time in the town, but we chose this ce specifically instead of any other random town near the mountains because Boy grew up here. Some old estranged rtive of his died a while back and left him a nice ce, but he was already living in another city when that happened, so it was just kinda sitting around until we came back. It¡¯s been neat meeting all of his old friends since we came in.¡±


    I noticed Entismo giving Aliss and Boy a strange nce when she said that, but wasn¡¯t totally sure what that was about.


    ¡°Uh, sure,¡± I said. ¡°That sounds fine. We can talk there. Lead the way.¡±

 Chapter 187: The Dragons Assembly

    Chapter 187: The Dragon''s Assembly


    ¡°We¡¯re going to be killing a <em>what?!¡±</em> Sylvie leaned forward, hands gripping the table between us, when she heard me describe the job.


    We were currently sitting in the living room of Boy¡¯s house, a quaint little ce housed in an out-of-the-way neighborhood. I sat with Erani on a dusty couch while Entismo, Aliss, and Sylvie each sat in chairs they¡¯d brought over so we were all around the central wooden table. Boy, once we¡¯d arrived, soon wandered over into his kitchen and brought out all kinds of ingredients, preparing something that smelled delicious. ording to Aliss, he was apparently an aspiring chef.


    So with the faint sound of sizzling meat in our ears, we discussed the fine details of our agreement. Entismo was apparently the one who was considered the ¡®leader¡¯ of this group¡ªthough, really, it seemed like he surrendered control to Aliss whenever she spoke¡ªso much of my discussion was with him. Which was obviously a chore. And once all of that was done and we were sure these guys had epted, we finally got to disclosing what we wanted these people to help us do.


    Entismo chuckled nervously. ¡°We shall assuredly necessitate a more sizable team than, er, this, correct?¡±


    Sylvie, on the other hand, stood from her seat, raising her hands in the air and pacing around the room. ¡°That. Sounds. Awesome! A Young Dragon! Oh man, I¡¯ve never even <em>seen</em> a Dragon before!¡±


    ¡°How do you know it¡¯s there?¡± Aliss asked, leaning forward and cing her elbows on the table.


    Entismo nced over at her and hastily nodded, setting his own elbows on the table in clear mimicry of her gesture. ¡°Y-yes. Verily, we must verify this¡­verification. Of the Dragon.¡±


    ¡°I have a Divination ability,¡± I exined, doing my best to ignore Entismo¡¯s actions. ¡°We were in the location on another job, and I found out about the Young Dragon from that. It¡¯s a Level 22, and lives in a specific enough location that I¡¯m confident we¡¯ll be able to both hunt it down and get the drop on it.¡±


    I did still omit specific information, like where they¡¯d be able to find it, in case they tried to go behind our backs andplete the job on their own, that way they¡¯d still have to rely on us to actually go and kill the thing, but at this point it seemed like they weremitted to doing this job with us.


    ¡°Level 22...¡± Aliss looked down, frowning. ¡°Together, we¡¯re only just barely past the minimum strength required to hunt something like that legally. You sure about this?¡±


    ¡°Like I said before, we have one more person who¡¯ll be working with us,¡± I said. ¡°Should even things out pretty well.¡±


    ¡°What degree are they?¡±


    I paused, unsure of how to tell them that this was a monster I was talking about, not a Human.


    ¡°She¡¯s strong,¡± Erani spoke up. ¡°No need to worry. At least the power of silver, but maybe higher. Could even be low gold, in my opinion.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± Aliss said with a nod. Then she looked up, behind us. ¡°Oh, Boy, do you need help with that?¡±


    I looked back to see him carrying out a tray with several steaming tes and bowls from the kitchen. Seemed like dinner was ready.


    ¡°I-I would be honored to assist,¡± Entismo leapt up from his hair and quickly walked over to Boy, taking a few tes from his tter. He looked back to Aliss. ¡°No need to fret, mydy.¡±


    ¡°Oh, thanks for the meal,¡± I said, looking down at the table as they set the dishes down.


    Boy nodded at me, face ever-unchanging, and set a piece of paper down on the table, as well, turned so it faced me and Erani.


    <em>¡°Gloomspur meat, rarity from least cooked on left to most cooked on right. Seasoned with herbs from garden and imported salt. Sdes on side, should eat that first for best order of vors. Side of potatoes as well, salt and butter in dishes on te to use on potatoes, season them to your own taste. However I rmend a half-spoonful of each. Will give you exact recipe if you like.¡±</em>


    ¡°Oh, wow,¡± I said, reading what he said. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to do¡­all this. I mean, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever had such a carefully-nned meal in my life.¡±


    Boy nodded at what I said, then used a pencil to add another note to the paper. <em>¡°Happy to introduce more to good food.¡±</em>


    Aliss was already taking her own tes from the tray, mixing her sd with a fork, while Sylvie dumped her entire cup of butter all over her steak and potatoes, licking her lips. Entismo brought a handkerchief out of his pocket and carefullyid it on hisp, sitting up straight in his chair and eyeing the food.


    <em>Index, you were watching Boy prepare this stuff, right? Any chance it¡¯s poisoned?</em>


    ¡°Nah, not that I could see. And even if it was, everything was all put in the same pots, so they¡¯d all be poisoning themselves, too. And I can tell you that none of them have any sort of poison-based damage reduction Enchantments or abilities, nor are any of their Endurances so much higher than yours that they¡¯d be able to meaningfully resist something you¡¯d sumb to. In fact, most of them have a lower Endurance.¡±


    I nodded subtly to Erani, who was clearly waiting for my signal that things were safe, and took a te. It really did smell immacte.


    After the dinner, we headed out of town, leading the group of four down the road to exterminate this Young Dragon. We wanted to attack as it got dark so we could use the cover of night for our efforts at stealth¡ªgetting the drop on the thing would be best, and we wanted to avoid as best we could the Goblins warning the Dragon of our approach¡ªso we decided today was as good a time as ever. No sense in giving other adventurers more time to find it before we got the job done, after all.


    It seemed like the group quickly figured out the general location of the Dragon as we moved, realizing we were heading straight for the Goblins¡¯ forest. It took some time, but eventually we got to the point where the trees were in sight a little ways further down the road.


    I stopped and took a breath. ¡°Okay. Our destination is in there. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of the Goblins.¡±


    ¡°So we¡¯re killing a Young Dragon that¡¯s <em>inside</em> Goblin territory?¡± Sylvie asked. ¡°That sounds like a horrible idea. I¡¯m <em>so </em>in.¡±


    ¡°Why do you think it¡¯s down there?¡± Aliss said, gazing up at the tall mountains that backed the forest. ¡°I mean, Dragons don¡¯t normally leave Empire¡¯s Edge, right? I wonder what pushed it down.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve heard it was because of two other Dragons,¡± Erani responded. ¡°We¡¯re not entirely sure what started the conflict, but apparently they ousted the younger one from the mountains in a territory dispute. It happened after the invasion of Koinkar, though, so the conflict must¡¯ve been started because of that.¡±


    ¡°I imagine the older Dragons would be able to remember the times when Humans could summon Demons,¡± Aliss mused, hand on her chin. ¡°Perhaps they think we¡¯re the ones summoning them, so the Demons aren¡¯ting here of their own ord. Could be attempting to solidify their positions in the mountain range and get rid of any other beings that could threaten their territory. If the Humans found a way to summon more Demons, after all, it would certainly be cause for concern from them. What do you think?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°No clue. So you guys ready to head into the forest?¡±


    ¡°Could we perchance take a tad bit longer?¡± Entismo asked. ¡°Sylvie requires preparation time before going into battle.¡±


    Sylvie scoffed, rolling her eyes. ¡°Ugh, I don¡¯t <em>need</em> to. We¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°You must not be unprepared, mypanion, lest we be caught, er, unprepared.¡±


    ¡°You are such a min¡¯ dumbass. Just quit it with that, I know you get tired of it.¡±


    ¡°Sylvie,¡± he hissed in her ear.


    ¡°Fine.¡± She plopped down on the ground and took a few arrows from her quiver, looking up at me and Erani. ¡°I have a Talent that lets me prepare my arrows to cause them to deal a ton more damage when they hit something for the next twenty-four hours. It¡¯s <em>such</em> a pain to do, though. Takes forever, since I can only do it one by one. So unless you¡¯re in a hurry, we should probably take, like, an hour or two so I can do this.¡±


    ¡°Fine by me,¡± I said. ¡°Could be beneficial to let it get a little darker before entering, anyway. Why¡¯d you take the Talent if you hate it so much, though? Wouldn¡¯t there be other choices that allow you to operate without taking so much prep time?¡±


    ¡°Entismo basically made me when we ran away,¡± she said. ¡°He kept telling me it was the best choice, and it dealt so much more damage, and it¡¯d help us out so much. <em>Such</em> a dumbass.¡±


    ¡°Ran away?¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, we¡¯re both from noble families. Grew up as friends, but I just hated the life. I mean, you can¡¯t even <em>imagine</em> what it¡¯s like. Everyone tells you what you can and can¡¯t do, how to sit, how to talk, who to talk to, how to sit while you talk, how to sit while you <em>aren¡¯t</em> talking, how to do literally everything so you don¡¯t offend someone. Whoops, you ate that dish using the wrong spoon, now we¡¯re gonna get executed by some stuck-up nobody. So min¡¯ dumb. Entismo wasn¡¯t cut out for the life, either, so I asked him if he wanted to leave. He said yes, and we just ran off to be adventurers. Now we¡¯re livin¡¯ the life!¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± I asked. ¡°Entismo, you ran away? I would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d have liked that. I mean, Sylvie I can get, but you¡­¡±


    He shifted ufortably, sitting in the grass with us. ¡°I do indeed upkeep my good habits. Though that sphere may not cater to my talents, my upbringing was nevertheless graced with refinement. ¡®Tis the least I can do to respect the precepts I was raised with, if I am to bring my elders trouble by running off. However, I still must tend to mypanion Sylvie.¡±


    ¡°Basically, he only came with me because he was worried about me,¡± Sylvie said.


    ¡°So is that why you talk¡­like that?¡± I asked. I honestly wasn¡¯t entirely sure how to bring the topic up. It somehow felt rude to talk about, and rude to not talk about at the same time.


    Sylvieughed. ¡°What, like the back half of a dictionary was run through the mind of an idiot?¡±


    He elbowed her. ¡°Simply because <em>you</em> do not understand does not mean <em>I</em> am an idiot.¡±


    ¡°No, dude,¡± she said, ¡°I keep telling you, you¡¯re using half of those words wrong.¡±


    He opened his mouth, but didn¡¯t say anything, after a moment just resorting to scoff and look away, arms crossed. Sylvie just keptughing, her hands continuing to hover over the arrow in herp.


    ¡°So,¡± Aliss looked to Erani after a moment of silence, ¡°that Spell you¡¯re using, it¡¯s Distortion Strike, right?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± Erani said, looking surprised. Her voice, as always, came out as an ever-present whisper due to the Spell. ¡°Yes, it is. Were you considering bing a Sorcerer, too? Most non-Sorcerers don¡¯t know it.¡±


    ¡°Oh, no, it¡¯s actually offered to Wizards as well,¡± Aliss said. ¡°Only after taking Demonic Pact, though, so obviously most don¡¯t research past that point in the tree.¡±


    ¡°Wow, I had no idea,¡± Erani said. ¡°Are you really nning on taking Pact? It seems¡­suboptimal. I mean, chances are it¡¯ll do nothing. And if it does, that¡¯s just a wasted pick. Is there something past that point in the tree that makes it worth taking a useless Spell?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean? If I take the Spell and it does nothing, that¡¯s not a waste. It¡¯s valuable knowledge¡ªdespite the Demons being able to summon themselves here, us Humans can still not summon them.¡±


    ¡°But it still does nothing. I mean, in a fight, you¡¯ll wish you had something else, right?¡±


    Aliss just shrugged. ¡°There¡¯s more to life than fighting.¡±


    ¡°I-I do agree,¡± Entismo spoke up. For some reason, when he did, Sylvie giggled slightly. But he kept speaking, ¡°There¡¯s, er, if you acquire a Spell to contribute to the knowledge of the world, that¡¯s a, um, b-beautiful thing. Perchance. I-I have heeded your words of the Demons, Aliss, and to sneap the importance of such a thing would be, er¡­bad. F-facious! It would be facious. To do so.¡±


    ¡°Mhm.¡± Aliss nodded. I could see her eyes just kind of zed over halfway through what he¡¯d said. Then she nced over at Boy, who was currently cleaning off his battleaxe with a rag, calmly wiping off each side, one after the other. ¡°Hey Boy,dy Milena still needs help this weekend, right? We¡¯re still doing that?¡±


    He looked up and nodded to her, then went back to cleaning.


    ¡°Milena?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s the owner of the orphanage he grew up in,¡± Aliss exined. ¡°The conversation just reminded me of her. She¡¯s been getting oldtely, has trouble running it by herself. We¡¯ve been trying to help out now that we¡¯re in town, but¡­y¡¯know. There¡¯s only so much you can do. I¡¯m hoping maybe I can find a way to do something about that. There isn¡¯t anyone lined up to rece her, and it¡¯s the only ce in town those kids have to go.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± I nodded. ¡°Good that you¡¯re doing that. Giving those kids someone they can rely on is a great thing. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll really appreciate you being there for them once they¡¯re older.¡±


    The time passed and we continued making idle conversation as the sun sank behind the mountains and the moon rose above. Since Erani still needed to take breaks asionally to let her Mana regenerate from keeping Distortion Strike active constantly, we had toe up with a couple excuses for her to leave and go out of sight for a little bit, but it wasn¡¯t too much of an issue. I still needed to give her the Arcane Spell Crystal, so when I gave her that to Rank up Angelic Shield, she took a break to go and do that, saying she just couldn¡¯t meditate while anyone else was around. And, of course, she actually did need to go meditate and assign her Upgrade for the Spell anyway, so that got both things done at once.


    Eventually, Sylvie finished up with her preparations¡ªat least, she convinced Entismo that she had enough arrows tost the fight and she didn¡¯t need to do any more¡ªand we headed off once again.


    We¡¯d informed Ainash once we got close to the ce, but she said she¡¯d meet us once we got to the Dragon, and that she¡¯d just ensure we didn¡¯t run into any Goblins on our way there for now. She¡¯d gotten good at understanding their movements, so by scouting ahead and carefully instructing us where to go and what turns to make, she could easily keep us from getting spotted. And with Index by my side keeping an eye out for traps, it actually made the journey quite easy.


    The group was, of course, extremely curious of my ability to be able to know exactly where every pitfall and tripwire was, and even more curious of my ability to know where all of the Goblin patrols were, but I exined it away with the same story of the Divination ability that¡¯d told me about the Young Dragon without us ever actually fighting it.


    And in much less time than it should¡¯ve taken, we eventually got within sight of the Goblin¡¯s main base. It looked just as I remembered, the logs all strapped together to make those uneven walls, no roof so the Dragon could easily fly in and out.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I whispered to the others, ¡°things are gonna get a little hectic. But follow my lead, and we should be able to get this done. I¡¯ll exin the n one more time, and then we start. You all ready?¡±

 Chapter 188: The Dragon’s Ascent

    Chapter 188: The Dragon¡¯s Ascent


    Step one was blowing up the building.


    Erani was the one in charge of that. We circled around the Goblins¡¯ base, using Index to find the spot with the easiest path through to the Young Dragon¡¯sir, and then once we found it, we all got into position, and Erani struck.


    Erani¡¯s Explosive Firebolts tore through the logs making up the flimsy palisades. They smashed the outer wall to shrapnel, then through the room connected to it, and blew a hole straight through the next wall, then the next and the next, until instantly the Dragon was in sight. It was far off¡ªwe were making full use of Erani¡¯s over seventy-five pace range on her Spell here¡ªbut I could just barely see the hide of the Dragon within its treasure room. A few Goblins within the base began ringing the rm bells following the explosion, but that was fine. We had the attention of the one that mattered, and the Goblins weren¡¯t about to risk their lives to chase after some random Humans that weren¡¯t even here for them.


    An ear-shattering roar bellowed from inside the base, and I watched through the holes in the walls as the body of the Young Dragon stomped along, turning around. Its face stuck right through the hole, enraged eyes staring straight at me and Erani.


    It gave a screaming roar once again, taking to the skies. The other four adventurers¡ªalong with Ainash¡ªwere currently nowhere to be seen, so Erani and I looked like quite the easy pickings, I had to guess.


    The body of the beast rose above the tall walls of the outpost and then it gave a powerful push with its wings, soaring straight for us.


    And then Erani and I did the only sensible thing. We ran.


    We turned and darted off into the woods behind us, leaping over fallen branches and any traps Index spotted¡ªthough, of course, this was a practiced route we were running, so we didn¡¯t encounter anything unexpected¡ªand the Dragon followed, hot on our trail. With a bellowing exhale, it breathed out a cone of me, incinerating everything in its warpath behind us. But Expeditebined with our natural Stats allowed us to just barely keep ahead of the destruction.


    It took about a minute and a half, but we eventually made it to our destination: a clearing that was located somewhat nearby to that original Goblin outpost. The open grass hills greeted me, and I stopped. Erani, with Distortion Strike active to easily hide herself in the midnight darkness, had already dashed off to safety, leaving me the only one remaining in the path of the Dragon. I turned to face it as it got closer and closer, breathing fiery hot destruction as it neared the ground to give me the full brunt of its attack.


    And just as it got within range, I gave it the full brunt of an attack of my own.


    You have cursed Level 22 Young Dragon with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1130.


    You have struck Level 22 Young Dragon for 60 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 22 Young Dragon with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.76.


    25 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1105.


    Crippling Chill, Ray of Frost, and my newly-improved Gravity Well hit the beast all at the same time, each one impacting it more than the other. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t totally sure how much effect the limited Stat drain had, but after feeling Gravity Well on myself, I had a very tough time believing that wouldn¡¯t do at least something.


    And it seemed like it did, indeed, do something. Instantly, the Dragon lost control of its wings, suddenly finding it much harder to keep itself afloat in the air or even control the direction it went. Right when that happened, I leapt out of the way to avoid the monster¡¯s sweeping breath of me.


    You have been burned. 49 damage.


    Due to Heat Resistance, damage has been reduced to 31.8.


    Your Health is 538.


    Not a perfect dodge, but it did the job. I¡¯d avoided any major damage, and I turned around to watch the Dragon crash into the terrain. It sank through the air like a rock, and fell straight into the side of the hills, demolishing it and shaking the entire earth with itsnding.


    It was out of range of Gravity Well by now, but at this point the disorientation of the crashnding was doing the Spell¡¯s job for me, keeping the thing from taking to the skies once again.


    And now that it was on the ground, the four adventurers came out of the woods to strike. Entismo and Boy, the Swordsman and Berserker, came to face the beast¡¯s front¡ªthough Boy was the one clearly meant to draw its attacks, while Entismo seemed to take on a more graceful approach, attempting to avoid aggression while poking in for damage any time the monster looked weak.


    In the meantime, Sylvie peppered the thing with her specially-prepared arrows, keeping her location unknown through a mixture of stealth, keeping her hidden within the trees, and movement, so each arrow came from a new location.


    And finally, Aliss yed the role of support. She didn¡¯t necessarily have healing or buffing Spells for her allies¡ªit seemed the Spell path that led into Demon summoning didn¡¯t allow for that¡ªbut she certainly had a cocktail of nasty effects for the Dragon to deal with. Fiery phoenixes flew from her staff, colliding with the monster and setting it alight. Then a barrage of lightning came down to smite it from the skies, each strike seeming to temporarily paralyze it, followed by a rain of stones that left its natural hide armor cracked and weakened.


    And, of course, there was Ainash.


    She leapt from the trees the moment the Dragon touched the ground, seeming more excited to take on such a powerful foe than anything. I could feel her enthusiasm from here. Every frenziedsh of her whip was lit bright with the fire bestowed upon her by Astintash¡¯s Tribute, something that this Young Dragon seemed to recognize and be quite enraged by.


    It snapped and bellowed breaths of fire at her, but her graceful dodges left it eating nothing but air. She¡¯d hit it, and it would retaliate, and she¡¯d respond by leaping straight onto the thing¡¯s back, striking down at its neck. And it would try to shake her off, but she was already gone, now going for an attack at its underside. Surrounded by all of these threats, the poor Dragon was left constantly ying catch-up.


    However, despite all of these sources of attack, the notoriously tough defenses of the beast didn¡¯t seem to relent. And even with all of their countermeasures, the team did asionally take a hit. Boy, of course, was meant for such a thing, with the Berserker¡¯s extreme Health regeneration, but asionally he would be hit by something a bit too hard, leaving him flying back andpletely incapable of protecting his teammates.


    And in those brief periods of time where the monster¡¯s attention wasn¡¯t being dragged away by an annoyance, it was free to terrorize the rest of the members with breaths of fire and stomps from its massive body. Entismo had a close call with almost being burnt to a crisp, Aliss caught a tail whip to the chest, even Sylvie¡¯s long range was being threatened, with the Dragon asionally finding time to set fire to the trees and limit her options for safe cover.


    But they wouldn¡¯t be so easily chipped away at like that. Because I¡¯d just gotten back in range to use my Spells again.


    It barely even took a moment for me to re-enable all three debuffs I¡¯d originally cursed the Dragon with. Crippling Chill, Ray of Frost, and Gravity Well all hit it once again, this time all 15% more powerful from Cumtive Catastrophe counting the damage triggers from the previous Crippling Chill.


    The beast noticeably flinched the moment they all hit it, movements bing more sluggish and disorganized. Then it roared and spun around, using a desperate tail attack to try and push its enemies away and buy itself some time. But time was all I needed.


    ¡°Foolish Humans!¡± it shouted, roar shaking the depths of my chest, ¡°I will not allow you to take what is rightfully mine. To throw me around like some sort of toy. I am a <em>Dragon</em>. I am better than you. You do what I say!¡±


    The squad of melees were forced back by its attack, and during their hesitation, it blew out a massive cone of fire, burning the wildlife around itself and effectively creating a natural impassable shield.


    It growled, looking around. ¡°Get these puny afflictions off me!¡±


    I had, of course, not relented in my Spells, meaning it was still taking its damage and being pushed down by the enhanced gravity, so I doubted its stress was lowered much by the knowledge that the timer was still ticking. And, of course, every second that passed with Crippling Chill still active, Gravity Well only pushed that much harder. By now, the Spell was up to increasing gravity <em>and</em> muscle strain by almost a full 100%. No way the Dragon wasn¡¯t feeling the effects of that.


    It pawed at the ground. ¡°Hmph. If you wish to take away my flight, to suppress my natural superiority over your worthless species, that is fine. I will impress my magnificence upon you another way. You Humans are so small. Allow me to show you just how tiny you are inparison to me!¡±


    Looking down at Entismo, it stomped forward, clearly intent on stepping directly on him. He scrambled back, screaming at the top of his lungs as he sprinted off. Must¡¯ve been a Dexterity build, with how quickly he was able to move in his panic. But the Dragon was still gaining on him as he ran across the field of fire, nimbly dodging both the Dragon¡¯s stomps and the massive inferno that grew with every second.


    ¡°M-mypanions!¡± he yelled. ¡°You must, you must assist in my¡ªmy peril!¡±


    I saw a few arrows fly out from the trees from Sylvie as she attempted to distract the monster, but with her haste she couldn¡¯t find good angles of attack, leaving her hits ineffectually ncing off the beast¡¯s hard scales. Boy was too busy dealing with fighting off the inferno encroaching on him, Aliss seemed to be out of range now that the Dragon had run off after Entismo, and Ainash¡­well, I was pretty sure Ainash was just standing around and watching. I¡¯d have to talk with her about how it was wrong to use the suffering of others for her enjoyment after this.


    ¡°P-please!¡± Entismo screamed. The Dragon was hot on his tail at this point, just about close enough to lean right down and bite him in half. ¡°I-I beg for your assistance, my crades!¡±


    I, myself, was running after them, but there wasn¡¯t much else I could do. I already had my debuffs running, and the only other Spells I could cast would be Ray of Frost¡ªapletely ineffectual amount of damage,pared to the Dragon¡¯s massive pool of Health, and I already had its 8 Dexterity penalty running on the Dragon right now, anyway¡ªand my two touch Spells, Noxious Grasp and Sanguine Bond. Those weren¡¯t active, but I wasn¡¯t close enough to hit the thing with them.


    The Young Dragon roared and snapped at Entismo¡¯s back, its teeth just barely scraping his back.


    He screamed once again, this time dropping his high-ss ent. ¡°For the gods¡¯ sakes! Just ming help me, you assholes! Holy shit! I¡¯m going to die! Do something!¡±


    At that moment, Erani stepped in. She walked out of the forest with her hands raised, our trump card in case anything went wrong. This whole time, she¡¯d been saving her Mana up for any massive attacks she might need to do. This was that time.


    Her most recently-taken Talent, Elemental Embrace, allowed her to sacrifice some Health, Stamina, and Mana when she cast a spell to quintuple its damage. Now, a Young Dragon, with their extreme defenses, could withstand quite a lot. But the thing was, Erani could probably <em>still</em> dish out much more than they could take. Index hade up with the idea of keeping her in reserve, and she exined it to me like this:


    Right now, Erani¡¯s Firebolt Spell was Rank 19. That meant it dealt 189 damage at its base, if it hit for its maximum. Pretty significant. But then, she also had the Primal Might Talent, which increased her damage by 50% on the Spell. So, really, it was up to about 284 damage per bolt.


    But then, she <em>also</em> had Signature Magic. We¡¯d done some tests, and if she focused and really put her mind to it, she could reach a peak of casting about three to four Spells in a single second. She couldn¡¯t do that for long, but if it was a small burst, she could manage. So, with four Spells per second, say we wanted to deal as much damage as possible in a five-second period. That meant twenty Firebolts in total. With Signature Magic, each sessive cast of the Spell dealt 10% more damage than thest. The first would deal 284. The second, 312. The third, about 340. By the time we got all the way through eighteen of these Firebolts, that was close to triple the base damage. The neenth would have a multiplier of 4.2, and the twentieth 4.35.


    And those two were the ones she would activate Elemental Embrace on,bining the five times multiplier with the existing 4.2 and 4.35 multipliers. And the Talent also came with a burning effect for Fire-School Spells. A burning effect which dealt an amount of additional damage each second dependent on the damage dealt by the Spell. The Spell which had a damage multiplier of over twenty times its original damage.


    In total, before even taking into ount the burning effect, adding up all twenty Firebolts cast, this technique could deal 17,551 damage.


    In five seconds.


    It almost entirely drained Erani¡¯s Mana reserves, it did entirely drain her mental stamina, and Elemental Embrace also pulled from her Health and Stamina supply on top of it all. But holy shit, it was quite the strategy. Made me really respect what it meant to be able to sit down and research every single tiny choice you made with your ss ahead of time, nning every number out in advance, taking every possible permutation into ount. You got what was literally the theoretically best damage output that could be achieved using your ss at that Level.


    So when she pointed her hands at the Young Dragon, I slowed in my pursuit, waiting for the hells toe to earth.


    And then the barrage came.


    The Firebolts sted straight into the side of the Young Dragon, knocking it back as its scaled hide did its best to protect it from the damage that came. But it wasn¡¯t enough. By the first second that passed, about 1300 damage had been dealt. The beast attempted to twist its body to avoid the rest of the Firebolts and continue after Entismo, but the mixture of my existing debuffs interfering with its movement and the sts of the Firebolts keeping it from finding its footing prevented it from ignoring the attack.


    By the second second, it was over 3000 damage. The Dragon clearly forgot about Entismo, leaving him to scramble off to safety, now turning its attention toward preventing itself from taking on any more damage from the unrelenting force. It roared out in pain as its massive body was pushed back, leaving massive indentations in the earth where its ws dug into the dirt in an attempt to control its movement.


    By the third second, the beast had taken well over 5000 damage. Itpletely gave up on dodging the rest of the attack, instead turning so that its spined back¡ªthe toughest part of its hide¡ªwas facing Erani. It had surrendered to riding out the wave of pain.


    The fourth second was close to 8000 damage. The Dragon flipped over from the insane power of the damage-boosted explosions, rolling up against a hill as its body was pushed around by Erani like a puppet. She was screaming now, her own shoutbining with the deep roar of the Dragon¡ªthough hers was from mental exertion, where its was from fear and pain.


    And with the fifth second came the pair of fully-boosted Firebolts, taking on every multiplier Erani had avable to her and clearly muchrger and more intense in their mes. They soared through the air, the crescendo to her song of Dragon¡¯s screams, and sted against its vulnerable belly in a punch I was sure the poor beast would carry with it for the rest of his hopefully short life.


    17,551 damage.


    The adventurers looked on in awe¡ªas did I, honestly¡ªas Erani, breathing heavily and sweat dripping from her forehead, copsed to the ground. The only sound for several seconds was Ainash¡¯s light footsteps in the grass, rushing over to check on her mother, and the roaring me that was currently alight on the Dragon¡¯s unmoving body. Entismo was the first to say anything,ughing.


    ¡°Ha, ha ha! Take that, oaf!¡± he shouted at the rolled-over monster. ¡°I-I hath made a fool of you! My, my n all along was to¡ª¡±


    It shifted, rolling back over, on its feet again and growling a deep snarl that instantly forced the Swordsman¡¯s face ck.


    ¡°Oh dear.¡±


    ¡°You have disrespected me to too much of an extent, Humans!¡± the Dragon shouted, whipping its head around to look at us. It prepared its wings to take to the air. ¡°If you insist on going to war, I will bring the war to your species! I will ughter your wives, I will raze your cities, I will bring chaos to your people! You will understand the meaning of the word despair, and only <em>then</em> will I allow you the mercy of death.¡±


    While it was busy making its dumbass threats, I was sprinting right up to the beast. Just as it pped its wings, forcing itself off the ground in defiance of the heightened gravity, I jumped straight onto its leg, climbing up its hide as it continued to push itself higher into the air. Since I didn¡¯t have Noxious Grasp active, it got no System notification that I was on it, and I suspected the pain from the fire still aze on its skin was so great that a simple person holding onto a leg was the least of the sensation it was feeling right now.


    It soared up, higher and higher into the air, and I even let up Gravity Well to give it the illusion that it¡¯d gotten out of my range. And to allow it to move even further into the sky.


    ¡°I know what you¡¯re nning,¡± Index said.


    <em>You think it¡¯s a shit idea?</em>


    ¡°No, I fully support it. Probably the best move here. That said, I will warn you. You might survive this, but even if you do, it is going to hurt really, really bad.¡±


    <em>Well, I¡¯ve died a few times now, so I¡¯m pretty much used to it.</em>


    ¡°Just don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you.¡±


    <em>Sure.</em>


    I looked down at the quickly-disappearing earth as we flew higher and higher into the sky. From the rapidly-dropping temperature, it seemed like the Dragon was currently trying to fly high enough to put out the fire still raging on its back. Our altitude increased more and more, until I was satisfied and ready to move to the n.


    <em>Okay, let¡¯s drop this motherfucker back to the ground.</em>

 Chapter 189: The Dragon’s Fall

    Chapter 189: The Dragon¡¯s Fall


    The Young Dragon carried me far, far into the sky, the mes on its back causing enough pain to distract it from my tight grip on its leg. Or maybe it did know I was there, and it just nned on taking me up high enough that it could drop me back down and kill me with the fall. But I had a n for that.


    Once we¡¯d gotten so high I could barely see the ground below us, I made sure my grip was secure enough, and then cast Ethereal Armor, swapping over to Light te for the discount. Now that I was out of everyone¡¯s sight, I could get away with the switch. And I had a feeling I¡¯d need the extra Mana if I wanted to take this thing down¡ªeven if it was already heavily damaged. Then, once I was ready, I re-cast all of my Spells on it. Crippling Chill, Ray of Frost, Gravity Well, and Noxious Grasp all hit the beast at the same time.


    Thankfully, since I¡¯d hit it with a Crippling Chill just before it took off and I grabbed onto it, the curse¡¯s every-second damage ticks had kept Cumtive Catastrophe active this whole time, so each of these new effects inherited its over-thirty-percent boost in effectiveness. And, of course, with all of these effects active, that boost only grew every second, as well.


    I even deactivated and reactivated Noxious Grasp over and over, several times each second, with each time I activated the Spell causing its own separate instance of damage that raised the Talent¡¯s effectiveness even more.


    The Dragon instantly responded to my attack. It kicked its leg back and forth, trying to shake me off, but I¡¯d also kept Expedite active on myself in preparation for this, so with that plus my natural Stats, I was too hard to shake off by the severely weakened Dragon.


    By the time only a few seconds had passed, the Cumtive Catastrophe bonus was already up to 50%, meaning that, altogether, I was draining over 25 Stamina from the thing every second, which was then doubled from Venomous Grasp up to more than 50 Stamina. At that rate, if I was under the same effects, I¡¯d lose the entirety of my own reserves in under six seconds. I was absolutely certain this thing was feeling the pain, especially now that it was forced to suspend itself in the air, constantly using its strength to keep itself from falling.


    And, of course, using that strength to keep pping its wings cost it double Stamina from Venomous Grasp as well, <em>plus</em> it took double the effort to move from Taxing Well. Altogether, this thing was under a cocktail of effects that it absolutely needed to end. Soon.


    ¡°Foolish Human!¡± it shouted out at me. Its booming voice carried a hint of barely-hidden exhaustion. ¡°Do you not understand that if I fall, you fall with me?! Your fragile body will shatter from the impact!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about that,¡± I said. 573 Mana left.


    It growled, craning its neck to look back at me and attempt to spit out a zing inferno to burn me off. However, it clearly didn¡¯t have the flexibility it needed to do something like that. While the wide cone certainly singed my back, it wasn¡¯t even close to what it¡¯d need to kill me outright, especially with the heat-based damage resistance from the Bond.


    You have been burned. 31 damage.


    Due to Heat Resistance, damage has been reduced to 20.1.


    Your Health is 518.


    But it kept trying, and I kept draining it. Noxious Grasp flickered off and on, building up Cumtive Catastrophe¡¯s bonus more and more, up from 50% to 75%, then 100%, then past even that. I kept my curses active and Gravity Well enabled at all times, only barely able to afford it all due to the discount offered by Ethereal Armor. From 550 Mana down to 500, then to 400, it was falling. And the magic number I absolutely had to stay above for my n to work was 278.


    The mes continued to burn at my back, dropping my Health down further and further, while I activated Regenerate to counteract the damage as best I could. My skin was scorched, and it felt like my Health was only barely keeping my flesh from melting off of my bones. Eventually, as my Health passed below 350, the Dragon¡¯s breath seemed to sputter out. Seemed that even these mythical beasts had their limits. Or maybe just the Young Dragons did.


    It coughed out a breathful of smoke before yelling at me once again, ¡°Human, I will admit, your petty tricks have caught me unawares. Through use of your maniptions, you have bested me in this scenario. I yield! Deactivate your effects and I will leave your people alone. None will face my wrath.¡±


    <em>Index,</em> I thought, <em>what¡¯s this thing¡¯s Stamina?</em>


    ¡°Draining around 90 Stamina per second right now¡­you have enough Mana to finish the job. Switch from shing Noxious Grasp off and on with just keeping it enabled constantly, and disable your nonessential effects. So mainly just Gravity Well. You¡¯ll have enough.¡±


    <em>Got it.</em>


    The beast seemed relieved once I switched Gravity Well off, assuming I was sparing it. But when the rest of my effects didn¡¯t shut off¡­


    ¡°Human. Human! I will crash us both into the side of a mountain! I will not allow myself to die without you dying alongside me! Stop this foolishness at once!¡±


    I watched my Mana slowly tick downwards, until¡­


    I reached 278 Mana.


    Instantly, I shut off all of my effects and cast the single Spell I hadn¡¯t used yet, and the key to this whole thing. Sanguine Bond. Or, more specifically, the key was Hypnotic Bond.


    You have cursed Level 22 Young Dragon with Sanguine Bond. For the next 10 seconds, or until Level 22 Young Dragon is further than 10 paces away from you, the following effects are true:


    It loses 6.85 Health, 8.56 Stamina, and 10.3 Mana per second.


    You gain 1.71 Health, 3.43 Stamina, and 5.12 Mana per second.


    156 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 122.


    You have cursed Level 22 Young Dragon with Hypnotic Bond. For the next 10 seconds, or until Level 22 Young Dragon is further than 10 paces away from you or is damaged from a non-preexisting curse source, it is Hypnotized, and cannot move, think, or otherwise respond to external stimuli.


    With me having held onto this thing for way longer than enough time for the Upgrade¡¯s effect to activate, the Dragon plummeted straight downward the moment the Spell¡¯s effect took ce. I was left gripping onto its leg, wind rushing past my face as it hurtled downward like a meteor ready to absolutely annihte anything it hit.


    And I, of course, was going right down with it. So I kicked off of the thing¡¯s unconscious body, that way I at least wasn¡¯t kept up in its own mass as we sped toward the ground. Then, I cast Ethereal Armor once again, using the veryst points of my Mana to swap myself back over to Dark te. With 339/570 Health, I was just barely in the ce where I could survive a hit for half my max Health. So that was the n. Just fucking hit the ground.


    As I looked downward at the quickly-approaching earth, I was struck with how this n had seemed much better in my head. Y¡¯know, when I wasn¡¯t faced with the reality of seeing my certain doome right at me at insane speeds.


    For what felt like an excruciatingly long time, I simply sat there in the air, plummeting down and frozen in fear. And it seemed like during this forever moment, ten seconds passed. Because next to me, the Dragon¡¯s unmoving body suddenly stirred. It jolted, looked down, and panicked, quickly attempting to p its wings to get out of the situation.


    But I¡¯d been nning for that. It was the entire reason I¡¯d gone through the whole ordeal of trying to drain as much of the thing¡¯s Stamina as I could before I used Hypnotic Bond.


    Using the bit of Mana I¡¯d scraped together in the ten-second fall, I activated Gravity Well on the thing onest time, quickening its fall to an insane degree¡ªI still had Cumtive Catastrophe in its extremely boosted state. And, of course, Gravity Well¡¯s effects also caused its attempt to p its wings and get out of freefall to suddenly be much, much more difficult. And much more costly than its already limited Stamina could handle.


    The exhausted beast just couldn¡¯t seem to muster up enough strength to be able to slow its now-quickened fall, especially in the little time it had remaining before it hit the ground.


    By this time, I could see the details in thendscape. We¡¯d flown quite a ways away from our original field where we fought, going south, in the direction of the mountains. So off in the distance I could still see the burning battlefield from before, but for now, I was just headed straight into an unmarked area of the forest. I was going to impact the ground in just a few seconds now. Five, four, three¡ª


    It seemed the Dragon hit the ground first. Interrupting my mental count and my preparation for an absolute world of hurt was the loudest, most intense impact I¡¯d ever experienced in my life from the thing¡¯s massive body hitting the ground after falling thousands of paces through the sky. Even while in the air, my entire skull felt like it rattled in my head from the collision, and the sound alone made it sound like the damned beast had gone straight through the fucking.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 22 Young Dragon.


    You have earned 1.18k XP. Your XP is 3.44k.


    Threshold reached. 3k XP.


    Your Level has increased to 21.


    Due to achieving Level 21 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Strength, 1 Endurance, 1 Dexterity, 2 Conjuration, and 1 Intelligence.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 21.


    -You may choose a Spell to learn.


    Intelligence threshold reached. 28 Intelligence.


    Your Intelligence information rank has increased.


    Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -Index has fewer restrictions.


    I got a few notifications, and I read just about two words from the first one. And then Inded, and I felt like I somehow hit the ground even harder than the Dragon. Though maybe I was biased, considering I was the one to feel my being crushed from the impact.


    Either way, I only experienced that sensation for about a tenth of a tenth of a second before I instantly lost consciousness.


    Erani watched from a distance as her boyfriend dropped out of the sky right next to an unconscious Young Dragon. She sighed, knowing it was technically a one-hundred percent guarantee that he¡¯d be fine¡ªDark te would protect him from the hit, and even if he did die, he¡¯d just arrive back in time as though it never happened¡ªbut as she saw the twobatants hurtling through the skyline like a pair of shooting stars, she couldn¡¯t help but shake the feeling that he¡¯d taken a n that was unnecessarily risky just because it looked cool.


    Though it <em>did </em>look really cool.


    She could feel it in her teeth when the Dragon hit the ground. Even from there, the shockwave shook everyone, causing them to stumble back from what was essentially a miniature earthquake. She got her contribution message and a notification about a Level-up. Quite nice, if she did say so herself. Though, if An Leveled up from that, wouldn¡¯t that mean he technically missed out on a few Stats from his Time Loop Upgrade? Ah, well, it probably didn¡¯t matter to lose them. It was just a couple Stats.


    ¡°Holy min¡¯ <em>shit!</em>¡±


    Erani turned around to see Sylvie running up to her.


    ¡°That was absolutely awesome!¡± she said, an insane smile on her face. ¡°Let¡¯s go find another Dragon to kill!¡±


    ¡°Verily not,¡± Entismo said, walking over to the group as well as he did his best to dust himself off. ¡°After an encounter of such, I doprehend why the people see Dragons as such an existential peril.¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± Erani frowned. ¡°That wasn¡¯t a Dragon. It was a Young Dragon. Trust me, there is an absolutely massive difference. This was ridiculously easypared to a real one.¡±


    Entismo gave Sylvie a look of questioning, as though silently trying to ask ¡°Why in the world have you taken me to the mountain range that houses these things?!¡±


    ¡°That was¡­certainly a strategy,¡± Aliss said. ¡°Are you sure he¡¯s okay?¡±


    <em>If the timeline is still continuing, he¡¯s still alive,</em> Erani wanted to say. Man, what must it have been like for these people? Living normal lives, just going about their days without the knowledge that they might have been going through the same actions for the second or third time by now,pletely unknowingly. After a moment¡¯s pause, she simply responded, ¡°Yes. I¡¯m sure.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯d he say his ss was?¡± Sylvie asked.


    ¡°A good one.¡±


    Ainash came running up to them, too, though she paused once she got close, hesitating slightly and ncing at the new people. They hadn¡¯t actually introduced the group to her yet; she was hiding in a separate location before the fight started. Though, the fight itself may have served as decent introduction itself.


    <em>It¡¯s okay,</em> Erani said to her. She¡¯d been almost constantly reassuring her that these people were fine. They weren¡¯t bad guys, they weren¡¯t even ¡°mean guys,¡± as Ainash called most people. <em>They¡¯re friendly.</em>


    Eventually, she continued approaching.


    Sylvie looked over at the Draconiad. ¡°Woah, you were awesome too! The way you used your whip, you were all,¡± she swung her hands wildly through the air, mimicking Ainash¡¯s practiced movements of attack, and making sound effects with her mouth to go along with the imitation. ¡°Man, this shit has me <em>so</em> hyped! I swear, we gotta find something else to kill.¡±


    Entismo shifted slightly, casting a few uneasy nces at Ainash, though he didn¡¯t say anything. Erani wasn¡¯t sure¡ªshe¡¯d never been that good at reading people¡ªbut he almost looked like he mistrusted her. Though, that couldn¡¯t have been the case, right? She was way too adorable. Aliss, at least, wore an expression that Erani recognized¡ªunbridled curiosity.


    ¡°Well.¡± Erani took a breath. Her head still hurt a little from exerting herself so much with Firebolt, but she was feeling slightly better by now. ¡°We should probably go get the reward sorted out. Though, first I do think I need to go check on my, er, partner, Annor.¡±

 Chapter 190: The Dragon’s Aftermath

    Chapter 190: The Dragon¡¯s Aftermath


    When I awoke, my first thought was why in the <em>hells</em> I thought that was a good idea.


    I was alive, thanks to Dark te; I got away from the whole thing with just some bruises and burns. But good gods did it hurt. The entire side of my body Inded on¡ªand, honestly, most of the part that I didn¡¯tnd on¡ªached so horribly I was surprised I was still able to move.


    I took a few breaths before forcing myself to sit up, looking around. Behind me was the carcass of the Dragon, lying in a crater with knocked over trees and scattered dirt and rocks all around.


    ¡°Ugh,¡± I said, stretching. ¡°That <em>sucked.</em>¡±


    ¡°I never said it¡¯d be pleasant,¡± Index responded.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I know. My idea anyway.¡±


    I¡¯d already turned on Regenerate to start healing up some of the Health loss¡ªI was at a pretty dangerous level, so I was d to sacrifice some Stamina in exchange for fixing that. And while I waited to heal, I looked through my Status, looking to see what¡¯d changed since the Dragon was killed.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    <strong>37 </strong>(<strong>23</strong> + <strong>14</strong>)


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>21</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>59 </strong>(<strong>45</strong> + <strong>14</strong>)


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>437</strong>/<strong>3.5k</strong>


    Dexterity:


    <strong>38 </strong>(<strong>24</strong> + <strong>14</strong>)


    Health:


    <strong>91</strong>/<strong>590</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.221</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>124</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>46</strong>/<strong>289</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>1.87</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>29</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>183</strong>/<strong>1.39k</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>91.6</strong>


    <strong>Stat Points:</strong>


    <strong>3</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>[Spell Choice Avable]</strong>


    Cumtive Catastrophe


    Devastator


    Sanguine Bond 11 - XP<strong> 31</strong>/<strong>623</strong><strong></strong>


    +Hypnotic Bond


    Exponential Remation


    Trailzer


    Expedite 9 - XP 355/355


    Regenerate


    Ethereal Armor <strong>11</strong> - XP <strong>15</strong>/<strong>623</strong><strong></strong>


    <strong>+Broadened Armor</strong>


    Recursive Growth


    Gravity Well <strong>11</strong> - XP <strong>4</strong>/<strong>623</strong><strong></strong>


    <strong>+Taxing Well</strong>


    Time Loop <strong>21</strong>


    +Extended Loop


    +Recycled Loop


    Ray of Frost 9 - XP 355/355


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP 355/355


    Noxious Grasp <strong>17</strong> - XP <strong>62</strong>/<strong>3.03k</strong>


    +Venomous Grasp


    ¡°...Shit,¡± I said. ¡°I Leveled up. I guess I knew it¡¯d happen, but still.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t like that you¡¯ve Leveled up?¡±


    ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s fine, but I still had some more Stats I could¡¯ve gotten out of Recycled Loop. Feels like a waste to have not gotten them. What all did I get, anyway? I can¡¯t see the notification anymore.¡±


    ¡°You can see most of it in your Status. But Recursive Growth gave you one of each Stat, and two in Conjuration. Oh, and, of course, you¡¯ve hit your next Intelligence threshold!¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°For the Trailzer Title! Y¡¯know, the thing that brought me into existence? At 28 Intelligence, it hit a new threshold for its benefits.¡±


    ¡°Oh, shit, I forgot about that,¡± I said. ¡°Before I took your benefit, it used to give me more information about choices I¡¯d get in the future. But¡­what does it do now? I mean, there aren¡¯t just going to be two of you from now on, are there?¡±


    ¡°No, but the restrictions on what I can and can¡¯t say to you are <em>so</em> much lighter now. Ugh, it feels like¡­well, I don¡¯t know how I could trante it to you, since I¡¯ve never felt anything. No way to interact with the physical world. But I¡¯m sure if I knew how to express it to you, you¡¯d go ¡®Wow, that sounds like it feels way less restrictive. It¡¯s a wonder that you are so smart, oh great Index, bearer of wisdom. What would I do without you?¡¯¡±


    I raised my eyebrows. ¡°You sure are more energetic than usual.¡±


    ¡°I know! I¡¯m just excited. I bet you would be too, if you suddenly got an entire portion of your mind unlocked.¡±


    ¡°I thought you knew everything. Wasn¡¯t that the whole thing? You¡¯re omniscient about the System, but you just can¡¯t <em>say</em> anything? So isn¡¯t it more like¡­I dunno, you got a portion of your mouth unlocked? You still know everything you knew before, you can just say more.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Not really. Again, it¡¯s hard to exin. I definitely do <em>know</em> everything. But when ites to actually attempting to use that knowledge, to take it into ount when trying to assist you in making decisions, it¡¯s like I suddenly forget it when I want to figure out what to rmend to you. That way I can¡¯t just speak in code, or tell you to take something without telling you why. Way less loopholes around my restrictions. Well, there are still <em>some</em>, but there are fewer.¡±


    I tried to wrap my head around what it was saying. I wasn¡¯t totally sure I understood, but I supposed I didn¡¯t need to. Eventually, I just shrugged. ¡°Well, it¡¯s good you¡¯re less restricted now. Is there anything you need to tell me? Like, something you¡¯ve been dying to let me know, but you couldn¡¯t until now?¡±


    ¡°Only, like, a million things! Ugh, it¡¯s so hard to decide what I should even start out on¡­¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Well, while you¡¯re thinking on that, I¡¯ll probably go ahead and start meditating. I have a Spell Choice for Level 21, so¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh, wait! That¡¯s probably a good one to start out on. I have a solution to your problems with Leveling up! The whole ¡®I didn¡¯t get all the Stats I wanted with Recycled Loop¡¯ thing.¡±


    ¡°Wait, really? I can still get those Stats?¡±


    ¡°Sort of. More like you can undo your Level-up.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Listen. I know I was somewhat upset about missing out on the Stats, but I think wasting all the XP by reverting a Level-up is probably worse than just losing out on¡­what? Six random stats?¡±


    ¡°There are more reasons to do it than that. Really, you¡¯re probably going to want to give up a Level at some point. It¡¯s just that this is the perfect time to do it, since you already have something you can gain from going back, anyway.¡±


    ¡°Wait, wait, hold on. Start from the beginning. What¡¯s this method, and why would I want to do it?¡±


    ¡°Well, your Draconiad, Ainash. She¡¯s an evolution of a Nymph, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Nymphs can get Tributes.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, nodding. ¡°I see. So you want me to go give one of my Levels as Tribute to her. Yeah, I mean, I considered it, but I don¡¯t see how that¡¯d be too helpful. With Tributes, I remember the general knowledge being that the transfer causes there to be a lot less power gained by the Nymph than is lost by the Tributer. So, like, if you lose a Level that gave you six Stats and a Spell, the Nymph might only get those Stats, maybe not even all of them, and nothing else. So wouldn¡¯t you need there to be a super big Level gap between the Tributer and the Nymph for there to be a meaningful power increase? I doubt I¡¯d be able to induce an evolution or anything. Feels like it makes us worse as a unit, not better.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s normally the case. But Ainash isn¡¯t a normal Nymph. She¡¯s a Draconiad. Remember when I was advising you back when you were trying to pick between Recycled Loop and Inclusive Loop? The other choice would let you take people back in time with you. And I said¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh fuck,¡± I said. ¡°Wait, really? If I give her Tribute, she¡¯ll get the ability toe back in time with me?¡±


    ¡°Sort of. Basically, the way it works is this: When a Human Tributes to a Draconiad, they¡¯ll get an extra perk added to their personal Bond with it. That perk allows them to transfer memories between them as long as they¡¯re physically touching. Now, the strength and quantity of these memories are limited by the strength of the Bond, so it won¡¯t be perfect. But if you give a Tribute to Ainash, then you¡¯ll be able to do that. Then, before you go back in time, she can give you all of the memories she wants to keep¡ªshould just be a few hours, so it won¡¯t be bad as long as you can increase your Bond rank some more¡ªand then you go back, then touch her and give her all the memories she just gave you. It¡¯s like bringing back a memory package.¡±


    ¡°And Erani?¡±


    ¡°All she has to do is also give a Tribute to Ainash, too. Once both of you do that, she can give her memory package to Ainash, then Ainash can give Erani¡¯s to you, plus her own.¡±


    ¡°Well, damn.¡±


    ¡°Right. Feels <em>so</em> good to finally be allowed to tell you that. Anyway, this Level-up seems like a good time to do that, right? You want to go back and get those six Stats you missed out on anyway, and you aren¡¯t hurting for a new Level right away. At least, you¡¯ve got a little bit of time.¡±


    ¡°Hm, I suppose,¡± I said, looking over my Status once again. ¡°Still feels kind of bad to have to get rid of my Spell Choice, plus all the Stats I got from the Level. Counting Recursive Growth, it adds up, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s something I forgot to mention. You will keep Recursive Growth¡¯s Stat gains, even if you give Tribute.¡±


    ¡°Wait, really?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s tied to the Talent, not the Level. The Talent will trigger its Stat-gaining ability whenever it sees you Level up, but it doesn¡¯t say it¡¯ll do anything when you Level <em>down</em>. So it¡¯s basically just blind to that, and it¡¯ll give you the Stats both times. You¡¯ll still have to wait until Level 30 before the Stat increase goes even further up, though.¡±


    I nodded slowly. ¡°So then, other than the Spell, I guess I¡¯m not really losing out on much.¡±


    ¡°Right. And that, you¡¯ll just get when you hit Level 21 the next time. And since the XP requirement to hit your next Level will go down, too, it shouldn¡¯t take you much time. Especially if you¡¯re out killing monsters all day, every day, as your job.¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± I nodded. ¡°So then I guess I¡¯m doing this Tribute thing. At least, I will once I talk it over with her and Erani. But it sounds perfect. Still, I <em>do</em> have the ability to at least look at my next Spell options. So if that¡¯s possible, I may as well. Just so I¡¯m more informed.¡±


    ¡°You do know that looking is just going to make you annoyed that you have to wait to get the Spells, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not some child. I have patience.¡±


    ¡°I can see inside your head, and I can already tell you¡¯re just gonna get mad that you¡¯ll have to wait a Level to take the Spells.¡±


    ¡°Wait, are they that good?¡±


    ¡°See? You¡¯re already impatient.¡±


    As Aliss and the rest of herpanions walked through the brush, led by that monster that¡¯d helped in the fight, she couldn¡¯t help but reflect on how strangely this whole day had gone. When she first saw the job flier up for those two, Annor and Eita, looking forpanions for their mystery job, she¡¯d been ecstatic. Two foreigners, who she¡¯d be able to pick the brains of concerning the Demon invasion all day long, were in search of new partners? What luck!


    She¡¯d been wanting to get ahold of some Koinkarians for some time after hearing there were some refugees floating in from the kingdom, and now there were some that were practically begging to be interviewed! And with a reward like that, the rest of her party would actually approve of her interrogation efforts.


    She didn¡¯t even intend to take the job, at first. Or, at least, it wasn¡¯t her number one priority to take it. But Sylvie and her¡­everything¡­Well, it seemed the job got taken. And now she was here. What a day. Those two, Annor and Eita, seemed pretty normal at first. But once Aliss saw them fight¡­


    Yeah, they weren¡¯t normal. She didn¡¯t care <em>what</em> abilities you had. You didn¡¯t just grab onto a Dragon like that! And neither did you cast Spells at such a speed that you literally passed out from the effort. Who did these people think they were? Why did they fight like literally every moment wasbat to the death? They could just leave ande back another day, find another way to make some coin. Didn¡¯t they know that?


    Part of this just made her even more curious about what their time with the Demons was like. Maybe they¡¯d been tortured using some magical method thatpletely annihted their minds, or something. If they¡¯d had any close encounters with the Demons, she¡¯d absolutely love to know. Ugh, she was getting excited just thinking about it! Though, if they were insane, she would probably have to dig those memories out of them.


    Perhaps that was why they were tortured to insanity, because they¡¯d seen something they weren¡¯t supposed to. Though, if the Demons had a hold of them, wouldn¡¯t they just kill them? ¡­Unless, perhaps these two were¡­generals of the Demons¡¯ armies?! It couldn¡¯t be true¡­could it? What if the Demons hired Human tacticians, and these two were some of the ones they¡¯d hired. And then, once they saw the secrets of the Demons, they were tortured and had their memories erased through advanced mind magic, and that was why they fought so strangely! Because they were trained to fight <em>by </em>the Demons! But then that would mean¡ª


    "U-uh, pardon me, Aliss¡± Entismo said. ¡°How art thou faring after the¡­tumultuous, er, skirmish? Hast thou suffered any wounds¡­perchance?"


    Aliss blinked. Right. She¡¯d spiraled down one of her thought holes again. Shaking her head, she tried to get back on track. None of that would even hold any weight unless those two were <em>actually</em> insane. Maybe they just fought weirdly. She hadn¡¯t seen any evidence that they¡¯d truly lost their minds.


    Oh, she¡¯d forgotten to reply.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she said to Entismo. ¡°Thank you for asking.¡±


    But perhaps, even if they weren¡¯t generals of the Demons, there was something else that could exin their insane-like behavior? Maybe it was¡­


    <em>Wait, wait</em>, she told herself. <em>Calm down. Again, they could just be a little entric. No proof of insanity.</em>


    The monster they were following, the one that seemed to work together with Annor and Eita, suddenly perked up as it bushwhacked through the forest, standing up much straighter. It stopped for a second, then dashed forward excitedly. What was it doing?


    Aliss took a few steps ahead to see what was going on. She peered through the treeline into a clearing to see Annor, standing in the middle. Seemed like he didn¡¯t end up dying. That was good.


    ¡°It¡¯s really not that big of a deal,¡± he said, pacing across the clearing and speaking to absolutely nobody. ¡°I don¡¯t see why you care that I just want to look. I mean, you keep calling me impatient, but¡ª¡±


    He stopped suddenly, then turned around to face Aliss.


    ¡°Oh, hey,¡± he said casually, as though nothing had just happened. ¡°Didn¡¯t see you there.¡±


    <em>Okay,</em> Aliss thought, <em>they¡¯re definitely insane.</em>

 Chapter 191: Twilight Determination

    Chapter 191: Twilight Determination


    After we finished resting, we all headed back into town, bringing one of the Dragon¡¯s teeth with us to verify we¡¯dpleted the job. The tooth was a little too big for us to fit it in any equipment packs we had, so instead I just had to carry it in my hands on the way back.


    I decided against telling Ainash and Erani about the Tribute thing Index had told me about just yet, since we were still surrounded by ourpanion party, and I didn¡¯t want to identally cause a dramatic reaction in front of everyone else with such big news, even if I used Ainash for silentmunication with Erani. I¡¯d just tell them next time we were alone; we wouldn¡¯t be able to do the Tribute until then, anyway.


    As we walked up to the town walls, I saw, at the entrance, the guards'' eyes widen upon spotting us. They muttered to one another until we arrived.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°just heading back in after doing a job. You need to see our degree tes?¡±


    ¡°You were the ones that fought the Dragon?¡± one of them asked.


    I frowned. ¡°How¡¯d you know there was a Dragon?¡±


    He chuckled. ¡°How could we not know? It flew all the way up into the sky and then fell right back down! Could hear thending from here.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sylvie said before he could respond, ¡°that was totally us! It was <em>so</em> awesome! I did, like, most of the work. If you look at it a certain way. Kind of.¡±


    ¡°It was horrendous,¡± Entismo muttered.


    ¡°Well, anyway,¡± I said, ¡°could you let us in?¡±


    We eventually got through the checkpoint and into the town proper, heading straight for the guild to turn in our trophy. We certainly got a lot of looks with the cargo we carried, but I wasn¡¯t worried the attention would be too unwanted. We were the only ones who¡¯d epted the job, so if someone else tried to steal the Young Dragon¡¯s tooth from us, they¡¯d have a lot of trouble actually getting any money out of it.


    Besides, out on the streets, most people didn¡¯t really care enough to pay much attention to us.


    Once we got to the guild, however, it was a different story.


    The moment we opened the doors and people saw what we had, the entire lobby exploded into conversation.


    ¡°Is that the Dragon¡¯s tooth?¡±


    ¡°Holy mes, it died?¡±


    ¡°It was really an adventuring party that killed it?¡±


    ¡°How in the mes did they drop it out of the sky?¡±


    ¡°Was there even a job out for that?¡±


    It felt like millions of questions floated through the lobby, everyone muttering to each other or directly asking us. Sylvie made everything worse, of course, answering peoples¡¯ questions with obvious over-exaggerations of what¡¯d actually happened.


    But above it all, there was one particrment that caught my attention.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the guy who ran away from the Goblin forest?¡± a woman asked. I recognized her, as well as the table she was sitting with, as one of the groups that¡¯d initially seen Erani and Iing back from the forest having notpleted the job, and mocked us for it, not knowing the real reason we¡¯d been forced to retreat.


    One of the men at the table leaned over to her. ¡°I think it is. Him and that shadowy woman.¡±


    Another chimed in, ¡°Wasn¡¯t that Dragon fight we saw happening inside of the Goblin forest?¡±


    ¡°So that was why they ran, then? They got chased off by a Dragon? Not the Goblins?¡±


    ¡°And then they went back and¡­killed it?¡±


    The woman stood abruptly and approached me as I worked my way through the tables.


    ¡°Hey,¡± she said. ¡°Uh, no hard feelings, right? We didn¡¯t know what was going on before, and¡­¡±


    I looked at her for a moment, then sighed. Eventually, I just said, ¡°Don¡¯t talk shit next time.¡±


    And then I kept walking.


    Once the trophy was turned in and we imed our reward, we headed back to Boy¡¯s ce to count up the money and split it among ourselves without having to worry about the other adventurers in the lobby shouting at us.


    And with it beingte night already and everybody too exhausted to walk all the way through town to their own ces to sleep, Boy ended up offering for us to spend the night there. He apparently had the bedrooms to spare.


    Sylvie, of course, instantly broke out some alcohol and poured everyone a drink, though Erani and I were sure to be modest with our consumption. Plus, Erani¡¯s Mana was running low anyway, so she needed to go somewhere before Distortion Strike ran out. Her solution was to just say she was tired, and then head to a bedroom and pretend to sleep while she waited. Then, once she had some Mana back, she could just say she couldn¡¯t fall asleep ande back.


    ¡°So when¡¯s our next job gonna be?¡± Sylvie said after Erani retired to a bedroom. ¡°We¡¯re working together for more stuff, right? Man, I¡¯m so <em>pumped!</em>¡±


    We were all sitting in Boy¡¯s living room in various chairs and couches, around a central low-standing table where our tes sat. Boy, upon getting slightly tipsy, had wandered off and just made an entire dessert for us all¡ªa frozen treat I hadn''t had before that was made using cream and sugar. It was fantastic, but so rich I could barely handle having a couple spoonfuls before I could barely handle anymore, and sat my half-eaten bowl down on the table. I felt bad leaving something that tasted so good out like that, though, and if I was being honest with myself, would probably finish it within the hour.


    I shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d be okay with working together in the future.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll have to see,¡± Aliss said. ¡°If the job market necessitates it in the future, we¡¯ll be sure to contact you first. But we don¡¯t want to go taking on needlessly risky fights if there are perfectly well-paying jobs within our own skill range.¡±


    ¡°Ugh, don¡¯t be such a buzzkill,¡± Sylvie said with a roll of her eyes, leaning back in her chair. ¡°<em>I</em> vote we all find the highest-danger job we can legally take and just do that. Or, actually, we should find the highest-danger job we can <em>illegally</em> take and do it.¡± She shed a grin to the rest of us, as if awaiting apuse, and seemed utterly unsurprised when she received none.


    ¡°Technically, when we formed our four-person group, we decided on me being the leader of me and Boy¡¯s pair, while Entismo was the leader of your pair. So it would really be up to him, no?¡±


    ¡°...Uh, yes, yes, indeed!¡± Entismo said after a moment, looking startled when Aliss said his name. He¡¯d been staring at her ever since he finished his second drink, but she hadn¡¯t seemed to notice. ¡°I, um, believe, as leader, that, uhh¡­we shall do what, er, Aliss¡­postted.¡±


    Sylvie rolled her eyes harder, if that was even possible, and stood. ¡°Well. I¡¯m just gonna go to sleep. min¡¯ wimps.¡±


    She set her bowl down on the table and walked off. Wait, hadn¡¯t she already long since finished her serving? ncing down at the table, I saw two empty bowls in front of her seat. And nothing where I¡¯d previously set my own bowl down. Dammit.


    ¡°Oh, uh, should I have told you when she did that?¡± Index said. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to interrupt your conversation, but¡­yeah, she definitely did steal your food. To be fair, though, you <em>were</em> unsure whether you¡¯d finish yours.¡±


    It was silent for a little while after she left, before Aliss spoke up again. ¡°So, Annor, you said you two had some close encounters with the Demons, right? Do you mind telling me more about them? What happened? What was it like? Did you hear them say anything important, or see anything weird from them?¡±


    What followed was a very, very exhaustive interrogation from Aliss. I knew she¡¯d mentioned wanting to study the Demons a couple times before, but I hadn¡¯t realized how intense that desire was. She even seemed to recognize the species I spoke about by simple description alone, knowing just about everything about their fighting abilities and even what it was believed their roles were in Demon society.


    It took some finesse to navigate the conversation, trying to keep track of my story and only telling her things my fictional character knew, while not totally refusing to answer any questions, but I was at least able to simply feign ignorance or forgetfulness whenever I wasn¡¯t sure how to answer a question, so it wasn¡¯t that hard.


    Eventually, though, after close to two hours had passed, Boy tapped Aliss on the shoulder.


    ¡°Oh, right,¡± she said. ¡°I need to get to bed. Boy and I have some errands to run in the morning, so I shouldn¡¯t be upte.¡±


    Once they left, just Entismo and me left in the room, I eventually wandered off as well. Erani hadn¡¯t evere back from her room after her pretend sleep, so I wanted to check on her. And, sure enough¡­


    Yeah, she¡¯d actually fallen asleep. I wasn¡¯t entirely surprised¡ªI suspected she was still feeling more strain from her stunt with the Firebolts than she let on¡ªbut it was still pretty cute, seeing her lying in the bed. I sat down on the side of the bed, taking a break in the quiet of the room, and decided to go ahead and talk to Ainash.


    <em>¡°Hey,¡±</em> I said, <em>¡°what are you doing right now?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Am finding as many Goblins as I can and collecting them in holes!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...Well that¡¯s good, I guess. Anyway, if you aren¡¯t busy, you want to know something cool?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    Ainash was understandably excited to hear the news. That said, she didn¡¯t actually have many questions. Once I told her I¡¯d just be giving her a Tribute and we¡¯d be able to transfer memories between us, she seemed to understand pretty perfectly what that¡¯d mean. And from there, it was basically just me listening to her talk about all the cool stuff she¡¯d be able to do now.


    Eventually, she decided she needed to get back to her Goblin corralling project, and ended themunication. Once that was done, I stood and left the room again, wanting to get some water before I slept.


    On my way to do that, though, I looked over into the living room and saw Entismo still sitting on the couch, just barely muttering something to himself. I stopped and silently moved over to him. Had he dozed off, and was just talking in his sleep, or something?


    After watching him for a moment, I stepped forward until I got close enough to peer over his shoulder, and realized he wasn¡¯t asleep; he was reading, muttering what he read under his breath.


    <em>Ah,</em> I thought. <em>I guess anyone can enjoy a good novel before bed.</em>


    But¡­I looked closer at what he was reading. Was that¡­?


    As I leaned in closer to see what he was reading, my shadow appeared over the pages, and he jumped, closing the book and looking around at me.


    ¡°Oh!¡± he said. ¡°Good. T-twas just you.¡±


    I looked down at the book¡¯s cover, lips pursed. It read <em>Angli¡¯s Dictionary & Encyclopedia, 4th Edition: Volume 3.</em>


    ¡°Um,¡± he sat the book down and moved a pillow from the couch so it was covered. ¡°I do hope you are having a, er¡­salubrious¡­day. Er, night, rather.¡±


    ¡°Were you reading a dictionary?¡± I asked.


    He nced back down at the book, half-covered by the pillow. ¡°Er, yes. I had¡­forgotten the definition of a word, you see. I received a letter from my mother this morning, and so curiosity overtook me.¡±


    ¡°You were reading for a while. Like, not flipping through the pages to find anything.¡±


    ¡°Er¡­¡±


    ¡°Listen.¡± I walked over and sat down next to him. ¡°I¡¯m not judging. But, uh¡­what¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± He sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you would believe that I had forgotten several words that happened to appear on the same page?¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t wanna talk about it, that¡¯s fine.¡±


    ¡°No, I suppose I should.¡± He paused for a moment, seeming to want to look anywhere but at me. With a white face and beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead, he honestly looked more like I¡¯d caught himmitting murder than just doing something kind of weird. He took a deep breath, and continued. ¡°You see, I¡­I am quite fond of a, er,panion of mine.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Aliss, right?¡±


    He blinked, staring at me like I¡¯d just stabbed him through the ribs. ¡°W-what?¡±


    ¡°I mean, it¡¯s kind of obvious. You have a crush on her, right?¡±


    ¡°My goodness.¡± He took a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to dab his forehead. ¡°You must be quite experienced in courtship to have recognized it so easily. I-Imend your skill.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­sure. But what¡¯s that have to do with looking up words in a dictionary?¡±


    He grabbed the thick book and held it with both hands, flipping it side over side absent-mindedly. ¡°Well, you see¡­I was never naturally skilled at interacting with my fellow noblemen. I have just a horrendous memory, and trying to keep track of the names and the faces, the social rules, who you bow to and who you nod your head to and who you never make eye contact with¡­It was all too much for me.¡°


    ¡°I can imagine,¡± I said.


    ¡°However, I do believe the element I struggled most with was the speech. My parents and siblings, everyone I spoke to, they all had such a way with words! An eloquence that seemed to force the sun¡¯s rays onto them whenever they spoke, as though it were words from an angel itself. An eloquence I could not aspire to mimic. I spent day and night practicing with my parents, but no matter how much I tried, my words simply did not flow in that way.¡±


    ¡°Wait, so that¡¯s what you¡¯re doing? You¡¯re trying to find good words to use when you talk?¡±


    ¡°I will never reach the level of wit that my contemporaries seem to effortlessly wield, but perhaps my studying will be enough to allow me to stand upon the same pedestal they do, even if they stand taller.¡±


    ¡°But why? Aren¡¯t you away from all of that noble stuff? Isn¡¯t that, like, the whole point of leaving your hometown to be an adventurer?¡±


    ¡°No, you see, I must be better not to impress a noble, but¡­Tell me, Annor, what do you see when you look at me?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°What are my qualities?¡±


    ¡°Um, I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know you that well. But I guess if I had to answer, I¡¯d say my first impression of you would be that you¡¯re cautious, careful¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, so I am a coward,¡± he said.


    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t say that, I said¡ª¡±


    ¡°But it is what I am.¡±


    I pursed my lips. ¡°Alright, well you also <em>do</em> speak well, even if you think you need practice, and¡­¡±


    ¡°And that is it, I am afraid. That is all the good you can say about me. I can imagine you have other ways to describe me, of course, such as weak, selfish,zy, ignorant, unwilling to do what it takes. But if you wish to speak well of me, that is all you are able to say. I have a wide vocabry. I do believe that is the only good thing about me, unfortunately. I would like, very much, to be able to put my noble lineage behind me, but I am afraid it is all I am worth. I certainly cannot add more value to myself, so to abandon the one thing that someone might find worthy in me¡­I cannot do that. Even if I am unskilled, I must hone my wordcraft, so that I may be able to pull a radiant beam to myself whenever I speak.


    ¡°I mean¡­¡± I sighed. ¡°If you don¡¯t like an aspect of yourself, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s some immutable w you could never change, right?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°I do not have time to spend¡­¡±


    He frowned, and reached down to grab the dictionary, opening it and flipping through the pages, before stopping somewhere and quickly reading the entry.


    ¡°Ah, yes,¡± he said, setting the book down and looking back up at me. ¡°I do not have time to spend dillydallying. If I do not make myself at least slightly desirable to Aliss soon, then¡­¡±


    ¡°So she rejected your advance?¡±


    ¡°Hm? No, no! I have done my best to keep my feelings a secret. If she knows how I feel before I can be a better person, I fear she will never be able to see me as a romantic prospect. It is a delicate dance, you see, for one must first be worthy of admiration and affection before revealing their heart''s desires. And so, I study this vast lexicon in hopes of enriching my speech, that I may charm her with the beauty of my words, just as others do effortlessly.¡±


    ¡°Well, if she doesn¡¯t even know you like her, how do you know she wouldn¡¯t already ept if you asked her on a date?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I could never! I should bepletely confident before asking. A-and I certainly do not feel confident yet.¡±


    ¡°Well, man, I¡¯m not sure I know what to tell you. I don¡¯t think you need to bepletely confident at all. I mean, I¡¯ve asked plenty of people out while entirely sure I¡¯d get a no. I¡¯ve also asked people out knowing that, if we did start dating, it¡¯d only be a matter of time before it ended. But you don¡¯t have to wait until you¡¯re perfectly confident in your abilities, or that the person you¡¯re talking to is the one you¡¯ll marry. I mean, romance is a skill, right? And you can¡¯t learn a skill by just sitting around all day and studying it. Learning all the words will no more make you a poet than learning all the monster names will make you a gold-te adventurer. You need practice. Ask her out. If she says yes, great. If she says no, that¡¯s some damn good practice. And, I¡¯m gonna be honest, there¡¯s probably very little you could do to change her mind if she isn¡¯t into you. It¡¯s better to know for sure whether there¡¯s a chance between you two now, rather than forcing yourself to wonder whether or not all this effort is worth it.¡±


    He looked down for a moment. ¡°...Thank you for the words, Annor. I will consider what you have said.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°No problem, man.¡±


    Eventually, I got back to my room andid down, closing my eyes. But I wasn¡¯t going to sleep yet.


    <em>Okay, Index,</em> I thought, <em>I¡¯m gonna go ahead and ignore your advice here. Even if it¡¯ll be reset when I give my Level away to the Tribute, I wanna see what these Spells do.</em>

 Chapter 192: Dawn Discovery

    Chapter 192: Dawn Discovery


    Aliss walked with Boy to a run-down building located on the edges of town. It was dirty and in need of repairs, with a couple broken windows that had just been boarded up for now, and some clearly rotting nks on the walls that definitely needed to be reced. Aliss could see Boy dete when he walked up to it, gazing at its exterior.


    ¡°Do you think we have enough to fix the windows, at least?¡± Aliss asked. ¡°They probably let in a bad draft in the winter.¡±


    Boy paused for a moment before hesitantly nodding.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure Milena will appreciate all the work you¡¯re putting into helping her, even if it isn¡¯t all you wanted to do.¡±


    He sighed and continued walking forward.


    Aliss knew he felt indebted to Milena for taking him in, but she never truly understood why he was so determined to make this ce good for the rest of the orphans who were there. Obviously it was great to help, but it got to a point where she almost got worried about him. Either way, he¡¯d helped her in the past, so she would help him, too¡ªeven if helping him really just meant helping these other people.


    It was hard to get him to talk about any of his past, and not just because he couldn¡¯t speak. It may have been impossible to have a verbal conversation with Boy, but that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯tmunicate at all. He waspletely capable of writing things down, using his hands to make symbols, anything. And he did that sort of thing frequently when it came to other topics. One time, he¡¯d written what felt like an entire book in a single afternoon just talking with her about a few of his favorite dishes. But when it came to speaking of the time before he met her? Nothing. He¡¯d nod or shake his head, and sometimes not even that much.


    She didn¡¯t mind, of course; she had secrets of her own, so she understood how he felt. If he didn¡¯t want to talk about it, they wouldn¡¯t.


    As Aliss opened the door, its hinges echoing out a <em>creak</em> into the building, she called out, ¡°Hello everyone!¡±


    Instantly, a stampede of little footsteps came stomping through the hallways, and Aliss watched as a crowd of around a dozen children rounded the corner, their eyes lighting up when they saw who stood in the doorway. There was Pinnon, that one with the short ck hair, and there was Aw, the slightly older girl who acted like she was everyone else¡¯s mom. Aliss hadn¡¯t known these kids for long, so she was still trying to keep all of the names straight.


    As she took stock of all of them, they ran right up to her¡­and straight past, like a river flowing around her legs.


    ¡°Boy!¡± one of them shouted as they all crowded around the man standing behind Aliss. ¡°Can we y the game where you pick me up and spin me around again? Please?¡±


    ¡°Hey, Boy,¡± an older one said, ¡°I¡¯ve been working on making a new desk, can youe look at it?¡±


    ¡°Boy, can youe wrestle with us?¡±


    Aliss smiled and looked back at them fighting for his attention. He grinned and listened to each of their requests, ruffling their hair and giving each one a hug as they all came to talk to him.


    Eventually, they made it inside, sitting on some old, torn-up furniture that the owner, Milena, had been able to scavenge from donations or just people throwing out their old stuff. That was pretty much entirely how this ce was run. It certainly wasn¡¯t funded by the town government, much to Aliss¡¯s annoyance.


    Milena was who Aliss and Boy were here to see, but Aliss was happy to sit with the children, too, while they waited for her to show up. She¡¯d asked where Milena was, but none of the kids knew. A couple said she was sleeping in, while one of them swore they heard her walking out of the ce in the middle of the night, so Aliss and Boy just decided to wait for her.


    One of the kids, Pinnon, even made breakfast for everyone, since Milena wasn¡¯t around to cook. He was young¡ªmuch too young to know how tobine ingredients or put them over heat¡ªso Aliss was surprised to see he¡¯d taken the initiative to do such a thing. He must¡¯ve taken after Boy¡¯s own culinary side.


    He brought out the food, nked by two of his friends, on big tters that they must¡¯ve found in one of the drawers, holding them high over their heads like they were fancy chefs.


    ¡°Behold,¡± Pinnon announced, ¡°my brand-new breakfast! I invented it myself!¡±


    ¡°Oh, wow,¡± Aliss said, ¡°very impressive.¡±


    He set it down on the table and showed it off to everyone. ¡°I call it bread soup!¡±


    The te was covered in a thinyer of water that was just barely held within by the rims, and sitting in the lukewarm water was a pile of old¨Cand now soggy¡ªbread slices.


    A couple of the other kids let out exaggerated ¡°ew¡±s while Pinnon looked to Aliss and Boy for approval.


    ¡°...That looks great,¡± Aliss said. She wasn¡¯t entirely sure what to say, torn between encouraging the poor Pinnon for doing his best while working with some extremely limited ingredients, and telling him she couldn¡¯t make everyone eat something that was, objectively speaking, pretty gross.


    Boy pulled a piece of paper from his shirt pocket and leaned over, setting it on the table and scribbling on it for a moment. Then, he handed it to Pinnon.


    <em>Good job,</em> it said. <em>Is it okay if I eat it all? It looks very yummy. I will make some other food, that way everyone gets something for breakfast. I will make your favorite coal-baked beans with white soup.</em>


    One of the older kids picked it up to read it out loud, that way the illiterate ones could understand.


    Pinnon¡¯s eyes lit up at Boy¡¯s words. ¡°Yes! That¡¯s great!¡±


    Boy nodded and grabbed the te, taking it with him to the kitchen and leaving Aliss with the rest of the children. She just could <em>not</em> understand how he was so quick with those types of scenarios.


    By the time a couple hours had passed, everyone having their fill of Boy¡¯s resourceful cooking with whatever the orphanage had in stock, Aliss started to get concerned. It wasn¡¯t like Milena to leave the kids alone at all, much less for this long. She asionally went out on trips, sure, but she would never do something like that without informing anyone. And it was definitely toote for her to just be sleeping in.


    Aliss shared a nce with Boy, both of them understanding the other. Something was wrong.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Aliss said with a smile, ¡°I think Boy and I are gonna go and try to find Miss Milena. You kids be good.¡±


    ¡°Are you going to call some men over to fix the house?¡± one of the kids asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s what we want to talk with her about,¡± Aliss said. ¡°We just got some extra money that might help pay a few workers to do some repairs if it¡¯s possible. But we still need to make sure you all have enough to eat, first.¡±


    ¡°Oh, oh!¡± another yelled. ¡°Can you get them to fix the floor? One of the boards in front of my bedroom door is creaky, and it makes noise when people walk over it to go to the toilet at night.¡±


    ¡°Uh, we¡¯re probably going to try and do more important repairs first. And it¡¯s still not a sure thing, so¡ª¡±


    ¡°What about new beds?¡± a third interrupted.


    ¡°Tell you what. We¡¯ll go talk with Milena about it, and then let you know what she says, alright?¡±


    The group gave out a chorus of ¡°okay¡±s, and the two of them set off.


    They walked down a hallway, Boy leading Aliss to where he knew Milena¡¯s room was. Aliss had to assume she wasn¡¯t there¡ªno way she was still asleep¡ªbut maybe they¡¯d find a note exining where she¡¯d gone, or something. A couple of the younger kids followed them through the building, which Aliss was fine with as long as they didn¡¯t cause trouble.


    Eventually, after some time walking through the halls, Boy stopped in front of a door that had a faint carvingbeling it <em>Headmistress</em>. He raised his hand and knocked on it lightly.


    No response.


    He knocked more heavily.


    ¡°Miss Milena!¡± one of the kids that¡¯de with them yelled through a crack in the door. ¡°Boy¡¯s here to see you!¡±


    There was still no response.


    ¡°We¡¯reing in, okay?¡± Aliss called.


    She grabbed the doorknob and turned, opening the door and¡ª


    ¡°Oh my gods!¡± she gasped, taking a step back.


    Instantly, Boy dropped to the ground and grabbed the two children, gripping his hands around their eyes and pulling them tight to his chest.


    Lying on the floor by her bed was Milena, with a dagger in her back. The elderly woman was crumpled on the floor, dried blood covering the old wooden boards and soaked into her nightgown, and protruding from her corpse was the ornate de.


    Aliss rushed forward, Boy staying behind to shield the children¡¯s eyes. She grabbed Milena¡¯s frail body and turned it over. She was cold¡ªcolder than living people were supposed to be. Her face was frozen in a state of petrified fear and shock. And her gown was¡­burnt? In the front, it was charred and burnt away in ces, like she¡¯d been lit ame.


    In fact¡­Aliss turned the body over again, examining the wound on the corpse¡¯s back. Yes, it really hadn¡¯t bled as much as a wound that deep should have. A dagger thatrge, stabbed¡­what was that, maybe the entire length of a hand? That far into someone¡¯s flesh, it wouldn¡¯t just create a little puddle on the floor and dirty up her clothes, it should¡¯ve made an entire pool of the stuff.


    There was only one exnation, then. Obviously, Milena was murdered. Someone had broken in and killed her the night before, Aliss could assume. But the murderer hadn¡¯t just killed her, they¡¯d stuck this dagger in her back <em>after</em> she was dead. Corpses didn¡¯t bleed nearly as much as living people did, so that was the only exnation.


    But why? Hatred? To prove a point? Send a message? She wondered who could have even had the motivation to do such a thing. Perhaps Milena had gotten herself involved with some bad people, and this was some sort of¡ª


    ¡°Boy, move your hand!¡± one of the kids said. ¡°I didn¡¯t see what happened! Is Milena in her room? What¡¯s going on?¡±


    <em>Oh, my gods!</em> Aliss was brought back to reality. She was holding a corpse, for the gods¡¯ sakes! Now wasn¡¯t the time to go pondering motives.


    Taking a deep breath, she gently set it down and stood. The blood was so dry it hadn¡¯t even gotten on her hands. She looked around, looking for something to cover the body with, before settling on the sheets from Milena¡¯s bed. At the very least, this could prevent any kids who came wandering down the hallway from seeing her.


    As she rushed over to grab the sheets, she nced over at Boy and the kids. They were standing impatiently against his chest, his hands still gripped tightly around their eyes. One was trying her best to tug his hand from her face, but that would never work, with Boy¡¯s high Stats and natural adult strength.


    Then Aliss nced up at Boy¡¯s own face. Silent tears trickled down his cheeks as he stared on. His lips were pressed together so hard they¡¯d turned white, his entire lower jaw trembling. His breathing was shaky, to the point where his rising and falling chest bounced the children¡¯s heads off of it. He didn¡¯t blink, didn¡¯t look away for a moment. Just stared at the body of Milena.


    Aliss hurriedly finished setting the sheet over the body and ran to grab the kids from him so he could at least wipe his eyes. She turned them away before they could see what¡¯d happened and started walking them down the hallway.


    ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± she said in as gentle a tone she could muster. ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go down here. Just follow me.¡±


    ¡°What happened, Miss Aliss?¡± the girl asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ll exin it to youter, alright? You don¡¯t need to worry about it for now.¡±


    ¡®For now¡¯ carried quite a lot of weight in that sentence.


    Milena was dead, and there was nobody lined up to take care of these kids anymore. Aliss and Boy¡¯s adventuring work was the only thing keeping the ce afloat marily, and there was no way they¡¯d be able to continue scraping together enough money to keep that up if one of them suddenly had to babysit full-time.


    Aliss didn¡¯t know Milena well, but she did know that woman was the only person keeping these kids alive. And that woman had just been burnt alive and stabbed in the back. Aliss tried to keep herself from imagining the sight of the poor woman¡¯s corpse, instead trying to n for the future.


    She¡¯d been putting together a contingency for when this happened, though it was supposed to be for when Milena eventually passed from old age,ter on. Not¡­this. That n would have to be elerated to happen now.


    To do it, she¡¯d need two things. Levels, and money. Fast. As soon as possible, really. She¡¯d thankfully gotten a decent boost in XP from that Young Dragon they¡¯d killed. The reward money from that was originally supposed to go toward repairing this ce, but clearly there were more important things to be spending it on to keep these kids safe. Still, they¡¯d need more. To get more¡­


    It seemed she¡¯d be giving that strange pair, Annor and Eita, a call. Much sooner than she¡¯d originally anticipated. She needed to take on the hardest jobs she possibly could, and with their insane strategies? They were the perfect help.

 Chapter 193: Welcome to Hell. Wake up.

    Chapter 193: Wee to Hell. Wake up.


    A Devil awoke on the stone of a damp, dark hole.


    Where was he? What¡­what was going on? How long had it been?


    The room was small. Or, no, it was actually quiterge. It was just that the room had been filled to the brim with other Demons. The Devil himself was closer to the door, so he was actually touching the ground, but there were so many bodies piled up further in, tossed on top of each other, that a couple of the piles actually touched the ceiling of the square room. He had to imagine the ones at the bottom of those piles were crushed beyond recognition, at this point.


    He tried to get up, and was confronted with the realization that his entire body felt like it¡¯d been smashed to pieces. He could barely move, and even attempting to do so was like trying to rip his muscles in two.


    He also realized that the room had been flooded with the stench of corpse and rot. He hadn¡¯t noticed at first; even though he¡¯d been unconscious, his nose must have limated to the smell after being in this ce for however long he¡¯d been there.


    Once he noticed the smell, he couldn¡¯t ignore it. It was horrible. This entire ce smelled horrible. He hated it.


    With a grunt of exertion, he tried bringing up his hands to at least cover his nose, but he couldn¡¯t even manage that. Such an extreme feeling of powerlessness was unfamiliar to him. At least, physical powerlessness.


    He also realized he was feeling quite a few other things he¡¯d rarely ever felt. Hunger. Thirst. Needing a fucking nap. A Devil of his strength, he rarely ever needed to consume anything, take any sort of a break¡ªmuch less get to a point where he felt <em>this</em> intensity of those feelings. Once again, he was forced to wonder¡ªhow long had he been out? Or perhaps, what had happened to cause his body toe to so much harm?


    He could barely remember what¡¯d happenedst. He was¡­What was his name?


    Oh, right. It was Xhag¡¯duul¡­How did it go? Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡­Right. Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep. That was his name. He was a Devil. He worked for the Seventh Circle of the Underworld. And his duties were¡­


    An Nota. That name came to him like an arrow through the eye. And with it, the rest of his memories. The pain. The humiliation. The slow degradation of his position, of his esteem, of his life. All due to that one stupid fucking order. Kill some random Human, or we¡¯re gonna kill you. What the <em>fuck</em> were his superiors thinking?!


    He remembered the fight, and he remembered losing. He remembered getting crushed by a fucking rock, dying, and his projected form tearing itself to pieces¡ªand with it, a piece of the Devil¡¯s soul. That was why he felt like this. He¡¯d been ruined.


    He was lucky to survive such an event, as extreme as it was. The stronger one was, the more difficult it was toe back from a killed projection; that was one of the reasons his superiors had wanted to use lower-Level Demons to do this job in the first ce. Less risk of any real loss. Well, that was, until they decided to risk <em>his </em>life. <em>He</em> was expendable, it seemed, because they¡¯d decided to pin the me of this failure on him. So now he was here, unable to move, in a pit of corpses. He may as well have been waiting to fucking die.


    Fifteen hours passed.


    It was quiet, and it smelled horrible, and the sensation of the rough, hard stone underneath the Devil¡¯s flesh got grating after the first thirty minutes. It became tortuous after the first two hours. The next thirteen, he just had to endure it.


    He¡¯d just barely found the ability to move in that time. Or, at least, he could slightly wiggle his fingers now, and his jaw had a decent bit of mobility.


    But he could hardly even think of that at the moment. His mind wasn¡¯t upied with wiggling his tongue back and forth. It was deep in his imagination, living through the fantasy of breaking out of this room, running through the fucking office and hallways, and murdering every living being in there. He wanted to put his fist through a Gargoyle¡¯s face. He wanted to stomp on an Ember Mite until it was turned to red mush. He wanted to find a Balor, rip off each of its fingers, string them together into a snake of bleeding flesh, and then shove it down the thing¡¯s throat so the pinkie tickled its stomach, choking it to death. He wanted to punch, kick, burn, maim, fucking blow up a building. Holy <em>shit</em>, he needed to let out some anger.


    His teeth were clenched so hard, if he¡¯d had his full strength, they¡¯d have probably shattered by now. If he could move his arm more, he¡¯d have brought it to his mouth so he could bite off all of his fingers and spit them out, just so he could taste some blood. Just so he could hurt someone, even if it had to be him.


    Maybe he¡¯d work on being able to wiggle his torso, so he could turn himself around and start ripping those corpses to shreds.


    No, actually. They smelled too bad. He just wanted to get away. But he couldn¡¯t do that, either. He just sat.


    Twenty-one hours passed.


    The Devil had gotten back enough strength that he could speak, now. His first action upon realizing this was to yell out for help. Well, not that he expected to receive any. In fact, he was just about absolutely sure that whoever was in charge of this ce knew perfectly well that he was alive, and were perfectly capable of getting him out anytime they wanted. He knew how these recovery holes worked, he knew that they kept close watch on them.


    But he yelled regardless.


    ¡°Hey!¡± His voice was hoarse, throat full of phlegm. He didn¡¯t bother clearing it. ¡°Let me out. Let me out now. I¡¯m¡ªI¡¯m alive. Don¡¯t know about the others, but I¡¯m alive. I¡¯m recovered, I¡¯m good to leave. Soe here and let me out.¡±


    Nobody came.


    ¡°Motherfuckers,¡± he muttered. ¡°Who¡¯s out there? Who¡¯s monitoring me? It¡¯s, uh¡­Abbadons, right? That¡¯s the Race that takes care of recovery holes? Fucking Abbadons. You¡¯re allzy, arrogant, worthless pieces of shit.¡±


    There was no sign anyone heard what he said.


    ¡°Just let me out,¡± the Devil said, his voice an exhale. ¡°I just wanna get out of here. Get back on my feet. Please.¡±


    Thirty-six hours passed.


    The Devil began to wonder if this was how he¡¯d die. He¡¯d been left for dead before, and that time they¡¯de to save himst minute. Or, well, not ¡°save.¡± His superior certainly hadn¡¯t saved him. She¡¯d decided she had a use for him after all, ande to temporarily dy his death. Now that he¡¯d been used up¡­maybe this was her way of ensuring he fulfilled that fate, in the end. He hated it.


    At least back before, he could¡¯ve died with a beautiful view above his head. He¡¯d been in a barren wastnd, but it didn¡¯t smell so fucking awful then. It wasn¡¯t so dark, so ustrophobic, so miserable to exist in that ce. Here? It was worse. He should¡¯ve just stayed back, refused to work with his superior when she gave him that offer. Though, she would¡¯ve forced him to take it either way.


    If this was going to be how he died¡­The Devil just wanted to kill himself now and get it over with. He wanted to smash his head against a wall until it was perfectly t, to punch his fist through his own chest, rip out his still-beating heart, and crush it between his fingers. He wanted to take a de and stab it through his cheek, to feel the blood running down his own neck.


    He wanted to walk through door 999, go back to the surface of the Underworld, so he could see the sun and the stars, and then leap out into that cold vuum, drifting infinitely in the empty space, so that at least then his corpse wouldn¡¯t have to share a resting ce with <em>these</em> fucks.


    At least Humans had graveyards. The corpses there could get buried in the earth, given their own little boxes and ceremonies, little ques with their names on them. The Devil would be tossed in a pile so his body could dpose and be easier to handle, then his skeleton would be ground up into dust and that dust would be dumped into a barrel along with the skeleton dust of at least a hundred other dead Demons, and that barrel would then be dumped into a river ofva so it didn¡¯t take up valuable space. That was the fate that awaited him.


    He¡¯d been deemed a failure, a fuck-up, he contributed too little to the higher-ups for them to justify spending the few resources needed to keep him alive.


    Now he just had to wait until it ended.


    One hundred and forty-nine hours passed.


    At some point during that time, the Devil regained the ability to move. He was weak and tired, but he finally had the capability to move his body. He stood, shakily, and tried the door. It was locked, though, so there wasn¡¯t much to do other than sit right back down in a slightly morefortable position than he¡¯d been paralyzed before. He certainly wasn¡¯t going to go climbing into any of those piles of corpses.


    He decided against killing himself. Really, he¡¯d decided against killing himself about eleven times, by now. Each time he decided not to, it only took a few hours before the concept crept back into his mind and he began to ponder it once more. For now, he felt like he may as well see what was going to happen.


    So he sat, eyes unfocused and entire body still aching, that horrible stench in his nostrils, for hour after hour after hour.


    ¡°This fucking sucks,¡± he said to himself for the thousandth time. He¡¯d been keeping track, and it had, in fact, been the thousandth. He said it so much because it was true. It fucking sucked.


    His thoughts didn¡¯t go very far past that.


    Some number of hours passed. The Devil stopped keeping track of time, so he really had no idea how long it¡¯d been. But after those hours, he heard the first sound that hadn¡¯te from himself.


    It was a footstep. Faintly¡ªvery faintly¡ªthrough the door, there was the sound of a boot on the stone. It cked against it in a way that made the Devil somehow instantly recognize who it was. Maybe she had a distinct way of walking and he only realized it just now, or maybe he just <em>wanted</em> it to be her so bad, he forced himself to believe it definitely was. Either way, he waspletely certain.


    The door clicked unlocked and then swung open. Even in the Underworld where light was scarce, since the Devil had sat in the pitch-ck room for so long, the miniscule amount of light in the room that¡¯d just been opened up to him was enough to just about blind him.


    Standing in the brilliant dim light was the woman the Devil wanted to see so badly, while simultaneously wishing he¡¯d never met her in the first ce.


    ¡°Expression of greeting, Devil,¡± his superior said.


    He groaned, holding up a hand to block out her figure in the doorway. ¡°What¡¯s up? You here to kill me, or something?¡±


    He couldn¡¯t see her, but he could still imagine how her face likely flickered with irritation at his refusal to greet her properly.


    ¡°Due to my being responsible for overseeing your previous position, it is by rule that I must personally inform you of this news,¡± she continued. Her voice was calm and practiced, like she was reading from a script.


    Which, of course, she was. The Devil had personally said exactly this to plenty of his underlings in the past. He knew where it was going.


    ¡°Due to scheduling conflicts, budgetary restrictions, and/or ack ofpetence on your part, we have made the decision to terminate your duties, effective thirty-one Underworld days ago. Rest assured that your position has been reced by someone morepetent and capable than you, so your society will not suffer from your absence. I leave you your termination paperwork, each page of which will need to be read and signed by you. Comply.¡±


    The Devil still couldn¡¯t see, holding up his hand to shade his eyes from the light, but he heard the sound of a massive stack of papers being dropped to the ground, followed by the tiny <em>ck</em> of a pen being dropped on them.


    ¡°Due to having no position, you now also have no name. You will be addressed as Devil from all Demons in the Seventh Circle. Attempting to illegally gain a name or attempting to coerce others into calling you by a name will be met with swift punishment.¡±


    ¡°No position?¡± the Devil asked. ¡°I¡¯m not being reassigned?¡±


    ¡°You are being reassigned,¡± her voice came back. He could just barely see her shoes standing in front of him. ¡°You are simply being reassigned to a job that offers no position.¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°You will be assigned to be a Hall Monitor, Devil. And, apology for the personal statement, but I do hope you understand that those consequencese from your own actions. From your own ipetence. Everything bad that has happened to you, it has happened because you were too foolish to keep it from happening. Your mistakes have caught up to you, Devil. Ideally, you prepared yourself for that.¡±


    The Devil slowly lowered his hand. It was still too bright to see anything other than a dark silhouette in the bright light, but he stared at his superior regardless. Or, technically, she wasn¡¯t <em>his</em> superior anymore. She was <em>a</em> superior. No longer assigned to him, now that he was a Hall Monitor. The lowest of the low, a job assigned purely as a punishment to those who served no purpose. It was a sentence worse than death. A sentence of being forced to live with the fact that your society deemed you useless.


    For her to go out of her way to go through the levels of verification just to force the punishment on him¡­She must have really, really hated him. An Nota was probably still alive, he guessed. If she was so pissed that she did all this, he had to imagine that anger was because she couldn¡¯t force him to do all the work to kill that Human anymore. But he barely even cared if that man was alive or dead. What mattered was the woman standing in front of him. <em>She</em> was the one who did this to him.


    ¡°Quinmorada,¡± the Devil said.


    Though he was unable to make out her face, he could still tell her snarl deepened at his cutting her full name short.


    He took a breath before continuing. ¡°You¡¯re a bitch. I fucking hate you. I hate all of this bullshit society, and if I could murder everyst Demon alive in this hell, I would. And I certainly, <em>certainly</em>, would start with you. In fact, I think I¡¯ll promise you now: I am going to kill you. I will do it. It may not be today, or this week, or this decade. But you¡¯ll die by my hand. And the <em>only</em> reason I haven¡¯t done it already is because you physically overpower me right now. But I really want you to understand. The sole thing keeping you alive right now, is that fact. The moment it¡¯s no longer true¡ªthe moment I can physically end your life¡ªI will do it.¡±


    She just stood there, staring at him. She wouldn¡¯t do anything about what he said¡ª<em>couldn¡¯t</em> do anything¡ªbecause it would¡¯ve been against the rules for her to take his punishment into her own hands. At worst, she could probably write up a report of his having disrespected a superior and sent it in for the thirteen levels of verification, but that would likely amount to nothing, considering he was already to be a Hall Monitor.


    The Devil took abored step forward, cleared his throat for the first time since he¡¯d woken up, hawking up all the spit and phlegm that¡¯d been building up for all this time, and then spat it directly in her face. She stepped back, retching and raising a hand to wipe it off. He could see her shaking with rage.


    ¡°Throw me into the halls,¡± he continued. ¡°Make me a pariah. I don¡¯t care. You say I¡¯m useless? I¡¯m of no use to you? Then fuck it. I¡¯ll be of <em>negative</em> use to you. I won¡¯t work to make life here better, I¡¯ll work to make life here worse. I¡¯ll make you hurt, one day. And I just need you to know that I¡¯m going to make you hurt, so that even in the days when you¡¯re safe, you¡¯ll live with a little bit of fear in your mind. So that you know you¡¯re never <em>actually</em> safe. So that you know, I am going to kill you. Fucking. Cunt.¡±


    She used the hand covered in the Devil¡¯s spit to grab his face, squeezing his features hard.


    His scowl didn¡¯t break.


    ¡°I will not stoop to petty, <em>Human</em> insults,¡± she said. ¡°But I will inform you that your spirit will notst as long as you seem to believe it will. And I will wish you a very unhappy eternity, Devil. Now go do your job and suffer.¡±

 Chapter 194: Morning Connection

    Chapter 194: Morning Connection


    The next day, Erani and I left town to go meet up with Ainash in the early morning. I had something I needed to do, after all.


    I¡¯d looked at my Spell choices the night before, and while they were good, it simply didn¡¯tpare to finally being able to bring others back in time with me¡ªespecially when I wasn¡¯t actually giving anything up, just slightly dying when I¡¯d be able to get it.


    I still hadn¡¯t told Erani what, specifically, we were headed out of town to do. Part of my not telling her was functional¡ªtalking about time travel in public seemed like a great way to spread my secret to strangers¡ªbut honestly, I also just wanted to be able to build up the fanfare. I wanted to see her react fully, without having to limit her words or hide her emotions due to people being around us.


    Once we met up with Ainash outside of town, I finally got to telling her.


    ¡°Wait, really?¡± she asked once I was done.


    ¡°That¡¯s what Index said. Once we¡¯ve both given Ainash Tribute, we¡¯ll be able to transfer memories between us. Which means you¡¯ll get to keep your memories through Time Loop, effectively.¡±


    ¡°...Wow.¡± She blinked, giving her head a minute shake, eyes staring off in the distance as though she could physically see the possibilities. After a moment, she looked back at me. ¡°So are we doing it now?¡±


    Iughed. ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I was expecting you to take a little more time to process before trying to jump headfirst into time travel.¡±


    ¡°Listen, there are some things you just can¡¯t wrap your head around. Time travel is one of them. Trust me, I¡¯ve tried. Several times. But this is something where it¡¯s <em>impossible</em> to think before leaping.¡± A slight smile spread across her face. ¡°Plus, I just really, really want to see what it¡¯s like.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I get how you feel.¡± I turned to Ainash. <em>¡°So, how are we supposed to actually do a Tribute?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Do not know!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Wait, really? I thought you¡¯d be an expert on that.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No, I am expert at receiving Tributes, not giving them.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...Huh.¡± </em>I frowned. <em>¡°Well, let¡¯s see. The other times you¡¯ve gotten Tribute, it¡¯s always been with the person touching you in some way, right? So¡­¡±</em>


    I ced a hand on her forehead and closed my eyes, trying to focus my mind. For a moment, I didn¡¯t feel anything, but eventually, once I found the right way to think to get the System to recognize my ¡®intent¡¯ to give her Tribute, I felt something in my mind unlock. I tried pushing and pulling, forcing the intent through, but it didn¡¯t budge. Seemed like the System really wanted to make it difficult to do this¡ªthough I got why, considering doing it by ident would be quite the mistake.


    It took some time to figure out, but eventually I got the mental block to move. It was like I had to clear my mind of everything entirely, while alsopletely filling it with the intent to give up a Level all at the same time. A difficult thing to do, but I figured it out. Eventually, I got a notification.


    Beginning Tribute of 1 Level to Level 33 Draconiad¡­


    Breaking physical contact will stop this transfer.


    I held on, and felt a warm sensationing from my hand. Opening my eyes, I saw that the spot of her head, where I was holding onto, had begun glowing. A second passed, and¡­


    Tribute has beenpleted.


    Your Level is now 20.


    -You have lost 1 Endurance.


    -You have lost 2 Conjuration.


    -You have lost 1 Intelligence.


    -You have lost 3 Stat Points.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank is now 20.


    -You no longer have ess to a Spell.


    I sighed, taking my hand away.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, ¡°so now¡ª¡±


    Your Bond with Level 33 Draconiad has evolved.


    Due to your Bond being evolved, it has undergone the following changes:


    -Your Mana has increased by 70


    -Your Mana/Minute has increased by 4.71


    -You may now transfer memories between yourself and Level 33 Draconiad.


    Threshold reached.


    Your Bond with Level 33 Draconiad has deepened.


    Due to your Bond being deepened, it has undergone the following changes:


    Stat Increase: From 14 to 16


    XP Gain: From 7% to 8%


    Heat Resistance: From 35.2% to 39%


    Mana Increase: From 70 to 80


    Mana/Minute Increase: From 4.71 to 5.39


    Threshold reached.


    Your Bond with Level 33 Draconiad has deepened.


    Due to your Bond being deepened, it has undergone the following changes:


    Stat Increase: From 16 to 18


    XP Gain: From 8% to 9%


    Heat Resistance: From 39% to 42.7%


    Mana Increase: From 80 to 90


    Mana/Minute Increase: From 5.39 to 6.06


    ¡°Woah,¡± I said, blinking and looking over the sudden barrage of notifications. ¡°...Index, you didn¡¯t say anything about Mana increases.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I had to leave that part out. But I¡¯d say that¡¯s a good kind of surprise, right?¡±


    ¡°For sure,¡± I said. ¡°More than makes up for the Conjuration I lost.¡±


    <em>¡°Father, Bond got stronger!¡±</em> Ainash said.


    <em>¡°Yeah, that too,¡±</em> I replied with a nod. <em>¡°Did you really appreciate the Tribute that much?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Always makes me like this. Feels very nice to get one!¡± </em>She stepped forward and gave me a hug, and Iughed, embracing her in return. It was always a little awkward to hug her, considering how different our forms were¡ªand the fact she was covered in ming embers, even if they wouldn¡¯t burn me unless she wished them too.


    ¡°So it worked?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s test it out,¡± I replied.


    I took a deep breath, holding onto Ainash¡¯s skin, and dug into my mind to find a memory I wanted to transfer. Just to test it out, I picked a simple one¡ªthe moment I was lying in my bedst night, trying to fall asleep. I could instantly feel a passageway open in my mind between me and Ainash, clearly existing through the physical contact we made with each other.


    I began pushing the memory through. Even for a memory that short and small, it actually took quite a lot of time and effort to actually get it through that passage. I had to transfer each and every detail¡ªhow the bed felt soft but slightly crunchy under my weight, how I was thinking about our ns for the next day, that I was lying on my side with my arms slightly curled in front of my face, how it felt warm under the sheets, but not so warm I was ufortable, how it was dark in the room, so I could just barely see the silhouettes of the furniture within when I opened my eyes, how that silhouetted furniture was arranged in the first ce, how my hair felt itchy under my head, the residual taste left in my mouth from the juicy dinner from Boy I¡¯d had beforehand¡ª<em>everything</em> had to be ryed through this link. And every one of those details needed time and effort to convey.


    Eventually, though, I felt like I got everything through. When I opened my eyes, I realized it¡¯d been several minutes. When it was that much effort for something that small, I hoped I could find a method in the future to get memories transferred more easily. If I had to do <em>that</em> for an entire several hours worth of memories, for two people, every time I used Time Loop? That¡¯d be a problem.


    Ainash opened her eyes, too, eyes wide and mouth agape.


    <em>¡°Did it work?¡±</em> I asked.


    <em>¡°That was so cool!¡± </em>she mentally yelled to me. <em>¡°Felt like I was in your body! Like was living in your life for some seconds! Could feel and hear and smell and taste everything, could even think what you thought! Father, you are so weird with your thinking! So different from me! And wow, the bed is so soft! Way softer than rocks!¡±</em>


    Iughed. <em>¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s softer than a rock. So you think that, if I gave you Erani¡¯s memories from a different timeline, you could give them back to her without anything lost?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Probably!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, that¡¯s as good as we¡¯ll get, I guess.¡±</em> I looked over at Erani. ¡°Seems like it¡¯ll work just fine. Plus, you get free Mana out of the Tribute, so it can¡¯t be a bad idea, regardless.¡±


    ¡°I suppose so,¡± Erani said, taking a step forward. ¡°Okay. Walk me through how you did it?¡±


    It took some time, but we eventually got everything figured out. Erani gave Ainash her own Tribute, then we took turns swapping random sample memories between us. Ainash¡¯s amazement of the memory transfer was very urate, I found, after I¡¯d had it done to me. It really <em>was</em> like I¡¯d suddenly found myself having lived someone else¡¯s life. It wasn¡¯t just having my mind put into their body, it was having my consciousness put into their <em>mind</em>. I had these memories of their thoughts, their feelings, everything. And it turned out different people thought in <em>very</em> different ways.


    Ainash¡¯s perspective was the most unique. I supposed it naturally would be, considering she was apletely different species from me. Her thoughts didn¡¯t take the form of words, and she didn¡¯t even think in <em>numbers</em>, which felt bizarre to me, considering numbers were the main way the Systemmunicated with us. Rather, all of her thoughts took the form of more vague concepts and feelings, while still somehow being fully able to achieve the same level ofplex thought as anyone else could. It was just in a totally different shape.


    As for Erani, the memory I got from her was slightly distorted from Ainash¡¯s transfer, but not too much. At the very least, I could understand what the memory <em>was</em> just fine¡ªI just missed out on the finer details.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Erani said once we¡¯d gotten everything working, ¡°I want to go back in time.¡±


    I raised my eyebrows. ¡°That¡¯s sudden.¡±


    ¡°Oh,e on, I bet you used your ability the moment you got it. It¡¯s time travel! There¡¯s no such thing as patience when ites to experiencing that.¡±


    Iughed. ¡°Well, that¡¯s pretty true. But I can¡¯t just use it for no reason. I¡¯m trying to keep as many uses as possible unspent, remember? That way I get the Stats out of Recycled Loop. So we should probably wait until we have <em>some</em> sort of a reason, at the very least.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± she said, looking down. ¡°Let¡¯s see, let¡¯s see¡­¡±


    ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Coming up with a reason.¡±


    <em>¡°I can helpe up with reason!¡±</em> Ainash said, looking down and putting a hand to her chin in mimicry of Erani¡¯s pose.


    I chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you can just randomlye up with a reason. It¡¯s gottae up naturally.¡±


    <em>¡°Oh! Have idea!¡±</em> Ainash suddenly said, looking up with an excited look on her face. <em>¡°Can explore Human settlement, and go into ces you normally cannot go! Humans get you in trouble if you do that, so if you go and get into lots of trouble, and then go back, they will not remember you are supposed to be in trouble!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But what would we even do?¡± </em>I responded.<em> ¡°Normally, the reason you aren¡¯t allowed to go into those ces is because if you did, you''d steal something from them, or whatever. But we won¡¯t be able to keep anything, so there¡¯s no point.¡±</em>


    ¡°Well,¡± Erani interjected, thoughtful look on her face, ¡°the adventurer¡¯s guild normally has a dy between a job being requested and it actually being put up, right? They take a while to figure out all the details for most jobs before making them public. But all the jobs that haven¡¯t been put up yet have to be kept somewhere, written down. So if we break into that ce and read through as much as we can before going back, then we basically have a couple days in advance where we have first choice on all the newest jobs.¡±


    I nodded slowly. ¡°Certainly helps us with the problem of getting pastpetition. We just go and do the job before anyone else has the chance to, then once the job is actually posted, we go in and hand in the reward? Or, at the very least, we can prepare to do the job while everyone else has no idea, so we can go and do it first.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Seems like a good enough use of your abilities, if you ask me. Sneak in and out, and if we get caught, no consequences.¡±


    ¡°What about Ainash, though? If the whole point is stealth, we probably won¡¯t be able to have her with us.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°Hm, yeah, I guess¡ª¡±


    <em>¡°I know!¡±</em> Ainash interrupted. <em>¡°Can go into forest and practice recruiting Goblins! That way, if I have to kill any Goblins for being bad, they will not stay dead, and can go to do it again! Will be able to try so many methods that would normally not work because they kill so many Goblins! And then will keep all memories of what worked and what did not work.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...Right,¡±</em> I replied, <em>¡°I guess that works. Especially since the Dragon is dead now, seems like a good time to ramp up your recruiting efforts.¡±</em>


    ¡°Try not to hurt them too much though, okay?¡± Erani said.


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    I looked back at Erani. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go back to town. And on the way, I guess you can just mentally prepare yourself to travel through time. You¡¯ll probably need it.¡±

 Chapter 195: Noon Infiltration

    Chapter 195: Noon Infiltration


    Erani and I walked into the guild lobby. We¡¯de up with a general n of action on our way into town, and now we just had to do it.


    The lobby was bustling with activity¡ªit typically became most popted around noon, when most adventurers came in to ept jobs or hand in the ones they¡¯d alreadypleted in the early morning. As such, there was a long line headed to the receptionist¡¯s desk, leaving the poor woman to handle several dozen impatient fighters all waiting on her to do her job faster.


    So we both walked right up to her, skipping the whole line, and leaned over the desk for a short word.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said to her.


    ¡°Hm?¡± she nced over for a moment, her attention only partially on us as she was in the middle of exining to a bronze-degree why he couldn¡¯t, in fact, go and try to kill a full-grown Dragon in the mountain range.


    ¡°We¡¯re just dropping by to speak to the guildmaster, Vanvol, about that exclusive job we turned in a little bit ago. You mind if you let us through? We remember where his office is, so no need to lead us there.¡±


    ¡°Oh, sure,¡± she said with a nod, reaching back to open up the door into the back area, where the offices were.


    We stepped through, shutting the door behind us. That was step oneplete.


    Nobody else was in the hall we entered at the moment, leaving us alone in the walkway lined with ubeled wooden doors.


    ¡°Y¡¯know,¡± I muttered to Erani, ¡°part of me feels like they should hire some help for her, if she¡¯s so overworked during rush hour that she¡¯s willing to let us back into this employees-only area just to get us out of her hair.¡±


    ¡°Well, technically, there¡¯s not much to worry about us doing. In normal circumstances, that is.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess. So, Index, you said you spotted where that room was thest time we walked through here, right? You¡¯d seen it while flying through the walls?¡±


    ¡°Yep! Let me just find it in my logs¡­uh¡­There it is. Go ahead and start walking, I¡¯ll tell you when you get there.¡±


    ¡°Great. Keep an eye out for anyone else that might be ahead of us though, alright?¡±


    We crept forward, needing to stop a couple times because Index saw someone passing through the hallway ahead of us, and one time, we even needed to duck into one of the nearby unupied storage closets and let someonee through from behind us. But other than that, it went rtively smoothly.


    ¡°Here,¡± Index said, and we stopped. ¡°That door to your left, the one made of the thicker nks.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I whispered back. ¡°So we just go through there?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t see all of it¡ªit¡¯s too big¡ªbut from the looks of things, seems like nobody¡¯s inside. Oh, but do be aware that once you go through, you¡¯re pretty much one hundred percentmitted to a use of Time Loop.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°That whole ce is rigged with Enchantments. The moment you enter, those Enchantments are going to send as much information on you as they can scrape to another location. From the looks of the Enchantments, it¡¯ll be¡­written somewhere? A book, I think. So most likely, there¡¯s a security log book kept somece else, and when you go in the room, it¡¯s going to write in the book the time you entered, where you entered from, how many people, draw depictions of what you look like, keep record of exactly what you did while inside, whether you took anything out¡­everything. And, obviously, since you¡¯re trespassing and all, that¡¯s pretty much as hard evidence as you can get that you¡¯ve broken thew. So, yeah, you¡¯ll definitely need to use Time Loop after this.¡±


    ¡°But nobody¡¯s going to being after us right now, right?¡±


    ¡°No, nobody¡¯ll even know you went in until someone goes and reads the log book. That could be something they only do once a day, week, maybe even more infrequently. And even then, they¡¯ll have to report it to the town guards and go through that whole process before you actually have anyone hunting you down. You¡¯ll have plenty of time.¡±


    ¡°Well, we only need six hours.¡±


    I nodded to Erani and put my hand on the doorknob, silently turning it and opening the door.


    The room inside was dry and dark, filled with what felt like hundreds of drawers. They were arranged in hallways you could walk down, and each drawer was filled to the brim with papers¡ªat least, that was what Index had said. This was their documentation room, where they kept every single job that had been posted,pleted, everything. And, most importantly, the jobs that they nned to put up in the future.


    ¡°Those papers are going to be in the back of the room,¡± Index said. ¡°I can¡¯t see them right now, but I spotted them before, when you guys were in the guildmaster¡¯s office. Assuming the guild hasn''t rearranged, they should still be there.¡±


    I nodded, creeping down the main hall with Erani, ncing back and forth into the other halls of shelves as we moved. The room was dim, but not too dark to see. Still, we¡¯d probably need some other sort of light to actually read anything on those papers once we got them.


    Once we were around halfway into the room, Index suddenly called out, ¡°Stop!¡±


    I halted in my tracks, holding out a hand to silently tell Erani to do the same. She looked at me curiously.


    ¡°Someone¡¯s in the room,¡± Index said.


    I started ncing around, trying to find the unseen adversary.


    ¡°Not within line of sight,¡± Index continued. ¡°But in the back, where you need to go. There¡¯s someone crouched down near one of the drawers. He only just entered my sphere of vision.¡±


    <em>Does he know we¡¯re here?</em> I silently asked.


    ¡°No, seems too focused on what he¡¯s doing to have heard your footsteps.¡±


    <em>Well, what do we do, then? Leave and head into some other unupied room and just wait for him to leave?</em>


    ¡°I have no idea how long that¡¯d take. From the looks of it, he¡¯s sorting through all of the papers in the drawer, organizing them chronologically. No idea how fast he¡¯ll go with that, or if this is the only drawer he needs to do. And you are on a time limit here, remember.¡±


    <em>Well then, shit, uh¡­</em>


    ¡°You could just kill him.¡±


    <em>Index. I¡¯m not going to¡ª</em>


    ¡°No, think about it. You¡¯re going back in time anyway, right? So if you know this timeline isn¡¯t going to end up being the final one, then your actions here are basically fake. What¡¯s wrong with killing someone if you¡¯ll just go back in time afterward and they¡¯ll end up alive again? Effectively, you¡¯re not <em>actually</em> killing him at all.¡±


    <em>That still feels like it¡¯s pushing it. I mean, sure, maybe he doesn¡¯t end up dead, but murder is still murder, right? We don¡¯t perfectly know how time travel works, maybe it does matter. Maybe this world will continue on after we leave, and that guy will still be dead in this alternate universe. Feels like a bad idea to go murdering people without knowing how it could end up.¡±</em>


    ¡°Actually, I <em>do</em> perfectly know how time travel works. At least, I know how your Talent, Time Loop, works. And no, that won¡¯t happen. I can guarantee you that it will be of no consequence that you killed this guy.¡±


    <em>Wouldn¡¯t you say that either way? You have no motivation to tell me the truth here, just to get me to make the ¡®optimal¡¯ decision. What you¡¯re saying could be aplete lie.</em>


    Index sighed. ¡°Look, I wouldn¡¯t lie to you about that sort of thing. I know you don¡¯t trust me to make moral decisions, but if you felt like you couldn¡¯t trust me to at least give you truthful information, then I wouldn¡¯t be able to help you properly, and you could die. And if I lie to you, you won¡¯t trust me. I have no idea whether or not you¡¯ll end up seeing through any lies I <em>do</em> tell, so lying to you is an extremely risky thing to do. Something which I don¡¯t want to do. So there. You <em>can</em> trust me, because I <em>do</em> have motivation to tell the truth.¡±


    I pursed my lips, thinking through what it¡¯d said. It felt like sound logic, at the very least. After a moment, I took a few careful steps back, up to the doorway, and signaled for Erani toe with me. Once we were far enough from the man on the opposite end of the room that I was confident he wouldn¡¯t hear us, I whispered to her, exining the situation.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± she muttered once I¡¯d finished.


    ¡°Index says we should kill him,¡± I said.


    ¡°Absolutely not,¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, I was kind of skeptical of it, too. Just feels kind of wrong. But I don¡¯t know, Index kind of made a convincing point. We¡¯re going back in time anyway, right? So if we undo the guy¡¯s death, does it even count? He¡¯ll be alive in the end, so we¡¯ve effectively not taken his life at all.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not even about that. Well, I mean, I don¡¯t really agree with Index¡¯s point, but even if we do say that¡¯s totally true, and it¡¯s how morality works, it¡¯s still not worth it. I mean, sure, once we go back, he¡¯ll be alive again. That¡¯s fine and all, but <em>we</em> still keep our memories of killing him, right? And even if we can go through our logical reasoning about how it technically wasn¡¯t bad to do that, or how it all turned out fine in the end, that¡¯s not how emotions work. Your nose, smelling the stench of the blood, and your ears, hearing the pleas of a truly innocent man, begging you for mercy, they don¡¯t care about whether or not you can mentally justify the act. They¡¯ll remember all the same. I guarantee you, we don¡¯t want that weight on our souls.¡±


    I blinked at her heavy words. ¡°I¡­Um, yeah, okay. You seem¡­personally invested.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°My sister, she was a researcher. Well, getting through that college costs a lot of money. Our parents weren¡¯t totally prepared to pay for it, so¡­She got involved with some of the lower parts of Carth to get it done. Didn¡¯t even do anything serious, and got out as soon as she got the money for her tuition. But she still never forgot it. Told me about it one night. An, we don¡¯t want to go down that route. Taking stuff that¡¯ll be reced when you use Time Loop, that¡¯s one thing. That doesn¡¯t leave a scar. But killing innocents is another realm entirely.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Sure. We¡¯ll find another way.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Index said, ¡°the guy¡¯s moving.¡±


    <em>What? Where?</em>


    ¡°Could be in your direction, I¡¯m not sure. He¡¯s got a piece of paper in his hands, looks like it was sorted into the wrong drawer? I think he¡¯s trying to find where it goes.¡±


    <em>Do we need to leave?</em>


    ¡°No, no, I think I came up with something that could work. And it doesn¡¯t even involve murder, which I¡¯m sure will please your girlfriend.¡±


    <em>Just tell me what I need to do. Is he close?</em>


    ¡°Getting closer. So, I¡¯ll tell you the moment he¡¯s within thirty paces of you. When he is, I want you to prepare to activate Gravity Well targeting him. Don¡¯t do it right away, just prepare it.¡±


    <em>Wait, what? How¡¯s that going to work?</em>


    ¡°No time to exin! He just got within thirty paces, so he¡¯s in range of Gravity Well. Can you target him? Is your Spell ready?¡±


    <em>Uhh¡­</em>I reached into my mind, frantically trying to find the target. It was difficult to do¡ªtypically, targeting someone was helped greatly by being able to see them, but just knowing that they were there was all you technically needed to cast a Spell on them. I fiddled around, and¡­<em>Ready.</em>


    ¡°Okay, and¡­¡± Index waited for a few seconds in silence, then, seemingly randomly, said, ¡°now!¡±


    I cast Gravity Well. For a moment, nothing happened, and I was worried Index¡¯s n hadn¡¯t worked. Wouldn¡¯t this do nothing but alert him to our presence?


    But then, I heard a voice from within the room yelp in rm, and then I heard the sound of something banging against metal.


    ¡°It worked!¡± Index said. ¡°Hurry, go over there. He won¡¯t stay out for long.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯s knocked out?¡±


    ¡°Wait, what¡¯s going on? Erani asked.


    ¡°No idea. Let¡¯s go see.¡±


    What had ended up happening, it seemed, was that Index told me to activate Gravity Well the moment the man¡¯s foot had gotten wedged into a crack in the floor. Something that would have been nothing but a minor inconvenience on its own, but when paired with the gravity-increasing and muscle-taxing effects of the Spell, it basically guaranteed he¡¯d trip. And, since the crack was situated right in front of one of the many metal drawers filling the room, he proceeded to fall right into it, hitting his head and copsing to the ground.


    We walked up to him just as his eyes began to flutter open, his mind clearly still not all there.


    ¡°What the hells?!¡± Erani asked. ¡°An, what just happened?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Index, what the fuck?¡± I demanded.


    ¡°Just tie him up! He won¡¯t be out for long, and this was basically the only way to get him out ofmission without him dying <em>or</em> calling for help. You should be thanking me!¡±


    I exhaled a sigh and hurriedly bent over, flipping the man onto his stomach so I could pull his hands behind his back.


    ¡°...H-hey, what¡­¡± he muttered softly as I worked.


    ¡°Erani, do you mind gagging him?¡± I asked.


    She shook her head and bent down, too. ¡°You know, I feel like I dislike this Index thing more and more every time I work with it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, it¡¯s just something you get used to, I guess.¡±

 Chapter 196: Afternoon Machinations

    Chapter 196: Afternoon Machinations


    With the room cleared out, Erani and I were free to rifle through the documents as we pleased. We quickly located the correct metal drawer and looked through the contents until finding the stack of future job postings. They ranged from being ted to go up the next day¡ªthat was the majority of them¡ªto a few from people like nobles or business owners being nned to go up weeks from now. Those were for things like construction projects, pushing out monster poptions in certain locations or leveling out some terrain, that way they could start building the moment the job was done.


    We looked around for the best jobs we could,mitting them to memory, plus having Index read through them to memorize the jobs for good measure. Pretty much anything high-paying we paid attention to.


    It wasn¡¯t long before we found everything worth noting, having Index go through the much more manageable pile of papers to read. And then, we left.


    The man we¡¯d tied up was also left in the room behind us, of course, lying in the corner, bound and gagged as thoroughly as we could get him. Obviously, someone would eventuallye across him, but due to the extremely long nature of his task, I hoped nobody would go looking for a while. At least, not for the next six hours.


    So we exited the room and the guild lobby, heading out of town. Our mission hadn¡¯t taken long at all, so Ainash was still nearby.


    Soon, we saw her approaching, answering our call to meet up.


    <em>¡°Did you find important paper?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah,¡±</em> I responded, <em>¡°we got everything we need. We should go ahead and transfer our memories now, though.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But why?¡±</em> Ainash asked. <em>¡°There is still lot more time before have to go back, correct? </em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, but if there¡¯s anything I¡¯ve learned from having this ability, it¡¯s that you can never actually predict when you¡¯ll need to use it. We hope we¡¯ll get the full six hours before needing to go back, but it¡¯s best to get the most important information transferred now, while we still can.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    ¡°So I go first, right?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Right. You transfer your memories to Ainash, and then she transfers both yours and hers to me, that way I can give them back once I¡¯ve activated Time Loop.¡±


    Erani stepped forward, cing a hand on Ainash¡¯s head and closing her eyes. I could see her facial expression change as she mentally exerted herself, pushing the memories through in as much detail as she could while still trying to keep things fast. What we¡¯d found with our experiments beforehand was that, while you did need to put in a lot of detail in the transferred memory, you could still cut certain corners, if you knew what you were doing.


    In general, the longer a memory was, the less detail it needed. For example, if you were trying to transfer your memories from a twenty-minute time span, you wouldn¡¯t need to go over all of your individual thoughts and emotions during that time¡ªunlike how you would need to go through those details if it was just a single moment you were trying to transfer.


    So with Erani transferring over the memories of our entire mission, even though they were of a decently lengthy period of time, it still didn¡¯t take too long to do. Only a few minutes before Ainash had received everything. And then Ainash went over to me and pushed the memories into my mind.


    The sensation of receiving memories was like nothing else. And the sensation of receiving the memory of someone receiving another memory was somehow even stranger. When I got them, I effectively had them imnted into my mind, but I didn¡¯t actually ¡®see¡¯ the memories until I made the conscious effort to do so. Until then, they were sort of like a wrapped package in my peripheral vision. Still certainly <em>there</em>, but I¡¯d need to go over and unwrap them to actually know what was inside.


    It felt sort of nosey to go looking through the memories of my twopanions, especially since these hadn¡¯t been selected as memories they feltfortable showing me, and more just because it was necessary for me to hold onto them until I gave them back, so I decided to simply not look. We hadn¡¯t technically set down any sort of ground rules regarding that sort of thing, so as far as I was concerned, I¡¯d have rather stayed on the cautious side and not invaded anyone¡¯s privacy.


    I took a step back once Ainash was finished. ¡°Okay, Erani, you ready to head back to town?¡±


    ¡°What are we even gonna do? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to just stick around outside the walls? It¡¯d be safer, that way we¡¯re far away in case anyone ends up finding out we stole those documents.¡±


    ¡°At this point, safety isn¡¯t a concern, remember? We¡¯ve done the important stuff, and we have the memories transferred and ready. So even if we all die horribly, we won¡¯t lose much. So then, why not go and do some insanely risky shit we would never otherwise do?¡±


    ¡°Is there anything we need to do?¡±


    ¡°Not particrly. But maybe we could just go and see what happens? Who knows, maybe we find some cool stuff.¡±


    Erani frowned. ¡°What do you have in mind?¡±


    **********


    Artil was sitting at his favorite restaurant, Nornin the Great¡¯s, eating his favorite meal, the fried Phin with a side of boiled Korkish eggs. It was a truly delectable delight, and he savored each and every forkfull that he ced into his mouth. A small portion of the Phin, he swirled around on his tongue, trying to get every piece of the meat and breading to touch every part of his mouth to extract as much vor as he could. Then he chewed¡ªjust once¡ªto draw the juices out, and savored them for a moment. It was eventually time for another chew, and, <em>Mmm</em>, the seasoning on this piece was just immacte.


    After a few minutes, he allowed himself to swallow, nodding at the satiation that came from the perfectly-prepared food. Next up was the Korkish eggs. <em>Hmm</em>, he thought, <em>which one looks the best?</em> He would not, of course, <em>start</em> with the best of the eggs, but rather start with the second best, move on to the third best, and so on, until at the very end he would allow himself the delight of eating the best piece of egg and meat. Truly a wonderful experience.


    Artil did this every weekend, going to his favorite and second favorite restaurants¡ªof course, going to his second favorite first¡ªand spending the whole afternoon savoring the best meals from each of their respective menus. He was aware that the servers could sometimes get irritable at his pickiness when it came to how the food was cooked, sending it back over and over until he got it at the perfect point of preparedness, and they certainly didn¡¯t enjoy the fact that he took up one of their limited tables during their busiest days for almost all of their open hours each weekend. But ordering the most expensive meal on the menu every week certainly got him on good terms with the owners, so the employees weren¡¯t allowed to kick him out.


    He had been in this routine for decades, now, going every single weekend and tasting the delights each time as though it were his first. The number of times he had missed his meals could be counted on a single hand. As such, he had gotten to the point where he knew every face that entered these buildings¡¯ doors¡ªespecially Nornin the Great¡¯s. When a new employee was hired, he could tell instantly, if not from seeing them walking the floors, simply by seeing the minute difference in quality of how well the tables had been wiped down, or by seeing that the seasoning on his food was slightly less even than it normally was.


    And, of course, he also knew when there were new customers. He knew the regrs, like himself¡ªthough <em>he</em> was the only one who hade as often, and for as long¡ªbut he also knew the couples who came every year on their anniversary, or the families who came every few months for a special asion, or those who came for their birthdays asionally, celebrating with their friends. He knew every face.


    So he instantly noticed, during hour four of his meal, when a pair of individuals walked into the building that Artil had never seen before.


    He had not seen them in Nornin¡¯s, nor even in the streets. And he knew for a fact that he¡¯d have remembered <em>these</em> people, with their strange appearances.


    One of them seemed like he fit the descriptions of half a dozen of the ¡®evil knight¡¯ characters out of the bard¡¯s tales he¡¯d heard, with his spiked ck armor that seemed to suck the light out of the room the moment he entered.


    And the person next to him¡ªor, could she really be called a person?¡ªlooked as though he may have seen a thing that looked like her in a monster encyclopedia, wisps of illusory mist wafting from her skin and from the fingertips of her single arm, making her almost unseen in the darkness created by the man¡¯s armor. The two of them drew countless nces from the many dinner-goers in the restaurant when they entered.


    Though, it wasn¡¯t as though Artil had never seen people like this before. Adventurers¡ªprobably new arrivals in town¡ªwho had justpleted a big dangerous job and felt likeing to splurge their money on living the high life for a week, before quickly spending themselves back into poverty before the moon could change its phase. They hade here to <em>pretend</em> to live the life Artil lived every day of his life, certainly a fine reward for risking their lives for the sake of the popce.


    Still, Artil sometimes wondered if they couldn¡¯t just go and celebrate somewhere else. Somewhere less¡­seen. He didn¡¯t have a <em>problem</em> with adventurers, but couldn¡¯t they go and take their dirty, blood-sttered clothes, their durd minds that could think of nothing but battle, their unrefined voices that had no idea how to ask for things without violence, elsewhere? Go celebrate in a lowlife tavern, or out in the woods with the rest of those muscle-brains.


    Artil shook his head, trying to rid himself of such distracting thoughts so he could get back to enjoying his meal. As long as that adventurer pair wasn¡¯t too loud, perhaps this weekend¡¯s dinner could still be salvaged. Yes, yes, maybe he could try something different for today, to get his mind off of things. Perhaps, in his next bite, he could <em>mix </em>the Phin and Korkish together, eating them both in a single bite! He tittered to himself at the thought. Mixing foods, such an unrefined concept. But maybe he could do such a thing, as though to go and live the life those lowly adventurers surely lived on each of their days, in the same way they wereing to live his life. Yes, it was so foolish, perhaps it could make this day more pleasurable. To not ignore the adventurers, but to incorporate them into his evening.


    He poked his fork into the Phin, picking up a miniscule amount, and then aimed its prongs toward a Korkish egg, bringing it down to scrape off some of the slimy green outeryer. Trembling, he held the concoction up so it was level with his eyes. <em>What a concept,</em> he thought to himself, <em>to mix the two. This will surely be a horrid idea, but perhaps it will be interesting, just to see what it is like.</em>


    Slowly, he brought it up to his lips, opened his mouth, stuck out his tongue, closed his eyes in preparation for the new sensation, and¡­


    ¡°Hey everyone!¡± a voice shouted out.


    ¡°Oh!¡± Artil jumped, startled out of his food-induced trance, dropping his fork to the ground¡ªthe half-bite of food along with it. He nced around, searching for the source of the sound.


    ¡°Just wanted to let you all know, you should probably go ahead and sit on the floor,¡± the voice continued.


    Artil looked in its direction, seeing that it was¡­that adventurer pair! The armored man had gotten up onto a poor couple¡¯s table¡ªLin and Ana¡¯s, the two that came every three months and change, ordering the baster Squid and the¡­was it the hyggleberry sd for Ana, normally? They¡¯d recently bought out a local Cleric¡¯s center, he believed, turned the ce into one that was actually profitable. The poor things had their dinner totally ruined by this raucous fellow! He stood right there over them, on top of their tes, having kicked their drinks aside as though Nin and Ana weren¡¯t twenty times as important as he.


    The patrons of the restaurant stared at the man, not sure what to do. Artil was the same.


    ¡°Hey!¡± the armored adventurer shouted again, louder this time. Any conversation that was still going on in the restaurant stopped. ¡°I¡¯m telling you all right now, get on the fucking ground!¡±


    A couple people shakily got out of their seats and got down to the floor. The employees had clearly made the decision to stay out of this, all fleeing to the kitchen¡ªpresumably to call for somew enforcement. But in the time before they arrived, the patrons of this establishment were left to fend for themselves in this strange situation.


    The adventurer hopped down from the table, walking around and up to each person who hadn¡¯t yet sat down on the floor.


    ¡°Get down, man,¡± he said to one in his crude ent. ¡°It¡¯s for your own good. I¡¯m doing you a favor, really.¡±


    ¡°D-don¡¯t tell me what to do,¡± the well-dressed man responded. ¡°Why should I even¡ª¡±


    The armored man grabbed his arm and yanked him out of his seat, taking clear advantage of the Stats of a sser to exploit the citizen¡¯s weakness. He tumbled to the floor, no harm being done to him, but the implication left in and bare.


    Mutterings filled the restaurant as the armored man worked his way through the room, throwing people to the ground or¡ªas it became clear what he could do¡ªsimply looking at people until they got down on their own.


    But one man stayed sitting straight up.


    The armored man walked up to Artil. ¡°Get down.¡±


    ¡°I will not!¡± Artil proimed. ¡°You think that just because you¡¯re stronger than us, you can order us around?! I will have you know, I am a very important man. And to lord your strength over us like you are some sort of king, it is nothing but a charade! You wille crashing down, you hear me?!¡±


    The man nodded, and suddenly, from behind him, Artil found a hand grabbing his head and pulling him back off of his chair, to the ground. It was that monster woman! She¡¯d somehow snuck over behind him in the darkness created by the man¡¯s armor, and grabbed him from there!


    Artil attempted to fight the overwhelming force, but it was clear that this woman, too, had a set of truly devastating Stats. He could do nothing to stop it.


    ¡°W-what happens when you try this, and one of your kind is dining among us?¡± Artil demanded. ¡°What happens when you get unlucky?! You cannot expect to get away with this forever, you know?¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± the man called out to the room, ignoring Artil. ¡°Now that everyone¡¯s down, I¡¯m just gonna make sure you all know that you need to <em>stay</em> down.¡±


    In an instant, a cmitous force crushed down on Artil¡¯s entire body. It was as though the world itself were pulling him closer to its center, while at the same time the muscles in his body had shrunk to half their size. He¡¯d been originally trying to at least keep himself propped up on his hands, but the moment the force hit him, he was instantly forced t on the ground,pletely unable to pull himself back up from lying on his back. And judging by the chorus of shouts and surprised yelpsing from the room, everyone else seemed to find themselves in a simr predicament.


    ¡°Alright,¡± the man said, ¡°see? Now you¡¯re d I got you all on the ground before I did that. No injuries this way. And that¡¯s how I wanna keep it. Just listen to me, and we keep everything clean and bloodless. Really, there shouldn¡¯t be any problems at all. Here, I¡¯ll let it up now.¡±


    The man waved his hand, and suddenly the force was gone, as though it had never been there in the first ce. Artil could move freely again. He could get to his feet and attack those people, if he really wanted.


    But a part of him reluctantly recognized that the man was right in what he¡¯d said. If Artil had bad footing when the ability had gone off, he could¡¯ve easily tripped and fallen, hit his head on a table¡­He¡¯d technically been done a favor by being told to get on the floor first. Of course, the man himself had been the one to use the ability in the first ce, but Artil certainly didn¡¯t want to give him a reason to do it again in an <em>unsafe</em> scenario.


    ¡°So, yeah, anyway,¡± the man continued casually, ¡°this is a robbery, I guess.¡±

 Chapter 197: Evening Escapades

    Chapter 197: Evening Escapades


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna be looking through your valuables. We probably won¡¯t take much, though, so don¡¯t be worried. Just window shopping, you know?¡±


    Artil¡¯s heart had begun racing when he heard the word ¡°robbery,¡± but he frowned when he heard the rest of the statement. What was the game here? He¡¯d never heard of thieves going ¡°window shopping¡± before, and certainly never heard of them helping their victims to the floor so that their abilities were less likely to cause harm. What in the world was going on?


    ¡°By the way, don¡¯t lie to me. I can tell when you lie,¡± the man said. He walked up to a man on the ground and bent down to look him in the eye. ¡°How much eyt you got on you?¡±


    ¡°U-um, around eight hundred.¡±


    ¡°No, see, this is what I¡¯m talking about. Tell me the truth¡ªthe <em>exact</em> truth. You have eight hundred and forty-nine eyt in your front pocket, plus an extra fifteen in your back. Don¡¯t give me estimates.¡±


    ¡°R-right,¡± the man said with a frantic nod, reaching into his pockets to withdraw the money.


    ¡°Nah, leave it. We don''t want your coin. Like I said, we¡¯re just looking.¡± The armored thief looked down at the man¡¯s hand, and grabbed his wrist, bringing it up closer. ¡°That¡¯s a cool-looking ring, though. Is it Enchanted?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°N-no.¡±


    ¡°Damn.¡± The armored man looked back at the woman, who was currently walking through the crowd of people. ¡°Hey! Want this ring?¡±


    She looked back, leaning over to see better. ¡°Hmm, no thanks.¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡± the armored man mockingly held a hand to his heart. ¡°My proposal has been rejected. I may as well throw myself off a bridge in shame.¡±


    She rolled her eyes with a smile. ¡°We still have some time to kill before doing something like that. Also, it wasn¡¯t a proposal; you weren¡¯t even down on one knee.¡±


    ¡°Damn. You got me there.¡± The thief shrugged and dropped the man¡¯s hand back down, then looked to the woman next to him. ¡°Okay, next up, you got anything interesting on you?¡±


    ¡°Just some coins,¡± she said. ¡°Nothing else.¡±


    ¡°Well, not nothing. You also have a purse that¡¯s been Enchanted to be made slightly more lightweight. That¡¯s certainly something.¡±


    She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the man continuing, ¡°Anyway, I don¡¯t care. Keep your purse.¡±


    ¡°Hey, can I have that?¡± the dark misty woman said from the other side of the room. Artil nced over, seeing her grabbing a small book from someone¡¯s pocket. She held it up to read. ¡°¡®The Rise and Fall of Empress Lyra: Lies, Conspiracies, and the Truth.¡¯ Sounds interesting.¡±


    ¡°I-I¡¯m not a dissenter,¡± the man she took it from said, waving his hands in front of his face and averting his eyes from her terrifying form. ¡°J-just curious about, you know¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, I just wanted to read it,¡± she said. ¡°You don¡¯t mind if I grab it, right? You¡¯ll get it backter, don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡°Er, y-yes, I suppose,¡± he said with a bewildered¡ªyet still afraid¡ªlook on his face.


    ¡°Great.¡± The woman pulled over a chair and sat right down, in the middle of the robbery, crossing her legs and setting the book between her thighs so she could hold it open with just one hand.


    It seemed to Artil like it would be ufortable to sit like that, and he was suspicious for a moment, wondering whether she was nning anything, but then he remembered that she was a cripple. She couldn¡¯t read with both hands. But that just brought up an even stranger question. Even with the magic obfuscating her appearance, how could she hope to keep her identity a secret with such an obvious feature as theck of an arm up front and center like that?


    Before he could think on the issue any further, Artil¡¯s attention was drawn back to the armored man, who had stepped back upon one of the clothed tables.


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯re just gonna speed this up real quick. If anyone has anything interesting, go ahead and raise your hand.¡±


    Nobody raised their hand.


    He leaned his head back in a manner that made Artil wonder if he was rolling his eyes back behind the visor of his helmet. ¡°Good gods. Okay, so, again, I can tell if you¡¯re lying to me. Everyone, I want you to think very hard about this. If you have anything interesting¡ªanything that isn¡¯t just mundane clothes or a few coins or whatever¡ªshow it to me. Enchanted stuff, Spell Crystals, hells, even just a good book or a neat piece of information. And if you don¡¯t raise your hand when I think you <em>should</em> have, you will probably regret it.¡±


    A few hands went up after that. And Artil hesitantly raised his own hand, too, thinking of the bottle in his back pocket. Perhaps that was something this brigand would want? He hoped not, though.


    The man walked through the room, asking each person with their hand raised about what they had on them. asionally, he¡¯d pass someone with their hand down and look at them for a moment, beforementing that they should have raised theirs. Every time he did that, a couple more people put their hands up. The whole time, though, he never took anything from anyone.


    The woman still sat in the corner, skimming through the book she¡¯d taken in an absentminded way. Weren¡¯t these two afraid? Law enforcement was surely on its way, and if they weren¡¯t, someone would find a way to contact them soon. Why weren¡¯t they in a hurry? Why didn¡¯t they care? Even if they left soon, they¡¯d still be on the run basically forever. And for what? They weren¡¯t even stealing the fortune of objects in these people¡¯s possessions!


    ¡°Just a ring that quickens Health regeneration?¡± the man asked a woman looking fearfully up at him. ¡°That¡¯s neat, but nah, don¡¯t need it. Thanks for telling me about it, though. Where¡¯d you get it?¡±


    ¡°Um,¡± she stuttered out, ¡°t-there was an Enchanter that came by every few months, a while back. S-she would travel between all the towns in the area. But I-I believe she was drafted recently by Etrin, to the capital.¡±


    ¡°Ah. That sucks. Well, anyway.¡± He shrugged and continued walking in an all-too-casual manner,ing up to Aril. ¡°What do you have?¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± Artil took a shaky breath, then pulled the bottle of glowing blue liquid from his pocket. ¡°Just this potion.¡±


    ¡°Hm. What¡¯s it do?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a Mana potion. I may not look it, but I trained to be a Level 6 Wizard in my younger days, thank you very much.¡±


    ¡°Mana potion?¡± He nced back at the sitting woman, who raised her eyebrows at Artil¡¯s words as she continued to read. The man looked back at Artil. ¡°Sounds nice. How much?¡±


    Artil resisted the urge to sigh in disappointment. This item was expensive, something that he only kept in case of emergencies. If he were to lose it, he¡¯d be out¡­Oh! More than <em>five</em> dinners¡¯ worth of eyt! Would he really need to skip out to rece it? He slowly opened his mouth. ¡°Er, it isn¡¯t a set amount, but rather it multiplies your Mana/Minute by 5 for two hours.¡±


    The man whistled, then gave out an elongated ¡°Ni-ice.¡±


    He held out his hand to Artil, who once again hesitated to put it in his hand. After a moment, he groaned in anger. ¡°Wh-why are you picking on me?! I could really use this, you know?! It will be expensive to rece, such that I will need to go without some <em>necessary</em>forts in my life. Taking it from me, just to¡­what? Allow you to fight off a couple more monsters? You are a selfish and rude man, do you know that?!¡±


    ¡°Uh, sure. Selfish and rude, got it. I¡¯ll still be taking your potion, though.¡±


    He reached down to pluck the bottle from Artil¡¯s hands, and almost out of instinct, Artil withdrew his hands to prevent the man from doing so. But the moment he moved against him, Artil suddenly felt that crushing ability reactivate on him, and he was suddenly forced to focus all of his energy on keeping himself from bing ttened on the floor beneath him. And during that time, the man simply grabbed the bottle and turned away, letting the ability up right after. Artil could swear he heard the man exasperatedly mutter, ¡°Some people, man,¡± as he walked off.


    ¡°Alright!¡± the thief called out, ¡°I think we¡¯re heading off. You got everything you wanted?¡±


    The woman nodded and stood from her chair. Really, her movements were quite refined, when he looked at them. She certainly wasn¡¯t a noble, but she must have had a fine upbringing. Her posture was straight, her head held perfectly parallel to the ground. Why had she resorted to such a low life as this? Not just a thief, but an adventurer, to boot? He was simply left awestruck at the absolutely bizarre situation.


    Regardless of Artil¡¯s slowly catching up mind, the two quickly headed off. Before they left, as the people on the floor were fearfully beginning to look at each other, wondering if they were okay to get to their feet now, he turned around, calling back out to them, ¡°Hey, by the way, anyone got another good book to read? I don¡¯t wanna be left sitting around bored while she¡¯s reading that, you know?¡±


    Absolutely nobody said anything, moved an inch, even looked in his direction, as he waited for an answer. Artil didn¡¯t know what it was, but despite the man¡¯s casual disposition, he carried behind him such a strange power in his attitude, like he could do absolutely anything he wanted, that it struck into him a fear that wouldn¡¯t even exist while facing down a raging Dragon. And he imagined the rest of the people in the restaurant felt the same way.


    After a few moments of silence, the man shrugged, turning to go out the door. ¡°Alright, I get it. Uh, feel free to call the guard and all that, once I leave. But I hope I didn¡¯t ruin any of your nights, have a good meal, everyone!¡±


    And then the door shut behind him.


    There must have been at least three full minutes of silence after thatst noise. Everyone waited for him toe back, or for the building to explode, or a monster to attack, or <em>something</em> to make the tension they all felt make sense. It sure <em>felt </em>like a living explosive had just walked the floor. But as the time stretched on, and the weight on everyone¡¯s chests lifted, a couple people rose to their feet. And then a couple more, and then everyone was standing. The staff left their hiding spots in the back rooms, not even muttering between themselves as they nced around.


    And then, Artil, both unable to bear the silence any longer and wanting to get some sort of confirmation that he hadn¡¯t just hallucinated the entire thing, burst out, ¡°What the <em>Hell</em> was that!?¡±


    Erani and I took a little more time walking the streets, using Index to look in the pockets of everyone around us to scout out if they had anything good on them. Our main goal was to find Spell Crystals, but we knew that was a longshot, considering the number of people we¡¯d have to search. Unfortunately, we¡¯d already asked around, and due to the Enchanter shortage throughout the whole Empire caused by the mixture of the empire no longer trading with the Koinkar Kingdom, as well as them gathering up any Enchanters they had within their borders to get them to work on military efforts, it was suddenly very difficult to find anyone selling anything Enchanted anymore. And that included Spell Crystals. It was apparently better in the capital, but out in these border towns, anything that was Enchanted and not being sold second-hand was pretty scarce.


    So we were resorting to just searching anyone nearby and hoping we got lucky. It wasn¡¯t a perfect n¡ªor, really, even a good one. Index wasn¡¯t omniscient about the material world, and would have to personally check each person¡¯s pocket it wanted to search. And it could only move so fast, search so many people, in any given amount of time. That was why we¡¯d decided to run by a couple of the most expensive non-adventurer-rted ces we could find and tried to do most of Index¡¯s job for it, asking them to let us know if they had something worth looking at, so we could move much quicker.


    Our haul from the most recent one wasn¡¯t bad¡ªat least, it was more than nothing¡ªwith that weird thin-faced guy¡¯s Mana potion. It worked great with my natural abilities. Well, it <em>would</em> have been an absolutely amazing find, if we weren¡¯t currently in the middle of a doomed timeline, so we wouldn¡¯t be able to keep it and use it in a fight. But still, I went ahead and downed the thing and started using its extreme regeneration abilities for Spell practice. I¡¯d recently been focusing most of my Mana on charging up those Mana Batteries so we could teleport to the capital, but now that I knew I¡¯d be using Time Loop, I could swap to doing all-in practice.


    At my base, I was currently producing 94.1 Mana/Minute. After drinking the potion, that number went up to an absolutely staggering 471. That was almost five full Spell XP every single minute! It was so high, in fact, that casting Noxious Grasp was literally not enough to spend all the Mana I was producing. As a toggle Spell, the best I could do was just turn the Spell on and leave it on, but since it only cost 5.59 Mana per second, and I was somehow producing more than that, it still left me with some extra Mana that I could spend.


    With the extra, I decided to contribute that toward Ethereal Armor. It was my next-best Spell to work on, with its powerful discount it could apply to everything I cast, and also the only other Spell I was using on a daily basis, meaning I was already putting a decent bit of Mana into it. So, in total, with this being active for a two-hour period of time, I would end up gaining a bit over 400 Spell XP for Noxious Grasp, plus 162 for Ethereal Armor. All from one potion I¡¯d nicked from some rich dude! It was a great feeling. But also somber, knowing that I¡¯d have to give it up after Time Loop, since there was no legitimate way I¡¯d be able to get something like this. At least, not right now.


    Erani and I went to a couple other locations as we wandered the streets. People would probably be looking for us soon, but we were willing to risk hanging out for a little while longer. Or, really, it wasn¡¯t actually a risk at all, since we had nothing to lose. We, of course, had the side-mission of having Index analyze the belongings of as many people as possible, meaning we tried to stick to popted areas, but really, I was most concerned with just having a good time with Erani. It was her first asion traveling through time, so I wanted to make it a good one. Plus, I really had barely ever used my Talent just to have some fun, so this felt like a good opportunity to do that.


    We stopped by a few different ces. We paid to enter a caravan by the edge of townbeled as the ¡°Show of Wonders,¡± headed by a short and energetic man who seemed eager to show us all of the amazing things he had in store, and even more eager to take our money. We walked through the several rooms filled with ss boxes, where he told us the story of what he imed to be the sword that belonged to the only Level 100 person who lived thousands of years ago, about the tooth that he imed was taken from a half-Dragon, half-Human, a rock he imed was taken directly from the surface of the moon, and even the parts of a few creatures I didn¡¯t recognize, which he imed were all massively powerful, world-eating monstrosities.


    Most of what he said was clearly not true, but it was still fun to walk through and see what kinds of insane fictions he cooked up¡ªespecially when we knew we¡¯d be getting our money backter. Erani even recognized one of the monster parts he showed off, telling him that it was actually <em>not</em> a ¡°scale that came from the World Serpent,¡± but rather the fin of a Dorsin, which was asionally used for some niche Enchantments. The man quickly moved on after her correction to show us a bottle of ¡°Basi-Hydra venom¡± which was almost certainly just colored water.


    And, when Erani wasn¡¯t there to cut off his lies, Index also helped out with its System knowledge. That sword he showed us didn¡¯t belong to the only Human to have ever reached Level 100, because no Human had ever reached Level 100 in history. That rock wasn¡¯t taken from the moon, because the moon had magic around it that made any stone taken from it instantly recognizable¡ªthough, it couldn¡¯t borate on what that magic was.


    Once we were done with that, we also stopped by a y, paying to enter, only to get bored five minutes in¡ªwe¡¯d arrived halfway through the thing, so we honestly had no idea what was supposed to be going on in the story¡ªand leave, as well as purchasing just about fifty different random food items from anyone who had the fortune of having nice-smelling wares. We¡¯d buy some fruits from a stand, take a single bite, and then throw them away. We¡¯d buy fresh pastries from shops in the town square and sample all of the seller¡¯s best products, we even went to a butcher who said his meat was so high quality, it¡¯d even taste amazing if you ate it raw. It didn¡¯t.


    Eventually, though, we saw a few guards walking through the streets asking people questions. We weren¡¯t totally sure if they were already onto our several robberies and searching for us¡ªtypically, guards would wait a little bit when it came to non-violent criminals and approach them safely in unpopted areas, since there was no harm done to innocents by letting them do their thing for a few more hours, while confronting them in a popted area and potentially starting a fight could absolutely lead to countless deaths. Still, whether or not the guards were looking for us now, we decided it was probably about time to leave town.


    We knew that, once we left town, we wouldn¡¯t have much of a chance to happen upon people with Spell Crystals or Mana potions, so we wanted to wait as long as we could before leaving, but at this point, getting captured would just cut our run even shorter than that.


    So we headed off for the nearest town exit. But on the way, we made a stop.


    Erani and I walked into an adventuring supply store. We¡¯d actually passed a few of them by already, since we were specifically looking for one that didn¡¯t have any customers inside. In the chance we went up against a couple ssers, there was still a good chance we¡¯d be stronger than them, but even then we¡¯d have rather avoided the hassle.


    So once we found an out-of-the way one, full of mostly random gear and clearly not worth visiting for most serious adventurers, we entered.


    At the counter was a somewhat gruff-looking man with a wooden badge around his neck, and nobody else. He looked up at us, seeming surprised by our appearances, but not saying anything other than a curt greeting.


    ¡°Hey man,¡± I said with a wave. ¡°Just to let you know, we have, in fact, spent everyst eyt to our name in countless ill-advised splurges during thest, like, two hours. But we still do need a couple things, just to get us by for the next while. Probably a tent to camp out in, maybe a couple rations, sleeping bag to lie on would be nice, you know how it is. So, uh, just letting you know¡ªthis is a robbery.¡±

 Chapter 198: Nighttime Activities

    Chapter 198: Nighttime Activities


    Erani and I sat in a tent out in the hills beyond town, near the Goblin forest. We¡¯d found a nice, secluded spot to set up, simply lying inside to get away from the sun and keep ourselves hidden from anyone who happened to pass by.


    It¡¯d only taken about a minute for us to look through the shop¡¯s wares, grab a few of the things we needed, and head out soon after. The clerk was shocked, but didn¡¯t do much to stop us when he realized how little we were taking¡ªand that he¡¯d most likely be getting it all right back when we were inevitably arrested soon.


    But with just a couple hours left before I¡¯d need to activate Time Loop,w enforcement didn¡¯t have much time at all before I¡¯d simply undo the whole afternoon, like nothing had happened. Now, we were simply waiting out the clock. It¡¯d be best to wait as long as possible, so we¡¯d told Ainash to n on getting here about fifteen minutes before we had to go. That way, she¡¯d the maximum amount of time possible to work with the Goblins consequence-free, and Erani and I would get some extra time of our own, too¡ªthough we didn¡¯t have as much to do with it now.


    It was pretty much just a waiting game for us, now that we¡¯d finished our business in town. We bothy on top of the same sleeping bag so we didn¡¯t have to deal with the uncushioned ground as Erani read through that small book she¡¯d gotten from one of the dinner patrons, and I went through a manual of my own which detailed some of the different monster species in the local area. I wasn¡¯t seeing much I didn¡¯t already know by now, but it was good to read it as a formalized text, rather than just having pieces of knowledge gotten through overhearing conversations and reading through job descriptions.


    The whole time, I continued to practice Noxious Grasp, which in turn helped Erani practice Angelic Shield, which had gotten past the Spell Crystal barrier recently, so it could finally start Ranking up again, the Rank 10 Upgrade she¡¯d chosen being the one we had talked about a while back, the one which made Angelic Shield block all damage from a hit before it broke and became unusable for some time, rather than only blocking the amount of damage she could afford with her avable Mana.


    That was how we passed the time for a while, lying next to each other in the somewhat too-small tent and reading our respective texts.


    Eventually, I finished skimming through the short booklet and sat it down next to me on the tarp floor. Erani was still reading her own, leaving me without much to do¡ªthough, I still certainly enjoyed the time simply by merit of the fact that I was lying down next to this beautiful woman. It was times like these where I had to make a concerted effort not to stare.


    Part of me wanted to reach my arm over and around her so I could pull her closer into an embrace, but¡ª


    ¡°But what?¡± Index said. ¡°Just do it.¡±


    I blinked at its sudden interjection into my thoughts. <em>What? No, I¡¯m not going to¡ª</em>


    ¡°Why?¡±


    <em>I don¡¯t want to interrupt her when she¡¯s reading, and I don¡¯t even know if she¡¯s¡ªlook, why do you even care?</em>


    ¡°My goal is for you to be happy. I can read your thoughts, you know¡ªI know doing that will make you happy. So just¡­do it. Considering the fact that it risks literally nothing,pared to something like fighting and killing a monster, the rtive amount of happiness it providespared to the difficulty or potential for a negative oue, it¡¯s basically, like, the most perfect opportunity a person could be provided. You can do something tiny and easy, and get free happiness out of it. Of course I¡¯m going to tell you to do it.¡±


    <em>I don¡¯t think you can boil Human interpersonal rtionships down like that. It¡¯s moreplicated. I don¡¯t want to upset or annoy her, and you never know¡ª</em>


    ¡°I do.¡±


    <em>Index. You can¡¯t read her mind. Maybe me, but not her.</em>


    ¡°But I still know she¡¯d be fine with it. It¡¯s literally just you putting an arm around her, dude; it¡¯s basically nothing. Man, you Humans get so insanely anxious about this sort of thing. Don¡¯t you get in life-or-death fights every day? This should be so easy. Just do it. If she gets annoyed, that¡¯s still a lot better than getting stabbed in the gut or something.¡±


    <em>Just¡­leave me alone, okay? Shut up. It feels weird to talk about.</em>


    I took a breath and resituated myself on the sleeping bag, now feeling like I was a thousand times more aware of every movement I made, and that Erani made, and overanalyzing every little thing. She shifted a little so her legs were less in contact with mine, did that mean she wanted to get away from me? Or maybe she was just tired of lying like that. Maybe Index was right, maybe she was sitting here waiting for me to make a move, and <em>not</em> doing anything was what was annoying her. But wouldn¡¯t she avoid moving away from me if she wanted me to make a move, because doing that might identally scare me off? Or maybe she wasn¡¯t thinking like that. Was I justpletely insane for thinking this way?


    <em>Ugh,</em> I thought to myself. <em>You are so fucking stupid. You¡¯re already basically dating! You¡¯ve kissed, and everything! Why do you still feel like this around her? She likes you, and you know it, so you </em>should<em> be able to move past this adolescent bullshit.</em>


    But maybe the mature move, then, was to just do nothing and leave her alone. Wouldn¡¯t it feel kind of weird to just randomly reach around and bring her closer, now? We¡¯d already been lying down for a while, so it would just be awkward to force her topletely change her position like that.


    I fought the urge to shake my head and sigh at how ridiculous I was being. During quiet moments like these, I felt like I somehow got so anxious for no reason. I wasn¡¯t very used to doing anything romantic past the initial flirting phase, and I really felt like my inexperience had begun showing itself in my mind. It was just so <em>easy</em> to do romance stuff before, when our lives were so constantly on the line, since it felt like it didn¡¯t matter. But now, it was like nothing else mattered. I just needed to upy my thoughts with something else and get my mind off of it. Maybe I¡¯d pick that booklet back up and re-read a couple of the more interesting sections.


    Erani suddenly closed her own book. ¡°That was pretty neat. I think I got a couple good facts out of it, at least.¡±


    I blinked a couple times, and nodded. ¡°Oh, good.¡±


    ¡°Here,¡± she muttered, looking back and forth at the ground on either side of us, ¡°uhh, let me reach over you and just put this over there. Not much room on my side.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    She got up on her shoulder, using her good arm to grab the book and put it down on my side of the tent. Since she didn¡¯t have a second hand to prop herself up on, she was close to me as she reached over my body, her face almost touching mine. But she wasn¡¯t looking at me, so she couldn¡¯t see my face flushed red. And her chest brushed against my body as well, pressing up on mine, so I could feel her¡ª


    ¡°Woah, dude,¡± Index said, ¡°I¡¯m looking at your emotional gauge right now, and your ¡®arousal¡¯ score just jumped to <em>seventy</em> percent. That¡¯s insane! I¡¯ve never even seen a single emotion pass fifty before.¡±


    ¡°Index,¡± I muttered through my teeth, ¡°shut the fuck up.¡±


    Erani leaned back and looked at me. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°N-nothing,¡± I said. ¡°Just¡­Index is being annoying. Y¡¯know, always in my ear, and stuff.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said, pursing her lips. ¡°Okay, I guess.¡±


    ¡°Man,¡± Index continued, ¡°you just need to have sex with her already.¡±


    <em>What?!</em>


    ¡°You¡¯re insanely horny! I can tell. This is the first time the two of you have justid down next to each other, doing nothing. Every other time you¡¯ve both been in the same bed, one of you fell asleep before you could even think about it, and you would¡¯ve both been too tired anyway. Now, you¡¯ve just gone on this whole date, you have time where nothing will interrupt you, and you, An, are very clearly in the mood. Just do it!¡±


    <em>That¡¯s¡ª</em>I blinked, trying to sort out my flustered thoughts. <em>That feels like it¡¯d be a bad idea. What if she doesn¡¯t feel the same way I do?</em>


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t give me that. I can see her when you¡¯re not looking, I can see the way she stares at you.¡±


    <em>Wait, she stares at me? I mean, that¡¯s beside the point. It¡¯s still not the right time. We¡¯re in a tent in the wilderness. And what about Ainash? When we try to transfer memories, she¡¯ll see all of them.</em>


    ¡°First, a tent is a lot better than what you¡¯ve had for a while now, and what you might be forced to go back to any day, at a moment¡¯s notice. Plus it has privacy, unlike some random room in an inn. Take what you can get. Second, you already know you can just not look at memories when you receive them. Ask her not to look, she¡¯ll understand. Barely ever questions stuff like that when you ask her to. Stop making excuses.¡±


    <em>Index, just¡ªI still don¡¯t know why you care. Don¡¯t try to control my life, it¡¯s weird.</em>


    ¡°I care because it¡¯s a totally free way to boost your own mood, team morale, your bond with someone you ce your life into the hands of on a daily basis, it sets a precedent that allows you to take advantage of sex¡¯s mood-boosting effects at an easier notice in the future, it will make you happier in a longer-term sense because you¡¯ll have taken your rtionship with Erani to another stage, it¡¯ll let you stop getting so distracted by this sort of thing in the future because it¡¯ll already be done, boosting your general effectiveness on a day-to-day basis¡ª¡±


    <em>Okay, okay. I get it.</em>


    ¡°No, seriously, I don¡¯t think you even realize how clearly frustrated you are here. I mean, over the past several weeks, you haven¡¯t been able to attend to even <em>basic</em> sexual needs at all! And you¡¯re constantly around this person you¡¯re clearly attracted to, making the problem even worse. I can see what you¡¯re thinking sometimes, man, and¡ª¡±


    <em>Index. I get it. Please just drop this.</em>


    ¡°I can¡¯t allow you to just sit here, making a clearly suboptimal decision. You agree with me, too! Your arousal percentage has only gone <em>up</em> since I¡¯ve brought this topic to light, meaning you¡¯re clearly imagining it too. This is free happiness, sitting right next to you. Just ask her.¡±


    <em>How do I even ask someone something like that?</em>


    ¡°You¡¯re already in a rtionship! It¡¯s easy.¡±


    <em>No, it¡¯s not! I¡¯ve never been in amitted rtionship before. Casual flings are the only thing I have experience in. </em>That¡¯s<em> easy, you just go with the flow and drink a bunch, then once you¡¯re in a room alone, you start taking off your clothes. No talking required. But now, if I fuck up, suddenly I¡¯m not just losing out on a single night of sex, I¡¯m fucking up my rtionship with a person that is </em>very<em> important to me.</em>


    ¡°Uh, hey, An?¡± Erani asked. I tensed up, startled by her voice, and looked over, she was lying on her side, looking right at me.


    ¡°Y-yeah?¡± I responded.


    ¡°Are you okay? Your face looks¡­really red.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I¡¯m¡­I¡¯m okay,¡± I said, bringing up my hands to rub my cheeks. ¡°Um, sorry. Just¡­talking with Index. It¡¯s being inappropriate.¡±


    ¡°Inappropriate? What do you mean? ¡­Are you sure you¡¯re okay?¡±


    ¡°I just¡­it¡¯s nothing. You don¡¯t need to worry about it. Index likes to talk about inane stuff sometimes, I guess, and asking it to stop doesn¡¯t always work.¡±


    ¡°Oh, okay. Well, I guess just tell me if you need anything.¡±


    ¡°Sure, sure.¡±


    ¡°See?¡± Index said. ¡°Right there. She told you to tell her if you need anything. Now you say, ¡®Yeah baby, I <em>do</em> need something. I need to rip off your clothes and stuff you with my¡ª¡¯¡±


    ¡°Index,¡± I said aloud. ¡°Please, for the love of the gods.¡±


    Erani looked at me strangely, but I barely even noticed her stare, ironically too preupied with Index¡¯s talking about her.


    ¡°What?¡± it continued. ¡°You don¡¯t like it when I get graphic? Ooh, just from that half of a sentence, your arousal spiked by another four percent. Maybe if I get that high enough, you¡¯ll give in and just do the optimal thing.¡±


    <em>Please do not.</em>


    ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking about,¡± it said. ¡°Just imagine, you reach over and pull her close, and you can feel her hot breath on your neck. She doesn¡¯t say anything, but you can tell she knows what you want. Your other hand goes to her shirt, and you lift it just barely up, feeling her soft stomach as your fingers trail upward beneath the dirty fabric. Her breathing quickens, and she just barely whispers your name, her chest rising and falling underneath your hand. She grabs the back of your head, fingers tightly gripping your hair, and moves her thigh on top of your legs and face closer to yours, moving up to your face until your lips are moments from touching. ¡®Please,¡¯ she whispers, and then you rip her shirt off, revealing¡ª¡±


    Eraniy next to An, who was staring straight up at the top of the tent, eyes wide and unfocused, like he waspletely concentrated on not thinking about something. In the hot air, it was bordering on being too warm toy in here right next to each other, but she didn¡¯t mind one bit, since it was him.


    That said, she was beginning to feel ufortable at this point, though it had nothing to do with the heat. An had said some weird stuff about Index, and now he was like this, asionally muttering ¡°Just stop already,¡± under his breath.


    Honestly, she was worried that it was using some sort of torture method on him to get him to do what it wanted. Her mind went to horrible ces, the thing messing with his mind, showing him visions or memories that would break his spirit. Or maybe it could control how he felt in some way, and it was injecting his brain with terror and pain and other cruel emotions. How could she just lie here and watch this happen? But what could she even do to stop this?


    ¡°Hey, An?¡± Erani said softly. He didn¡¯t even respond. Could he not hear her? Was he even conscious, at this point?


    She slowly reached out, cing a hand on his chest and scooting closer, so her body was pressed up against his side. Maybe, if Index really <em>was</em> doing something horrible, she could at least hold him, and that would offer somefort.


    Not that she was opposed to being wrapped around his body like this, anyway. He¡¯d taken off that Dark te when they got into the tent¡ªthe first time he¡¯d taken it off in a while, now¡ªand she was d to see him again. The way it covered him up like that, it was just criminal. Now, with her fingers rubbing up and down his chest, head fit in the cranny between his shoulder and his neck, she was d to have him back. And maybe he¡¯d be d to have her with him, too.


    ¡°Hey,¡± he said, his voice almost sounding strained, ¡°do you mind moving away, some?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Erani said. Her face turned a bright red.


    <em>Good gods,</em> she thought to herself, <em>what were you thinking? Why didn¡¯t you consider that maybe you were the one making him ufortable?</em>


    She quickly moved back, now not in contact with him at all. He even seemed to rx a little once she was away from him. The sight made Erani¡¯s cheeks turn an even brighter shade, and she felt the urge to hide her face with her hands. Though, with An¡¯s eyes still looking straight up into the air, she wasn¡¯t sure who she¡¯d even be hiding from.


    ¡°S-sorry,¡± Erani said. ¡°I didn¡¯t, um¡­I didn¡¯t mean to be annoying. I just¡­I wasn¡¯t thinking, I guess, and I¡­I¡¯ll be more careful about that. In the future. Um, I¡¯ll just avoid being too¡­touchy.¡±


    An blinked, his eyes suddenly seeming toe into focus, like he only just then started paying attention to his surroundings. He looked over at her. ¡°Wait, what?¡±


    Erani quickly looked away. Ugh, how did she just keep making this worse? ¡°Um, I-I don¡¯t know! Nothing.¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± An sat up, looking at her with a concerned expression, ¡°I don¡¯t¡­you weren¡¯t being annoying. I didn¡¯t mean that. Uh, what did I say back there? I don¡¯t even know.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Erani could feel her heartbeat just barely beginning to slow. ¡°Um, maybe¡­I misunderstood. You just asked me to get off of you, and I thought¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh, shit!¡± An looked much more concerned, suddenly. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean that! I wasn¡¯t thinking, and I just said what came to my mind when I noticed, and¡ªwell, not that I really even wanted you to¡­¡±


    He groaned andy back down, flopping onto his back. Erani could just barely hear him mutter, ¡°Index, you are <em>such</em> a fucker.¡±


    ¡°What¡­¡± Erani frowned, slowly lying back down on her side. ¡°I know you didn¡¯t want to talk about it before, but do you mind letting me know what¡¯s going on between you and Index? Maybe¡­I don¡¯t know. Maybe I could help out?¡±


    He sighed. ¡°It doesn¡¯t¡ªwell, it <em>does</em> concern you, I guess. That¡¯s kind of the problem. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll really appreciate the topic, and it¡¯d probably just be weird to bring it up.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s okay, I promise I won¡¯t mind,¡± Erani said. Really, she¡¯d do anything to reassure him into talking about it now. The moment he said it was about her, her curiosity became so strong she¡¯d stop at nothing to hear what this was.


    An sighed. ¡°Yeah, okay. Ugh, I don¡¯t even know how to say this. So basically¡­What? Index, you know I can¡¯t say it like that. Yes, I know it¡¯s about you, but that doesn¡¯t mean you get to put words in my mouth. Really? So what, I¡¯m just some messenger in this conversation between you and her? ¡­Okay, fine.¡±


    ¡°What was that?¡±


    ¡°Index wants to say what it was talking to me about. It says, quote, ¡®I was just making the simple point that both you and An would be much happier if you had sex already.¡¯¡±


    Erani¡¯s face filled right back up with the red that¡¯d only just begun to fade away. ¡°W-what?¡±


    He rubbed his face with his hands. ¡°It says, ¡®You¡¯re already dating, just do it already. Now¡¯s a perfect time. I can tell you¡¯re super attracted to him, that¡¯s been out there for a while. You have nothing to hide, so why not just do the thing you¡¯ve been wanting to do forever? Plus, An¡¯s like¡ª¡¯ Okay, Index, you know I¡¯m not saying that. What? No, it¡¯s not ¡®unfair¡¯ that you don¡¯t get to¡­Ugh, fine. Erani, I just want to make it clear, these are <em>Index¡¯s</em> words, not mine. ¡®...Plus, An is, like, super horny, all the time. And it¡¯s specifically for you. So just fuck him already.¡¯¡±


    ¡°I, I¡­¡± Erani was at aplete loss for words. ¡°<em>That¡¯s</em> what it was talking to you about? Why? How did that evene up?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯smitted to my happiness, remember? And it seems to think I¡¯d be a lot happier if we had sex. Right now. Wouldn¡¯t shut up for the past fifteen minutes about it.¡± He sighed and closed his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I probably should¡¯ve just kept that to myself. It¡¯s not your problem. We can drop it if you want, you don¡¯t have to say anything at all, we can just go back to doing whatever, and I¡¯ll try to ignore Index.¡±


    Erani looked down at his face, suddenlypletely unable to take her eyes off of it. The little contours around his nose, giving it its angr shape, the way his eyes seemed to never rest, even when closed, shifting around beneath his eyelids like he was always thinking about something, the way his shaggy hair constantly drifted down to the tops of his eyes, so he had to bring his hand up and push it out of his face¡­


    ¡°U-um,¡± Erani stuttered, ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡±


    An opened his eyes, looking up at her. Were they always that bright? Even she could tell that, no matter how casually he was pretending to act, he was hanging onto her every word.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t¡ª¡± Erani continued, ¡°¡ªmaybe eventually, not now, but eventually, be opposed to it. I-I mean, if you¡¯d¡­um, be okay. With that.¡±


    An nodded hesitantly. ¡°Uh, yeah. Okay. Eventually. Index, does that work with¡ªno? No. Okay.¡±


    Erani chuckled lightly. ¡°It¡¯s not satisfied?¡±


    ¡°Not even remotely. It said that was pitiful of us,¡± An said with augh. Then he seemed to get more serious again. ¡°Um, though, if you wanted¡­I mean, maybe it doesn¡¯t have the totally wrong idea. About, y¡¯know, the timing.¡±


    Erani tensed up at the thought of doing¡­<em>that</em>¡­right now. ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Right, right,¡± An said, cheeks going red. ¡°Sorry. Shouldn¡¯t¡¯ve said anything.¡±


    ¡°No, I mean¡­¡± Erani sighed. ¡°I kind of agree. That sounds¡­nice. It sounds great. I¡¯d love to. But¡­you¡¯re about to use Time Loop, right?¡±


    He frowned. ¡°Hm? I mean, I guess, but I doubt it¡¯d take an hour and a half. We¡¯d have plenty of time.¡±


    ¡°No! Er, no, not like that. I mean, when you use it, and we go back to before this ever happened¡­I don¡¯t know, doesn¡¯t that feel weird?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean? You¡¯ll get to keep your memories. And Ainash won¡¯t see as long as we tell her not to look into the memories we give her, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re worried about. Index was the one to point that out to me.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not like that.¡± Erani sighed once again. She wasn¡¯t sure how to even say something like this. ¡°I mean, even if we remember¡­doesn¡¯t it feel wrong? To go back and undo our, er, first time together? It sort of cheapens the moment in a way, I feel like.¡±


    He furrowed his eyebrows. ¡°I guess I don¡¯t see what you mean. Maybe I¡¯m just too used to Time Loop, but it¡¯s not like anything actually gets reset. Like, if we keep our memories of it, it effectively still happened, right? Didn¡¯t you say something like that earlier?¡±


    ¡°Well, maybe, but I still think there¡¯s something to be said about being able to¡­I don¡¯t know¡­exist in the timeline where we did that together. Whether or not it functionally changes anything, I want to do this in a world where everything¡¯s real, and our actions havesting consequences. It¡¯s not about memories; it¡¯s about building something with you that can¡¯t be erased. On a metaphorical level, I guess.¡±


    He smiled in that way that he always did when he was about to say something stupid. ¡°So, you¡¯re saying that we can¡¯t have sex because of a metaphor?¡±


    Eraniughed and rolled her eyes. ¡°An. I¡¯m serious.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I get you. Not like I¡¯ll fight you on it, at least. If you want to wait, we can wait. Have a nice, non-time-rted date someday, and do something special then. I guess¡­I don¡¯t know, it feels kind of cool, to think about having sex in a timeline that¡¯ll end up getting reset. We have this unique opportunity to keep this moment to ourselves. In a world that nobody else will even remember¡ªthat nobody else even <em>exists</em> in, effectively. We can use it to say ¡®This moment is ours, and nobody else¡¯s.¡¯ Like, we¡¯re sort of the rulers of the universe, right now. At least, in a way.¡±


    Erani smiled. ¡°That sounds egotistical.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, whatever. Maybe we¡¯ve earned some ego, after everything we¡¯ve been through.¡±


    ¡°Maybe.¡±


    Erani leaned in closer, lying her head on An¡¯s chest, and he wrapped his arm around her, bringing her in tightly as if he was trying to make up for lost time.


    An sighed. ¡°We can wait. For now, let¡¯s justy here, maybe take a nap or something. Doesn¡¯t matter what we do. I¡¯m just happy to spend the time with you.¡±


    Erani felt something welling up in her chest as she drew her hand across the marks on An¡¯s ribs. Muscles, bones, scars¡­she wasn¡¯t paying attention to what she was doing, really. But the more she dragged her fingers along those bumps and lines, the more that feeling in her heart strengthened. Eventually, she just said, ¡°Yes, I agree. I¡¯m happy, too.¡±


    And theyy there, the pure moment shared between them enough to sustain their smiles for a lifetime.


    In the end, though, their bodies pressed up against each other like that, with Erani fondling An¡¯s chest and him rubbing his hand along her back and shoulders, they ended up getting way too horny to ignore it, and they had sex anyway.

 Chapter 199: Welcome to Hell. Tell Me Something.

    Chapter 199: Wee to Hell. Tell Me Something.


    A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. This room was one he had spent the past while in. It¡¯d been days¡ªno, perhaps weeks, now. A month? He couldn¡¯t keep track anymore. Especially with him going back and forth between Overworld and Underworld time so much recently, he had basically no innate sense of time passing anymore. And sitting in this room, almostpletely unmoving, with nobody there to speak to, no routine to follow, he didn¡¯t know the minutes from the days anymore.


    He was in his assigned post as a hall monitor. The new position that had been forced on him as punishment for hisplete failure with the An Nota project. As a hall monitor, he¡¯d been stripped of everything. His rank, his subordinates, his duties, his title, even his name. He was nobody. Nothing but a Devil, not a single thing to him to distinguish him from the rest of the masses.


    And as a hall monitor, he couldn¡¯t even interact with anyone anymore. At least if he¡¯d been made into some lowly position like a copier, he would at least have something to <em>do</em>. As a hall monitor, his job description was literally to sit in a nk room and watch for people to walk through on their way to other ces. Only, he couldn¡¯t speak to them unless spoken to, and there were so many thousands upon thousands of hall monitor stations webbing through the Seventh Circle that the chances of someone actuallying through the Devil¡¯s out-of-the-way post were practically zero.


    And, of course, he was still under surveince. So he couldn¡¯t even act out, break something, wander around, without getting punished. And now, without a rank or a name, his position had been updated so that if he ever tried to even step out of his post without permission, he would be instantly killed by the Enchanted hallways.


    He was imprisoned, and this was torture.


    He¡¯d heard of the Human version of what was being done to him, before¡ªthey called it ¡°solitary confinement¡±¡ªbut at least when Humans were tortured like that, they didn¡¯t have to continue going to work every day during their torture. The Devil had to sit up straight, sit at his desk, and look proper at all times. Even if he never saw a single persone through.


    Some hall monitors got a slightly more cushy position¡ªthat is, they had a position that was slightly less of an endless nightmare¡ªas they were put into more heavily trafficked areas, meaning they would asionally see people walking through. They still wouldn¡¯t be able to speak with those individuals, but they could at least see them. The Devil had clearly not been afforded that mercy.


    He knew why, of course. He had quite literally spat in his superior¡¯s face when she assigned him to his position. She didn¡¯t have infinite power over him, but she certainly had the ability to pull some strings and ensure he got one of the worst spots possible for a hall monitor.


    But the Devil didn¡¯t regret what he¡¯d done. Even as he sat now, for hundreds of hours straight, in this nk room at a nk desk on a lumpy, ufortable seat, not allowed to move, blink, or do anything at all, he didn¡¯t regret doing what put him here. Literally shaking, sweating, teeth clenched in the exertion required to do absolutely <em>nothing</em> for so, so long, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to say ¡°I should not have done that.¡±


    He had already been at rock bottom. Really, maybe his superior had already long since decided to send him here, before he ever said anything to her. And really, even if he¡¯d been sent to a slightly better location as a hall monitor, he¡¯d still have been a fucking hall monitor. Not much better. Still the lowest a Demon could possibly be sent to. Still the pariah, the worthless, the tortured. Still rock bottom.


    And the thing about rock bottom was, when you were down there on the stone and someone decided they wanted toe to your level so they could gloat at you, mock you for being where you were¡­even if they belonged somewhere else, they were still down there with you for a moment. And during that moment, the least you could do was grab their head and smash their fucking skull onto the pavement.


    The Devil had not hesitated to do so to his superior. Her pride would heal, but his memory of saying what he wanted to say, finally breaking a damn rule for once, and hawking that glob of phlegm into her eyes wouldst a lifetime.


    That was the only memory that kept him sane. The tiny, miniscule exertion of the power he still had. Down here, in this nk room, that was what gave his mind its color.


    So he sat for hours and hours, unmoving, simmering in his hatred.


    Until one of those hours, one of those days, someone walked into the room.


    The Devil¡¯s eyes took a moment to focus at the sudden change in environment. He¡¯d been so used to the scenery staying the exact same, his mind had effectively stopped paying attention to what he saw. So when it suddenly became important, it took a few seconds to adjust.


    But when it did, what he saw disgusted him.


    ¡°Greeting, Devil,¡± his old superior said, standing in front of his desk. Her face was scrunched into a scowl, and it seemed as though she¡¯d been stuck like that for the past few days, the way the wrinkles were etched into her face.


    He just looked up at her.


    ¡°I will cut to the point,¡± she said, face unchanging. ¡°I want you to tell me why there is a gigantic woman assailing our forces.¡±


    The Devil blinked out of his stoicism. ¡°W-what?¡±


    His superior sighed. ¡°There is a thing that destroyed several of ourpanies of Infernals, and is now at the gates of the capital, demanding to speak with our leadership. It said it gave us warning of this in advance. I do not remember receiving any sort of a warning.¡±


    The Devil frowned. ¡°Yeah, I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡±


    His superior spoke through gritted teeth, ¡°Do not be so casual in your speech with me, Devil. I advise you to try with utmost care to remember what this thing is. I may have gone easy on you for your disrespect before, but now your attitude is harming our operation. That will <em>not</em> be allowed to continue.¡±


    The Devil let out a breath. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what I know. At the very least, I don¡¯t want yet another innocent Demon to get punished because you still can¡¯t do your own job properly. But I really have no idea what this giant woman thing is. What¡¯s she saying?¡±


    ¡°It says it spoke with a Demon and told it to call off our forces. It gave this Demon a time limit of two weeks. This happened two weeks ago. As such, it is keeping with its promise to fight against us, now. As a Faerie Queene, or whatever it called itself, it is much too powerful for the skeleton crew we currently have running the Overworld operation to fight off.¡±


    The Devil nodded slowly, realizing what she was talking about. ¡­Right. The Faerie Queene. He hadpletely forgotten about her and the deadline she¡¯d given, with the countless <em>other</em> deadlines and responsibilities given to him by leadership. Seemed like she¡¯d caught up with them right as he was taken off the project. So, honestly, he¡¯d kind of dodged the consequences there. That was nice.


    ¡°You recognize that thing?¡± his superior asked. ¡°I am going to go ahead and ignore the fact that you did not inform us of this obstacle <em>at all</em> during your time as leader of the An Nota case. Instead, I will <em>graciously</em> extend you the opportunity to tell us now about what this thing is and what it wants.¡±


    ¡°Well you¡¯ve already said what she is. She¡¯s a Faerie Queene. Lives in some tribe out in the woods, apparently they¡¯re normally peaceful and basically do nothing butze around as long as you don¡¯te near them. I met her a little bit before An Nota entered the mountain range. We were trying to do that whole ¡®burn down the forest around him¡¯ thing, and it turned out their vige was in the way. So I went in to try and convince them to step down.¡±


    ¡°And this was the result?¡±


    ¡°I did my best. She was pissed, alright? It was all I could do to get her to let us do our thing for how long we did it.¡±


    His superior looked absolutely furious. ¡°So you just pawned off the problem to your sessors. You are an absolute disgrace, Devil.¡±


    ¡°Listen. She said she would only stand down once all of the Demons were out of the Overworld. So there¡¯s not much you can do there. It¡¯s basically just sink or swim. Either you kill her, or she kills off all of your forces. But I¡¯m gonna tell you right now, I¡¯m not confident in your chances. She¡¯s pretty powerful. Sure, you could do it if you brought in the Supreme Hellion, or something, but just with a few Infernals? No way. She¡¯s on the level of the Dragons, and you know how fighting those things went.¡±


    His superior shook her head in incredulity. ¡°So that is it. You caused a problem, refused to inform us of it, and now, when we are dealing with the consequences of <em>your </em>actions, you say that there is no solution. What did she tell you? Everyone can be reasoned with. She can be convinced to leave us alone. What does she want?¡±


    ¡°She wants you guys to fuck off from the Overworld. And honestly, I¡¯m gonna go ahead and give you the advice that you should just listen to her. Does this shit really matter that much? Like, really. Think about it. Sure, at first, it was worth spending the resources on a few untrained Infernals to try and reim this asset and all that, but at this point? Maybe you just need to cut your losses. We¡¯re doing okay without Temporus, is it really worth the hassle to get it back? An Nota will eventually die of old age, even if it¡¯ll take forever with the Endurance Stat making him live longer and our time difference in the Underworld and everything. But I mean, you <em>could</em> just wait it out, especially now that he¡¯s pretty established in a safe ce. Don¡¯t you think the hours spent on this are better allocated?¡±


    ¡°Do not tell me how to do my management, <em>Devil</em>. You are not even remotely in the ce to do that. I do not want your advice, I want your knowledge. What do you know about the Queene that could allow us to defeat it? Or work together with it, get it out, something.¡±


    The Devil sighed. ¡°...Maybe you could convince her to wait a little longer, or something. Like you said, she¡¯ll listen to reason. Just don¡¯t disrespect her. Honestly, having a time limit seems like it¡¯ll be good for you.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± The superior¡¯s eyes narrowed.


    ¡°I¡¯m saying you need a fire lit under your ass. Seems like you¡¯ve been taking a really long time justzing around and doing nothing, while An Nota gets all of this time to prepare. You think he¡¯s spending it doing nothing, too?¡±


    ¡°We are regrouping our forces. Forces <em>you</em> allowed to be destroyed.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the one who has the most experience dealing with that Human. If you want my advice, you listen to me. I¡¯ve made my mistakes, and I¡¯m trying to tell you how to avoid making them, yourself. If you¡¯re dead set on killing that man, giving him time is <em>not</em> going to work. I guarantee you that whatever time you¡¯re giving your own forces, he¡¯s using it ten times more efficiently. Every moment I thought I had him, he was able to get through because I¡¯d given him just a <em>little bit</em> too much time to prepare. Too much time to get stronger. You think you can give him months on months on months, and he¡¯ll sit around and do nothing with it?¡±


    The Devil shook his head, reliving all of the frustrations he dealt with.


    ¡°He¡¯s a mixture of Human and Demon. I know both, and I can say that Demons are good because we work. Humans arezy. We aren¡¯t. That man? He isn¡¯t, either. When I was chasing him so much that he couldn¡¯t sleep, he didn¡¯t sleep. When my forces were attacking him at every turn, he fought them all off, and then went to seek out yet more monsters so he could kill <em>them</em>, too, just to get even stronger. When I thought I was pushing him to his natural limits, he told me he wanted <em>more</em> challenge. So when you think killing that man will be even <em>remotely</em> as easy a month from now as it has been in the past? That¡¯s how I know you have no fucking idea what¡¯s going on here. You want my advice? Leave him alone. But if you really, <em>really </em>want to kill An Nota? Fine. Do it now. Tell that Faerie Queene that she doesn¡¯t have to worry about a thing, because you¡¯ll all be gone in a few days, anyway.¡±


    The Devil¡¯s superior looked at him. For seconds¡ªor maybe even minutes, his ability to mentally keep track of time was still pretty broken¡ªshe stared into his eyes with that unchanging scowl on her face.


    Then she brought amunication crystal to her mouth. ¡°Asmo? Yes, I¡¯d like for you to go ahead and send a provisional force into the empire. Do reconnaissance as quickly as possible, find An Nota, and send in a kill squad.¡±


    ¡°...Superior, I was under the impression that¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yes, but the timetable has changed. You arrange that, and please inform our Koinkar that he will need to handle negotiations with the Faerie Queene.¡±


    ¡°I do not believe he will be capable of representing us well.¡±


    ¡°Tell it that it can promise basically anything it wants to promise. Just get the Queene to leave us alone for a little while. That is all.¡±


    The Devil rolled his eyes. ¡°Good to know you still have some sense to you.¡±


    ¡°Devil, you will face more punishment from this day on. I will ensure it.¡±


    He rolled his eyes. ¡°I offer you help, and get punished. What¡¯ll you even do to me, anyway?¡±


    Her scowl was somehow even deeper. ¡°I do not care, Devil. I will make you suffer.¡±


    With that, she turned on a heel and swiftly left the room.


    The Devil sighed. How was it that, even when he was thrown in this prison, he <em>still</em> hadn¡¯t been given reprieve from his old duties? Maybe he was going to be forced to deal with this for the rest of his days in the Underworld. There was no escape, after all.

 Chapter 200: Welcome to the Kingdom: Meeting

    Chapter 200: Wee to the Kingdom: Meeting


    Jon Mourn sat at a desk in a calm, quiet room.


    That peace was immediately interrupted when the door opened and one of his currently least favorite people walked through.


    ¡°Hello, miss Asmo,¡± Jon said as the woman walked in, back straight and silver-blonde hair falling down her spine.


    ¡°Greetings, Jon,¡± Asmo said. She stopped walking in the center of the room, facing him. The room was small and quaint, the office that was given to him within the royal castle. It was far out of the way and there was seldom any sort ofmotion around this area, just how he liked it. Or, rather, there wasn¡¯t anymotion until this woman appeared.


    ¡°Did you just say ¡®greeting?¡¯ Like a Demon?¡±


    ¡°No, I said ¡®greetings.¡¯¡±


    Jon stared at her for a moment, then continued. ¡°Do you mind telling me what you¡¯re here for? I¡¯m busy writing a response to a trainee¡¯s request for a leave of absence. His sister iste in pregnancy, and the family needs to be there for her during childbirth.¡±


    ¡°You will be denying this request, correct?¡±


    ¡°No, I was thinking of epting it. We do not currently require maximum manpower, after all, so¡ª¡±


    ¡°Deny it.¡±


    Jon pursed his lips. ¡°Do you mind telling me why?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll be put on the front lines of our new mission.¡±


    ¡°What new mission? And why him? You don¡¯t even know which of my men I was talking about.¡±


    ¡°I want him because men like that are disposable, so the front lines will suit him well. And the new mission is what I came here to talk to you about.¡±


    Jon ced his pen down on the table, fighting off a scowl. He understood the concept of the greater good¡ªhe¡¯d predicated his entire life off of that, after all¡ªbut when he had to make a sacrifice for such a thing, he did so somberly. Asmo was clearly eager to let others die for her cause. And he suspected she would do the same even if her cause didn¡¯t align with what was right. But for now, he would have to work with her if he wanted to save lives.


    ¡°Anyway. Because of that Faerie thing that¡¯s been bothering us, our superior Demon is asking me to send out forces to kill the fugitive now, rather than continuing with our original n of regrouping and amassing power. As much as I disagree with that order, I have no choice but to at least make an attempt, and as such I will be sending out apany of soldiers to attempt to hunt down the fugitive.¡±


    ¡°So you want me to give you a list of names, then? I can send out a few soldiers to get this done. Really, I feel that it might be a good thing for a fire to be lit under our seats. The number of casualties caused by these Demons grows by the day, so getting this done sooner rather thanter would be preferable.¡±


    Asmo rolled her eyes. ¡°This will not work. I have no confidence in the operation. A good n isid out weeks in advance, pondered upon for countless hours by countless people, with every eventuality considered. This is hasty, emotional, rushed decision-making that will not stand the test of implementation. And it only interferes with our true goals as Humans to gain an upper hand over these Demons, anyway. What a waste.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps you could do well to learn some flexibility, miss Asmo. Not everything can be done only after having weeks to prepare. Some issues require immediate attention. If An dies, it could be a massive sess for the kingdom.¡±


    Asmo stared at Jon for some time, then eventually huffed out a breath of air and spoke. ¡°Well. Anyway, it will not only be nameless soldiers going on this mission. Some important people will be going as well. Relevant to this conversation: you.¡±


    Jon frowned. ¡°I thought you said this mission would surely fail. I didn¡¯t think you would decide to send people with so many duties ced on them to do something you feel is so low-priority. That said, I do ept your assignment, of course. Even if you don¡¯t believe this is a productive mission, I will do my best to kill An.¡±


    ¡°I am not sending you because I want you to kill the fugitive. In fact, feel free to neglect your duties. I¡¯m sending you, first off, because we need someone tomand the troops. All of the individuals I will be sending will be those with enhanced loyalty. As it is typically best to have at least one person present with control over them so that they remember the consequences of disobedience, I was forced to pick one of us VIPs.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± Jon said curtly. ¡°Enhanced loyalty. That is what you call the people you have¡­dismembered, correct?¡±


    ¡°Yes. They have Winic¡¯s appendages. Dissent will not be a worry for you while hunting¡ªthat, you can be sure of.¡±


    Jon nodded. ¡°I understand. You do not have any ns to do this¡­procedure on any more individuals, do you?¡±


    ¡°Of course I do. If any soldiers die during this mission, be sure to retrieve their appendages, so that I can affix them to new soldiers. With enhanced loyalty techniques, lives are cheap. It is the technology that is expensive to lose.¡±


    Jon fought off a scowl at her words. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best to ensure it doesn¡¯te to that. Though, Asmo, I do find that it could be helpful to remind you that I am cooperating with you because I feel that working alongside you is better than working with the Demons¡ªor, of course, An. From the start, this procedure with Winic¡¯s appendages has been distasteful to me. So I do urge you to reconsider your¡­haste in using them on so many people.¡±


    ¡°How many would I have to use them on before you turn against me?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Give me a number. Exactly how many lives would I need to take over through my enhanced loyalty techniques before you decide it is no longer worth supporting me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­not sure.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you evere up with an exact number, tell me. If it is ten thousand, I will use them on nine thousand, nine hundred and ny-nine people, and not one more. I will respect your wishes in that way.¡±


    One again, Jon was forced to fight off a scowl. That wasn¡¯t respecting anyone. What, she intended to force him to pick between enving ten thousand and enving ten thousand minus one? It was a joke. But, at least right now, a joke he was forced to participate in. ¡°Miss Asmo, I believe it would be more worthwhile for you to simply change your methods at gaining loyalty.¡±


    ¡°I will.¡±


    He raised his eyebrows. ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Of course. I would never rely on a single method to ensure my living. I¡¯m already having Winic research more methods as we speak. One or two more should be done soon.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Jon said. Then he tilted his head curiously. ¡°What do you mean by ¡®ensure your living?¡¯¡±


    ¡°I currently have exactly eighty-four people under my control with Winic¡¯s appendages. And if I die, they shut off forever. Meaning if I die, eighty-four people die with me. Of course, that disincentivizes people like you from killing me on an inherent level. But since these eighty-four people are also working within the kingdom¡¯s operation, it also disincentivizes the Demons from killing me, since doing so woulde at such a cost to their ranks. And, as I said, I would like to increase the number of insurance methods like these that I have.¡±


    ¡°...Hm.¡± Jon wasn¡¯t sure what to say to such a matter-of-fact way of valuing these peoples¡¯ lives. All he knew was that the more he spoke with Asmo, the less he liked her. And simultaneously, the more he realized she would almost certainly forever be a part of this kingdom. ¡°So then, you want me to lead this excursion?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Feel free to take a decent number of soldiers with you.¡±


    ¡°I would have thought you wouldmit as few resources as possible to this task. You said it was useless, right?¡±


    ¡°I did not. I would not be sending such valuable, trustworthy troops with you if I thought that.¡±


    Jon frowned. ¡°You want me to do something else while I¡¯m there.¡±


    Asmo took a breath, standing in the quiet room. She turned to look around, ncing over the simple wooden furniture and the in red carpet below her. Eventually, she settled on staring out the window on the right wall. The sun shone through, but avoided her face. She opened her mouth, still staring out the window. ¡°If you find a woman named Ripley T¡­bring her to me. Or¡­tell her, ¡®Asmo would like to see you.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Ripley T? I know that name. Wasn¡¯t she on the VIP team as well? I don¡¯t believe I ever formally met her before she disappeared. Is that why you want arger force? To find her?¡±


    ¡°Yes. In fact, make it your main objective.¡±


    Jon stared at her incredulously. ¡°Finding this woman is more important than killing An? I¡¯m sorry, I might need some justification for that. Why do you want this woman so much?¡±


    Jon saw Asmo¡¯s face shift in a strange way at his question. For the first time since he¡¯d met her, he thought he might have just seen her smile. It was miniscule, for a fraction of a second, but unquestioningly did happen. For what reason, he had no idea. But the moment passed just as it began, and Asmo said in her typical, in tone, ¡°She will help.¡±


    ¡°But how could she add more to our efforts than the aplishing of our main goal could?¡±


    Asmo turned to look Jon in the eyes. ¡°She will. Not everything is about the fugitive. That is important for now, yes. But killing him is a means to an end. You wish to help as many people as possible, yes? Then help me amass power and I will give you what you need to do so.¡±


    Jon sighed. What a difficult woman. ¡°Okay. What does she look like? I doubt we¡¯ll be able to find anyone with just a name.¡±


    ¡°She is a tall woman,¡± Asmo said. ¡°Short hair, strong build, attractive features.¡±


    ¡°Attractive? What do you mean? That¡¯s very subjective.¡±


    ¡°She will most likely seek you out when she learns that you have entered the empire. You will not have to look for long.¡±


    Jon nodded slowly. ¡°...Right. Should I write this down so I can tell it to the people I bring along?¡±


    ¡°Feel free.¡±


    ¡°Great.¡± He bent down to grab some parchment from a drawer. ¡°Oh, by the way, what should I do if we find An in a popted location?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand the question.¡±


    ¡°If he¡¯s around other people, do you not anticipateplicationsing about from publicbat?¡±


    He could visibly see the frustration flicker across her face. ¡°If you care about the greater good, then you should befortable with a few innocent deaths. Cause as much destruction as is necessary to aplish the tasks I have given you.¡±


    As much as Jon hated this woman, he at least agreed with her there. If he needed to murder some people to get to An, he would do it. He wouldn¡¯t <em>like</em> it, but he would do it. Anything to end this hell-on-earth.

 Chapter 201: Monkey Business

    Chapter 201: Monkey Business


    Over the next few days, we continued doing jobs, making money, and charging up the Mana Batteries so we could teleport to the capital. Aliss and the rest of her crew ended up asking us to work together again, so most of what we did was teamed up with them. I wasn¡¯t sure what ended up making Aliss change her mind¡ªshe¡¯d originally said they would need a good reason to need the money enough to work together with us in the future¡ªbut I wasn¡¯t about toin. With them, we were able to take on much tougher jobs, meaning there was much lesspetition and our ability to work efficiently for high pay increased drastically.


    I never pried into what, exactly, made Aliss decide to work with us again, but I could infer at least a bit. First off, it was clear that it <em>was</em> Aliss who made that decision. Entismo seemed as passive as ever, and it wasn¡¯t like Boy was suddenly walking around leading us all. Sylvie seemed happy to work with us, but she¡¯d always been like that. The only one who changed their attitude was Aliss.


    And she¡¯d really changed her attitude, too. It wasn¡¯t just money, it was Levels. She was clearly considering the amount of XP we¡¯d be getting forpleted jobs in addition to coin, which was strange. I hadn¡¯t pegged her as a power-Leveler, that was for sure. But whatever had her in such a rush to get more powerful, I was d toply, eating up more XP and reaping the rewards for it.


    Speaking of rewards, I saw a few just from the simple merit of time passing. Every night, my additional uses of Time Loop were converted into free Stats, ending up with me gaining an additional 2 Strength, 1 Endurance, 1 Conjuration, and 2 Intelligence by the time I¡¯d gotten all six avable extra Stats.


    And on top of that, while my excess Mana during the day was spent on charging the Batteries, at night, my unconscious mind continued to practice Noxious Grasp, with me swapping to Light te during my sleep so I could get as much Spell XP from that as possible. And with all that time going by¡ªall that Mana being generated¡ªit was more than enough to push Noxious Grasp to its next Rank.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 3.03k.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 18.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 18, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 5.59 to 5.73


    Health Drain: From 22.9 to 24


    Stamina Drain: From 11.4 to 12


    To get to Rank 19, the next Spell XP cost would be 3.71k. And I was already close to that goal. Earning an amount of Spell XP every night that bordered on reaching the thousands, it didn¡¯t take long before I passed 2k of the 3.71k goal. It would likely only take two more days before I got to Rank 19, and at that point, I¡¯d need to find a new Spell Crystal to use alongside the Poison one I already had to Rank it up to 20.


    As for XP, I¡¯d gotten close to the 3k XP required for Level 21. As I¡¯d hoped, getting back up to that Level hadn¡¯t been difficult, considering the plentiful jobs we were able to do for XP, and in addition to that, once I¡¯d gotten all the Stats I could from Recycled Loop, I was free to move on to using my Time Loop uses on re-killing monsters to get extra XP from them, which obviously helped a great deal. Splitting the XP rewards between the seven of us was hindering that growth to an extent, but the extra firepower was what allowed us to take on more powerful threats in the first ce, so I didn¡¯t mind sharing.


    And speaking of XP, I was about to get a little more.


    Our group of seven was currently out on a job clearing out some monsters that¡¯d recently expanded their territory to include a popr merchant¡¯s road, forcing everyone to take the long way around or risk attack from the beasts. Eventually, some organization the traveling merchants were a part of in the Barinruth Empire decided enough was enough and put up a job to clear out the monsters, offering a solid enough reward for us to take it on.


    The monsters, in specific, were these things called ¡°Blink Monkeys,¡± which, upon first hearing the name, made me feel like we were severely overqualified for the job. Chase off a couple of monkeys? For the money we were getting paid? I had the immediate sense that those merchants werepletely out of touch when it came to what jobs paid what for adventuring. But Aliss and the rest all insisted Blink Monkeys were serious business, and I remembered underestimating the Goblins before, so I went in with an open mind.


    It turned out that I was somewhat correct in my assumptions. At least for people our Level, the monkeys weren¡¯t too much of a threat. Certainly not something to getcent about¡ªthey had quite the set of teeth¡ªbut still, they were manageable. That said, when it came to actually killing them? That was a whole other issue.


    Now, we <em>had</em> killed them twice already. Well, not that Aliss and her gang remembered that. But me, Erani, and Ainash had killed the band of apes in two previous timelines, at this point. This was our third go-round, getting our XP onest time, plus ideally getting through the job without actually letting any of the things escape. That¡¯d been a pretty big problem in our past two attempts. And, of course, the amount of damage we¡¯d taken was suboptimal.


    But this time, I <em>hoped</em> we had a method to deal with them.


    ¡°Hey, watch out,¡± I said. The seven of us all stopped in our tracks, everyone but Erani and Ainash looking at me confused. I continued, ¡°Pretty sure the Blink Monkeys are over here. You see those tracks?¡±


    Sylvie crouched and examined the dirt I was pointing at, seeing the faintest of footprint left behind. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right. Even I didn¡¯t see that. Good eye!¡±


    One thing I¡¯d had to get used to was trying to pass off the knowledge I¡¯d gained from previous timelines as information gotten legitimately in the current one. With presentpany, I had an image to maintain, after all. But Aliss andpany seemedpletely content to ask little and reap the rewards of what mysteries I kept. They seemed to understand I didn¡¯t feel like exining much.


    I mentally counted down from eighteen. It¡¯d taken around that long after stopping here for the monsters toe after us in the previous timeline, and I hadn¡¯t taken any different actions yet, so it should¡¯ve been the same amount of time here, too.


    When I hit the count of ten, Sylvie was still crouched down, looking at the footprints. I¡¯d want her standing up and ready when the attack hit eight seconds from now, so I needed to do that without telling them what I knew. I shifted my stance and said, ¡°Alright, we should probably keep moving.¡±


    Sylvie shrugged and stood up. ¡°Yeah, guess so. Would be a good idea to¡ª¡±


    ¡°Shit, what out!¡± I shouted, pointing in a direction just before the trees burst out with a pack of eleven wild monsters. It was the Blink Monkeys, arriving just in time.


    The things somehow looked innocuous and terrifying at the same time. I¡¯d never actually seen a normal ape, but I had to imagine they looked pretty simr to one. Hairy, long-armed, about half as tall as me. And mouths that could bite a skull in half. But then, that was what a normal monkey was like. These were Blink Monkeys.


    The main, obvious difference between the two¡ªother than the fact that Blink Monkeys had higher Levels, and thus, higher Stats¡ªwas the fact that Blink Monkeys could¡ª


    You have been sliced. 22 damage.


    Your Health is 638.


    <em>Fuck.</em> I turned and grabbed the tail of the monkey on my back that¡¯d just raked its teeth across my skin, weakening the shield my Health provided as it attempted to break into my flesh. I activated Noxious Grasp as I pulled, yanking it away from me and holding it in the air. For most monsters, this would be apromising position; I had it in my grasp, with a damaging Spell constantly draining away its limited Health and Stamina. But for these things¡­


    With a familiar <em>blip</em>, I suddenly held nothing in my hand, and the Blink Monkey was now standing ten paces away, ring at me angrily. This was their main power: teleportation. Just as that thing had teleported straight onto my back and bitten me before I could react, it¡¯d teleported straight away before I could retaliate. This was what made them dangerous for many to deal with, and it was what made them so gods-damned annoying for us to exterminate.


    It seemed like these things knew that they were tough to get rid of, too, because they were quite fond of hit-and-run tactics. They didn¡¯t even have to kill you in a fight if they could just blink in, deal some damage, then blink out before you could do anything back. If you didn¡¯t leave, they¡¯d just do it again ten minutester, and again a few minutes after that, until you either ran off or died. It was how they defended their territory, and it was how they seemed to want to deal with this confrontation, too.


    It was our job to ensure they couldn¡¯t get away this time.


    I held out a hand and shot off as many Rays of Frost as I could at the Blink Monkey that¡¯d attacked me. Thankfully, Ray of Frost wasn¡¯t a projectile, but instead a beam, meaning it was hard to dodge. I¡¯d seen too many times now Erani¡¯s struggles with spending Mana on a Firebolt only for the monkeys to just teleport away before it even had a chance to hit them, leaving her resources wasted. Ray of Frost didn¡¯t have that problem as much, but it certainly didn¡¯t do as much damage as I¡¯d have liked.


    Most of my Spells were borderline useless against these things, actually. Noxious Grasp was obviously suboptimal, considering it was impossible to keep them in my grasp. Same problem with Sanguine Bond. And when it came to Spells like Crippling Chill and Gravity Well, which typically helped keep the slippier enemies in an easier to handle state¡­Well, these things didn¡¯t technically need to move their bodies at all. They could just teleport around. So it didn¡¯t really help if I made it harder for them to move.


    In the end, my main two Spells ended up just being Expedite, which could at least help me keep track of their erratic movements, and Ray of Frost, which was my aforementioned sole damage-dealer.


    Everyone else was stuck in a simr position. At least I was better off than the poor Melee-Types, who were caught chasing after enemies that were very difficult to chase down, trying to hit them with swings that were infinitely slower than they needed to be.


    ¡°Goodness gracious!¡± Entismo shouted, attempting to wrench his sword from its ce lodged in the dirt after swinging it at a monster that certainly <em>once</em> was there. ¡°These things are a rambunctious bunch!¡±


    ¡°Just stay still!¡± Sylvie growled, arrows lodging themselves into trunks and ncing off rocks and certainly not piercing any monster flesh.


    I understood the annoyance. Even Boy seemed like he was getting frustrated. In the other timelines, we only ever fought them off after a long, grueling battle with lots of nicks and scratches along the way. And even then, we didn¡¯t ever kill everyst one.


    A few of my Rays of Frost hit before the ape teleported away, thest one hitting the empty ground and leaving behind a coat of ice on the dirt.


    ¡°Agh!¡± Aliss was yanked to the dirt by a Blink Monkey that ported in next to her, and I hurriedly turned to shoot it off with a couple more Rays of Frost. One hit, and the other hit nothing after it blinked right back away the moment it took damage.


    I shook my head in annoyance. Even now, I could see them start to look between each other timidly. This always happened. The moment they saw we weren¡¯t easy pickings, they¡¯d start to run off, and from there we¡¯d just be ying catch-up, taking out as many as we could before they disappeared forever. Or, well, for exactly as long as it took for some squishy merchant to show up that they could tear limb from limb.


    <em>¡°Ainash, are you sure that thing¡¯ll work?¡±</em> I asked.


    <em>¡°No! But will try anyway!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, I¡¯ll appreciate the effort either way.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay! Am going to think very bad thoughts!¡±</em>


    In the middle of the road was Ainash, who hadn¡¯t yet joined the battle. She¡¯d been in the gang with the rest of the melee fighters in the past two timelines, not able to do much against the elusive monkeys. This time, though, she was the key to beating them. At least, maybe.


    She crouched down, putting her hands to her head and shutting her eyes tight. I saw her face contort in anger, or sadness, or maybe both.


    Instantly around us, the Blink Monkeys matched her emotions. Their faces flickered, the glow of their eyes lessening slightly as they squinted and let out a growl. In that moment, when they were frozen with emotion, we all struck. The Melee-Types finally got their moment, Entismo finally stabbing his sword through the monster that¡¯d been harassing him this whole time, and Erani was able to actuallynd a hit with her Firebolts.


    And, distracted by Ainash¡¯s Nymph powers of two-way empathy overwhelming their minds, the Blink Monkeys were just a little toote to avoid the onught of attacks.


    Instantly, I got a cacophony of notifications. XP flew by as Erani¡¯s Firebolts crashed into the monsters and my own Rays of Frost finished off the ones that were left. In an instant, the fight was over.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 9 Blink Monkey.


    You have earned 48 XP. Your XP is 2.99k.


    <em>Ugh, really?</em> I thought, looking at the final kill notification. <em>Just a few off from the 3k required.</em>


    ¡°It¡¯s not that unlikely, really,¡± Index chimed in. ¡°Sometimes the numbers aren¡¯t in your favor. Also, you might want to get better at counting.¡±


    <em>Better at counting? I¡¯m 6 XP from Leveling up. That counts as a few points of XP, right?</em> After waiting some time without a response, I shrugged and turned my attention to Ainash. <em>¡°Good work! I¡¯m honestly surprised it worked as well as it did.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Think the monsters were not very big-minded. Little-minded monsters always more affected when I think emotions.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Well, I¡¯m d. What did you even think about to get them like that, anyway?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Um¡­Will show you with memoriester. Do not like talking about it.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Oh.¡± </em>I frowned. <em>¡°Is it¡ª¡±</em>


    I was interrupted by Sylvie shouting out from down the dirt path, ¡°Oh, hey, there¡¯s one more left alive. I knew there were one too few kill notifications.¡±


    She lifted her heel, stomped down on a monster¡¯s head, and¡ª


    Threshold reached. 3k XP.


    Your Level has increased to 21.


    Due to achieving Level 21 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 2 Strength, 1 Dexterity, 2 Conjuration, and 1 Intelligence.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 21.


    -You may choose a Spell to learn.


    <em>Oh,</em> I thought. <em>I needed to get better at counting the monkeys.</em>

 Chapter 202: Spell it Out

    Chapter 202: Spell it Out


    Threshold reached. 3k XP.


    Your Level has increased to 21.


    Due to achieving Level 21 in the Minute Mage ss, you have been granted the following benefits:


    -You have gained 1 Endurance.


    -You have gained 2 Conjuration.


    -You have gained 1 Intelligence.


    -You have gained 3 Stat Points.


    -Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 2 Strength, 1 Dexterity, 2 Conjuration, and 1 Intelligence.


    -Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 21.


    -You may choose a Spell to learn.


    As I looked over my Level-up notification, I smiled in satisfaction. Nice, steady progress. And finally getting that new Spell would be great, too.


    But then, I got a strange sensation in my mind. A sensation I¡¯d only ever felt a couple times before. The System was reaching into my head, unlocking something new. And then, after a couple seconds¡­


    Feat of excellence performed. You have 100 Mana/Minute.


    You have gained the Pinnacle of Remation Title.


    My eyes widened at that, and it was all I could take to avoid gasping aloud. A new Title?! I hadn¡¯t even heard of this one, despite the fact that getting arge amount of Mana/Minute wasn¡¯t a particrly niche requirement. How was knowledge of this not more well-known?


    ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± Index replied to my thoughts with augh. ¡°I don¡¯t think you know how high your Mana/Minute actually is.¡±


    <em>What do you mean?</em> I asked.


    ¡°Well, you have several abilities that artificially inte your Mana/Minute. Obviously there¡¯s Exponential Remation, increasing it by a massive amount, but then you¡¯ve also got extra Stats from Recursive Growth and Recycled Loop. You¡¯re probably one of the only Humans alive that¡¯s gotten to 100 Mana/Minute at your Level.¡±


    <em>Well it¡¯s not like it¡¯d be impossible to </em>ever<em> reach that point, right? Really, every higher-Level Magic-Type alive would get it, right? Just feels weird I¡¯ve never heard of it.</em>


    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re understanding. If you didn¡¯t have your Talents helping you out, getting to 100 Mana/Minute would require more than a few Levels. Even if you still assigned every single Stat Point you got toward Conjuration, it¡¯d still take you until, let¡¯s see¡­Yeah, it¡¯d take you until Level 112. Which, I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t need me to tell you, in the entire history of the System, no Human being has ever even approached Level 100. Much less passed it.¡±


    I blinked. <em>Oh.</em>


    ¡°I have records of people getting the Title, but only people who go for some very specific builds with very specific sses. So, basically, people like you. But, y¡¯know. There aren¡¯t many like that.¡±


    <em>Well, goddamn. So, basically, what you¡¯re saying is I¡¯m as strong as a Level 100.</em>


    ¡°Thinking that is <em>such </em>a great way to get yourself killed.¡±


    <em>Yeah, I¡¯ll get killed, and then I¡¯ll juste right back to life. Basically immortal.</em>


    I could practically feel Index rolling its eyes. ¡°If you actually start believing you¡¯re immortal, I¡¯m gonna yell at you. I¡¯ll be able to tell if you do, by the way! I¡¯m holding you ountable.¡±


    <em>Well, I guess it¡¯s nice to have someone to do that for me. Anyway, I want to get seated somewhere so I can go over all of this shit I got. That Title seems more and more interesting the more we talk about it.</em>


    I silently sent a message to Ainash, asking her to tell Erani we should find a reason to rest while ideally giving our allies as little information about my ss as possible, but before I could even finish what I was saying, Aliss spoke up.


    ¡°Let¡¯s find a ce to meditate everyone,¡± she said. ¡°Need to manage my Level-up.¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡± Entismo said. ¡°I give you my sincerest congrattions.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t we normally just do Level-ups at town?¡± Sylvie asked. ¡°Feels like it¡¯s kinda pointless to do them out here. May as well meditate in thefort of our own homes, right?¡±


    For some reason, Aliss looked pretty agitated. ¡°Please, just¡­indulge me this once? I¡¯ve been looking forward to this Level.¡±


    Sylvie frowned at Aliss, obviously waiting for her to borate, but when Aliss said no more, she just shrugged and walked along, leaving the rest of us behind.


    <em>¡°Mother says, ¡®what was that all about?¡±</em> Ainash said to me as we started walking to keep up with the other group.


    <em>¡°No idea. But I¡¯m not upset, if it means we can get meditating faster. Do either of you have Level-ups to manage?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No, but mother is close! She wants to know what you get, so tell me and I will tell her!¡±</em>


    Once we left that area and got into more securednds, we all found a ce we could sit and rest, which was where I meditated for my own Level-up. I didn¡¯t need to keep the fact that I¡¯d Leveled a secret or anything, but generally speaking, the fewer conversations I had with the group concerning my ss, the better.


    As I meditated, I looked over the description for the Title I¡¯d gotten.


    Pinnacle of Restoration


    <em>You have reached the epitome of magical restoration, passing the milestone of 100 Mana/Minute. Not only does this prove your might, but also your dedication to constant casting and living a life surrounded by magic. Use your powers wisely, and perhaps you will be able to garner yet more Mana.</em>


    Increases your maximum Mana by 30%.


    Increasing your Mana/Minute further will add more effects to this Title.


    Well damn. An extra thirty percent to my Mana capacity was certainly nice. And even though it didn¡¯t technically do anything <em>now</em>, that second line was almost even more exciting. I already had more than enough reason to focus on increasing my Mana/Minute, so getting rewarded for doing so was quite a nice bonus. And the more Conjuration I got, the easier and easier it would get to increase it further, due to the nature of Exponential Remation.


    After I¡¯d looked at that, I got to move on to the main benefit, though. My Spell Choice. The moment I¡¯d been meditating for the requisite ten minutes, I instantly opened it up.


    Choose one Spell to learn:


    Curse of Echoes


    School: Curse, Divination, Illusion, Mental


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 240 Mana


    ¡ª


    Choose another being within 10 paces of you. If your Conjuration is higher than its, it is Cursed with Echoes for the next 20 seconds. For as long as it is Cursed with Echoes, it will see illusory copies of you¡ªas well as anything else it considers an immediate threat¡ªsurrounding and attacking it.


    Illusions will be dismissed upon contact or close inspection, and can only be perceived by the chosen being. New illusions will be summoned to rece any that are dismissed, such that the chosen being always perceives itself as surrounded.


    Living Death


    School: Necromancy


    Type: Activated


    Cost: 1150 Mana


    ¡ª


    Use the life force of a willing being to raise a corpse into an Undead. The being must be alive and fully conscious of its decision <em>(beings without the necessary mental faculties to to understand the nature of this decision will be ineligible)</em>. If confirmed, the being will be killed instantly, and another corpse you are touching will be raised into an Undead servant. The Undead servant will have 20% of the Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance that the original body had.


    Due to the life force being supplied by a willing sacrifice, Undead created by this Spell will not be subject to normal limitations, such as needing to stay within range of you, or requiring a constant source of Mana to move. However, they still cannot act without direct instruction from you.


    Tainted Sigil


    School: Alteration, Curse, Poison


    Type: Toggle


    Cost: Mana equal to your maximum Mana <em>(2k)</em>


    ¡ª


    You be Tainted for the next 72 hours. For as long as you are Tainted, the following effects are true:


    You lose Health each minute equal to twice your Health/Minute.


    Whenever you kill a being that is not already Tainted, restore Health to yourself equal to twice that being¡¯s Level.


    Whenever you touch another being that is not already Tainted, you may have it be Tainted for the next 72 hours. If you do, restore 15 Health to yourself.


    I¡¯d technically already seen these options. Only a few days ago, I¡¯d reached Level 21, then I gave that Level up so I could give a Tribute to Ainash and upgrade the Bond to have new benefits. So, as I gazed over these options, I didn¡¯t see anything that surprised me.


    Not that the options were made any less weird by that fact, of course.


    Seriously, what in the fuck even <em>were</em> these things?! Thinking back to the simple days of being offered basic damaging Spells like Firebolt¡ªback when Noxious Grasp, a Spell that just dealt some damage and drained some Stamina, was the strangest Spell in a given choice of three¡ªI couldn¡¯t help but feel like this was just ridiculous. Though, that was the whole point of the Spell trees, wasn¡¯t it? At least, that was what Erani had said. As you grew further and further in Level and went further down the branches, your choices would be more and more specialized.


    Going through the list of the three, the first option was Curse of Echoes. This was an Illusion Spell that caused a person to see countless copies of their enemies all surrounding them, attacking one after the other. Index had rified to me that the person wouldn¡¯t necessarily think they were real¡ªafter all, how could there suddenly be five of me standing all around them¡ªbut they would still have trouble differentiating between the real version and the fakes. So it was less about genuinely tricking someone, and more about creating a distraction.


    After that was Living Death. This one was where the weirdness really began. At least Curse of Echoes was somewhat simr to a typical Illusion Spell, just with some additional Divination magic to read their minds and figure out who they considered to be their immediate enemies. Living Death was instantly much stranger. First off, genuine Necromancy Spells weren¡¯t oftene-by to begin with. Not all Magic-Type sses ever got them¡ªat least that we knew of¡ªand even the ones that did would only see those Spells if the user followed a very specific path of Spell Choices.


    Living Death was not only a Undead-creating Spell, but it also worked in strange ways by the standards of those Spells. Typically, the main limiting factor when it came to users of Necromancy was the constant drain on their Mana. Every Undead created would take away a little bit of Mana every minute, and on top of that, they¡¯d also need even more to move around and fight for their masters. With Living Death, that limitation was eschewed. Technically, a person could build up an army the size of a continent using that single Spell.


    It wasn¡¯t unheard of for some Spells to create and maintain their Undead in different ways from the basic Mana-draining option, but still¡­I¡¯d at least never heard of a Spell like that using willing sacrifices to power the creation process. And when I¡¯d talked about it with Erani, she hadn¡¯t seen anything like that either.


    Though that limitation <em>was</em> quite sizable. Getting even a single person to give up their life for me would be difficult, much less enough to create an army. And in that case, why not just make an army out of the people willing to die for you? It seemed like the same result, just in less steps. Though, Index had of course had some ideas when it came to methods to exploit the Spell. Most of them involved the capture and severe torturing of innocent Unssed people to force them into epting the death offered by the Spell, and then using their life forces to power the raising of much more powerful dead. Which wasn¡¯t something I was interested in.


    Finally, there was Tainted Sigil. That Spell was certainly interesting. On a basic level, it was a simple trade-off. By losing life equal to two times your Health/Minute each minute, since it didn¡¯t actually cancel out your regr Health regeneration, it¡¯d end up effectively just causing you to lose life equal to your Health/Minute each minute once everything was added up.


    In my case¡ªand in the case of most people¡ªit¡¯d take about two full days to regenerate your entire capacity of Health. Which meant that when that regeneration was turned against you, you¡¯d die in about two days, assuming you started out with full Health. Considering the fact that the Spell¡¯s effectsted three days, it would actually just straight-up kill you if you used it and didn¡¯t find a way to heal yourself.


    Thankfully, the Spell provided a method of healing right there in its effects. And it was quite powerful. Gaining free Health for every single kill you got was extremely useful, and in many cases, it would be more than enough to offset the amount of Health you¡¯d lose from its negative effects. Pretty much, it was just a case where you¡¯d use it on yourself right before a big job where you knew you¡¯d be killing a lot, and then you¡¯d have plenty of Health for that entire few days¡ªas long as you were actually able to get those kills you expected to get.


    Obviously, the way this worked was quite strange, but overall understandable. What made me cautious¡ªand maybe even afraid¡ªof the Spell was the final use. The one that allowed you to spread the sigil to other people.


    In the case that something went wrong¡ªthe job went bad, you got hurt and were desperate for healing, anything¡ªthere was always the backup n of just running up to someone, anyone, and giving them a sigil of their own in return for 15 Health to you. Really, you were incentivised to do that to anything you nned to kill that was Level 7 or lower. Since the Health gained from kills was dependent on Level, anything with a low enough Level wouldn¡¯t be worth it to kill, and instead you¡¯d just want to infect them with the Sigil and get more Health that way. However, if that happened¡ªif the sigil ended up getting to anyone other than me¡­


    The way the system of incentives worked, that Spell could essentially destroy an entire city. You infect someone, some Unssed beggar, and suddenly they have this two-day timer ticking down on them. They have to restore some Health or they¡¯ll die. Well, if they¡¯re weak, they won¡¯t be able to kill anything that¡¯s high-Level enough to be helpful. But they certainly <em>can</em> walk up to the beggars next to them and give those people the sigil as well to restore enough Health to survive. And then each of those beggars are in the same predicament, and so they have to go and infect even more people to keep themselves alive. Eventually, once everyone¡¯s infected with it, there won¡¯t be enough people left to infect, and they¡¯d start dying off. Maybe the strong ones would be able to find monsters to kill to keep themselves alive, but not the weak.


    Now, sure, in a practical case, when it came to the simple choice of whether or not I wanted to take the Spell, I could disregard that entire scenario. After all, it¡¯d only happen if I willingly chose to force the sigil onto some random person on the street. But still, just imagining the destruction that could be caused gave me chills. Why would the System even design a Spell like that?


    I paused for Index toment, but it said nothing. I knew it was reading what I thought, but maybe it simply didn¡¯t have an answer for the question. It seemed to have the opinion that the System had no conscious design behind it whatsoever. It simply was there, and it existed the way it existed because that was the way it was. But I had trouble believing something like that when I saw Spells that were so efficiently designed to cause carnage.


    Regardless, I still had to pick between which Spell I actually wanted. And honestly, the choice was pretty obvious. When I¡¯d first seen the Spell options, I hadn¡¯t instantly picked any single one out as the best, but that was because I knew I had time to mull it over. But now, I¡¯d had several days of considering the options to pick out the best one. And in that time, fighting monsters and working jobs, thinking about which of them I¡¯d have wanted most in each situation I got myself into, one Spell had stood out to me as the clear winner.


    I mentally reached out and made my choice.

 Chapter 203: Just Deserts

    Chapter 203: Just Deserts


    I mentally reached out and made my choice.


    You have learned the Spell Curse of Echoes.


    Curse of Echoes was clearly the best pick here. The other two were good, for certain, but they simply didn¡¯t fit into my toolbox. Living Death was difficult to use, and would likely require me topletely shift by build around it if I wanted to make use of its powers correctly, and not only that, but I was currently trying to stay covert within the empire. It¡¯d be difficult to keep eyes off me if I was wandering around with a band of Undead fighting alongside me.


    I¡¯d asked Index for additional information in the past regarding some basic questions the Spell skimmed over, like what kinds of orders the Undead could follow and what would count as a ¡°willing¡± sacrifice, and they simply weren¡¯t favorable enough to make things work. Especially when it came to how strict you had to be with orders¡ªI¡¯d be forced to either pay constant attention to the Undead, or tell them to follow the directions of someone else and have <em>them</em> pay constant attention to them, in order for them to do anything productive.


    Tainted Sigil was also certainly a powerful option. Even ignoring its ability to spread between people, allowing oneself to heal off of every kill made for an entire three days was great. However, with my build, I wanted to heal <em>during</em> a fight, not after. I was good at one-on-onebat, focusing down a single enemy to death. Tainted Sigil would want me to get into fights against several enemies at once, that way I could heal midway through the fight when I killed off one of my enemies, or have me fight enemy after enemy for long periods of time. It was great for wartime, going againstrge armies and staying sustained the entire way through. Not what I was doing.


    But then, Curse of Echoes was just what I wanted. What I¡¯d noticed¡ªespecially in that fight against the Blink Monkeys¡ªwas that my entire build focused on disrupting opponents¡¯ ability to fight effectively, and then exploit their sudden weakness to elongatebat and slowly take them down. However, I only really had one method of doing that. All I could do was make it harder for someone to move.


    Against the Blink Monkeys, that had posed a very obvious issue. They could move despite my debuffs, and it made me almost useless. But I wasn¡¯t just weak to teleportation specifically, I was weak to any magic at all. I¡¯d been lucky to mostly avoiding against magic users, but even against monsters that had a single teleportation Spell they could cast, I¡¯d beenpletely dismantled. If I were to fight against a Magic-Type sser, that issue would be multiplied to be much, much worse. Why would they need to run and jump around when they could just point their hand at me andunch a Firebolt all the same?


    Curse of Echoes worked as a perfect way to create disruption in apletely new way. This wasn¡¯t a physical barrier to my enemy¡¯s movement, but rather a mental method of interference. And that wouldn¡¯t just greatly increase my ability to fight magic users, but everyone. The more ways I could disrupt someone¡¯s ability to act, the harder it would be for them to figure out how to fight.


    It was one thing to have your Dexterity limited. Certainly a setback, but manageable. In the same way, it was definitely a problem to have your mind assaulted by illusions, but still a limitation you could work within. But to have both of those happen at the same time? To be forced to re-learn how to move while under the increased weight of Gravity Well while also finding yourself with no idea where your enemy is? That would be a crushingbination of debuffs for any opponent.


    There was obviously the Conjuration condition with Curse of Echoes¡ªthe use that said it would only work if my Conjuration was higher than my opponent¡¯s. But, in my case, I wasn¡¯t too worried about that. With my Stat-increasing abilities, my Conjuration was already higher than most peoples¡¯, and even if it wasn¡¯t, the majority of both Humans and monsters didn¡¯t have Conjuration in the first ce. Obviously, this meant I wouldn¡¯t be able to use the Spell on any Magic-Types of an insanely high Level, but it probably wouldn¡¯t be a good idea to get into a fight with people like that, anyway.


    The decision was simply weighted too heavily in favor of Curse of Echoes. Though, I had to admit that part of my reasoning also came down to emotions. The danger Tainted Sigil posed to the general public, and the strange conditions of Living Death that seemed to encourage torture¡­The two of them put me off kilter. Like they were tailor-made to encourage sadistic acts.


    I shook the feeling from my mind. Now that I was done with my Spell, I also needed to assign my Stat Points.


    You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.


    Your Conjuration value is now 130.


    Name:


    An Nota


    Age:


    20


    Strength:


    <strong>49 </strong>(<strong>27</strong> + <strong>22</strong>)


    ss:


    Minute Mage


    Level:


    <strong>21</strong>


    Endurance:


    <strong>68 </strong>(<strong>46</strong> + <strong>22</strong>)


    ss Type:


    Magic


    XP:


    <strong>36</strong>/<strong>3.5k</strong>


    Dexterity:


    <strong>47 </strong>(<strong>25</strong> + <strong>22</strong>)


    Health:


    <strong>614</strong>/<strong>680</strong>


    Health/Minute:


    <strong>0.263</strong>


    Conjuration:


    <strong>130</strong>


    Stamina:


    <strong>299</strong>/<strong>348</strong>


    Stamina/Minute:


    <strong>2.21</strong>


    Intelligence:


    <strong>32</strong>


    Mana:


    <strong>2k</strong>/<strong>2.04k</strong>


    Mana/Minute:


    <strong>111</strong>


    Spells:


    Talents:


    Titles:


    <strong>Curse of Echoes - XP 0/10</strong>


    Cumtive Catastrophe


    <strong>Pinnacle of Remation</strong>


    Sanguine Bond 11 - XP<strong> 48</strong>/623<strong></strong>


    +Hypnotic Bond


    Exponential Remation


    Devastator


    Expedite 9 - XP 355/355


    Regenerate


    Trailzer


    Ethereal Armor 11 - XP <strong>202</strong>/623<strong>


    </strong>


    +Broadened Armor


    Recursive Growth


    Gravity Well 11 - XP <strong>18</strong>/623<strong></strong>


    +Taxing Well


    Time Loop <strong>21</strong>


    +Extended Loop


    +Recycled Loop


    Ray of Frost 9 - XP 355/355


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP 355/355


    Noxious Grasp <strong>18</strong> - XP <strong>2.35k</strong>/<strong>3.71k</strong>


    +Venomous Grasp


    With that, I opened my eyes and nced around at the clearing we sat in. Aliss seemed to already be done with her Level-up, so everyone was just standing around and chatting while they waited on me.


    ¡°You¡¯re done?¡± Aliss asked. Before I could respond, she nodded. ¡°Good. Let¡¯s head back to town.¡±


    ¡°Someone¡¯s in a rush,¡± Sylvie muttered, following Aliss as she marched down the road, not even ncing back to see if we followed.


    It took until evening for us to get back to town, the sun setting behind the towering mountains that made up the southern view. We headed back to the guild lobby to im our reward, distributing the money between ourselves as normal.


    ¡°So,¡± I said, pocketing the coin, ¡°we doing another job tomorrow like usual? Got anything in mind?¡±


    ¡°Actually,¡± Aliss said, ¡°I¡¯m going to be taking a few days off from adventuring.¡±


    ¡°E-excuse me?¡± Entismo asked, eyebrows raised. ¡°Aliss, if you have any issues with your, er, constitution, please tell me. If you are diseased¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sick,¡± she said, seeming distracted by her own thoughts, like she was only putting half her mind to her surroundings. ¡°Just busy. See you all.¡±


    With that, she turned and walked out of the building. Entismo looked back and forth between us for a moment, then chased after her.


    ¡°Ugh.¡± Sylvie rolled her eyes. ¡°So apparently we¡¯re taking a break. For no apparent reason.¡±


    Boy shrugged, then walked off to the bar, grabbing a beer before leaving the lobby as well.


    ¡°Seems like he¡¯s done for now, too,¡± I said. ¡°Unfortunate. We¡¯ve still got some money we need to make.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sylvie spat. ¡°Unfortunate. Man, they¡¯re just min¡¯ cowards. Aliss, sure, she¡¯s always been weird. And been getting weirder by the day. Entismo, though¡­Ugh. He needs to get over his crush. That shit¡¯s getting annoying.¡±


    ¡°Do you know what¡¯s going on with Aliss?¡± I asked.


    Sylvie shrugged and sat at a table. ¡°She doesn¡¯t talk to me. If the group doesn¡¯t know, neither do I.¡±


    ¡°Do you think something could be wrong with her?¡± Erani asked. ¡°Like a friend is injured, or something. She might be working extra hard to pay for a healer.¡±


    Sylvie flinched slightly at Erani¡¯s words. ¡°Gods, I always forget your voice sounds like that. Anyway, I dunno. Could be that. Maybe she¡¯s just crazy.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Hm. Well, if it¡¯s just us four, you think it¡¯s still possible for us to get ess to the good jobs?¡±


    ¡°Not the ones we¡¯ve been doing, that¡¯s for sure.¡±


    ¡°Well, we¡¯d like to keep working, even if a few are breaking off. So unless you¡¯re out too, we should probably try to find something we can do.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not done. We can figure something out.¡± Sylvie rested her elbows on the table, pleasing her chin in her hands and tapping on her cheek as she thought. ¡°Hm¡­Oh, have you heard about that new bounty they¡¯ve posted?¡±


    I exchanged a nervous nce with Erani. ¡°...The one for the Koinkarians? Yeah. But I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s a good one to try.¡±


    ¡°No, no, not that one,¡± Sylvie said. ¡°There¡¯s a new one. Apparently the guards at one of the nearby posts by the mountains deserted their posts. Just up and left, no warning or reason.¡±


    ¡°Wait, nearby?¡± My mind suddenly went to the border guards I knew¡ªBon, Jannin, and Poppins. Had they deserted for some reason? ¡°Are you talking about the post that¡¯s just down the southern road?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s to the southwest. Are you friends with some border guards?¡±


    ¡°Uh, sort of. It¡¯splicated. Anyway, go on.¡±


    She gave me a look that almost seemed like one of disapproval when I answered her question, but the expression faded right away, and she continued. ¡°Well, yeah. Penalty for desertion is death, so the empire¡¯s obviously looking to find out where these guards went.¡±


    I raised my eyebrows. ¡°Death?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re endangering a lotta lives by running off. Or, well, that¡¯s the logic. If the soldiers had a good reason for running, I imagine the punishment would be lessened. But the reward is good, so it¡¯d be a good thing to work on if we don¡¯t have the manpower to do monster hunting right now.¡±


    ¡°Hm. Well, do we have any leads? Any idea where they could be?¡±


    ¡°Not much. Well, <em>I</em> don¡¯t have much. But you just said you know some guards down at the border, right? You think they might know something?¡±


    ¡°No idea. I guess we could ask.¡±


    Erani looked at me. ¡°Are you sure about that? I don¡¯t know if we¡¯re quite on¡­speaking terms.¡±


    ¡°Eh, we can figure something out,¡± I responded with a shrug. Then I looked back at Sylvie. ¡°Anyway, how do we know these guards actually deserted?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean? ¡­I guess we could go and look at their own outpost to see if they¡¯re still there, but I don¡¯t think the empire¡¯s wrong about them missing.¡± Sheughed. ¡°It¡¯d be pretty funny if they were just there hanging out, though.¡±


    ¡°No, I mean, what if they got killed or something? Or kidnapped?¡±


    ¡°I dunno. Border guards are pretty infamous for being deserters. They don¡¯t exactly pick the best for that job. Empire probably looked around for bodies before posting a bounty. Besides, if they were kidnapped, it¡¯d be our job to find ¡®em all the same, right?¡±


    ¡°Guess so. Well, you want to start walking down to their outpost tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Sure. We can meet here at¡ª¡± Sylvie suddenly cut off, looking up at something behind me.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked, ncing back.


    ¡°That guy¡¯s cute,¡± she said, standing and walking over to the bar. ¡°Be right back, I¡¯m gonna buy him a drink.¡±


    I frowned at her as she walked off, though she couldn¡¯t see my expression through my facete. Once she was gone, I sighed and muttered to Erani, ¡°Can¡¯t even finish her sentence.¡±


    Erani just shrugged. ¡°You think we¡¯ll actually be able to find these people? I wasn¡¯t too fond of doing bounty jobs back in Koinkar. Feels more like ying the lottery than actually working.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m hoping our connections with the other guards will help with that. Can¡¯t hurt to check, right? Plus, even if we aren¡¯t the ones to turn in the bounty, it might be a good idea just to look into things anyway.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°It seems kinda suspicious, doesn¡¯t it? Right after we get here, soldiers start deserting? Can¡¯t help but imagine it¡¯s got something to with the Demons.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah. I imagine it has everything to do with them. They feel more in danger because of the existence of the Demon threat, so they run. Makes sense to me. Really, they¡¯re probably long gone by now.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s all there is to it. I mean, Bon said they¡¯d been guarding that ce for years, right? Facing down the threat of Dragons attacking every day, you¡¯d think the people who¡¯d desert because of the danger would be long gone by now. It¡¯s just¡­¡± I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Feels like something we should check out, at the very least.¡±


    ¡°Well, Bon and Jannin were talking about how they¡¯d stood against the new emperor, right? That was why they were assigned to guard duty out in the mountains. After Etrin took over, they didn¡¯t support him, so he forced them out into this ce. Maybe all the other soldiers had simr reasons for being out here. It could be that they got fed up defending the empire from this opposing territory when they don¡¯t even have loyalty to the emperor, right? I would assume it would be different for them than when it¡¯s just random monsters.¡±


    ¡°But that¡¯s just it, right? If they don¡¯t trust the emperor, then they¡¯re more likely to switch sides. Maybe they got¡­paid off, or something. I don¡¯t know. But I¡¯m not sure I like the idea that these defenses just got weaker. It¡¯s what¡¯s supposed to be keeping us safe. Right now, there could be an invader that infiltrated the empire by sneaking through that hole made in their line of guards. If that¡¯s the case, I want to know.¡±


    Erani pursed her lips. ¡°That feels unlikely.¡±


    I just shook my head. ¡°When you¡¯re dealing with Demons, if you only limit the possibilities to what you think is <em>likely</em>, you¡¯ll be surprised at their every move.¡±

 Chapter 204: Welcome to Hell. Goodbye, and Thanks for Nothing.

    Chapter 204: Wee to Hell. Goodbye, and Thanks for Nothing.


    A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room.


    He wanted to leave.


    The Devil wanted more than anything for <em>something</em> to happen. Ever since he¡¯d gotten that one visit from his superior, it¡¯d been nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nobody came through the hall he monitored, there were no more meetings, no more excitement, not even a passing footstep heard through one of the doors.


    He waspletely isted. From people, stimtion, purpose. Nothing existed in that room. Absolutely nothing.


    He needed to leave.


    Some indeterminate amount of time passed. He¡¯d already been there an indeterminate amount of time, and now it had been some amount longer. Days? Definitely. Weeks? It was likely. Months? Who knew? He didn¡¯t have any idea how long it¡¯d been from his perspective, and he certainly had no idea how much time had passed in the Overworld. Maybe he didn¡¯t need to know anymore, though. He was really just living out his torment from now on, right? The only deadline that mattered now was how much time he needed to wait through until he died.


    Sitting perfectly still, staring straight ahead, back begging to be popped, neck waiting to be cracked, mouth just dying to let out a guttural scream, the Devil sat in agonizing silence.


    The Devil lifted up his hands and brought them down in an intensely powerful motion, bashing them into his desk and cracking it into pieces. The shards plinked against the floor as the two halves crashed down as well. It waspletely broken.


    ¡°Holy <em>fuck</em>!¡± the Devil shouted. That was the most cathartic thing he¡¯d ever done in his life.


    He smiled. A wild, untamed grin, spreading across his face. In the gray room, his red mouth tainted with a tinge of glowing blue blood,e from biting his tongue too many times, was a ssh of much-needed color.


    ¡°Well,¡± he said to himself with a sigh, ¡°that¡¯s that. The end, I guess.¡±


    He had no idea why he¡¯d broken his desk. It had almost happened automatically, as though there was no thought process that came before. He just¡­did it. He wanted to do it. And now¡­


    He heard the sound of the doors around him locking. Each door, once connecting the Devil¡¯s hub to the near-infinite sprawl of hallways around him, had been sealed off in an instant. No doubt a countermeasure manually triggered by whoever was watching him in this room. The security force, using Divination magic to spy on every part of the Seventh Circle to ensurepliance, wasn¡¯t something the Devil had put much thought to in the past. They simply kept the peace; no reason to worry about them if you were a normal, productive member of society. But the Devil had stopped being that, at this point. He¡¯d long since stopped.


    Well, that time he¡¯d have to wait out until the end of his life had been severely shortened. No doubt he¡¯d be executed for what he¡¯d just done. At least, death was what he hoped would happen. If it was some other, even more severe punishment¡­


    Not much he could do about that. What had been done had been done. Though, realistically, his superior knew he just wanted to be free of existence at this point. She would obviously not grant him that wish. And she could still extract a tiny bit of value from him yet, considering he still held valuable experience with and information about the Overworld. Well, valuable up until the moment the Seventh Circle inevitably pulled their forces out of that ce. When their job was done or when they finally wisened up and just cut their losses. Maybe that would be when they finally just killed him.


    But that day wouldn¡¯t be this day. This day, they would¡­Well, the Devil had no idea, really. But it would almost certainly be fewer freedoms, more control, more abject torture for him to live through. Maybe they¡¯d resort to actual bodily torture, at this point¡ªa practice that had long since been abandoned by now. At least, for the most part.


    The Devil stood and walked over to one of the doors, testing it. Yep. Locked. Trying the others, they were locked, too. Ugh, why couldn¡¯t the enforcement officers just get in here already? They¡¯d probably just send in some random Nefariors or something, not like those things had anything better to do.


    ¡°Fuck,¡± the Devil muttered. ¡°Fuck, fuck, fuck. <em>Why</em> is this ce like this? Why would anyone willingly live here?! What the <em>fuck?!</em>¡±


    A door behind the Devil mmed open. He turned around to see, as he expected, a handful of Nefariors marching inside wordlessly. One of them looked over at the broken desk, then to the Devil. It almost looked tired. All of them did.


    ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± the Devil groaned. ¡°You don¡¯t want to do this. You¡¯re probably bored out of your minds, too, right?! You have nothing against me, and yet here you are,ing after me just because some random superior who doesn¡¯t know shit told you to! Just leave! Walk away!¡±


    The lead Nefarior sighed and lumbered forward, grabbing the Devil¡¯s hands and wrenching them behind his back, then walked him out of the room, through the hallways once again.


    At least now the Devil could actually look at something that wasn¡¯t the same damn walls of the same damn room.


    Eventually, the Devil was walked into a room. A wide room full of desks and office grunts working away. For a moment, the Devil didn¡¯t even recognize what it was. But then he realized¡ªthis was his old territory. Over there, on the far wall, was the door that led to what used to be his office. Now, it belonged to that Gargoyle, Plindakin¡­something or other. He¡¯d forgotten that one¡¯s name, by this point. Regardless, this officeplex filled the Devil with disgust the moment he realized where he was.


    And that wasn¡¯t to mention the person who was standing inside, waiting for him.


    ¡°Greeting, Devil,¡± his superior said with a sigh. Her hair was somewhat frazzled, her eyes carrying a look of stress and exhaustion that the Devil knew all too well. She stared at him for a while, then closed her eyes and gave her head a tiny shake, muttering, ¡°I don¡¯t even know what to do with you.¡±


    ¡°Then kill me,¡± the Devil said. ¡°You don¡¯t want me around. I don¡¯t want to be around, either. Just get rid of me.¡±


    She opened her eyes, staring at the Devil once again. ¡°You know, I¡¯d love to do that. Killing you would be a treat.¡±


    ¡°Then¡ª¡±


    ¡°But we both know I won¡¯t do that. You need a punishment, not a reward. Clearly, what we gave you was too good. Too much freedom for a louse like you. You need something that will actually make you suffer.¡±


    The Devil took a breath, giving a pleading look at the woman. It was barely even for his own sake. ¡°Listen. You <em>said</em> you don¡¯t want me alive. You said it¡¯d make you happy to just kill me. Who cares if you¡¯re supposed to punish me more? It doesn¡¯t solve any of your problems to do that. Just do what <em>you</em>¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, Devil, I will not. Unlike some filth I have to deal with, I have a sense of duty. I have an <em>obligation</em> to help my fellow Demons. If I just did what <em>I</em> wanted all day, every day, without ever considering how my actions affected others, then I would be a scum-sucking, worthless thing that wasted the very air I breathed, the very space I took up with my own body. I, unfortunately, will continue to help the people I work alongside, instead of actively harming them with my ignorant, selfish actions. So no, I will not kill you, Devil. As to do that would go against what I am to do. Instead, I think I have a <em>perfect</em> idea for what to do with you. A perfect example to make of you. A perfect incentive you can create to ensure no other Demon <em>ever</em> falls down the path you have taken.¡±


    The Devil subtly tugged against the grip of the Nefarior holding him. It was holding onto his left wrist, a force so strong there was no chance of slipping out. Nothing could get the Nefarior to let go of his arm.


    ¡°I think there is something we can learn from the Humans,¡± his superior continued. ¡°The concept of ¡®entertainment¡¯ was alien to me at first, but I will admit, after seeing how they¡¯ve employed it, I believe it could be extraordinarily useful to us.¡±


    The Devil frowned, still trying to find a way to wrench his wrist free from the Nefarior. ¡°Really? I wouldn¡¯t have taken you for someone in support of something like that. I¡¯d have thought you would think it a waste of time.¡±


    ¡°Oh, normally it is. But there is value to be found there nevertheless. I, for example, would be absolutely thrilled to see you suffer day in and day out. And I am sure other Demons would be, as well. So, I was thinking, maybe we could imprison you here. In this room. Allow the working Demons to take turns torturing you during a short break every now and then. That would, in my opinion, impress into their minds the consequences of disobedience much more effectively than simply <em>telling</em> them what will happen.¡±


    The Devil grit his teeth. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Why? Out of the kindness of my heart? Because I want to repay you for all that you¡¯ve contributed to our society?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no way you could get the approval for that.¡±


    ¡°You have no idea. You know, more and more higher-ups have been getting word of this An Nota case. With your removal from power due to the bout of insanity you went through¡ªinsanity caused by the stress of the job¡ªit¡¯s gotten a few people talking. More Demons asking about what this Human could possibly be doing to cause such a thing to happen to you. If I say I¡¯vee up with a solution to prevent this from happening in the future¡­¡±


    ¡°So, what, you¡¯ll put me in a cage? Stick me with some knives? Pelt me with hot coals?¡±


    ¡°Nothing so primitive. I¡¯ve been doing some brainstorming, you see¡ªhelps me with some of the stress <em>your </em>breakdown has caused¡ªand I¡¯vee up with plenty of activities to keep you upied. Subdermal Fleshwurms, melting your skin off by means of intense climate control, perhaps we could inject molten steel into your veins and see what happens.¡±


    The Devil shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not going to let you do that to me.¡±


    ¡°Oh? How? Through the authority that has long since been stripped away from you? Tell me, how does that feel? Does it eat at your heart, knowing we¡¯ve ripped your identity from you? I hope it hurts.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t lie, it¡¯s pretty bad,¡± the Devil said. ¡°But I also won¡¯t lie when I tell you, I¡¯m not all that upset.¡±


    Her face morphed into a snarl. ¡°And why¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it for a while now¡ªyou gave me plenty of time. And I¡¯ve decided, this ce shaped me. It made me who I am. And in return, I¡¯m okay with you taking as many parts of me as you want. But I¡¯m not letting you get the whole.¡±


    With a grunt of both exertion and pain, the Devil yanked as hard as he could, pulling on the Nefarior¡¯s grip around his wrist. All of his body¡¯s strength went into fighting against the Nefarior fingers, pulling, pulling, until¡ª


    <em>Snap.</em>


    You have been dismembered.


    The Devil¡¯s arm came clean off, ripping off at the shoulder, and he stumbled away from the massive beast that still had its hand wrapped around his arm. His arm that was no longer attached to his body.


    ¡°Where are you even going?¡± his superior asked, gazing unamused at the massive wound leaking bioluminescent blue blood where his arm used to be. ¡°You think you can somehow escape? Sure, why don¡¯t you run off somewhere? Maybe this can be our first bout of entertainment. We can all watch your pathetic escape attempt.¡±


    The Devil ignored her words, gasping for air as he half sprinted, half limped to his goal. The one ce that would offer him escape.


    He heard the lumbering footfalls of the Nefariors walking after him, taking a leisurely pacepared to the Devil¡¯s panicked bounds. He used his remaining arm to steady himself on the random desks of the copiers as he passed, ignoring their shouts of protest and confusion as he no doubt ruined countless papers with his blood.


    ¡°Seriously, where are you going?¡± his superior called after him.


    He continued to ignore her, stumbling, running, step after step, until¡­


    ¡°Wait,¡± his superior said to herself as he neared his goal. Then with a shout, ¡°Wait! Stop him!¡±


    The Nefariors¡¯ footsteps quickened, sprinting in pursuit of the Devil. But they were toote. He reached out, opened door 999¡ªthe execution door¡ªand stepped through.

 Chapter 205: Fear of Death

    Chapter 205: Fear of Death


    That night, Erani and I left town to go meet up with Ainash. We had a new job to do¡ªfigure out what happened with those deserted border guards¡ªand this one would likely benefit from her presence, much like most of the other jobs we¡¯d done in the past. However, this one would also probably take a few days at least to do; getting to the border alone normally took around a day, so going out there <em>and</em> investigating a disappearance, thening all the way back would likely take at least three days, maybe even longer.


    We wouldn¡¯t leave until tomorrow morning, but Ainash would need some advance notice and discussion, which was much easier in person. With her project regarding the Goblins, I wasn¡¯t even sure if she <em>could</em> have a couple days away from them right now. Well, of course, she could always bring them with her, but not only was I unsure she had them ready for that, but we¡¯d also be bringing outsiders along, so that¡¯d be inadvisable as well.


    Erani had told Ainash the basics already, but it was hard to transfer too much information over the Bond when we were so far away. So we walked the familiar road, cutting off at the right point to head toward the Goblins¡¯ forest where she¡¯d made her home. Thankfully, with that as the main location she stayed at when we were in town, she was mostly safe from adventurers. We¡¯d told the guild that we had ¡°pacified¡± the Goblins, but they weren¡¯t dead. So most people still avoided the forest when they could.


    As we walked, once we got away from the main crowds of people that lingered nearer to the town walls to pick off Gloomspurs, Erani said to me, ¡°Have you used your new Spell yet? It was called Curse of Echoes, right?¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t tried it,¡± I responded. ¡°It says I have to choose another being, so I can¡¯t just practice it on myself. Guess we gotta find a monster that I can Rank it up with.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just use it on me?¡±


    I stopped and looked at her. ¡°You really want me to do that?¡±


    ¡°You use damaging Spells on me all the time,¡± she said with a shrug.


    ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s because you have Angelic Shield, which can prevent you from taking the damage. You don¡¯t have anything for this.¡±


    ¡°Right, but it won¡¯t do any long-term damage or anything. Just make me see things that aren¡¯t there. And I know it¡¯ll just be illusions, so what¡¯s the harm?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Just seems¡­I dunno. It makes you see a bunch of versions of me attacking you. I don¡¯t want you to see that.¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. Besides, it¡¯s probably best if we know exactly what that Spell does, right? Descriptions can only go so far. And I can even transfer the memory to you, so you know exactly what it¡¯s like, too.¡±


    ¡°...Alright, I guess if you insist, I can try. Your Conjuration is lower than mine, right?¡±


    She rolled her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s just an illusion. There¡¯s nothing it can actually do to me. And my Conjuration¡¯s 126. I get 3 per Level, and then 3 more from Stat Points, so my growth rate is pretty high.¡±


    ¡°Mine is¡­130,¡± I responded. ¡°I guess my extra Stat abilities push me just a little higher.¡±


    ¡°Those things are so broken,¡± she said with a chuckle.


    ¡°Weren¡¯t you the one who said I shouldn¡¯t have taken Recursive Growth, back when it was offered to me?¡±


    ¡°Well, yes, but that was then. It didn¡¯t do anything to help you in the moment. Now?¡± She shook her head. ¡°You are certainly reaping the rewards of pushing through the time where it was a wasted Talent choice.¡±


    ¡°See? So it was the correct decision the whole time.¡±


    ¡°Just because it happened to work out doesn¡¯t mean it was the right choice.¡±


    ¡°¡®Course it does. Anyway, you ready?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    I reached into my mind, finding themand to cast my new Spell for the first time. I selected my target, and¡­


    You have sessfully cast Curse of Echoes on Level 20 Sorcerer.


    240 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1.8k.


    Instantly, Rank-up notifications flooded my perception, so much Mana being poured into it and pushing it past several thresholds at once. And looking at the final one, I saw¡­


    Threshold reached. Curse of Echoes XP has reached 30.


    Curse of Echoes Rank has increased to 5.


    Due to Curse of Echoes Rank reaching 5, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 264 to 271


    Duration: From 24.4 to 25.6


    Range: From 12.2 to 12.8


    Before I could even read through the notification, though, I heard a yelp.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Erani screamed. She flinched, shrinking down and shielding herself with her arms.


    ¡°Woah,¡± I said, ¡°are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± she said. She had her eyes closed, fists balled up with her fingers digging into her palms. ¡°It just¡­startled me.¡±


    ¡°Do I need to shut it off, or something?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to¡­¡± Erani slowly opened her eyes again, only to flinch once again the moment she did, shutting them once again.


    ¡°You can¡¯t shut it off, anyway,¡± Index said. ¡°It¡¯llst for twenty seconds no matter what.¡±


    Erani once again cautiously opened her eyes, this time keeping them open despite a twitch here and there. She shakily looked around, gazing at whatever it was she saw.


    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re okay?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°I just wasn¡¯t ready, is all. I¡¯m not used to being so up close to enemies. And you look¡­very realistic.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s it even showing you?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s you¡ªa whole bunch of you. Some are wearing Dark te, some Light te, some of them just look how you normally do, and¡ªah!¡± Erani jumped back suddenly, then sighed. ¡°That one came out of nowhere. Um, they¡¯re all using whatever attacks you have. Some are shooting Rays of Frost, some are charging at me with Noxious Grasp active¡­Some are just standing there. Menacingly. I assume they¡¯re supposed to be casting Crippling Chill, or one of your other Spells that don¡¯t have any visual effects.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Wait, so will it just give everything about my fighting abilities away to whoever I cast it on?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not the case,¡± Index said. ¡°It shows the person what they <em>think </em>you can do. So, since Erani knows so much about your abilities, her illusions are mostly urate. But for someone else, it¡¯ll be limited to what they already know you¡¯re capable of¡ªor, depending on their imagination, what they think you <em>might</em> be capable of.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°So no free information for them. That¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡± Erani yelped again, interrupting me.


    ¡°You okay?¡± I asked, looking over at her. She was staring down at her stomach, arms out in surprise.


    ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯m okay. I just looked down to see your fist going through my gut. Startled me, is all.¡±


    ¡°Damn,¡± I said, shaking my head. ¡°Sounds disorienting. Which is good, I guess, to hear that it¡¯ll be effective on enemies. Still, I¡¯m, uh, sorry that you have to see this? Sorry that the illusory versions of me are so mean?¡± Iughed awkwardly. ¡°I¡¯m¡­not entirely sure what to say.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay,¡± she said. ¡°Um, how much longer?¡±


    ¡°Just a few more seconds.¡± I reached over and wrapped my arm around her, and the moment I touched her she screamed once again and pushed away from me.


    ¡°Oh, wait, that¡¯s the real you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said with a chuckle. ¡°I¡¯m the real one. Sorry, maybe I should¡¯ve said something.¡±


    ¡°Good gods.¡± She sighed. ¡°You scared the life out of me.¡±


    For the next while, I continued to cast Curse of Echoes on Erani to practice the Spell up, taking long breaks in between for me to regenerate some Mana, and for her to get a mental break from the Spell. It only took one or two more before she got used to the effect and could go without flinching or getting startled by its effects, though she was clearly worse at talking, walking, pretty much anything with so much going on around her. I had to imagine that fighting someone¡ªsomeone that could easily blend in with all of the illusions¡ªwould be even harder than that.


    But despite the breaks, Curse of Echoes quickly ranked up to its current maximum, pushing its effects up to the point they¡¯d be fixed at until we got a Spell Crystal for one of its Schools.


    Threshold reached. Curse of Echoes XP has reached 130.


    Curse of Echoes Rank has increased to 9.


    Due to Curse of Echoes Rank reaching 9, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 292 to 299


    Duration: From 29.6 to 31.1


    Range: From 14.8 to 15.5


    With the duration passing thirty seconds, the Spell was getting to the point where it was honestly quite Mana efficient. Curse of Echoes and Expedite both shared that quality, technically getting <em>cheaper</em> with each Rank, at least as long as you saw the cost as one that you paid per second of the effect. So I was happy to see that effectiveness increase.


    As we neared the forest¡¯s edge, Erani contacted Ainash once again to let her know we were close. We hadn¡¯t seen her Goblinstely, not having the time to physicallye to the forest like this, so I was interested in seeing how Ainash¡¯s project wasing. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t even sure what I hoped for. I supposed it would be good if she were nice to them, but I¡¯d worry if they felt like they weren¡¯t under control. Maybe I was just hoping they seemed like they¡¯d be helpful as soldiers? But then, what would make Ainash any better than the Dragon tyrant we were trying to free them from this whole time?


    Honestly, maybe letting Ainash do <em>any</em> of this was a bad idea. It really just seemed like it was a disaster waiting to happen. But we were way past the point where we could just cut our losses and leave them alone in the forest, so¡­I¡¯d just have to hope it would turn out well.


    ¡°Hey, wait,¡± Erani said suddenly, breaking me out of my thoughts. She held out her hand to keep me from continuing¡ªbeing forced to turn her entire body to do so, since her left side was facing me, and that was the side that was missing an arm¡ªand then she pointed over in the distance, down by the treeline.


    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You see those people? Group of about a dozen.¡±


    ¡°Oh, shit,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, I see them. Obviously armed. Probably adventurers. What¡¯re they doing out here?¡±


    ¡°No idea. We never see people out this far from the town walls. They have to be here for the Goblins, right? Or maybe they¡¯re just looking for Gloomspurs out where there¡¯s lesspetition?¡±


    ¡°No way they¡¯d need fifteen people just to kill some Gloomspurs.¡±


    Erani shrugged. ¡°Some people like to keep safe.¡±


    ¡°Well, that doesn¡¯t matter right now regardless. You think we should leave and try to enter the forest from another direction? Probably not a great idea to let people know we¡¯re hanging around out here. I mean, I guess it¡¯s not like we¡¯d get in trouble for doing it, but it¡¯s weird enough that I imagine it¡¯d draw some unwanted attention.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that might be a good idea.¡± Erani turned to leave, making it seem like we were simply wandering the fields, same as that other group.


    But while she did that, my eyes lingered on the people. Did they look¡­familiar? I swore I¡¯d seen them before. It was too far between us for me to make out any specific facial details, but something about that crowd just seemed¡­


    I unconsciously took a couple steps forward.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Erani said, grabbing my arm and tugging me toward her, ¡°what are you doing? I thought we were leaving.¡±


    ¡°...Right, yeah, sorry,¡± I said after a moment¡¯s hesitation. Even if I did recognize them, it probably didn¡¯t matter. I¡¯d seen plenty of people wandering the floor of the guild lobby, so it was likely just a few of them all working together for something.


    But then, just as I turned to walk away with her, I saw the group of people start heading in our direction. I frowned, watching as each of the group of more than a dozen all tapped each other¡¯s shoulders, getting their attention and headed pointedly straight for us.


    ¡°Hey, I think they¡¯reing to talk to us,¡± I said to Erani.


    ¡°Hm,¡± she grunted, pursing her lips. ¡°Suppose it¡¯d be weirder for us to just run off without talking. Let¡¯s just try to make this quick?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    My mind kept twinging at me as the group got closer and closer. So many of these people just looked barely familiar, but I couldn¡¯t put my finger on it.


    Then I caught a glimmer of a face among the crowd, and I instantly knew who we were dealing with.


    ¡°Hey!¡± I called out to the group, walking forward to meet them halfway.


    Erani trained behind, ring at the group in a simrly curious way that told me she probably had her suspicions about who these people were, too.


    ¡°I know you people, right?¡± I asked. A murmur spread among them, and I saw the familiar face almost shrink back at my statement. I continued, ¡°Yeah, I do know you. You guys are that group that tried to mug us, right? ¡®Bout a week ago?¡±


    The familiar face took a step forward, breaking out from the center of the crowd and facing me. He raised his hands. ¡°Listen, we just¡ª¡±


    ¡°Right, you definitely are,¡± I interrupted him. ¡°You, you¡¯re the guy we knocked out and talked with. Your name was¡­Ugh, sorry, I¡¯m bad with names. Don¡¯t tell me, though. I think I remember. It was¡­Loin?¡±


    ¡°...Loik,¡± he said inly. I could practically see the tension rippling from his tightly-wound face.


    ¡°Man, I told you not to tell me. Ah, I was close, though. Anyway, Loik, I remember having quite the lengthy conversation with you.¡±


    ¡°Yes, and we¡ª¡±


    ¡°I remember talking about some very specific things in that conversation,¡± I continued. ¡°I mean, I obviously told you to stop mugging people. And, judging by the fact that you¡¯ve got the whole gang back together, I have to assume you haven¡¯t done what I asked in that area.¡±


    ¡°No, please just listen,¡± he said, hands raised. ¡°We¡¯re just out here hunting Gloomspurs, okay? Haven¡¯t taken a single coin from anyone. L-listen. I wanted toe and talk to you because I saw you staring at us, and¡­And, look, I¡¯ll just cut to the point. Have you been following us?¡±


    I stared at him for a few moments. ¡°Loik, I don¡¯t actually care about whether or not you¡¯ve been mugging people.¡±


    He visibly rxed at my words. ¡°You don¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t. Now, forgive me if I¡¯m mistaken here¡ªI¡¯ll admit I don¡¯t have the best memory, especially after the busy week we¡¯ve had¡ªbut I do believe I spoke to you about another issue entirely, back when we had out heart-to-heart. I think, if I remember correctly, I told you that if I ever saw you, for any reason, at any point for the rest of my life, I would kill you.¡±


    Silence rang through the fields.


    ¡°Loik,¡± I said, ¡°I know I said I didn¡¯t care about you mugging people, but I have to mention this. There¡¯s blood on your handaxe.¡±


    ¡°Th-there is. It¡¯s from the Gl¡ª¡±


    ¡°Loik, Gloomspur blood isn¡¯t that shade of red.¡± I took a step forward. ¡°Who else would you have been killing out here, in the middle of the night?¡±

 Chapter 206: Fire with Fire

    Chapter 206: Fire with Fire


    Loik stood in a field by the forest, staring at the group of two adventurers. That man with the creepy ck armor stared right back at him, Loik just barely able to make out the whites of his eyes¡ªthe only thing proving he was Human¡ªthrough the visor. And next to him stood that woman with the dark wisps of smoke surrounding her, obscuring any particr detail from his perception and making her blend in with thete evening¡¯s darkness.


    This armored man had been the source of so much stress ever since they met him. And they¡¯d only even spoken once. Most of the stress after that single meeting came from worrying he¡¯d seen this man creeping around corners, stalking them in the tall grass. Loik had convinced himself he¡¯d just been seeing things, but maybe those two <em>had</em> been following them this whole time. But why?!


    Right now, it seemed like the man genuinely intended to kill Loik. He¡¯d noticed the blood on his axe, and¡­Damn it all, why hadn¡¯t Loik had just washed the red off like normal?! He¡¯d forgotten to do so after their workst night had gone messy, and now he was facing where itnded him. How did that armored freak even expect Loik and his coworkers to just start perfectly following thew, anyway? On a whim, they needed to simply decide to never make a good amount of money again? Didn¡¯t these two realize that they had lifestyles to maintain?


    ¡°L-listen¡­¡± Loik muttered, backing up and putting a hand on his weapon. He¡¯d <em>still</em> never seen the man fight. They were missing that monster they¡¯d had with themst time, but that thing wasn¡¯t the wild card. The Sorcerer woman? A Level 20 would be a problem, but manageable. And if she had just been paired up with some Level 20 Swordsman or some other Melee-Type, they¡¯d be able to decently predict the pair¡¯s fighting style and take them down with few injuries. But who knew this man¡¯s ss? Or even his Level?


    Loik heard something behind him. A footstep in the grass. Barely turning his head so he could keep his two enemies in his sight, he saw in the corner of his eye one of hispanions sprinting off. It was Anthon, their Sorcerer. Before Loik could even figure out whether Anthon was fleeing out of fear or just trying to get to a more favorable long-range sniping position, the man instantly copsed to the ground.


    Nothing had happened. Neither the armored man nor the shadowy woman even moved a finger. For a second, Loik had to assume Anthon had simply tripped on a root or something. But he didn¡¯t get up. Somehow¡­


    ¡°W-what did you do to him?¡± Loik asked, mustering up as challenging a tone as he could.


    ¡°Are you afraid I killed him?¡± the armored man asked in response. His tone was infuriatingly casual. ¡°It would definitely be a fitting end to a group of murderers, for each of you to be killed in cold blood in return. But he¡¯s not dead. Well, he might be soon, if he doesn¡¯t have the Health to endure that Curse I put on him.¡±


    See, that was what Loik hated about this man. He¡¯d just admitted to attacking one of their group members! For the gods¡¯ sakes, he might have just killed the man! But the way he said it, his demeanor, the way he didn¡¯t seem to be on-guard in the slightest, it made it feel like fighting wasn¡¯t even an option. To so casually attack someone like that without even beginning to adopt a fighting stance, it was like the man didn¡¯t see Loik or the rest of his crew as a threat whatsoever.


    He still hoped they¡¯d be able to get out of this without a fight; that was another reason he¡ªand the rest of hispanions¡ªdidn¡¯t attack the moment this man cast his Spell. Perhaps, if they tried to find a diplomatic solution, they could all get out of this unscathed. Well, all of them without Anthon. But that was a sacrifice Loik was more than willing to make.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Loik said, voice still a little shaky, ¡°why don¡¯t we just go our separate ways, huh? No issues, no problems, we just walk away and pretend we never saw each other?¡±


    There was a deafening pause after Loik spoke where the man just stared at him, unmoving. Then, barely more than a whisper, Loik heard the man say, ¡°Y¡¯know, Index, I think you may be right about this one. As much as I feel you¡¯re normally a little harsh with this sort of thing.¡±


    The shadow woman seemed to hear the man as well, turning to look at him with narrowed eyebrows. Was her name Index? It hadn¡¯t seemed like the man was speaking to her there, but who else could it have been?


    She subtly shifted her body to look at him. ¡°I assume Index is suggesting what it normally suggests with stuff like this?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. And, y¡¯know, I¡¯m not too opposed here.¡±


    ¡°Well Ainash is already on her way. Pluspany.¡±


    ¡°Seems like it¡¯ll work out just fine, then. Do you¡ª¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± Someone muscled past Loik, shouting to interrupt the murmured conversation between the man and the woman. Loik nced over to see it was Habban. She was a Swordsman on their team, decently high-Level, as well. He could tell she¡¯d grown more than tired of Loik¡¯s reluctance to fight, grabbing the greatsword on her back as she stood against the two, standing up tall so she towered over them. ¡°You think you¡¯re getting out of this alive?¡±


    He looked up at her and simply said, ¡°...Yeah.¡±


    Then, once again without any indication that the man had done anything, Habban leapt back, shouting in rm and raising her sword as if to block an attack. Then she swung it in a wide arc, striking the in air. She turned back and shouted, ¡°Help me against these things!¡±


    ¡°W-what things?¡± Loik asked.


    ¡°Are they invisible to you or something?! He cloned himself!¡±


    Loik nced around. Nothing. The man was still standing there looking at them. Curiously, as though he were researching their reaction.¡±


    ¡°I-it may be a trick. Are they illusions? Are you taking damage when they hit you?¡±


    ¡°M-maybe. Where¡¯s the real one?! Did he run off? Is he attacking?¡±


    ¡°...No. He¡¯s still standing where he was.¡±


    Habban wildly threw her head around in search of the armored man in what was apparently a crowd of illusory copies. ¡°Why¡¯s he standing there? Hey! You! What do you want?!¡±


    ¡°Well, for now, I¡¯d prefer it if you would stop trying to run away or attack us. You¡¯re kind of forcing my hand in terms of retaliation.¡±


    Loik frowned. ¡°So then what do you want, if you don¡¯t want a fight but you also don¡¯t want us to leave?¡±


    ¡°Calm down, and I¡¯ll tell you.¡±


    Loik nced around. This felt weird. It all felt weird, but especially now. What was this guy doing? He turned to the woman. ¡°You said that someone was on their way. You trying to call the guards? There¡¯s no evidence against us, okay? And we can get <em>you</em> in trouble for attacking us randomly, too. So don¡¯t even try it.¡±


    Instead of answering him, she looked at the armored man. ¡°Honestly, I think we should just go. But¡­well, I certainly see the other side of the argument, as well.


    ¡°Time?¡±


    ¡°Let me ask. Uhh¡­not long until she gets here, seems like.¡±


    Loik looked between them. ¡°Until who gets here?! Listen, if you don¡¯t answer me, I¡¯ll be forced to attack. You¡¯re outnumbered, and you won¡¯t get the drop on us again. Walk away now, and you live. No harm done. Alright?¡±


    The man frowned, Loik just barely able to see it through his visor. ¡°Since when were we outnumbered?¡±


    Loik nced around, but saw nothing. He turned to Habban. ¡°Those copies are illusions, right?¡±


    ¡°Y-yeah. Attacks go right through me. I-I can¡¯t see well through them, though. Aren¡¯t there just two of them?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. ¡­Yeah,¡± Loik repeated, trying to convince himself. ¡°They¡¯re just stalling. Lying, pretending, they aren¡¯t strong enough to kill us all.¡±


    ¡°You really think that?¡± the man asked.


    ¡°Men, draw your weapons,¡± Loik said, ignoring the man¡¯s words. He wouldn¡¯t be intimidated. ¡°This is yourst chance, you two. Turn around and leave right now, or you¡¯re done for.¡±


    The man shrugged nonchntly. ¡°Sure.¡±


    Then he turned and started walking away. The woman turned and followed shortly after.


    Loik blinked, and hispanions began murmuring among themselves. Had that really worked? All they¡¯d needed to do was¡­ask?


    Once the two people had gotten around fifteen paces away, Loik began to hear more footsteps in the grass. He turned, expecting to see some of his ownpanions walking somewhere, but none of them were moving. They seemed as confused as he was. They were the only ones out here, and any guards trying to approach would being through the fields, visible from far off. So what was¡ª


    A barrage of arrows burst out of the nearby forest¡¯s edge, impaling the unsuspecting victims of Loik¡¯s group.


    One sunk right into Loik¡¯s shoulder, too, and he got a notification announcing the 19 damage he¡¯d just taken. He grunted and raised his weapon, preparing to fight, but before he could even take a step¡­


    You have been coated in frost for the next 15 seconds.<em></em>For as long as you are coated in frost, you lose 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and your Dexterity is lowered by 15.5.


    He instantly felt the power drain from his body. The Stat penalty wasn¡¯t enough to instantly drop him, but it was definitely ufortable. And then, Loik realized how drastic that Health and Stamina drain was. Especially the Stamina. Losing 6 every single second, he¡¯d be exhausted by the time this damned curse ran its course.


    With a quick nce around, he saw that it looked like the rest of his team had been hit by a simr effect. Some of the Magic-Types that hadn¡¯t raised their physical Stats much even copsed on the spot, just like their Sorcerer had before.


    Just a couple seconds after the first, another barrage of arrowsunched from the trees. What in the hells were they even fighting?! The curses had stopped everyone in their tracks in trying to get to the forest''s edge, so Loik still had no idea. Was it a random attack by the forest Goblins?! He thought they¡¯d been pacified. He nced over at the pair of adventurers that were walking away, hoping they¡¯d go take care of the things. But no they were still¡­Well, actually, they weren¡¯t walking away. They were standing there, staring at Loik and hispanions.


    It was them. These archers were their reinforcements. They weren¡¯t getting the guards at all! What in the hells was this?!


    Suddenly, something popped out of the tall grass. A monster¡ªthe one that¡¯d been with that pair thest time they¡¯d seen them. It drew back its ming whip, preparing to strike. At the same time, another barrage of arrowsunched from the forest, and yet more projectiles¡ªFirebolts and these glowing-blue rays¡ªcame from the two adventurers.


    Loik realized in that single instant, like time had been frozen. This whole encounter been perfectly coordinated, somehow without any of these groups ever speaking with each other. The monster, the Spells, and those archers, they were working in perfect harmony. Simply put, not only had Loik been overpowered, but he¡¯d simply been outyed, as well. And then that moment ended, and all of the attacks hit at once.


    I stared at the battlefield, all of the enemybatants dead. It¡¯d been bloody, and not something I¡¯d enjoyed. But it had been necessary. They¡¯d squandered the second chance I¡¯d given them¡ªproven that if I gave them a third, they¡¯d have taken advantage of it all the same. If we¡¯d let them go, they would continue killing more people, simple as that.


    ¡°And they¡¯d have the possibility of growing stronger and bing a more significant threat to you,¡± Index chimed in. ¡°Good to get rid of any enemies you can, whenever you can.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± I said with a sigh.


    Erani had already left. The stench of dead bodies, burnt from her own Firebolts, had been too much for her. The moment it¡¯d be clear that the fight was basically over, she ran into the forest while I stayed behind to ensure my curses took out the remaining paralyzed ones lying in the dirt. Ainash had stuck behind, as well.


    <em>¡°Am d we got to kill mean guys, father,¡± </em>she said. <em>¡°And was good practice for Goblins! They only attacked mean guys, and not good guys! Were very good soldiers.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, well. We clearly should¡¯ve killed them earlier.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What do you mean?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I gave them a second chance, at first. Well, really, I realized that we would¡¯ve suffered pretty bad losses if we fought the first time around. This time we had the advantage of the Goblins, plus my own Level having increased. And my Spells were higher Rank, too. But still, I could have hunted them down and picked them off after they split up that night, or something. I didn¡¯t do that, though. I thought there was a possibility they¡¯d learn from the experience, and maybe go on to be good people. If they did that, then killing them anyway would mean killing a perfectly good person for no reason.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°But they did not do that.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Exactly. Instead, they went and killed some innocent people. The exact thing I¡¯d wanted to avoid¡ªthe death of people who didn¡¯t deserve it¡ªhappened anyway. So it would¡¯ve been better if we¡¯d just killed them right away. No innocent deaths, that way.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Do Humans really change from being mean guys into bing good guys? It happens often?¡±</em>


    I shook my head. <em>¡°I don¡¯t know, really. I¡¯m sure it happens, but as for how often? Maybe it¡¯s less than I hoped.¡±</em>


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you now, you should just kill them most of the time,¡± Index said. ¡°Like you said, why risk the lives of the truly innocent just for the sake of <em>maybe</em> redeeming someone who already proved themself bad?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re just saying that because you want me to kill anyone who looks at me the wrong way,¡± I responded, rolling my eyes. ¡°Ugh, I need to get out of here.¡±


    <em>¡°Is seeing dead Humans making you sad?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It¡¯s certainly not making me happy.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay, let¡¯s go meet with mother! She is already seeing Goblins I think. Cannot wait to show them to you! They have presents.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Presents?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yes, like gifts! Think you will like them.¡±</em>

 Announcement!!! (Free Chapters!)

    Announcement!!! (Free Chapters!)


    Minute Mage book 1 is out! It''s avable in physical form, plus Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!


    Thank you all for making this possible. I''m really hoping that writing can be my permanent full-time job, and if my Amazonunch does well, it can be!


    Also, <strong>free chapters are on the way!</strong> To celebrate the Amazonunch of Minute Mage, I''ll be publishing extra chapters depending on how well the novel does! Amazon ranks all books published on it,paring how well they''re doing by looking at things like how many sales they''ve had recently, their reviews, how many people with Kindle Unlimited have downloaded them, that sort of thing. Currently, at the time of me writing this, Minute Mage is ranked 30,000 on Amazon just from the preorders it''s gotten. So, if we can get it to break into the top 5000, I''ll upload a free extra chapter here for all of you! If we can get it into the top 2000, I''ll upload another! If we reach the top 1000, another! And if we can get it into the top 500 on the store for any amount of time, I''ll probably just post as many chapters as I can possibly write.


    <strong>So, if you''d like some extra chapters of Minute Mage</strong> (or just to make me very happy), please---go to the Amazon page and buy the book, download it for free if you have Kindle Unlimited, or leave a review!


    You can rate/review the book on Amazon without buying it, too! Since you''ve read it on RoyalRoad, it''spletely allowed for you to go to the Amazon page and leave a review rmending the novel. Amazon <strong>does not</strong> require you to buy the book on their tform first. So that''s apletely free way to support theunch in a massive way---all it costs is about five seconds for you to scroll down the Amazon page to the reviews section and click a star rating!


    With the official publication, I''ve made a ton of improvements to the story. Arge number of wording and structure changes have been made, but I also did a lot of bigger stuff. Entire scenes and chapters have been rewritten, and some whole plotpoints have been added/removed. I''ve done a bunch of work rewriting character arcs, changing conversations and redoing fight scenes, patching up some plot holes, and overall doing everything I can to make the book much better than it originally was.


    My philosophy with the changes was that the only untouchable elements were anything that would bleed into books 2 and beyond, because I wanted to ensure that readers could seamlessly move from the Amazon version to the RR chapters. But other than that, pretty much everything was subject to change. When I first started Minute Mage, I was very inexperienced with writing, and I''vee a long way since then. So there was a lot to do. I bullied my publisher into giving me three separate professional editing passes with several editors, spent months on the revision process ensuring everything was as good as I could make it, and now it''s finally here for you to see!


    <strong>Also, as I mentioned before, there''s an audiobook! And you know what that means! You get to hear my poor, poor audiobook narrator pronounce Demon names like:</strong>


    ?Xhag¡¯duulinithar¡¯obaba¡¯iidook¡¯naisantipoduun¡¯torobaroxhixhonxhaxintep


    ?Quinmorada¡¯qualticroohdodonmi¡¯asmomonomomonminmi¡¯oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi¡¯jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki¡¯miminanmujardinmani¡¯quokinwukanquokokanki


    ?Wortinwukaito¡¯shizazukarwintowrochi¡¯wrochiwrantishokorinkinamlitep¡¯voxhizuwranjulimono¡¯zaxaruluionomran¡¯wxivintoproligunt¡¯kuntoiwar¡¯enuminonoxxiuntepinarntinum¡¯wastiunintiuninpronviaxtrunwia


    and much much more! (Brian Wiggins, if you''re reading this, I deeply apologize for making you learn all of them.)


    Anyway, all that is to say, I really tried to make this release the best it can be, so if you''d like to check it out here, please do so!

 Chapter 207: One Man’s Trash

    Chapter 207: One Man¡¯s Trash


    ¡°Tribe wee you, Human one,¡± a Goblin said, bowing its head in respect.


    I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond. Was I supposed to bow back? Tell it to raise its head? Say ¡®what¡¯s up?¡¯


    In front of me stood around a dozen Goblins, all around half my height and dressed in the barest of tattered clothing, most of it strictly functional, such as little belts with tools and weapons strapped through the loops. One seemed to take the lead, standing in front of the others and speaking for them. Erani and I stood, looking at them, as Ainash stood to their side in the shaded forest, watching them with a look of approval.


    ¡°...Hi, everyone,¡± Erani said, raising a hand in an awkward wave. All of the monsters stared at her. ¡°Um, thanks for your help, and¡­stuff.¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah,¡± I said. I¡¯d switched to Light te once we were in the privacy of the trees, so I no longer heard the familiar sound of my voice reverberating in Dark te¡¯s closed helmet. ¡°Good work, everyone. You¡¯re all some really good shots.¡±


    Erani turned to Ainash. ¡°You taught them? They¡¯re all¡­very obedient.¡±


    <em>¡°Yes!¡± </em>she responded. <em>¡°One in front is named ¡®Koblin.¡¯ I assigned it leader of group, so they do what it says. Have you finished saying hello?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, I guess,¡±</em> I responded.


    <em>¡°Okay! I will discipline them now.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Wait, what? What for?¡±</em>


    As I asked that question, Ainash walked over to the group of Goblins and picked one up by the scruff of its neck. It wailed in fear as she walked back to a clearing where there were some holes dug in the dirt and tossed it in. I counted about a full second and a half before I heard the thing distantly hit the bottom of what was evidently a very deep pit.


    <em>¡°Woblin missed most number of shots during fight. Should be punished for poor uracy,¡±</em> Ainash responded calmly, walking back to us.


    ¡°Woah, woah!¡± Erani rushed forward, looking down the hole with wide eyes. ¡°You can¡¯t just throw it down there like that!¡±


    Ainash tilted her head like a dog who¡¯d just heard a new word. <em>¡°Why not?¡±</em>


    ¡°Do they even know why they¡¯re being punished? I mean, you can¡¯t speak to them, can you? I know you can get some messages across nonverbally, but there¡¯s a point where they won¡¯t even understand what they did wrong.¡±


    <em>¡°Goblins are smart. Can figure it out.¡±</em>


    Erani turned to look at me with wide eyes.


    <em>¡°...I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s the best way to do things,¡±</em> I said, agreeing with her. <em>¡°I mean, if you just punish them all the time for no reason, especially in such a¡­violent way, they¡¯ll just grow to resent you. Even if they fear you now, they¡¯ll be constantly looking for a time they can kill you, run away, anything to escape. You want loyalty toe from people genuinely respecting you and wanting to do what you say, right?¡±</em>


    Ainash frowned. <em>¡°Thought I was doing that by rewarding them.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It¡¯s not just about rewards, it¡¯s also about punishment. You can¡¯t buy loyalty by saying some nice things while also beating them. You have to let them understand why you¡¯re doing what you¡¯re doing, and they have to believe your reasoning is fair.¡±</em>


    ¡°It¡¯s also just not right to hurt them like that when they¡¯ve done nothing wrong,¡± Erani said. ¡°Maybe if that one isn¡¯t good at shooting, you could find another job for it.¡±


    Ainash¡¯s frown deepened, and she stood in thought for a moment. Eventually, she simply said, <em>¡°Having soldiers is hard.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It¡¯s okay,¡±</em> I said. <em>¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t think I could even get them to follow mymands, much less lead a concentrated strike force. You¡¯re already doing great. Just, y¡¯know, there¡¯s always something you can improve.¡±</em>


    She seemed to lighten up at that, smiling and jogging back over to us and the main group of Goblins. The leader, Koblin, still stood bowed before us. I honestly wasn¡¯t sure what to do about it.


    <em>¡°Oh!¡± </em>Ainash said, <em>¡°I have been learning, too! Have been working very, very, very hard on something!¡±</em>


    ¡°What is it?¡± Erani asked.


    <em>¡°Are you ready? I have to prepare.¡±</em>


    ¡°We¡¯re ready,¡± Erani said, looking between me and her. ¡°At least, I assume we are?¡±


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em> Ainash took a deep breath, fiery white eyes narrowing in concentration. She looked at the group of Goblins, raised her hand, opened her mouth, and shouted¡ªaloud¡ª¡±Kneel!¡±


    At the same time she shouted, she also raised her foot and stomped her heel into the earth in a deep thump. Her voice had a heavy ent, like her mouth was full of cotton, but nevertheless, the moment she uttered it, each of the dozen Goblins instantly fell to one knee. They didn¡¯t quite move as a single unit; they weren¡¯t acting with any sort of coordinated rhythm, instead each one using a different knee, hitting the ground at a different time, bumping into each other and trying to correct themselves as quickly and quietly as possible. But within a couple seconds, they were all on one knee, heads bowed.


    I wasn¡¯t spending too much time looking at the Goblins, though. Instead, I stared straight at Ainash.


    ¡°Holy shit,¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Good gods! You can talk!¡± Erani eximed, a wide smile spread across her face.


    <em>¡°Only learned couple of words,¡±</em> Ainash said. I could tell she was trying to be modest, but her own excitement was obvious. <em>¡°Learned them to use them with Goblins! Also know ¡®attack,¡¯ ¡®stay,¡¯ and ¡®stinky.¡¯¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Did the Goblins teach you thest one?¡± </em>I asked.


    <em>¡°Yes, do not really know what it means.¡±</em>


    ¡°Well, still,¡± Erani said, ¡°that¡¯s amazing! Just learning a couple words is the first step to learning them all.¡±


    I nodded. <em>¡°Yeah, even if you just learned it to get them to, uh, prostrate themselves beneath you.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Will make them get up now. Have another thing for them to show you!¡±</em>


    Ainash grunted, and the Goblins looked up at her. Then she raised her hands, making a few quick motions and expressions, pointing off in the forest and seeming to draw symbols in the air with her fingers. At the end, she stomped her foot on the ground, and the Goblins all scrambled off in the direction she pointed.


    <em>¡°Where are they going?¡±</em> I asked.


    Ainash responded with a word that took me a moment to trante, with me eventually settling on the phrase ¡°spoils of war.¡± She continued, <em>¡°Is a surprise what it is specifically, though. Will let you see for yourself!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...Uh huh,¡±</em> I said, unsure if this would be a good thing or a bad thing.


    ¡°What were all those gestures you were using?¡± Erani asked. ¡°Did you teach all of that to the Goblins, too?¡±


    <em>¡°Yes! Goblins are very good at learning under pressure. Create pressure, and they learn! Teach them lots of things. Like, when stomp foot on ground like this¡­¡±</em> She mmed her heel into the dirt. <em>¡°Means want it done fast!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°That¡¯s really impressive, that you¡¯ve managed to teach them so much so quickly,¡± </em>I said.


    <em>¡°Think they are used to learning like that because of Dragon.¡±</em>


    As we spoke, Erani walked over to the hole Ainash had thrown one of the Goblins into earlier, peering down into it. ¡°Is this one going to be okay?¡±


    <em>¡°Probably will,¡± </em>Ainash responded. <em>¡°They normally survive.¡±</em>


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Erani rooted through her pack, eventually pulling out one of the ration bars we kept in supply. She tore off a piece and dropped it into the hole. ¡°I hope it¡¯s not thirsty, I¡¯m not sure how I could get any water to it. Are you sure you want to keep it down there? It would be best to let it go with the rest of the Goblins.¡±


    <em>¡°You say that I am in charge of Goblins. Am supposed to make decisions and teach them. Will make sure they do not try to kill me and that I am not being mean for no reason, but I think this is best decision for teaching Goblins.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Just stay safe,¡±</em> I said. <em>¡°The Goblins are your responsibility, but you¡¯re our responsibility. So it¡¯s still our duty to make sure you aren¡¯t going to get yourself hurt. If you can make them useful, that¡¯s great. But don¡¯t risk yourself for that purpose.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°If do not train Goblins, then will not get stronger, then will not be able to kill bad guys.¡±</em> Ainash looked away from us. <em>¡°More important than my life.¡±</em>


    I nced at Erani, and found her ncing back at me. This had been a sentiment I¡¯d heard Ainash portray in the past, but never this matter-of-fact. I¡¯d thought she had been getting better, learning to live her own life a little more during our time of rtive peace. Maybe I¡¯d been wrong. Maybe she saw this more as a time of preparation than even I did.


    In little time, I heard the pitter-patter of feet and turned to see the Goblins returning. In each of their hands was an item. Everything was shiny in some way, but that didn¡¯t mean it was all valuable. I saw the brass handguard of a sword, a scrap of shredded steel, a reflective shard from a mirror, some iron chains, and a bunch of other garbage.


    <em>¡°Goblins have picked out gifts for you!¡± </em>Ainash said. <em>¡°Told them that important people wereing, and they needed to give gifts. Here they are!¡±</em>


    They all formed an orderly line in front of us, the one in front proudly holding out its badly bent sword de.


    ¡°Oh¡­well, thank you,¡± Erani said. ¡°What is your name?¡±


    ¡°Toblin!¡± it answered.


    <em>¡°Were these from the Dragon¡¯s hoard?¡± </em>I asked.


    <em>¡°Mostly, yes,¡± </em>Ainash responded. <em>¡°Is ours now, though!¡±</em>


    Toblin the Goblin ced its treasure at our feet, then moved to the side to let the next one through, where it showed off its single eyt coin.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­where we should put all of this,¡± Eranimented, frowning down at the growing pile of trash at our feet as the Goblins continued to ce their gifts into it.


    I shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll figure it out. Can¡¯t hurt to have it, right?¡±


    The line eventually ran to the end, the final Goblin cing down its final item. This one was the leader¡ªits name was Koblin, I tried to remember¡ªand it put down some sort of orb before stepping off to the side.


    ¡°Well, thank you everyone,¡± Erani said once again to the group of Goblins with a friendly wave. Then she turned to Ainash. ¡°They understood that, right? I hope they understand what I¡¯m saying.¡±


    <em>¡°Think they do,¡±</em> Ainash said. <em>¡°Are good at understanding.¡±</em>


    While they spoke, I bent down and examined the orb thatst Goblin had ced in the pile. It wasn¡¯t broken or damaged like most of the other stuff we¡¯d received¡ªthat was all obviously just random shiny stuff the Goblins had found lying around or looted off of dead adventurers. This seemed to be something else.


    ¡°Hey, Erani.¡± I grabbed it and held it up. ¡°You know what this is?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± She looked at it closer. ¡°Uh, no, I guess not. I just assumed it was some ball from a children¡¯s game, or something.¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so,¡± I said. ¡°Feels way too heavy and well-crafted for something like that.¡±


    Ainash overlooked our conversation. <em>¡°Do not think Goblins know what that is. Just got it from pile.¡±</em>


    I frowned. ¡°Huh. Hey, Index, can you tell me anything?¡±


    ¡°Try pushing Mana into it.¡±


    ¡°Is that a good idea?¡±


    ¡°Just do a little bit. Nothing will happen if it isn¡¯t a lot.¡±


    I did as she said, treating the orb as I did the Mana Batteries I charged for the teleportation and sending some of my own Mana into the mechanism.


    As soon as I did so, I got a notification.


    Beacon is charged with 1/1k Mana.


    ¡°Beacon, huh?¡±


    ¡°Is that what it¡¯s called?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Apparently it needs a thousand Mana to charge to full. After that¡­Index, can you really not tell me anything? Is it dangerous?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t say much. But it isn¡¯t dangerous, no. At least, it¡¯s not dangerous for you to just charge it up like you¡¯re doing now.¡±


    ¡°So then I can just use it to see what it does?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not entirely true, either. Once it¡¯s activated, it¡¯s activated. You can¡¯t deactivate it. Well, you <em>can</em>, it¡¯s just that it¡¯ll stay powered off for quite a while afterward. It forms a connection with its activator and with the location it¡¯s activated in, so you don¡¯t want to turn it on haphazardly.¡±


    ¡°...Is this a good location for a ¡®connection?¡¯¡±


    There was a pause before Index eventually responded, ¡°Actually, yeah, considering the timing and circumstances. This might be a good ce to turn it on.¡±


    I nced around. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll just do that then.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re charging it?¡± Erani asked me.


    ¡°Yeah. Index can¡¯t tell me what it¡¯ll do, but it says this isn¡¯t a bad time to use it, so presumably it¡¯ll help us out.¡±


    With the Mana in my storage¡ªplus the regeneration I had avable to me¡ªit wasn¡¯t much of a problem to go ahead and charge the Beacon up to full. In fact, with my Mana/Minute having passed 100 by now, I could get back the Mana I spent charging the thing in less than ten minutes. So with little effort, I watched the number soar up to its maximum.


    Beacon is active.


    The moment I did, the little orb in my fingertips lit aglow, beginning to hover above my hand so it was just below my eye level. The light it emitted didn¡¯t fade awaypletely, but dimmed enough that it wasn¡¯t too noticeable. Taking a step back, I found that it stayedpletely still in the air where I left it, hovering without issue.


    The Goblins stared at me, wide-eyed. Considering neither they¡ªnor their ex-overlord the Dragon¡ªhad ess to Mana, I assumed the orb must have just been collecting dust in their possession. But now it was turned on.


    ¡°So,¡± I said, looking at the device, ¡°what does it actually do?¡±

 Chapter 208: Curiosity

    Chapter 208: Curiosity


    I ced my hand on the device floating in midair among the trees. Erani and Ainash looked at it interestedly, while the Goblins standing among us seemed more concerned with whether Ainash was angry or happy with the recent development.


    Making contact with the ¡°Beacon,¡± I tried pushing my Mana into it once again to see what it could do.


    Beacon requires at least one other ced Anchor Point to be activated.


    Unced Anchor Points remaining: 1


    ¡°Uhh,¡± I said, ¡°okay, so I need to ce an ¡®Anchor Point.¡¯ How do I do that?¡±


    ¡°Since you activated the Beacon, you should automatically have cing privileges,¡± Index responded. ¡°It should be instinctive, like casting a Spell.¡±


    ¡°Alright, so¡­¡± I closed my eyes and mentally searched for the trigger. After a moment, I found it residing within my mind, as though it had always been there. I hadn¡¯t even noticed its appearance, but now that I found it, I had easy ess. I flipped the switch, excited to finally see how the thing worked.


    Could not ce Anchor Point. Anchor Points must be at least 10,000 paces away from all other Anchor Points.


    I sighed. ¡°Well. Okay.¡±


    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s some sort of additional requirement before I can use it. Gotta be entire cities away from here. Index, you can exin more now, right? Now that I¡¯ve interacted with it?¡±


    ¡°I still can¡¯t tell you what it does. But you should be careful about where you put down that Anchor Point. You won¡¯t be able to move them around once ced, so pick somewhere good. Don¡¯t just wander off in a random direction until you¡¯re far away enough to ce it down.¡±


    ¡°Well, how do we know what¡¯s a good spot?¡±


    ¡°Hm. That¡¯s a question. Uhh¡­Actually, when you get to that capital city you¡¯ve been trying to teleport to, try throwing one down in a secluded ce. A ce that nobody will find it, obviously; remember, you can¡¯t move it.¡±


    I grunted. ¡°Not sure I¡¯m too big a fan of blindly putting down these things in random spots without even knowing what they do, especially if all I have is the one.¡±


    ¡°Technically, there¡¯s always the possibility you can get more. If you find more of these Beacons, they can join in with the mainwork as additional Anchor Points.¡±


    ¡°What? Where would I¡ªwait, what even <em>is</em> this thing? Where¡¯s it from?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s made from highly-specialized, high-Level Enchanters. You probably wouldn¡¯t find any sped into that path around here¡ªhonestly, chances are you wouldn¡¯t find anyone anywhere who could make them. Just statistically.¡±


    ¡°Well, if we found one, that means its maker has to be around here somewhere, right? If that Dragon had it in its hoard, the Goblins had to steal it from someone.¡±


    ¡°Maybe. Maybe not. It could be that the Goblins just found it buried in the forest somewhere, or that the Young Dragon was the one to bring it along into the forest, having gotten it from ancient ruin in the mountains. Could be hundreds of years old.¡±


    ¡°So, what, just ignore it for now? Until we get to the capital and then we set down the other point?¡±


    ¡°Keep an eye out for now. But yeah, probably not a priority.¡±


    ¡°Well. One more thing to add to the agenda then, I guess.¡±


    Erani looked over at me once I was done talking with Index. ¡°So? What¡¯d you learn?¡±


    The next day, we prepared to head off into the mountains. Our goal was to find those missing border guards off in the south, which would hopefully be a good bit of money for rtively little work. Though, really, it was closer to gambling and hoping we stumbled onto their location¡ªdead or alive.


    Over the night, Erani and I had retired to our bedroom at the guild, so I was free to use Light te for Noxious Grasp training all night long. By the time I woke up, I was up to 3.39k out of the required 3.71k Spell XP for Noxious Grasp to hit Rank 19. And, of course, my leftover Time Loop uses got converted to Stat Points at midnight, as well.


    Time Loop has refreshed its uses.


    Recycled Loop has activated. Due to 3 uses being leftover, you have gained the following Stats:


    +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Conjuration


    7 Stats remain until you must Level up.


    With my most recent Level-up, I had ten more Stats I could gain from Recycled Loop, and it felt quite nice to see that notification once again after going a while with my maximum reached for Level 20.


    Once we woke up, Erani and I first met up with Sylvie, then left with her to meet with Ainash¡ªleaving her Goblin army behind¡ªand the four of us started on our journey to the border of Empire¡¯s Edge.


    Erani and I wanted to double-check with Aliss and Boy to make sure they didn¡¯t want toe along before we left, but they were nowhere to be found. We saw Entismo at the guild lobby, but he wanted to stay back in case they came by¡ªhe didn¡¯t know where they were, either¡ªso that just left Sylvie, who seemed more concerned with making money than with figuring out what that pair of her teammates were up to.


    ¡°So,¡± Erani spoke to her as we walked down the road, ¡°you don¡¯t care about seeing if Aliss and Boy are okay?¡±


    Sylvie chuckled. ¡°Didn¡¯t think you¡¯d try to convince me to stay back. Don¡¯t want me here?¡±


    ¡°No, no, I¡¯m just curious. You and Entismo are friends at least, correct? So I was a little confused when you didn¡¯t stay back with him.¡±


    ¡°Nah, he¡¯s just being a baby. Couple people disappear for a day. Probably just going to do some exclusive job that they just now got the Levels to be allowed by the guild to do it. Not my problem, and it shouldn¡¯t be his. Entismo needs someone to lead him by example a little bit. So if that means leaving him behind to sit in a bar alone while I get to do all the fun, I say it¡¯s good for him.¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯ll be all that much fun,¡± I said. ¡°We probably won¡¯t find shit.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so sure. Won¡¯t be as muchpetition as you might think. Not too many people like venturing so close to Empire¡¯s Edge, and especially not so close that they¡¯re up with the border guards.¡±


    ¡°That scared of the Dragons, huh?¡±


    ¡°To an extent. But the guards are also pretty bad.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Wait, what? I thought they worked for the empire. Aren¡¯t they there to protect you?¡±


    She looked between me and Erani. ¡°We¡¯re going to an outpost where you say you¡¯re friends with the guards, right?¡±


    ¡°Uh, friends is a little too familiar a term. We know them.¡±


    ¡°Still, that means you¡¯ve talked with some of the guards. So you should know what I¡¯m talking about, right?¡±


    ¡°Well, I guess they¡¯re pretty weird, but I didn¡¯t think that would extend to every single guard along the mountain range. Though, I guess if they¡¯ve all been isted for years, that¡¯d induce some craziness in anyone.¡±


    Sylvie frowned. ¡°What? No. Did you seriously not hear? The reason those people in particr were chosen for the punishment to be border guards.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right,¡± I said, remembering what I¡¯d heard from Bon and Jannin. ¡°They were critical of the new emperor, Etrin, right? Something about how he killed the old one, Lyra, and they were still loyal to her. What, are you a fan of that Etrin guy? Feels like it¡¯s a pretty harsh punishment to put on someone just for having a difference of opinion.¡±


    She scoffed. ¡°Well, that¡¯s one way to put it. Another way to put it is that everyst one of the border guards is a terrorist. They were trying to overthrow the min¡¯ emperor, man. And it wasn¡¯t just a regr coup! They wanted to kill Etrin and leave nobody to rece him. Throw the entire country into chaos just because their golden girl died.¡±


    ¡°Terrorists?¡± Erani asked. ¡°They weren¡¯t blowing up buildings, were they?¡±


    ¡°No, not <em>that</em> far. But they were spreading dissent, starting riots¡­People died. The good guards, the ones that had to keep the empire safe from the protestors, a lot of them lost their lives when things got bad. And plenty of protesters died, too.¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you say that¡¯s Etrin¡¯s fault, though?¡± I asked. ¡°I mean, he was the one who killed and reced Lyra, right? Can¡¯t imagine he didn¡¯t expect there to be some political unrest after that.¡±


    Sylvie rolled her eyes. ¡°Ugh. Seems like you¡¯ve only ever talked about this with those fanatics, the way you talk about baseless rumor as though it were confirmed fact. Nobody can prove Lyra was murdered. And I know that because if those terrorists <em>could</em> get their hands on proof, it would¡¯ve been spread around the entire empire like a gue within a week. Here are the facts: Lyra died tragically from an unknown disease when she was pregnant with her first child. Some people <em>im</em> that the progression of that disease was suspiciously simr to a known poison, however only one person who saw her during her time bedridden actually ims this, and everyone else says it had nothing to do with any poisons they knew of. Etrin was a noble that quickly took up the mantle of leader the moment she showed signs of weakness, convincing the people to <em>choose</em> him as a new emperor. At best, he¡¯s a quick thinker, one who single-handedly saved the country from the imminent disaster thates when an empress dies with no heirs to inherit the throne. At worst, he¡¯s an opportunistic man who imed the power that fell into hisp. But none of this implies him to be the murderer.¡±


    ¡°Well, I at least see the case being made,¡± I said with a shrug. ¡°There was a suspicious death, timed conveniently to leave no heirs, and a man who seemed more than prepared for a circumstance that nobody could have prepared for. But that¡¯s not to say I wholeheartedly believe it. Just seems like a good idea to leave a little room in your mind to question those coincidences when they happen.¡±


    ¡°But the people who escted the questions into full-scale riots are horrible,¡± Erani said. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s one thing to be curious. It¡¯s another to act before knowing whether your suspicions are correct.¡±


    Sylvie scowled. ¡°No, even the ones asking the questions are to me. Every nodding head encourages the radicals more to do something stupid. No matter your beliefs or your questions, you can¡¯t let them get away with spouting their min¡¯ shit. If people had called it out the moment it started, told the morons there¡¯s no reason to hate a man who saved us, then a lotta people would be alive today. And those border guards are no exception. They were the ones to spread half the min¡¯ rumors in the first ce. Hope you don¡¯t take offense, but I¡¯m not too excited to meet any of ¡®em, even if a couple are your friends. Or acquaintances, or whatever they are.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Not sure I agree with what you¡¯re saying, but I can respect it. You obviously know more than me about the situation, that¡¯s for sure. But, uh, we <em>really </em>aren¡¯t friends. With the guards, I mean. Like, we barely know them.¡±


    ¡°So then what makes you so confident they¡¯ll give us any information, even if they do know it?¡±


    I exchanged a look with Erani. How was I supposed to express our rtionship with Bon, Jannin, and Poppins? We¡¯re frenemies? Friends that used to be enemies? Enemies that used to be friends? Maybe I could just say I¡¯d threatened their lives enough times that they would probably do what I said if I came knocking, and that would suffice as an answer. Though, admitting to doing that would probably be a bad idea.


    ¡°We¡¯ve had some disagreements in the past with them,¡± Erani spoke for me in a diplomatic tone. ¡°They might believe some strange things about us, but we¡¯ve mostly cleared the air, so we¡¯re hoping they¡¯ll be understanding enough to answer our questions.¡±


    ¡°Well, it should be quick enough that as long as they don¡¯t hate you guys, we¡¯ll be fine,¡± Sylvie said. ¡°All we¡¯re really gonna be asking is whether or not they¡¯ve heard about the disappearances, and if so, whether they know what happened.¡±


    ¡°I sure hope the conversation is that short,¡± I muttered.


    <em>¡°Father,¡±</em> Ainash sent me a mental message, <em>¡°if Humans try to tell this one about you, try to turn her into bad guy, should I kill them all?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I¡¯d sure hope it doesn¡¯te to that,¡± </em>I said.


    <em>¡°...So do I kill them?¡±</em>


    I sighed. <em>¡°Just¡­if they¡¯re telling her about my identity, sure. Kill the guards. But leave our ally alive. At least, leave her alive until she proves herself to be an enemy. I¡¯ll probably just use Time Loop to undo it all, anyway.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    Eventually, we arrived at the guard outpost. It was silent this time, despite the hour not being sote that they would be asleep. In fact, the sun had only barely begun setting behind the mountains. But I supposed they couldn¡¯t all be shouting over each other <em>every</em> night; after years together, they had to run out of conversation topics sometime.


    I led Erani, Ainash, and Sylvie over to the stone box, ncing up at the shut-tight windows. Hopefully this ce would give us some sort of answers regarding the other missing guards. If I remembered correctly, Bon and his gang were only a few outposts away from them, so it wasn¡¯t entirely unlikely. Not that I had my hopes <em>that</em> high, of course. These guys always seemed to prove less useful than I hoped.


    I stepped up to their door with mypanions behind me, and swung it open.


    Inside were Bon, Jannin, and Poppins, all sitting around their living room table like usual. Only, when I looked at them, I saw them staring at me with surprise and fear. Well, I supposed that made sense; I <em>had</em> implied thest time I saw them that, if they ever met me again, it would be because I was there to kill them.


    ¡°H-hey,¡± Jannin said, holding sweaty hands up to me before I could even take a step into the building, ¡°we didn¡¯t tell her anything, okay? Promise.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I nced behind me to look at Sylvie before turning back to them. ¡°Have you met her before?¡±


    Jannin continued frantically, ¡°I-I don¡¯t know if you came here for her, but I swear, we didn¡¯t say anything, man. min¡¯ nothing!¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? Came here for who?¡±


    Jannin continued stuttering on as the other two guards stared at me in fear, and I took a step forward to walk inside.


    But just as I did, the de of a battleaxe came swinging out from behind the wall, straight at my face.


    Then it collided right into my nose.


    You have been sliced. 56 damage.


    Your Health is 624.


    You have been inflicted with Burning Blood.


    For the next 10 seconds, you gain the following effects:


    You lose 1 Health every second.


    Whenever you take damage from a physical source, that source deals an additional 50% damage, up to a maximum of 25 additional damage.

 Chapter 209: Anxiety

    Chapter 209: Anxiety


    Just as I stepped inside the outpost, the de of a battleaxe came swinging out from behind the wall, straight at my face, and collided right into my nose.


    You have been sliced. 56 damage.


    Your Health is 624.


    You have been inflicted with Burning Blood.


    For the next 10 seconds, you gain the following effects:


    You lose 1 Health every second.


    Whenever you take damage from a physical source, that source deals an additional 50% damage, up to a maximum of 25 additional damage.


    ¡°Agh!¡± I shouted, stumbling back from the force of the swing. I was wearing Dark te, but that didn¡¯t mean my visor could stop anything meant to hit me. Thankfully, though, my Health was more than capable of doing that. With my Stats, even a powerful swing like that didn¡¯t draw blood.


    Well, it still hurt like the fucking hells. And would probably bruise me pretty badly. But hey, didn¡¯t split my head in two.


    The moment I was attacked, Erani and Sylvie leapt back, preparing to fight back, and Ainash drew her own weapon. I almost charged in and unleashed the full extent of my Spells on whoever just swung the axe, but then I looked at the notification again.


    ¡°Wait.¡± I frowned, holding my hand to keep the rest of them back. ¡°I know that curse.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± A voice came from behind the wall, and someone walked into the doorway, still clearly on-guard with her battleaxe held high. The massive, muscr woman looked at me with the same recognition that I looked at her with. ¡°Oh, hey!¡±


    ¡°Ripley?¡± I asked, staring at her. ¡°The fuck are you doing here?¡±


    Bon looked between the two of us from the back of the room. ¡°Oh, thank the min¡¯ gods. You two know each other? You¡¯re friends?¡±


    I cocked my head to the side. ¡°...Effectively.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, for sure we¡¯re friends!¡± Ripley walked toward me and wrapped a muscly arm around me, bringing her head close to my ear and whispering, ¡°Do they know who you are?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I whispered back. ¡°Well, they know some. But we still havepany who don¡¯t. Archer behind me, the one you don¡¯t recognize.¡±


    She stepped away, speaking up again. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure as hells surprised to see you three. Er, four, I guess. I¡¯d have thought you would have fucked off further north into the empire days ago.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re working on it,¡± I replied. ¡°But I¡¯m just as surprised to see you here. You said yourself you¡¯d be fleeing from the border, right?¡±


    ¡°I did. Then I came back. Trust you know why?¡±


    I frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t. What¡¯s going on?¡±


    She nced around. ¡°Not sure that¡¯s the sort of info either of us want getting out in presentpany.¡±


    ¡°Hold on,¡± Sylvie said, walking up to us. ¡°What in mes is going on? What are you two talking about?¡±


    I opened my mouth to respond, but Ripley spoke first.


    ¡°I¡¯d imagine you¡¯re part of the presentpany that, uh¡­¡± she looked at me. ¡°...Sorry, remind me of your name, again?¡±


    I blinked, realizing I¡¯d never told her my fake name. I was just d she assumed I¡¯d have one and didn¡¯t say who I really was in front of Sylvie. ¡°I¡¯m Annor. And, uh, I did get your name correct, right?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Still Ripley.¡± She turned back to Sylvie. ¡°Anyway, doesn¡¯t seem like Annor knows you too well. And I don¡¯t know fuckall about you, so I sure as hells am not gonna trust you with my very exclusive, very valuable, very dangerous information.¡±


    Sylvie turned to me, incredulous. ¡°Did you know this woman was going to be here? How do you even know her in the first ce?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re, uh, both fugitives from the kingdom,¡± I said. ¡°Met a couple times when fleeing.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s one way to put it,¡± Ripley muttered.


    ¡°Anyway, I didn¡¯t know she¡¯d be here. Actually, Ripley, I should probably ask you about that. Uh, what the fuck?¡±


    Ripley took a breath. ¡°Honestly, yeah, you could probably help me out with this. Come on in, sit down with me.¡±


    ¡°W-wait,¡± Bon said, slowly standing from his seat. ¡°Ldy, you said you would leave soon. We told you what you asked, we cooperated. You can¡¯t just go inviting more people in. Especially not¡­him.¡±


    ¡°I was here to see you, anyway,¡± I said, strolling through the doorway. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, none of you are in trouble. I just wanted to ask you some stuff. But, uh, yeah. I¡¯m still definitely going to enter your home. Sorry if it¡¯s an inconvenience.¡±


    Jannin clenched his hands, visibly shaking and leaning back more and more with every step I took into the room. ¡°P-please don¡¯t hurt us.¡±


    Ripely stared at me. ¡°The fuck did you do to these poor guys?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sylvie said, still standing outside the outpost, ¡°you never actually said how you know them. Did you, like, torture them or something? Doesn¡¯t seem like they¡¯re missing any fingernails, though.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t torture them. Haven¡¯t done anything to hurt them.¡±


    Index said something in my ear, to which I mentally responded with <em>Ooh, good idea.</em>


    I turned to the guards and, saying it in the menacing tone that Index had helped me practice in the past, growled, ¡°...Not yet, anyway.¡±


    Erani and Ainash stepped inside while we were talking, and Ripley looked over at them, stepping up to Ainash. ¡°Ah, hey, it¡¯s, uh¡­the pet thing. Forgot what you were.¡±


    ¡°Her name¡¯s Ainash,¡± Erani said.


    ¡°Oh, are you new, too?¡± Ripley said, turning to her. ¡°Damn, Annor, you sure know how to pick the creepy-looking ones. First your armor, now this girl? Actually, are you even a Human?¡±


    ¡°You do know me,¡± Erani said. ¡°Look more closely.¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± Ripley squinted, leaning in. ¡°...Oh, wait. Oh! Oh, that¡¯s fucking clever. Nice. What happened to your¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s Eita,¡± I interrupted before Ripley could finish, having seen her eyes go to Erani¡¯s missing arm. Then I sat down, waiting for the rest to make their way in. ¡°So, Ripley, what¡¯s up? Why are you here? I know you said some of that information is something that¡¯s only for specific ears, but presumably there¡¯s at least something you can tell us, right? Or should we just move on to what we¡¯re here for?¡±


    ¡°I can talk a little bit,¡± Ripley responded, taking a seat in a chair against the wall. ¡°So, just west of here, there was a group of guards, like these guys. They disappeared recently, and¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh, we do know about that,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a bounty to find them. So we¡¯re here to try and im it.¡±


    ¡°Hm. But do you know the¡­¡± she nced at the guards and at Sylvie before looking back at me, ¡°...circumstances behind that disappearance? Who caused it?¡±


    ¡°Wait, it¡¯s a who?¡± Sylvie asked, practically jumping up at Ripley¡¯s words. ¡°Hells yeah, that¡¯s great information! Are the guards dead? Alive? Do you know where we can find them?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know that. Quite frankly, I don¡¯t give two shits about whether those fuckers were killed or not. But Annor, you can assume who I¡¯m talking about, right? If they¡¯re disappearing some guards, that means they¡¯re probably trying to get in here. Not all of ¡®em, not yet. Probably just some splinter squads, trying to poke around, test the waters and see what bites back. I¡¯m here to let ¡®em know there¡¯s a shark in this pond.¡±


    I nodded slowly. ¡°The Demons.¡±


    At that, Sylvie actually did jump to her feet. ¡°Woah, woah, woah. Wait. Demons? They¡¯re trying to enter the empire?¡±


    ¡°Might not actually be Demons,¡± Ripley said, ¡°it could be Humans paid by the Demons. But it¡¯s definitely their soldiers. My guess is that they squashed the guards and buried ¡®em somewhere to make room for their squads to sneak through. Could have alreadye all the way in. But my hope was that they¡¯de to this outpost, since¡­y¡¯know.¡±


    Since we¡¯de through here. It made sense. If the Demons wanted to find me, this ce would probably be their first stop to try and get some info out of the guards.


    ¡°W-wait,¡± Bon interrupted, ¡°Demons? Coming here? Are-are they on their way already?¡± He quickly stood and rushed to the windows, peering outside. ¡°Jannin, Poppins, c¡¯mon! Get some defenses up!¡±


    Jannin stayed seated, still not having taken his cautious eyes off of me.


    Poppins also continued sitting at the table, gazing between each of us. ¡°I-I think these people are good enough protection. If they aren¡¯t enough, then¡­¡±


    ¡°So,¡± Sylvie said, clearly ignoring the guards¡¯ words, ¡°if we can capture one of these Demons¡ªor one of their hired soldiers, or whatever¡ªthen we can question them about the missing border guards, right? They¡¯re our obvious ticket to the money.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s only if you don¡¯t die fighting them,¡± Ripley said.


    ¡°You said you could beat them, right? I¡¯m around Annor¡¯s Level, so if you¡¯re around that point too, then¡ª¡±


    ¡°I never promised I could beat ¡®em.¡±


    Sylvie stared at Ripley, who was in turn staring at a divot in the stone walls. Then she turned to look at me. ¡°You get mixed up with some weird min¡¯ people, man.¡±


    I just shrugged.


    ¡°Well then,¡± Sylvie turned to the door. ¡°Guess that means we¡¯re leaving? At least, I¡¯m not sticking around in some box full of people waiting to die. Annor, you want to set up a trap? Maybe we can observe the fight from afar and see how it goes. Though, honestly, if we¡¯re looking to fight, it¡¯s probably best to go back and at least grab Entismo, if not also look around for Aliss and Boy to tell about the Demons, too. Honestly, it might be good to get word out to as many people as possible. Let them know there¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not telling anyone else about them,¡± Ripley interrupted.


    ¡°What?¡±


    Ripley shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re not gonna tell anyone about the Demons. Not while they¡¯re still in the empire, at least. And definitely not while I¡¯m still here.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? Why?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t want people finding me. Once my job is done and I¡¯m gone, feel free to tell your war stories. But I don¡¯t want people toe looking.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t just keep this a secret. If-if the Demons are actually invading like you say they are, people have a right to know. I mean, half the entire poption of our town is made up of people who moved over here to help protect our country from a Demon invasion! And now that it¡¯s happening, you want me to stand by and let it happen?¡± Sylvie started walking for the door. ¡°Nah, that¡¯s min¡¯ bullshit. I¡¯m telling people.¡±


    ¡°Sylvie,¡± I said. She stopped and looked at me. ¡°Bringing more press to this issue is not necessary. We can handle it.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°What?¡±


    I sighed. Bringing her along had clearly been a mistake. I didn¡¯t have any idea this shit was going to end up leading back to the Demons¡ªand, thus, back to me. If more people knew about the Demon forces, then more people woulde out here looking to fight them. And if someone <em>else</em> managed to capture the people here to find me, they¡¯d probably hear more than enough about me to be able to identify me despite my attempts to hide myself.


    Though, of course, I couldn¡¯t say any of that to Sylvie.


    ¡°It would lead to unnecessary deaths,¡± Erani cut in for me. ¡°Many of those people are unprepared. We aren¡¯t. We¡¯re high enough Level to take them on, and we have the experience to know how to fight these things. If other, lower-Level, less experienced people came down here, they¡¯d just get needlessly killed.¡±


    ¡°Well, what if I just told Entismo? Maybe Aliss and Boy, if I find them. They¡¯re strong, too. And you know them.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d take too long,¡± I said, trying to think of an excuse to prevent her from going and getting more people. Honestly, I¡¯d have preferred she wasn¡¯t here either. Bringing in even more people to worry about would just cause more problems. ¡°If you leave, you¡¯ll be isted on the road for a while. Too easy to ambush.¡±


    ¡°But¡ª¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s cut the shit,¡± Ripley interrupted her argument, hefting her Enchanted axe and taking a step toward Sylvie. ¡°If you leave this room, I¡¯ll kill you.¡±


    Sylvie¡¯s eyes grew wide, and she looked over to me for help.


    I didn¡¯t say anything.


    Erani spoke, though. ¡°Ripley, maybe calm down some. We can handle it. No threats, especially not against allies.¡±


    ¡°Sometimes an ally needs a good threat or two. Keeps ¡®em in line. And this girl seems like she needs to be taught not to argue.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want a fight,¡± Sylvie said. ¡°I was just trying to say¡ª¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want a fight, then you drop the topic, and do what I say. Arguing won¡¯t get you nothing but an axe in the face. If you want to leave, then go ahead and pull out that bow of yours and take a shot at me. I could use the practice against you Archers, anyway.¡±


    Sylvie stood, frozen at Ripley¡¯s words. I saw as she barely moved her hand toward the bow on her back, clearly not sure what to do.


    But before she could make that decision, Bon turned away from the window he¡¯d been staring out of. ¡°Hey! Someone¡¯sing.¡±


    ¡°Demons?¡± Ripley asked.


    ¡°No.¡± Bon quickly closed the stone shutters, sealing the window off. ¡°People. I didn¡¯t get a good enough look to know who. But, uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s prepare for battle, then,¡± Ripley said, calmly taking a stance by the door so that when it opened it¡¯d hide her behind it¡ªprobably the same stance she held when she ambushed me during my own entrance. She pointed to the border guards. ¡°You three, sit down at the table like you were before.¡±


    Bon frowned. ¡°B-but, didn¡¯t you say to prepare for battle? Shouldn¡¯t we draw our weapons?¡±


    ¡°No. You need to look like nothing¡¯s wrong. We don¡¯t want our visitors suspecting anything.¡±


    I walked over and stepped into the bathroom, Erani moved into the bedroom in the far corner, and Ainash ducked behind the kitchen counter, so that we were all out of sight.


    Sylvie was left standing in the middle of the room, looking at all of us like we werepletely insane. ¡°Did you guys practice this or something?! Where do I go?¡±


    ¡°Come in here with me,¡± Erani said, peeking her head back into the main room and waving Sylvie in her direction. ¡°It¡¯s best for us ranged fighters to be further back when the fighting breaks out.¡±


    Sylvie took a deep breath before ducking into the room. With that, we were all hidden, the only people in in sight Bon, Jannin, and Poppins, sitting at the table with sweat beading their foreheads.


    I leaned my head against the wall in the bathroom. <em>Index, I want you to tell me if there¡¯s something important going on in the room that I can¡¯t see.</em>


    ¡°On it. Just to start you off, there are five people approaching the building currently. You don¡¯t know any of them, by the looks of their faces, and¡­wait, what¡¯s up with their limbs? Four of the five are¡­what in the¡­


    <em>What is it?</em>


    The door opened before Index could respond.


    Bon spoke up, his voice shaking, ¡°W-who are you?¡±


    A man replied, the sound of his boots thudding against the stone floor as he walked in, ¡°Hi there. I hope you¡¯re doing well, and I really do not mean to intrude. We¡¯ve just stopped by to ask you some simple questions about who you might have seening through this checkpoint. My name is Jon Mourn. May I have your own names?¡±

 Chapter 210: Disorientation

    Chapter 210: Disorientation


    I stood, hiding in the bathroom of the guard outpost, listening to Bon speak to a man¡ªpresumably the leader of the five that¡¯d just walked in¡ªnamed Jon Mourn.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know too much,¡± Jannin said, ¡°don¡¯t keep any, uh, detailed logs, or anything.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± the voice of the man asked. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to assume, but another outpost we visited did have an entire book logging everyone who came in and out, everything they¡¯d seen, and any abnormality they observed. Though, I¡¯ll admit I¡¯m somewhat ignorant of the topic; I¡¯m new to this country.¡±


    <em>Index,</em> I thought, <em>are they safe to engage? What are their Levels? sses? You said something about their limbs, what¡¯s up with that?</em>


    ¡°U-um, okay, so,¡± Index responded, seeming slightly overwhelmed by all of my questions,¡± I can¡¯t tell you their exact Levels or sses, but that main leader guy Jon, he¡¯s a Magic-Type¡ªwell, he still has high Health and defensive abilities, so you probably won¡¯t be able to rush him down like you normally would a Magic-Type. But he¡¯s the highest Level out of the five, definitely the most dangerous. As for the other four¡­¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Jon said, ¡°we¡¯re looking for a man named An Nota. We¡¯ve learned that he may havee through this area. Have you seen him?¡±


    ¡°W-what¡¯re you gonna do to him?¡±


    ¡°So I¡¯ll assume your answer is yes.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Poppins spoke up, ¡°but who are you? Why are you here?¡±


    <em>Are they safe to engage?</em> I repeated my question to Index, cutting off its very wordy attempt to get around its censors and exin the abilities of our enemies to me.


    ¡°Oh, uh¡­I¡¯m not sure. You outnumber them, so I think that evens out the ying field pretty well, though I¡¯m still not sure what those magic items they have as limbs are for. Their functions are so strange, it¡¯s difficult to understandpletely at a nce. If you fought, chances are it wouldn¡¯t be without fatality. At the very least, a couple of those border guards would basically be guaranteed to die. Maybe Sylvie, too; she has pretty low Health, and fighting in an enclosed space like this will be to her detriment.¡±


    I pursed my lips, unsure what to do here. I¡¯d been doing my best to send everything Index told me to Ainash and Erani, but of course, neither Ripley nor Sylvie could get any information I was being told. Sylvie would most likely wait until a move was made before she came out to attack, but I had no trust that Ripley would wait for mymand.


    Honestly, I had no idea why she hadn¡¯t already leapt out and started the bloodshed. My impression of her wasn¡¯t one where I expected her to listen to what her enemies had to say before ughtering them. So I was prepared for her to spring her ambush and start the fight any moment now.


    <em>What do you think, then? Is it best for us to let them leave without engaging? Hope they don¡¯t see us on their way out?</em>


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Index said. ¡°I guess that¡¯d work. You could follow them and ambush them at a better time, when you have more favorablebat conditions. A-also, it¡¯d give me more time to think about this. And exin what I¡¯m seeing. These limbs, they¡¯replex magical items.¡±


    <em>The limbs themselves are Enchanted? I thought they were just wearing Enchanted gear.</em>


    ¡°No, no. Their arms and legs, they¡¯ve been severed from their body and reced with these things. A mix of force Enchantments, light, divination,munication¡­¡±


    <em>So what do they do? Why have they reced their limbs with these things?</em>


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to figure out.¡±


    ¡°All you need to know about me,¡± Jon said, ¡°is that I want to find An Nota.¡±


    ¡°A-and, what are you going to do when you find him?¡± Poppins asked.


    ¡°Kill him.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    After a lengthy silence, Jon spoke up again. ¡°Well. It seems like you don¡¯t want to tell me. That¡¯s fine, really. I¡¯ll just take my leave.¡±


    I could practically hear the three border guards blink in surprise. Hells, I was pretty baffled as well. I¡¯d been sure we were seconds away from this Jon guy ordering his soldiers to attack. But as I listened, his boots thudded against the stone floor as he walked to the exit.


    ¡°Oh, one more thing,¡± he said. ¡°Take this silver. As payment for troubling you.¡±


    ¡°Uh, we¡¯re not in Koinkar,¡± Jannin said. ¡°We use eyt, not copper and silver.¡±


    Jon grunted. ¡°Well, take it anyway. This coin¡¯s a lucky one.¡±


    He flicked the coin from his finger and I heard it tter against the wooden table, then him and the other four people walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them.


    <em>So,</em> I asked Index, <em>we follow them? Now that we have some time, can you exin what these guys can do?</em>


    ¡°Okay, so the Jon guy¡¯s got¡­Let¡¯s see¡­So the mainbat-rted Spells he has to his disposal are¡­Oh, shit. Oh, shit! An, take that coin and throw it out the window!¡±


    <em>Wait, what?</em>


    ¡°Do it now!¡±


    Before I could even step out of the bathroom, I heard something burst from within the room. The outpouring of so much water, it was as though someone had ced a portal to the bottom of the ocean in the middle of the floor. I rushed out into the living room to see the tiny silver coin the source of the water, all pouring out of it so quickly that it¡¯d already covered the floor of the entire building, touching our ankles.


    The three guards leapt to their feet, and Bon shouted out ¡°Shit!¡± as he tried to grab the coin, but the water spraying out pushed so hard that he couldn¡¯t physically put the thing in his hands.


    Ripley, Erani, Ainash, and Sylvie also ran out of their hiding ces. Ripley tried to open the door, but couldn¡¯t. It¡¯d been locked somehow.


    As she tugged harder and harder, cing her foot on the wall for additional leverage, Sylvie ran over to me, shouting over the sound of the rushing water, ¡°What in the hells is going on?!¡±


    ¡°Fuck if I know!¡± I yelled back. The water was at our shins now.


    <em>¡°Father, there is too much! Will drown in here if cannot get out!¡±</em>


    ¡°The door¡¯s been sealed shut!¡± Ripley shouted back at us. She put her eye to the crack between the door and the wall. ¡°They¡¯ve melted the fucking stone together!¡±


    Erani ran over to one of the windows, trying to slide the stone shutter aside and failing. ¡°They¡¯ve done the same thing here!¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Ripley grunted, hefting her axe, ¡°if you can¡¯t go around, you go through!¡±


    With a yell of exertion, she swung her battleaxe into the stone door in an attempt to break it apart. It left a shallow slice in the rock, but wasn¡¯t near enough to let us out¡ªor even allow some of the quickly-rising water to escape from our tomb.


    ¡°These bunkers were meant to withstand a Dragon¡¯s attacks!¡± Poppins said. ¡°Cutting it apart will take too long.¡±


    ¡°Can you stop the water froming out of the coin somehow?¡± I asked, partially to the people in the room, but mainly to Index.


    ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t think you can stop it from spraying water like that. Not without a Spell like Disenchant.¡±


    ¡°Fuck!¡± I shouted. ¡°We need to break through this wall.¡±


    ¡°How?!¡± Sylvie asked.


    ¡°Which wall is the thinnest?¡± I asked.


    ¡°How in mes would I know?!¡± Sylvie responded.


    ¡°To your left,¡± Index said. ¡°It¡¯s still pretty thick, but the window there helps weaken it, even if the window itself has been sealed shut.¡±


    ¡°Erani, blow up that wall!¡± I yelled to her. The water was at our waists, now.


    ¡°Sounds like a bad idea in an enclosed space like this!¡±


    ¡°Not like we¡¯ve got a better one!¡±


    ¡°Blowing up the building sounds like a pretty nice n, if you ask me,¡± Ripley said. ¡°Do it!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going to blow up the min¡¯ building we are <em>currently in?!</em>¡± Sylvie demanded.


    Before she could get a reply, Erani blew up the building.


    The first Firebolt rocked the ce to its foundation, throwing all the water that¡¯d pooled up in the room in our direction and sending us all flying back into the pool. The currents and waves caused by the explosion forced me underwater, and I hastily pulled myself back to my feet, gasping for air in the now chest-height liquid. Soon enough, I¡¯d have to tread water just to stay afloat.


    Looking at the wall, cracks had webbed across it.


    Before I could even say anything, Erani, already on her feet again,unched another st. It collided with the wall, once again throwing everyone back not only with its own force, but with the force of the water that was pushed away from the st zone, creating miniature tsunamis that threatened to drown us under their power. This time, to pull myself to the surface, I had to stand on the tips of my toes, breathing heavily and looking straight up, the water at my chin and threatening to start pouring into my mouth.


    Erani shot off one more Firebolt, traveling through the water and illuminating the room with its light inexplicably burning bright beneath the surface, magic the only thing keeping it alight. It collided with the wall, resulting in thergest force I felt from the water yet by its explosion, the rush of water pushing me off my feet as the currents pulled me toward the wall.


    I fought to open my eyes beneath the rushing water, finding that it was actually draining this time. Looking ahead, I found that the currents dragging me under weren¡¯t from the explosion, they were from the liquid deluging out of the massive hole Erani had blown in the building! Light poured through, inviting us into the open air.


    As much as I¡¯d have loved to jump to my feet and frolic out into the field, I was unfortunately still at the mercy of the waves, and it was clearly much more intent on roughly dragging me through the hole, banging my head on the floor a couple times in the process. The glimpses I caught of everyone else in the chaos showed that most of them were experiencing the same thing. Actually, it looked like the three border guards had been fully knocked unconscious already, their low physical Stats not enough to keep them safe.


    That was a worry for another time, though, as I finally felt the grass beneath me, poured out onto the ground by the currents flowing through the wall. Water continued dumping out on me, lying on my back as the waterfall still made it impossible to breathe, but with solid ground beneath me, all it took was a push, and I was on my¡ª


    You have been crushed. 41 damage.


    Your Health is 583.


    Something heavy and metal mmed into my face, smacking me back into the ground. I coughed, the outpouring of water suddenly feeling much worse on my face. I tried to open my eyes, but¡ª


    You have been stabbed. 36 damage.


    Your Health is 547.


    You have been mmed into something. 23 damage.


    Your Health is 524.


    Something stabbed into my gut at the same time as something else¡ªa boot?¡ªkicked the side of my head. A scream of pain from someone lying beside me showed that apparently plenty of people were being attacked like this.


    I raised my hand, blindly shooting off Rays of Frost into the air, if not to hit anyone, at least to scare them away for a second. But it didn¡¯t work, and I was only hit more.


    You have been crushed. 48 damage.


    Your Health is 476.


    You have been stabbed. 32 damage.


    Your Health is 444.


    I felt thatst stab actually break the skin on my stomach, drawing a few droplets of blood into the outpouring of water in my face.


    I shot again, swinging my hand in random directions as the Rays of Frost left my hand. This time, it seemed like I caught something.


    You have struck Level 18 Pdin for 38 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 18 Pdin with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 7.76.


    25 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1658.


    With the split-second of time the lucky hit bought me, I rolled onto my stomach and pushed myself up, at least getting out from under the waterfall and wiping my hair from my eyes as I got to one knee. I tried to get an idea of my surroundings, but all I could see and hear was the metal face of a war maul swinging toward me and the shout of an angry man.


    You have been crushed. 47 damage.


    Your Health is 397.


    You have been mmed into something. 6 damage.


    Your Health is 391.


    My head was thrown back into the stone wall of the outpost, and all I could see were stars in that moment, the repeated head trauma of having a weapon like that thrown into my face clearly too much for my mind to bear.


    As I groaned in pain, I raised my hand and shot off a half-dozen more Rays of Frost in a wide arc, throwing my hand around wildly and hoping to catch my attackers off-guard.


    It seemed the strategy worked, and I was finally able to open my eyes to catch my surroundings.


    Five men standing around a field of people lying on the ground. It looked like Bon, Jannin, Poppins, and Sylvie were all already dead, beaten and stabbed in too many ces to count, while Erani and Ainash were still on the ground as a couple soldiers beat down on them any time they tried to get back up.


    Two soldiers were on me too, of course. They were dressed in leather armor that covered their chests and heads, but strangely their arms and legs were left in simplemoner¡¯s clothes, protected from nothing but the light of the sun. I couldn¡¯t think about this much, though, as the man with the sword came charging at me once again, ready to thrust the de into my heart.


    This time, finally able to see the man, I was free to curse him however I saw fit, so I let him know the full wrath of my Mana capacity. Crippling Chill, Gravity Well, Curse of Echoes, and with the flick of my hand in his direction, a Ray of Frost all hit the man simultaneously and he fell to the ground, unable to take the physical and mental beating of being drained of his mobility while suddenly perceiving himself as being attacked on all sides.


    ¡°Help me!¡± he shouted to hispanion, who looked at him in fear, unable to see the invisible Spells that wracked the man¡¯s body.


    I got to my feet, breathing heavily. The amount I hit the guy with was probably overkill¡ªCrippling Chill and Gravity Well would have likely been enough to slow him down, and would have been much cheaper¡ªbut I wasn¡¯t too worried about preserving my Mana right now.


    Sure, I was already getting close to passing below 1000, so I was already at a real threat of running myself out soon if I kept spending recklessly like that, but at this point, I knew I wouldn¡¯t be winning the fight. Even if I <em>could</em> kill these guys and get out of here alive, with Sylvie, Bon, Jannin, and Poppins all likely dead, using Time Loop was practically a given. I just wanted to get some information before I left.


    Stumbling forward, I ignored the Pdin as he approached me with his maul.


    ¡°What did you do to him?!¡± the man shouted as he raised the weapon above his head.


    Just as he moved to swing it down on me, I hit him with Gravity Well. That should¡¯ve been enough to mess up his swing and stance, knocking him off bnce enough that I could dodge the strike. However, strangely enough, the man instantly copsed to the ground, crumbling beneath himself just like the Swordsman I¡¯d hit before him. But I¡¯d only used Gravity Well on this man, nothing else. Was that all it took?


    ¡°It¡¯s the limbs,¡± Index said. ¡°They¡¯re using magic items in ce of limbs, remember? Those Stat-draining abilities you have don¡¯t actually do much, since they don¡¯t need to use Stats to move their bodies. But Gravity Well is much more effective, because of the ways the things work. They have to mentally go in and adjust the force applied by each one in ordance with their suddenly-heavier bodies¡ªit isn¡¯t an automatic process like it would be for someone using natural limbs they¡¯ve lived with their whole lives.¡±


    <em>Wait, so Gravity Well canpletely take them out ofmission?</em>


    ¡°Temporarily. But those limbs are easily powerful enough to exert the force necessary to pick them back up. So once the users reconfigure them to operate under the new weight, they¡¯ll work just fine. Speaking of, look behind you.¡±


    I turned around to see the Swordsman getting up as Index spoke. Now that I paid attention, I saw that his limbs did move in apletely unnatural way, bending smoothly like there were no bones in them at all, and his hands moved with a machine-like efficiency, traveling at a constant speed to their destination, then stopping perfectly in ce as they awaited their nextmand. I had to imagine getting used to something like that would be a nightmare. What could even convince someone to undergo recing their limbs like that?


    ¡°They weren¡¯t convinced,¡± Index said. ¡°At least, judging by the cut patterns on their limbs. And some of the other functions of those items recing them. It seems like this was forced onto them.¡±


    ¡°What the fuck¡­¡± I muttered under my breath.


    As the Swordsman approached me, I let up Gravity Well. As I suspected, the sudden removal of the effect had a simr result to that of enabling it, in that the man suddenly lost control of his limbs, stumbling forward as they pushed way too hard for his abruptly-lighter body. But this time, he quickly got control of himself, catching his weight before he even fell to the ground this time.


    ¡°Cheap tricks,¡± the man growled as he stood up straight once again. Still affected by Curse of Echoes, he was clearly losing track of me asionally among all of the illusory copies, staring at random ces in the air as he wielded his sword against them, blocking attacks that weren¡¯t there.


    ¡°He reconfigured much more quickly that time,¡± Index said. ¡°He was expecting it that time. Probably expecting it to be re-enabled even more, so be careful. Another activation might barely have an effect whatsoever if he¡¯s quick to fix the issue.¡±


    I sighed, slowly backing away from the two men¡ªone too busy fighting illusions to see my leaving, and the other still trying to get his limbs to work. <em>Good to know. Where¡¯s the main guy? And where¡¯s Ripley?</em>


    ¡°Other side of the building. Go to the left. You¡¯ll probably want to catch their conversation before you go back in time.¡±


    ncing over, I saw Erani and Ainash still inbat with the soldiers that were attacking them. Though, bat¡± was a little too generous. With them on the ground and their enemies standing over them, it was clear that neither of them had found a chance to escape the constant barrage of strikes battering them down yet. Actually, it seemed like Ainash had been knocked unconscious, some fucker with a knife mming his de into her back over and over.


    ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking,¡± Index said. ¡°You¡¯re gonna go back in time and undo all of this anyway. Just ignore them and go see what Ripley and Jon are talking about. Ideally you can enter the conversation and try to get some valuable information out of¡ª¡±


    <em>You go listen in on that for me. Jot down the details.</em><em>Just gonna go take a detour. I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s gonna be undone, nobody treats my family like that.</em>

 Chapter 211: Anger

    Chapter 211: Anger


    I approached the two soldiers attacking Erani and Ainash, who were both pinned to the ground. Behind me were two more that I¡¯d managed to incapacitate, if only temporarily. And apparently, on the other side of the wrecked border outpost¡­


    <em>Index, you said Ripley and that guy, Jon, they¡¯re having some conversation over there? What are they talking about?</em>


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s more of a half-conversation, half-fight-to-the-death. I can¡¯t hear perfectly from so far away, but from the snippets I have heard, it seems like Jon isn¡¯t just here for you. He¡¯s also here for her.¡±


    <em>What? Why?</em>


    ¡°Not sure. Someone¡¯s looking for her, I guess. It sounds like they already know each other, too.¡±


    One of the guards looked over at me approaching them. He was the one with the knife, the one who¡¯d stabbed Ainash. Considering the fact that she was still alive despite the flurry of strikes, he was probably lower-Level. Wouldn¡¯t be a problem.


    I raised a hand and pointed it at him, then shot a Ray of Frost at his head.


    You have struck Level 11 Rogue for 58 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 11 Rogue with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 7.76.


    25 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 922.


    It impacted the side of his face and he flinched, looking over at me. The other man, this one wielding a sword, snapped his head in my direction too.


    Then they simultaneously got up and ran in my direction, weapons drawn. Apparently, my normal Dexterity and Stamina-draining methods wouldn¡¯t work as well on these guys, since their Enchanted limbs didn¡¯t need either of those to move. However, Gravity Well worked almost better than it did before. At least, it would for a while.


    The two ssers charged. The Rogue arrived first, using some Martial Art to move at a blinding speed, so that it almost seemed like he teleported right up to me. And his Dexterity was nothing to disregard, the swing that came after moving way too fast for me to react.


    You have been stabbed. 18 damage.


    Your Health is 373.


    You have been poisoned. 6 damage.


    Your Health is 367.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. You will lose 1 Health every minute for a number of minutes equal to 100 minus your Endurance <em>(32 minutes)</em>.


    With the knife slicing across my shoulder de, I could feel the poison coating the dagger instantly prate my bloodstream and begin to spread through my veins, burning like acid.


    Thankfully, my decent Endurance score was enough to mitigate the pain to a much more dull burn, more like I¡¯d eaten a pepper too spicy for my taste than like I was actually on fire. But regardless, I¡¯d have preferred not to have felt it. Not that the rtively slow-acting poison was anything I¡¯d have to worry about¡ªnot in a timeline I¡¯d already decided wasn¡¯t worth sticking around in, at least.


    Before the Rogue could strike again, I cast two instances of Expedite on myself, instantly boosting my Dexterity to a staggering value, far outweighing even a Dexterity-focused build like the Rogue¡¯s. With my newly-overpowering Dexterity, I easily dodged the next swipe the Rogue took at me and his eyes went wide, watching me bend out of the way at thest moment.


    He tried ducking down and sidestepping to hit me from the side, but I reached out a hand and grabbed him by his cor, quickly pulling him up and using my other hand to grab his knife-wielding arm. After spinning him around so he was facing away from me, my hand holding his weapon and my arm around his throat, he waspletely restrained.


    I¡¯d already activated Noxious Grasp the moment I made contact with him. Draining a catastrophic 24 Health every single second, to a lower-Level, non-Endurance-focused ss like Rogue, a Spell like that may as well have been a death sentence. He tugged desperately against my grip, but my own Strength was 50¡ªa value that put me far above the average person. And considering I¡¯d already done the muscle training of a Swordsman, someone like this guy didn¡¯t stand a chance.


    The other man, the sword-wielder, paused in his approach toward me. I¡¯d have imagined most would, considering how quickly I¡¯d disabled his ally. And just those few seconds of hesitation were enough for the Rogue to go limp in my grasp. I hadn¡¯t gotten a kill notification, which meant he¡¯d either run out of Stamina, or maybe passed out from the pain. I shut off the Spell before he died.


    ¡°I have a hostage,¡± I called out. ¡°Attack me and he dies. Listen, I don¡¯t want to kill you, just turn around and walk away. Everyone lives, everyone¡¯s happy.¡±


    The Swordsman froze at my words. I could tell just from the look on his face that he desperately wanted to take my offer. The fear was evident. But he stood there, staring at me. Not moving at all.


    ¡°Please, ma¡¯am,¡± he whispered.


    I nced around, confused. Who was he talking to?


    ¡°He¡¯ll die!¡± the man continued on to himself. ¡°I can¡¯t¡ª ¡­Yes. Yes, ma¡¯am. I will. I-I apologize for the hesitation.¡±


    With that, he charged straight at me. I was so surprised I barely even moved before he thrust his sword forward, sinking straight into the Rogue¡¯s stomach and piercing through it, the sword finding my own body behind his.


    You have been stabbed. 14 damage.


    Your Health is 353.


    The Rogue coughed in pain as blood spilled out of his gut. I may have been high enough in Health for my skin to stop the de from doing much, but with the man¡¯s Health already considerably drained, it was clear that his own barrier of Health had done next to nothing to stop his organs from being harmed.


    He fell from my arms and to the ground. Still no kill notification¡ªhe must have still been barely holding onto life.


    The man who¡¯d just stabbed him looked down, almost as if he were horrified by his own actions. ¡°I-I did it ma¡¯am, you see it? You see his gurgles written out on your damned paper?!¡±


    He looked up at me. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what to do. I resorted to just raising my hands to stop him from approaching further. ¡°Hey, man, your guy¡¯s injured. Why don¡¯t you just take him to get some¡ª¡±


    ¡°Aagh!¡± He shouted a warcry as he charged at me, weapon raised. In a desperate swing, he took a downward strike at my head.


    I sidestepped, leveraging my still-boosted Dexterity to dodge the swipe, and turned to face him again. Seemed like whoever this ¡±ma¡¯am¡± was, I wasn¡¯t able to convince him to disobey her orders. Not that I even knew how she was delivering them to him, in the first ce.


    I raised my hand and shot my enemy with three Rays of Frost. He managed to block one of them with the de of his sword, but the other two found their target, revealing him to be a Level 16 Swordsman. If the circumstances were different, I¡¯d have been impressed at his blocking ability; I¡¯d never actually seen anyone move so quickly as to block or dodge the borderline-instantaneous damage that came from my Rays.


    He winced in pain as the ice from my Spells spread across his chest where they hit him, then raised his sword again. Behind him, I could see the twopanions of his that I¡¯d only temporarily disabled before¡ªthe two that had originally tried to kill me when I¡¯d fallen out of the outpost. They were both slowly getting to their feet, the Spells I¡¯d cast on them to keep them down clearly having worn off at this point. That, or they¡¯d just gotten used to the effects.


    ¡°Tell me about the person you¡¯re talking to,¡± I said to them. ¡°Who is she? Why do you follow her orders?¡±


    All three of the men wavered in fear just at the mention of this mystery woman. They also paused for a second, as though listening to someone. Once they seemed to hear the end of what the person had to say, they all charged at me wordlessly.


    I hit two of them with Gravity Well. For the Swordsman, who¡¯d never experienced it before, he predictably went straight to the ground under the effect, his artificial limbs failing him under the added weight. But for the other man, who¡¯d already experienced it, all he did was stumble for a moment. But still, his stumbling gave me a second alone with the third man who I¡¯d left unaffected by the Spell.


    Taking him on one-on-one, I dodged the swing of his own sword and threw a punch at his face.


    You have struck Level 12 Swordsman for 47 damage using fist.


    He stumbled back at the Stat-enhanced force of the swing. And the moment my skin made contact with his, I was also sure to enable Sanguine Bond on him. The cast of that Spell brought my Mana down to just above 400, but I¡¯d regain a good amount back as it ran its course. Not to mention I also constantly got a free 1.8 Mana per second from my base Mana regeneration.


    The man groaned in pain as I stood up a little straighter, feeling the Health and Stamina flow into me, bringing me back to a much better state. I could also use Regenerate any time my Health got especially low, but the cost of the Talent¡ªnow 60 Stamina¡ªwas enough to make me hesitant to use it if I didn¡¯t actually need the healing.


    The Pdin, after quickly recovering from his stumble caused by Gravity Well, charged, and the two swung at me simultaneously. I was forced back by the duo of fighters, not able to spot a good moment toe in and make physical contact for Noxious Grasp. Seemed like I¡¯d probably be forced to rely on Ray of Frost for damage. Though I didn¡¯t like doing that, with the Pdin ss¡¯s tendency to have ess to several healing Spells that could cause issues for me if I ran out of Mana.


    Just as I was about to bite the bullet and try focusing down the Swordsman with a barrage of Rays of Frost, a Firebolt came flying out from the left side of my vision, colliding with the Pdin and sending both him and the Swordsman flying several paces over and crashing to the ground.


    You have been burned. 51 damage.


    Due to Heat Resistance, damage has been reduced to 25.8.


    Your Health is 341.


    I wasn¡¯t fully out of the st radius either, it seemed. The mes enveloped me, but I was at least spared the main force of the explosion, only barely needing to put a foot back to keep myself stable.


    I looked over at the source of the st to see Erani leaning on some rubble to keep herself standing, letting her hand down after casting the Spell.


    ¡°Sorry about that,¡± she said, breathing heavily between each word. She was bleeding from multiple de wounds¡ªthat Swordsman had gotten her pretty bad. ¡°I didn¡¯t hurt you, did I?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°Heat Resistance protected me, for the most part. Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Not in the long run. Blood loss will get me before too long. Where¡¯s Jannin? He has that healing Spell, right?¡±


    ¡°Uh.¡± I nced over at his corpse.


    She looked over as well. The moment she realized what it was, she quickly looked away, shielding her eyes from the sight. ¡°Oh, gods. Are they all dead?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, including Sylvie. Probably need to redo the whole thing.¡±


    ¡°Shit.¡± Erani frowned, then looked over at Ainash, who was still unmoving on the ground. The moment sheid eyes on her, Erani rushed forward and knelt on the ground beside her, seeming to forget her own injuries. ¡°Oh, no, is she dead? I can¡¯t imagine the pain of dying.¡±


    ¡°Not dead,¡± I said. ¡°Not if the continued existence of our Bond is anything to go by. But don¡¯t worry, the dying thing isn¡¯t that bad, once you get used to it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to see if I can stem her bleeding,¡± Erani said.


    I nodded, and turned back to the three ssers who were now all stumbling back up to their feet. ¡°Yeah, do that. I think these guys¡¯ll be fine in my care.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re dead,¡± the Pdin said with a scowl. He hefted his maul once again.


    ¡°No, you are. But you don¡¯t have to be. Just tell me¡ª¡±


    I was cut off by a swing of the weapon, being forced to duck to the side to dodge. I dashed in after that, grabbing his face and shoving him back with Noxious Grasp active. From a glimpse of movement to my right, I saw a sword swinging, aimed at the back of my head. I ducked underneath it just in time, then threw a punch at the attacker¡¯s gut. He coughed in pain as I straightened back up to full height, grabbed his head with both hands, and brought it down into my knee before throwing him to the ground.


    To my side was the Pdin again, having abandoned his weapon and going in for a punch with a spiked gauntlet. I raised a hand to parry the strike to my side, then grabbed his arm and neck to pull him into a hold close to my body. Noxious Grasp quickly went to work ravaging his body.


    ¡°Behind!¡± Index shouted, and I ducked just in time to avoid a sword stabbing for my back¡ªthe other Swordsman had snuck behind me at some point, it seemed.


    The tip of the sword, going over my head as I crouched, instead found the back of the Pdin I¡¯d been grappling, piercing straight into him. He gasped in pain, then went limp.


    You have offered major contribution toward the ying of Level 18 Pdin.


    Due to killing a member of your own species, you have earned 0 XP.


    I turned and leapt forward, tackling the surprise attacker to the ground and making him the new target of Noxious Grasp. He shouted in pain as he tried desperately to fight me off of him, but I held his arms down as his Health dropped lower and lower.


    Before he died, however, Index shouted out again, ¡°Behind you! Again!¡±


    I turned to see the other Swordsman above me mid-swing, and this strike I couldn¡¯t dodge in time. It hit my back full-force, cutting into my skin.


    You have been sliced. 49 damage.


    Your Health is 299.


    I scrambled off of the pinned-down man to face my other attacker, raising my hand to threaten him with a face-full of Rays of Frost. ¡°Listen. I¡¯ll let you live. Just tell me everything you know about whoever¡¯s giving you thesemands. Why are you¡ª¡±


    He interrupted me with a shout and another wild swing. Before he could hit me, I unleashed as many copies of Ray of Frost as I could cast straight at him. He stumbled back at the first couple, and then after the third, copsed to the ground.


    You have in Level 12 Swordsman.


    Due to killing a member of your own species, you have earned 0 XP.


    I sighed. What in hells had them so fanatic?


    ¡°She¡¯s in our ear.¡± I heard a strained voice from behind me. Turning around, I saw the Rogue, still lying on the ground, clutching his gut wound.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Some fuckin¡¯ thing she put in our ears. She can hear what we hear. Gives usmands remotely with it, too.¡±


    ¡°Why follow them?¡± I asked. I looked around at all of the dead bodies. ¡°I¡¯m sure you knew after three seconds facing me that you stood no chance. Just fucking run away. I mean, killing your own allies just for the chance of getting a hit on me? What¡¯s even the point? What stake do you have in all of this?¡±


    ¡°The limbs,¡± he grunted. His face contorted in pain with every word. ¡°She can¡­turn them off. Leave us with nothing. Not even a way to kill ourselves. Just lying down, waiting for death toe.¡±


    ¡°Turn them off? Wait, those Enchanted limbs, they can be turned off remotely? From wherever this woman is? And she can hear everything you hear? That¡¯s¡­¡±


    ¡°Hellish,¡± he said,pleting my thought. ¡°It¡¯s like the fuckin¡¯ thirteenth hell. That woman, she¡¯s a Demon. Worse than ¡®em. I was the first one she promoted, the first one she gave the limbs to. Cut off my limbs herself. Then¡­she made me help do it to the others. Couldn¡¯t say no.¡±


    I shook my head in horror, muttering to myself, ¡°What the fuck¡­C-can you tell me who she is? What¡¯s her name?¡±


    ¡°No fuckin¡¯ clue,¡± he said. ¡°She never told me. But I know what she looks like. She¡¯s¡ª¡±


    He was cut off by a shout from behind me. I turned to see thest of my enemies, the Swordsman I¡¯d left on the ground, standing again with his sword raised high above his head. I prepared to block another attack, but he ran right past me. Turning around I saw him bring the sword down on his own ally, the Rogue.


    ¡°Wait, no!¡± I shouted, but I was too far away to stop him.


    ¡°Urgh!¡± the Rogue grunted, still alive. I looked to see that he¡¯d brought his arm up just in time to block the strike, the de of the sword wedging into the Enchanted object and not actually hitting the man using it.


    ¡°Ma¡¯am!¡± the Swordsman shouted. ¡°He¡¯s¡ª!¡±


    Before he could even finish the sentence, I saw as the Rogue¡¯s long-sleeved armor suddenly went limp, as though the arms filling the sleeves and gloves had simply disappeared. His pants simrly deted, leaving the Rogue a simple head and torso. The de of the sword, no longer impeded, instantly sunk down and pierced its target¡¯s gut.


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 11 Rogue.


    Due to killing a member of your own species, you have earned 0 XP.


    I sighed. Whether it was out of frustration, anger, horror¡­I had no idea.


    ¡°Thein¡¯s dead,¡± the Swordsman said. ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am, he was¡ªYes. Yes, ma¡¯am.¡±


    He turned to me.


    He didn¡¯t even get to take a step before I shot him with four more Rays of Frost.


    You have in Level 15 Swordsman.


    Due to killing a member of your own species, you have earned 0 XP.


    ¡°What the fuck is wrong with these people?¡± I muttered to myself. Though, really, it wasn¡¯t the people I was frustrated with. It was the person. This ¡°ma¡¯am¡± woman. It was one thing for the Demons to do what they were doing. As far as I was concerned, the Demons may as well have been beasts. Clever beasts, sure, but they were still animals. ves to their nature as cruel, selfish beings who gave no shits about Humans or the harm they caused to us.


    But another Human being, doing this? To innocent people? Fucking abhorrent. The Demons needed to die simply because they were Demons. It was like how one sometimes needed to exterminate a nest of angry wasps. You couldn¡¯t be angry at the wasps; they simply needed to be killed. But this woman, she <em>deserved </em>to die. Not because it was in her nature to be a pest, but because she had chosen to be a monster.


    <em>Index, you¡¯ve been listening in on that fight between Jon and Ripley, right? Have they said anything about this woman? Does Jon have those limbs, too?</em>


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t have the limbs. But like I said, I¡¯ve only been able to get snippets of what they¡¯ve been saying. I can tell you exactly what I¡¯ve heardter, maybe you can piece together the context, but for now, I think the best way to find that out is to just go there and see if you can beat it out of the man. If he doesn¡¯t have the limbs, that means that woman can¡¯t threaten him with anything if he does end up talking, right?¡±


    I nodded. ncing back at Erani, it seemed like she¡¯d been able to wake Ainash up, if only barely. Poor girl was leaking that white-green sap from countless holes in her body. But she stood, regardless.


    <em>¡°You kill lots of bad guys, father?¡± </em>she asked weakly, looking at me.


    <em>¡°Lots,¡±</em> I replied. <em>¡°You want to fight one more?¡±</em>

 Chapter 212: Guilt

    Chapter 212: Guilt


    Erani, Ainash, and I got ourselves up and together before rushing to the other side of the border outpost, where Jon and Ripley were fighting. We also quickly touched hands to transfer memories between ourselves¡ªthe basic stuff, leaving out most details to ensure we did it quickly, but that way we could get all synced up in case we didn¡¯t get a better opportunityter.


    Considering our injuries, though¡ªtheirs being more intense than mine, it seemed¡ªgetting ready to fight again was harder than I¡¯d have initially thought. My own Health was pretty low now, too, at a bit below 300, and my Mana was even worse, at 150. The Mana was what really made me lose hope about our inevitable conflict with Jon; my Health was higher, and even the amount I¡¯d lost I could get back with a couple activations of Regenerate. In fact¡­


    You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 44 Health over the next 10 seconds.


    64.4 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 276.


    I felt the shield around my body instantly begin to harden once again. But that still left me with the issue of Mana. With barely enough to cast a few Rays of Frost, I¡¯d need at least ten, fifteen minutes before my Mana was back to a usable amount. Erani had more, but her own Health was looking rough by now, as was Ainash¡¯s.


    Then again, Jon was just one guy. And quite frankly, I had trouble imagining he¡¯d be in such good shape himself, after going one-on-one against Ripley for so long. So maybe the fight would go better than I anticipated. Even if this was a doomed timeline because Sylvie and the guards had died, if I was able to beat these guys now, down so many allies, that¡¯d help my confidence in our ability to do it right the next time.


    We turned the corner to find Ripley and Jon facing off as expected. Neither were moving; Ripley was standing, breathing heavily with her hands on her knees, covered in injuries. She had cuts and burns all over her skin. Jon was¡­fine. He was standing up straight, face unmoving, not a scratch on him. Had Ripley not even gotten a hit on this man?


    ¡°Ah,¡± he said, ¡°the target arrives. Here we have¡­let¡¯s see, that should be Erani, and there¡¯s the Dryad, which leaves the one in the armor to be the famous An Nota. I¡¯ve been interested in meeting you for a while now.¡±


    His voice was calm and casual, like he was chatting about the weather. And he sounded genuine, too¡ªnot a hint of sarcasm in his tone.


    I frowned. ¡°Who sent you?¡±


    ¡°Asmo did,¡± he replied. Then he squinted, as though someone was speaking to him, and smiled. ¡°Ah, did you not want me to tell him that? Oh well.¡±


    I blinked in surprise. The Archer? The one who had fought me alongside Ripley, back in Kingdom¡¯s Edge?


    ¡°What?¡± he asked, studying my expression.


    ¡°I just¡­wasn¡¯t expecting an honest response. All of those other soldiers literally killed themselves rather than give up her name.¡±


    He grimaced in an expression that seemed to show genuine sadness and regret. ¡°They¡¯re dead? All of them?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± He gazed down and sighed. ¡°Unfortunate.¡±


    ¡°If you didn¡¯t want them to die, you could have always not let them here to attack me in the first ce. At least, presumably you¡¯re the one leading this squad.¡±


    ¡°A fair assumption. But unfortunately, their lives are a sacrifice I must be willing to make.¡±


    I stifled augh. ¡°You have no idea how dickish that makes you sound.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I am well aware. Their lives should not be mine to sacrifice. However, I have been put in a position of responsibility over them nheless. I would much prefer to not be forced into this predicament, and yet here I am, being forced to choose between one horrible action and another even more heinous one.¡±


    ¡°And Asmo¡¯s forcing you into it? Or the Demons? If that¡¯s the case, join our side. We¡¯ve stayed alive for this long, and we¡¯re more than capable of keeping one more¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, neither of them have forced me into this position. Not truly.¡± Jon looked at me. ¡°You have.¡±


    I narrowed my eyes. ¡°Me? What, have I been leading a secret double life even I don¡¯t know about? Sleepwalking around, kidnapping your loved ones? Not gonna lie, dude, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m the one forcing you to do anything.¡±


    ¡°Oh, but you are. Every second you are alive, more die. At least the other soldiers willingly sacrificed their lives to try and stop you. They saw that some causes are more important than oneself. But you¡­You refuse to understand that. You refuse to give up your life to save the many. A disgusting, violent act that rivals the worst of any man to walk this earth. If you are too weak to make the decision to sacrifice yourself, then I will make it for you. No matter how much it pains me to do so. Because, unlike you, I am willing to hurt myself in order to save others.¡±


    <em>¡°Peace talks have broken down,¡±</em> I told Ainash. <em>¡°Prepare to attack.¡±</em>


    I nced at Ripley. ¡°And what about her? How does she¡ª¡±


    When I looked back at Jon, he had his hand raised in the sky, a look of righteous anger on his face. ¡°I tell you this so that you may remember it in death, and any life you might have afterward. You are a viin. Scum of the earth. And you deserve the death I will give you!¡±


    ¡°Fuck!¡± I shouted, reaching into my mind to cast as many curses as I could on the dude. Erani instantly shot off a Firebolt from her raised hand, the ball of mes soaring through the air straight at him. Ainash leapt forward, whip drawn and ready to slice him in two.


    But before anything could touch him, within the split second that all of that was about to happen, he threw his hand downward, and with it, I saw the light of the sun get brighter and brighter. Its white light became blinding, covering my sight with its brilliance. And then, like a hammer, the light crashed into my body,pletely annihting it. My bones cracked under the weight of its judgment, and my mind shattered just the same.


    You have been smitten. 1075 damage.


    Dark te has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 340.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have died.


    I awoke in the dark in-between ce, staring at my many options to return to.


    <em>¡­What?</em>


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>What the fuck?!</em>


    A thousand fucking damage?! Fucking seriously?! I couldn¡¯t believe what¡¯d just happened. And of fucking <em>course</em> I was just below the 340 Health threshold so Dark te didn¡¯t even save me. Fuck. Why didn¡¯t I just wait for Regenerate to finish up and use it once or twice more before going to confront him? I hadn¡¯t thought that this random fucking guy would have a goddamn instakill Spell in his arsenal, apparently. Stupid fucking me for not having anticipated <em>that</em>, I guess!


    Fuck.


    I went ahead and chose the time to go back to, six and a half hours ago.


    And then I was back, walking down the road with Erani, Ainash, and Sylvie. I instantly walked right off the path and toward the nearest tree.


    ¡°Uh, A-Annor?¡± Erani asked. ¡°What¡¯s¡­¡±


    I mmed my fist into the tree¡¯s trunk as hard as I could.


    You have been mmed into something. 4 damage.


    Your Health is 676.


    And again.


    You have been mmed into something. 5 damage.


    Your Health is 671.


    I took a step back, taking a deep breath. There were two visibly fist-sized indentations left in the wood. ¡°...Fuck!¡±


    Turning around, I saw everyone staring at me.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Sylvie offered, looking at me curiously, ¡°don¡¯t be mad. I¡¯m sure the tree¡­deserved it? Or something.¡±


    ¡°Gods damn this shit,¡± I muttered, rubbing my face with my hands. ¡°I thought I was fucking done with bullshit instant kills after we got out of Kingdom¡¯s Edge. Again?! Fucking again. We have to deal with it again.¡±


    ¡°Woah, wait, what¡¯s going on?¡± Sylvie asked. ¡°Am I out of the loop on something? Who said anything about killing people instantly?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Annor,¡± Erani said. I saw her staring pointedly at me and making an exaggerated gesture at Sylvie from behind her. ¡°I think we need to remember that Sylvie is here, so you should be sure to exin things with that in mind.¡±


    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I said with a nod. Erani was right. I needed to get a hold of myself or risk identally spilling the whole time travel thing. ¡°Sorry, Sylvie. I have something that can asionally give me relevant information about what we¡¯re doing. I just got some of that information, regarding the whole bounty hunting thing we¡¯re doing.¡±


    ¡°...And what is that?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­Let¡¯s sit down somewhere,¡± I suggested. ¡°I really just need to sit down for a second. And it¡¯ll probably be easier to exin away from the road.¡±


    As we sat down, I stealthily sat next to Ainash and grabbed her hand, transferring her and Erani¡¯s memories to her, so the two of them could at least remember what¡¯d happened, themselves. But that still left out everything that¡¯d happened <em>after </em>we transferred our memories, which included my death¡ªthe object of this discussion.


    I could always have just given them my own memories of my dying, but doing that would take longer. Plus, since it wouldn¡¯t just be them regaining their own memories from their own perspectives, but rather having my own memories given to them as well¡ªmemories of dying painfully, in fact¡ªit would¡¯ve been much harder for them to keep their facial expressions static while receiving the memories. Which would have been a problem, given the fact that Sylvie was here.


    ¡°So,¡± I started exining once they¡¯d gotten caught up as far as the memory transfer would get them, ¡°basically, there¡¯s this guy in the mountains. He¡¯s the one who caused the border guards to go missing.¡±


    Sylvie leaned forward. ¡°Wait, so you know where the guards are? We can get our reward? That¡¯s great!¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t actually know what he did with them. Whether they¡¯re alive or dead, where they are, nothing like that.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°But I know where the guy is. Presumably, we could ask him.¡±


    As we spoke, Ainash seemed to be mostly content ying in the grass where we sat, twirling the des around her finger and poking at a couple insects that crawled in the dirt. She was actually pretty shy around people, even people like Sylvie who weren¡¯t technically strangers. Despite the fact that she couldmunicate with uspletely silently, she still seemed like she didn¡¯t want to take part in any conversations that involved outsiders.


    ¡°There¡¯s an issue with this, though, right?¡± Erani asked. ¡°That¡¯s why you were so angry when you¡­got this information?¡±


    ¡°Right. I don¡¯t know too much about this guy, but there are three main relevant things. One, he¡¯s here to¡­¡± I paused, trying to figure out how to word this. ¡°...He¡¯s here to kill Kingdom fugitives. Eita and I, plus another woman we know, are all being hunted by this man, apparently. He works for the Demons. Two, he isn¡¯t alone. He¡¯s got some soldiers working with him, but they aren¡¯t too hard to handle.¡±


    Sylvie frowned. ¡°You¡¯re making it sound like you know from experience. Have you fought them before?¡±


    ¡°No, no, it¡¯s just¡­I¡¯m extrapting from the information I was given. Levels, and stuff. The additional soldiers shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±


    ¡°Then what <em>is</em> the problem?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s point three. He has this Spell. I¡¯m not sure how, but¡­Basically, I know that if he were to cast it on me, it would deal over a thousand damage. In a single, seemingly undodgeable shot.¡±


    Erani¡¯s eyes widened as she stared at me. Sylvie did the same.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, <em>what?</em>¡± Erani asked. ¡°A thousand? Do you know this man¡¯s Level?¡±


    ¡°One thousand and seventy-five damage, to be precise,¡± I said. As for the second point¡­<em>Index? You got anything?</em>


    ¡°I can tell you two things, actually. One, his Level is a little higher than yours, and two, that Spell he cast, it was called Day of Judgment. I can¡¯t tell you how it dealt that damage to you, though, so hopefully one of your friends knows it.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s Leveled around the mid 20s,¡± I repeated, ¡°and the Spell, I¡¯m not sure how it would deal that thousand damage, but I know its name. Hopefully one of you is familiar with it.¡±


    ¡°Well, what is it?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Its name is Day of Judgment.¡±


    ¡°Nah, don¡¯t know it,¡± Sylvie said, shrugging.


    ¡°Day of Judgment, Day of Judgment¡­¡± Erani rubbed her chin. ¡°The man¡¯s a Cleric, right?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Index said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said.


    ¡°Right, I think I know the Spell. It¡¯s offered to Clerics and Pdins, I believe¡­And it was¡­Wait. Oh, no. Ar-Annor.¡± Erani nced at Sylvie, then back at me.


    ¡°...What? Do you know what the Spell does?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Erani said. ¡°And I think we¡¯ll need Sylvie¡¯s assistance in particr to help us beat it.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Sylvie sat straight up. ¡°Uh, listen, I know I¡¯ve been excited about getting our coin and all, but I¡¯m not stepping in front of a thousand damage st for a few eyt.¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t,¡± Erani said. ¡°In fact, I¡¯m going to go ahead and make a presumption about you, but I <em>think</em> it should deal exactly zero.¡±

 Chapter 213: Grief

    Chapter 213: Grief


    ¡°So how will this Day of Judgment Spell not kill me?¡± Sylvie asked Erani.


    ¡°It¡¯s a weird Spell,¡± Erani responded. ¡°It only deals damage to you based on the things you¡¯ve done. I assume you haven¡¯t done those things, so you should be fine. Or, if you have, it won¡¯t be enough to deal that much damage.¡±


    ¡°How do you know? What if I¡¯m a secret aficionado of whatever thing you¡¯re talking about?¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t.¡±


    I frowned at the conversation. What <em>was</em> she talking about? Secretly, I sent a message to Ainash asking her to get Erani to send a message back to me regarding what, exactly, she was talking about. Presumably it was something she didn¡¯t want Sylvie knowing about.


    Sylvie was clearly getting frustrated at this point. ¡°Just tell me!¡±


    Erani nced at me, and I got a message from Ainash. <em>¡°Mother says there is no way to avoid telling other Human if want her help, and we need her help. So she will tell all of us at same time, that way your reaction is realistic.¡±</em>


    I frowned and nodded slowly to Erani. Whatever this thing was, it was definitely true that Sylvie wouldn¡¯t help without knowing what it was. And if Erani said we needed her help, I was inclined to agree. Both she and I had the capability to at least tank one 1000-damage attack¡ªwith my Dark te and her Upgraded Angelic Shield¡ªbut if Jon could cast it more than a single time¡ª


    ¡°He can,¡± Index said idly.


    ¡ªRight. So it¡¯d be a problem.


    ¡°So,¡± Erani said, taking a breath, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you, Sylvie. But you have to promise to hear us out, alright?¡±


    Sylvie looked between Erani and me suspiciously.


    I shrugged. ¡°I know as much as you do.¡±


    Eventually, Sylvie nodded. ¡°Sure. As long as you don¡¯t say anything too crazy.¡±


    ¡°...So, basically¡­¡±


    Erani paused.


    Sylvie leaned forward. ¡°Well? Spit it out!¡±


    ¡°...The Spell deals an amount of damage to a target equal to 25 times the, er,¡± she paused for a second, then continued, ¡°...the number of Humans one has contributed to killing.¡±


    Silence fell through the air, Erani¡¯s words hanging in it for several seconds.


    I was the first to break the silence, quietly putting my face in my hands and muttering to myself, ¡°Fuck.¡±


    Sylvie frowned with wide eyes, then eventually said, ¡°25 damage for each. It dealt 1075 damage to you. So you¡¯ve killed¡­<em>forty-three people?!¡±</em>


    ¡°It¡¯s everyone you¡¯ve ever contributed to killing, with a damage cap set at a point depending on the Spell¡¯s Rank,¡± Erani hastily said. ¡°But, that is to say, it¡¯s not just counting pure murder. Any contribution counts. We-we told you, we came here fleeing from the kingdom. There were some¡­choices. Not all of our fellow Humans looked kindly on deserters.¡±


    ¡°And you had to make that choice <em>forty-three </em>times?¡±


    ¡°Gods damn this shit,¡± I muttered. I was just as shocked as Sylvie was. Forty-three. I supposed it madeplete sense; if I¡¯d ever taken the time to count, I was sure I¡¯d have arrived at a simr number. But, well, I hadn¡¯t ever counted. With the explosion I caused at that barricade they¡¯d made during the forest fire, and the plenty of people I¡¯d fought in between¡­It added up.


    Part of me felt like a horrible person for the number being sorge. The other part felt like a horrible person for not even knowing the number was sorge to begin with. Had I just forgotten? Did I never care to begin with?


    And, of course, a third part of myself chastised the first two. <em>What¡¯s wrong with you,</em> it said, <em>feeling this bad over what was necessary. What, would you have just let those people kill you? It was either you or them, every time. And every time, that choice was </em>forced<em> on you, not something you took on yourself. None of those deaths are on your hands; they had nothing to do with you. Those are forty-three people the Demons killed, and you had to do their dirty work.</em>


    And the other two parts of me argued back, saying that I was terrible for having the third part within myself in the first ce. <em>This is why the number got sorge,</em> they told me. <em>Because you allow those excuses to exist in your mind. This is why we never even stopped to consider, because you were too upied deflecting your own guilt onto others.</em>


    ¡°An,¡± a voice said, breaking me out of my thoughts.


    I looked up to see Erani and Sylvie speaking with each other. Or, rather, it was mostly Erani telling Sylvie how extensively that none of this was our fault, and how we were forced into each killing. Her words were so organized, like she¡¯d had this discussion with herself about a hundred times already.


    ¡°An,¡± the voice spoke again. It was Index. ¡°You¡¯re spiraling. Stop that.¡±


    I blinked. <em>What?</em>


    ¡°It¡¯s not good to argue with yourself like that.¡± Index paused, sighing. I still had no idea if it did that just for dramatic effect, or if it somehow needed to breathe when speaking to me, despite not being a living person. ¡°Listen. I know I¡¯m not exactly a champion of morality, or whatever. In fact, I don¡¯t quite care either way whether you¡¯re a good person, or whether you help others, or whatever. Really, I¡¯d highly prefer it if you didn¡¯t do that. But I can tell that this is bothering you, so I¡¯m going to try and help.¡±


    <em>What, are you just going to tell me that I did nothing wrong?</em>


    ¡°First off, <em>you</em> barely even think you did anything wrong. I can tell. Your stress, anger, sadness, guilt, all of those values were already really high the moment you got back from this loop. You¡¯d seen some messed-up stuff back there, and then you got killed in a single hit, and part of it was due to a small mistake with your timing with activating Regenerate. You were already upset¡ªat a lot of things. And now, you get this news. Want me to tell you something? Those values barely spiked. I mean, the small spikes they did have pushed them up to some absolutely massive levels, but that¡¯s only because they were <em>already</em> high. Give yourself some time. I mean, you¡¯re right. You pretty much already knew all of this. It shouldn¡¯t be affecting you this much. You got unlucky with the timing, and the feeling will subside. Don¡¯t go beating yourself up over it.¡±


    I frowned, taking a few deep breaths. <em>Well, maybe this was the wake-up call I needed. The barricade, with all of those people lined up around the explosives, I didn¡¯t technically need to cause such a massive explosion. I could have¡ª</em>


    ¡°You could have snuck past them, left without getting those several, extremely-needed Level-ups, and then died in the wastnd when you fought the Mountain Troll. Or when you fought the Drakes. Or when you almost died during the battle with Astintash and the wall the Demons set up. Or you wouldn¡¯t have had enough Health to survive against Xhag¡¯duul. That was needed. The XP was needed to keep you alive.¡±


    <em>Well, maybe that Jon guy was right with what he said to me. Maybe, if it takes this many deaths to keep me alive, it¡¯s just not worth it. I should just turn myself in, and end all of that suffering.</em>


    ¡°You are being ridiculous. How are you going to let what he said get to you like that? He was obviously just saying whatever he could to get into your head, and now you¡¯re letting him win. Don¡¯t do that. Don¡¯t let them beat you like that.¡±


    <em>You know what, Index?</em><em>I¡¯m tired of your shit. Your fucking maniptions, and your little sneaky wordings trying to get me to do what you say, everything. You don¡¯t have any fucking idea why he said that, no more than I do. Maybe he said it because he fucking hates me, because he thinks I¡¯m a terrible person. Because he thinks I¡¯m evil. And maybe he¡¯s right. And you don¡¯t have any idea about any of that shit, because you aren¡¯t a Human being. I mean, aren¡¯t you supposed to just sit around and say nothing until I have something actually System-rted to ask you? Keep to your fucking area of expertise. You aren¡¯t a Human, you don¡¯t understand Humans, and you certainly will never understand morality. So shut the fuck up, get the fuck out of my head, and stop acting like you know shit about stuff you are not capable of understanding.</em>


    There was a moment of silence once again. My ears rang in anger.


    Sylvie¡¯s voice faded in, the conversation I¡¯d been ignoring seeming to have somewhat resolved. ¡°¡ªsorry you went through that. I, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m kinda shit at this emotional stuff, but, uh, if you ever wanna talk about it, I guess? I¡¯m still kind of processing everything, y¡¯know, so maybe if you catch me in, like, an hour, I¡¯d be able to say something more meaningful.¡±


    Erani nced over at me. I¡¯d looked up some, meeting her eyes, and her face morphed into a worried expression.


    <em>¡°Father,¡±</em> Ainash said, <em>¡°I told mother you feeling very angry. You seemed like you wanted to not talk right now. But she says she is sorry if she was not supposed to tell other Human about the bad guys you killed. She thought she could make sure other Human did not get mad at you, so that is why she told her. Would not have done it if she was not confident.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It¡¯s, uh, tell her it¡¯s okay,¡±</em> I responded. I wasn¡¯t upset with Erani for telling Sylvie, or anything¡ªshe seemed like she had it all under control. Wasn¡¯t like her to make a decision like that without havinge up with a n beforehand, at least, so I knew there was basically no chance of failure if she was confident she could make sure it all went well with Sylvie.


    But Ainash was right about one thing. I really did not want to be talked to right now.


    Iid on my back in the grass, looking up at the sky. I could faintly hear Sylvie ask, ¡°Uh, is he okay?¡± and Erani respond with something reassuring, followed by the beginnings of a n she¡¯d obviously already started to cook up about how they could use Sylvie¡¯s status of not having killed anyone to beat Jon.


    I just stared at the moon, faintly visible in the afternoon sky.


    Some time passed as Erani and Sylvie continued speaking. I didn¡¯t often hear Erani talk so much with our allies from town, but it seemed like she¡¯d taken up the role of leader for now. I just tried to close my eyes and sleep. I really, really did not want to be conscious at the moment.


    Eventually, I heard something.


    ¡°Annor?¡±


    A hand shook my arm.


    ¡°A-Annor?¡±


    I opened my eyes to see Erani looking down at me. ¡°Oh. Hi.¡±


    ¡°Um, hi,¡± she said. ¡°I just wanted to¡­go over our n. The one we just made.¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah, right, n,¡± I said groggily. I hadn¡¯t even managed to fall asleep, but I was exhausted like I¡¯d just had a very rude awakening.


    ¡°Did you¡­hear us talking about the n?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°No.¡±


    She blinked. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    I just sighed.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Sylvie said, ¡°I¡¯m gonna go and, uh, look at some trees. Or whatever. You two discuss your n and stuff.¡±


    Erani nced back for a moment with an expression that I recognized to mean she was silentlymunicating with Ainash, and shortly after, I saw Ainash stand from my view lying on the grass, and start walking away, presumably going to tail Sylvie as she wandered off.


    Erani looked back down at me and whispered, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Is there something I need to know about? Did you use Loop again?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I looked up at her concerned face. ¡°N-no. Nothing like that.¡±


    ¡°So what¡¯s up, then? Something¡¯s obviously wrong.¡±


    I took another breath. ¡°...Forty-three.¡±


    Erani¡¯s face softened, and her shoulders sagged. She slowly lowered herself from her kneeling position so she was lying beside me. ¡°Ah. So it¡¯s that kind of something¡¯s wrong.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said bitterly. ¡°That kind.¡±


    ¡°...So, what about it is bothering you?¡±


    I raised my head, looked at her. ¡°How can you say that?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re wondering which part is bothering me? All of it! The part where I killed forty-three people! Do you not even understand what I¡¯m talking about?¡±


    ¡°Of course I do.¡±


    ¡°No, like, imagine if someone walked up to you and told you the exact number of people you¡¯d¡ª¡±


    ¡°Twenty-eight.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen twenty-eight kill messages that read ¡®Due to killing a member of your own species.¡¯ I know it¡¯s not as high as yours, but I certainly wish it was lower.¡±


    ¡°...You keep track?¡±


    She nodded.


    Iid my head back down, staring straight back up at the clouds movingzily across the sky. ¡°So, am I just, like, a horrible person?¡±


    ¡°Would you ever say that about me?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. You¡¯re calcted. You know what you¡¯re doing. I mean, you¡¯re the one who at least kept track. I didn¡¯t give a shit. Not once. Not until someone threw it in my face and <em>made</em> me look.¡±


    She stared at me for a while. Eventually she spoke, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say once that your whole goal in all of this was to get to a point where nobody could force you to do anything?¡±


    I looked at her, confused.


    ¡°Back when we were in Kingdom¡¯s Edge, I think. I said I wanted to just get back to normal life, and you said you wanted more. To get to a point where you could finally just do what you wanted.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess I remember that. What about it?¡±


    ¡°I think about it a lot. Well, I think about a lot of things you¡¯ve said. But that¡­When you told me that you¡¯d use all of this to make a new, better life¡ªrebuild something stronger from the destruction¡ªI was bbergasted. When you told me you¡¯d make sure I got my arm back,¡± Erani raised her left stump in the air, ¡°I fully andpletely did not believe you.¡±


    ¡°What, and now you do?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But I¡¯ll tell you what I never doubted. I may have thought it was impossible to ever get to a point where you <em>actually</em> could just ignore what other people want you to do. And I thought it was impossible to make a better life from the aftermath of this invasion. And that there was no way I¡¯d ever be able to get that part of myself that was stolen away from me. But I never, ever thought you were lying. When you said you thought it was possible, you believed it. When you said you <em>knew</em> it was possible. I could see it in your eyes, hear it in your voice¡­You were one hundred percent convinced. It wasn¡¯t just possible, it was going to happen. Like you¡¯d seen the future.¡±


    ¡°So? What¡¯s your point?¡±


    ¡°You said we¡¯d not only make it out of this, but that we¡¯d make it out of this <em>better</em>. And you knew it. So I simply refuse to believe you¡¯re bing worse.¡±


    Iughed. ¡°What? That¡¯s it? I can¡¯t be turning into a worse person because I promised I wouldn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s exactly it. And I trust you.¡±


    I looked at her for a while. Now she was staring up into the sky. Her red hair sprawled out across the grass, strands weaving between the des like a fiery explosion.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I eventually said, ¡°so I¡¯m not getting worse. Who¡¯s to say I didn¡¯t start out bad?¡±


    ¡°You.¡±


    I continued staring at her, a skeptical look on my face.


    She nced over at me and broke out into a smile, reaching her hand to ce on my cheek, rubbing her thumb across my forehead. ¡°Your eyebrows look good like that.¡±


    ¡°Exin,¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, you see, when you raise your eyebrows, they get bent into this hooked shape that reallypliments¡ª¡±


    ¡°Okay, ha ha,¡± I mockughed with a roll of my eyes. ¡°Exin your previous statement. <em>I¡¯m</em> the one who said I didn¡¯t start out bad?¡±


    ¡°Well, you said that you wanted to get to a point where you felt like nobody could force you to do anything anymore. So, then, the only reason you would want that is if you felt forced into your actions thus far. And I agree. You have been.¡±


    ¡°I could have given myself up. In fact, didn¡¯t you suggest we do that, when the invasion first broke out?¡±


    ¡°I did,¡± she said with a nod. ¡°Maybe I had a choice. I¡¯m not convinced you did, though.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I like to think of my actions as though¡­Okay, imagine when you die, you don¡¯t get taken to any normal afterlife. Instead, you go to this big ck void, nothing around you, nobody to talk to, no god¡¯s presence to bask in. Just a ck void. And the only thing you can do is view your own life, repeated over and over. That¡¯s how you spend eternity.¡±


    ¡°Is that what you think death is like?¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. What matters is, if that were the case, and I had to watch all of my life, over and over again, ying in front of me <em>forever</em>, what would I regret? What would I seeing up, and I¡¯d have to close my eyes and look away to avoid watching myself make that choice? What would I scream at myself for, telling myself not to do that, or not to go there, or not to say that thing?¡±


    ¡°What, like, your embarrassing moments?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Maybe that¡¯d bother me the first few times, but what, you really think you¡¯d cringe at some awkward thing you said when you were fourteen after you¡¯d already seen that memory reyed eighty thousand times over? Maybe it¡¯s just me, but I can imagine myself getting used to that small stuff. It was a part of me, same as everything else was, contributing to what made my life into my life. No, I think the stuff that I¡¯d <em>never</em> be able to get used to¡ªthe stuff that I would simply loathe to see repeated, no matter how many times I¡¯d seen it¡ªwould be those times when I went against what I really believed in. When I wasn¡¯t strong enough, or wasn¡¯t brave enough, or whatever, and simply could not do what I absolutely <em>knew</em> I had to do. And I faced the consequences for that. I live my life to avoid those moments. I want to be able to watch my life rey in front of me and say, ¡®Y¡¯know what? I made my mistakes, I learned my lessons, but I did what I knew I needed to, every time.¡¯¡±


    I stayed silent as Erani paused to look at me for a moment.


    ¡°I think that if you turned yourself in, if you let yourself get killed by those Demons without fighting back for even a second, that would be the moment you could never bring yourself to watch. Honestly, I think that if you ever got killed by these guys¡ªat any time, for any reason¡ªyou would never, ever forgive yourself. You wouldn¡¯t be able to bear living in eternity with the knowledge you let them win.¡±


    ¡°How do you think I¡¯ll be happy with my life?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Erani said, frowning. ¡°But I think it involves victory.¡±

 Chapter 214: Wrath

    Chapter 214: Wrath


    It didn¡¯t take long before we were back on the road. Erani messaged Ainash to go grab Sylvie and bring her back to us so we could get to the outpost without dy. So once we met back up, we got right back onto the worn dirt trail heading in the direction of the mountains.


    Our n now was essentially just an ambush. We knew that Jon and his soldiers would arrive shortly after we got to the outpost, and so instead of entering we¡¯d stick outside and watch, waiting for an opening to strike while they were off-guard. A simple strategy, made moreplex by the reversal of roles we¡¯d be forced to take.


    Unfortunately, where normally Ainash and I were close-range fighters who would take the front while people like Sylvie and Erani would take the back line¡ªthough, by now, Erani had high enough physical Stats for her to hold her own in close-rangebat¡ªthis time, due to Jon¡¯s bullshit Spell, Sylvie would have to be the sole fighter keeping him away from us.


    Erani, Ainash, and I had all contributed to far too many Human deaths for us to be safe while in his range, and so only Sylvie was safe. She¡¯d have to take the front and hopefully use her basic capabilities to hold him at bay while we peppered him with Spells from afar. Though Ainash couldn¡¯t even do that much. She would most likely be on duty fighting the four soldiers Jon had with him, as long as she could keep away from Jon while doing so.


    ¡°Do you know how long the range is on Day of Judgment, exactly?¡± I asked Erani as we walked.


    ¡°Not exactly. But I know it¡¯s somewhat short¡ªprobably less than twenty paces, though it might be something like twenty-five. Definitely not more than that, though; it would get a lot more serious discussion around its viability if it was a sniping Spell.¡±


    ¡°Sure seems plenty viable to me,¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Only because of our particr scenario. Imagine trying to fight monsters with it. You¡¯d have no idea how much damage your own Spell will deal until after you already cast it. It¡¯s basically gambling with your life if you aren¡¯t already informed about your exact opponent. Plus, the path to get to it involves taking very fewbat Spells to begin with, so it really just puts you in a bad position.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I guess. Still, it would be nice to know the specific range.¡±


    <em>Index would be able to tell us the moment we crossed into it, if we knew,</em> was the unsaid part of that thought. With Sylvie with us, I didn¡¯t want to give away the existence of Index, if I didn¡¯t have to.


    <em>Actually,</em> I thought, <em>Index, can you tell us the exact range on the Spell? I know you couldn¡¯t reveal the full effects, but now that we know some, can you tell us the rest?</em>


    ¡­


    A few seconds passed with no response, which I wasn¡¯t used to.


    <em>Index?</em>


    Still no response.


    I felt my face instantly morph into an expression of fear¡ªsomething that I probably shouldn¡¯t have let happen when around people who weren¡¯t in the know, but I couldn¡¯t help it. What was wrong with Index? It never disappeared like that. I wracked through my memory, trying to remember anything that might have¡ª


    ¡°Hey, An,¡± Index¡¯s voice came through to me.


    <em>Oh, thank the gods.</em>


    ¡°Um, yeah, sorry.¡±


    I frowned. Something was strange about the way Index sounded. Like it was¡­ <em>Index, are you okay?</em>


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me,¡± it said. It sounded upset, its voice wavering in a way that reminded me of how my voice would sometimes catch in my throat if I¡¯d been crying recently. ¡°Um, yes, I can tell you, sorry. Erani was right, it¡¯s fifteen paces.¡±


    <em>¡­Alright. Uh, if there¡¯s¡ª</em>


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± it repeated. ¡°Just¡­give me thirty seconds.¡±


    <em>¡­Sure.</em>


    We continued walking for half a minute, none of the others aware that Index and I had spoken. I went ahead and sent a message over to Erani through Ainash with the info it¡¯d given to me, but at this point, the range of Jon¡¯s Spell wasn¡¯t the main thing on my mind.


    After what I was pretty sure had been exactly thirty seconds, I heard Index¡¯s voice again. ¡°Okay, so, I¡¯ve spent some time, and I think I can fix this.¡±


    <em>Wait, fix what? Index, if you¡¯re experiencing some kind of malfunction or something, then¡ª</em>


    ¡°No, no, not myself,¡± it said hastily. ¡°S-sorry, I¡¯m just¡­I don¡¯t know, Humans say they¡¯re ¡®frazzled¡¯ sometimes, right? Like, when they¡¯ve had too much to worry about, and they¡¯re confused, and upset, not just with others, but mainly with themselves, and they don¡¯t know what to do, and¡­that stuff. Right?¡±


    <em>¡­Yeah, I guess.</em>


    ¡°Okay, so then I guess I¡¯m a little frazzled. Sorry. B-but, I was working on myself some, and I think I know what to say to you now.¡±


    <em>About what? </em>I frowned, both confused and worried at how Index was acting.


    ¡°R-right, I forgot I didn¡¯t mention. I should¡¯ve known, it says right there on your emotional readout how curious you are. Though, it always feels like your curiosity score is high, so¡­Anyway. I want to say¡­¡± Index paused. ¡°...I¡¯m sorry for mishandling ourst conversation.¡±


    <em>Wait, what?</em> I thought back to what Index was talking about. I¡¯d been upset with myself about a lot of things, and then learned about Jon¡¯s Spell, and how it was only dealing so much damage to me because I¡¯d killed so many people, and¡­Yeah, Index had tried to cheer me up, and I¡¯d gotten pissed at it for trying to downy what had happened. <em>Index, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re talking about, it¡¯s really not a big¡ª</em>


    ¡°I know you¡¯re not very angry at me anymore,¡± it interrupted. ¡°I can see that you don¡¯t think it¡¯s my problem, or anything. But I did it wrong. I-I¡¯m sorry. I wasn¡¯t made to work with emotions, or morals, or anything like that, and I tried to do it anyway. I¡¯ve been trying to get better at giving advice regarding morality, and I thought it would be good practice to try and cheer you up, because what was the worst that could happen when you were already upset, but I didn¡¯t realize how much more upset you could end up getting, and I only made it worse, and I can still see some residual emotions leftover from that so I know you¡¯re still not even healed from the damage I caused from my attempt at trying to cheer you up, so I <em>really</em> made things worse, and you were really mad at me, and you still are a little, and now I¡¯m thinking what if you don¡¯t trust me as much permanently, right?¡±


    <em>Index¡ª</em>


    ¡°Like what if, two years from now, you¡¯re going to die, and I try to give you advice that will save you, and then you don¡¯t trust me, so you don¡¯t listen, or you hesitate, or whatever, and that kills you, and if I¡¯d just been better at my job here, or learned to butt out earlier, or to not engage with you at all, then you wouldn¡¯t have died, n-not that you¡¯re definitely going to die and I¡¯m definitely going to save you, or anything, but it¡¯s just that it¡¯s possible, and so that means that by making a mistake here, I¡¯ve possibly just condemned you to your death, which is the exact opposite of what I¡¯m supposed to do, and¡ª¡±


    <em>Index,</em> I said. <em>I¡­It¡¯s okay, really.</em>


    ¡°But what if it¡¯s not? Right?! I-I mean, I get that you can say it¡¯s okay, because you don¡¯t see it like I do, but I made a mistake. I was <em>wrong</em>. I¡¯m not supposed to do that. I¡¯m not supposed to <em>ever</em> do that! I mean, what if you stabbed Erani, right? Right in the chest, you stuck a knife in her heart. And she kept saying to you, ¡®it¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay,¡¯ but no matter what she says, you know it¡¯s <em>not</em> okay, because you can see her bleeding, and she might die because of you, and that¡¯s simply not allowed to happen.¡±


    <em>No, you don¡¯t need to¡­</em>I paused, unsure of what to say. I waspletely caught off-guard by this barrage of words by Index. It¡¯d never struck me as the insecure type, the kind of person who would needforting; honestly, I¡¯d always felt like it could have benefited from <em>more</em> criticism. But now¡­I took a breath, trying to calm my mind and figure out what to say. <em>Index, don¡¯t stress about it. Everyone makes mistakes, and I was already just pissed off in general, so¡ª¡±</em>


    ¡°No, not everyone makes mistakes! Some of us make mistakes, and some of us were very specifically made to never make a single mistake in their entire artificial life. Some of us were created with the express purpose to shore up the mistakes that others make. If I make mistakes, then you can¡¯t trust me. I¡ªHow could I ever be seen as anything other than a worthless machine, if I can¡¯t fulfill such a basic purpose?¡±


    <em>Hey, hey, don¡¯t call yourself that. You¡¯re not worthless, and you¡¯re not a machine, either. I¡­Listen, I¡¯m really sorry for getting upset at you like that. Even if I was mad at myself, I shouldn¡¯t have gotten mad at you, too. </em>I thought back to myst words to Index in that conversation¡ª¡±shut the fuck up, get the fuck out of my head, and stop acting like you know shit about stuff you are not capable of understanding.¡± I couldn¡¯t have regretted them more, now. <em>I didn¡¯t mean any of that. I was mad, and half of that anger was directed at myself, anyway.</em>


    ¡°Only about three eighths of it, actually,¡± Index corrected. It sounded teary-eyed. Sometimes I forgot since I couldn¡¯t see it, but it apparently had some sort of a physical form, and I hadn¡¯t even considered the idea that it could cry, in the past. ¡°I, I know you¡¯re not mad at me anymore, but I¡¯m going to try to make it right, anyway. So, I¡¯ve been working on something to say, and¡­Here it is: Okay, An, so you¡¯re upset that you contributed to the killing of forty-three people. And I won¡¯t downy it, or try to lie to you; you seem to think, yourself, that you are the sole killer of these people. So sure. You¡¯ve killed forty-three people. Jon, as well as a lot of people, think that you¡¯re evil because of that. Because by being alive, you not only cause the deaths of many other Humans, but you, yourself, kill them. That is the situation. Jon says that you ¡®refuse to give up your life to save the many.¡¯ I think that, to some extent, those words resonated with you. I think you¡¯re upset with yourself because you don¡¯t think you¡¯re strong enough to make the decision to let yourself die and let many more live. I think you look at your actions, your attempts at fighting back, your attempts to save yourself, and all you see is some bitter, selfish child who cries about the fact that he lost a game.


    ¡°I do not see that when I look at you. I think Jon is trying to talk about therger goal, the greater good, and ironically, he¡¯s thinking too small. He wants to let the Demons win and to let you die, because by the simple numbers of it all, a single Human dying is a lot less than the thousands¡ªmaybe even tens of thousands¡ªthat would lose their lives as a result of your fight against the Demons. And if you look at it from the perspective he wants to look at it from, he would bepletely correct. You should die.


    ¡°But that perspective is stupid. He wants to look through this lens of sacrificing the few to save the many, and I say that if that¡¯s what he wants, it¡¯s exactly what you¡¯re doing. The Demons represent an existential threat to Humanity. They represent an organization of beings with no moral code, with no responsibility held to keeping people alive, and with the power needed to strip the entire Overworld of every living thing on its surface, if needed. The only thing they don¡¯t have is a motive. They don¡¯t have any reason to dedicate the resources to kill everything on the Overworld, so they don¡¯t. Yet. As we can see from your own existence, there are some circumstances that can convince the Demons toe down from their hole and try to exterminate the Humans. And if there exists an incentive like this, one that can cause them to stick their toe out and test the waters of conquest, then there probably exists an incentive to do much, much more. If that happens, it won¡¯t be one Human, or one thousand Humans, or one hundred thousand Humans that die. It will be everyst one of them.


    ¡°An, you are the fighting spirit of Humanity. The pursuit of justice, of safety, of perfection, whatever you want to call it. If you can survive the assault of the Demons, then you prove that Humanity can survive, as well. And I know you, and I know you won¡¯t stop at just surviving. If you continue, and you survive, and you get stronger, you¡¯ll destroy the Demons. You¡¯ll destroy the threat at its source. Jon can say he¡¯s trying to save a kingdom, but you say you¡¯re trying to save everything. He pales inparison to you. An, I don¡¯t know much about morality, or about Humans at all, really, but I can say that out of everyone in the world, I could not have been assigned a better teacher. I was trying, before, to use tricks and tactics to get you to forget about the deaths. I was being dishonest with you. But I think that all you really need is to see the truth.¡±


    I¡¯d quietly listened through what Index had said, at first just because I¡¯d hoped doing that would calm it down, but quickly I¡¯d be a little enraptured in its speech. I supposed it made sense that Index could say the perfect thing to me, considering it lived in my head, but still. It articted some feelings I hadn¡¯t been able to exin. This whole time, I¡¯d been thinking to myself that most of what I did was predicated on revenge. I didn¡¯t like admitting it, but it had been true, in my mind. The Demons had wronged me, they¡¯d wronged the people I cared about, so I was going to y them. That was the beginning and end of what I felt.


    For a while, that had been enough for me. But I had to admit, revenge as an emotion had a way of petering out. Maybe the motivation stuck around, but the righteous, justifying anger slowly seeped away, until I was just left with a desire to see the Demons suffer. And when I was shown how my own desire led to others being harmed¡­I lost sight of what I wanted. Why it was important.


    Index brought it all back into focus.


    A fire burned behind my eyes.


    <em>Thank you,</em> I said, trusting that it would be able to look beyond just my words, into my mind, and understand how thankful I really felt. <em>Index, you keep referring to yourself as a ¡°creation¡± and a ¡°machine.¡± That¡¯s not true. You aren¡¯t some artificial thing with an artificial life. You¡¯re not just a being with a purpose to make me happy and nothing more. You¡¯re my friend. If you ever want something, or I can help make </em>you<em> happier, just tell me what to do.</em>


    ¡°I have something to request, then,¡± it said, its voice more calm now.


    <em>What is it?</em>


    ¡°I want you to kill Jon.¡±


    <em>You sure that isn¡¯t just what you know will give me the best chances of survival?</em>


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think it is. You¡¯re probably better off killing the four soldiers and then threatening Jon into running away and giving yourself more time to get more powerful before confronting himter. However, he made you upset, and so I would really, really enjoy seeing him tortured to death.¡±


    <em>We¡¯ll see about the torture, </em>I said. That part probably wasn¡¯t going to happen.<em> But I can promise you a death, at the very least.</em>


    A few hourster, Erani, Ainash, and I allid up on a hill looking down at the outpost that housed the trio of border guards, as well as Ripley. None of them knew we were here; we¡¯d gone straight to set up our ambush without showing ourselves to them first. They effectively served as bait, unfortunately, and that meant trying to make sure they acted natural so Jon wouldn¡¯t get suspicious.


    Sylvie was stationed up closer to the outpost, hopefully to draw fire and attention from Jon while we attacked him from outside his Spell¡¯s range.


    We¡¯d arrived early, having moved much more quickly in this timeline so we could set up before they got here, meaning we were now in a situation to simply wait it out. Jon would enter the outpost with his four guards in about twenty minutes, where they¡¯d speak for some time, and then presumably Jon would throw in that coin to fill the ce with water.


    We would charge in during that time spent speaking, before he could seal them into the outpost and drown them, and hopefully use the fact that we had the five enemies all stuck in a small enclosed space to make good use of Erani¡¯s Explosive Firebolts and clear them out quickly. There was obviously the problem of Ripley and the three guards <em>also</em> being in that enclosed space, but I did have a lot of movement-based debuffs, meaning I could hopefully manipte the positioning of the enemies to keep them close together while allowing our allies space to keep away.


    That was the ideal scenario, which would hopefully give us a victory without allowing our enemies even a single attack. But we weren¡¯t delusional, so that was why we had Sylvie in ce to draw aggression from a hopefully weakened and damaged Jon in the case that he escaped and came at us.


    As we waited for the group of five toe, I nced around ensuring everyone was in ce. Erani and Ainash were lying next to me, Erani staring ahead and watching the outpost carefully, and Ainash¡­


    <em>¡°Is that a beetle?¡±</em> I asked her.


    <em>¡°Yes,¡±</em> she responded, looking down at the insect crawling across her hand. She raised it up to her shoulder, and it crawled onto her, wandering along her back and neck as shey prone on the ground.


    <em>¡°...Why do you have a beetle?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Want to get better at training Goblins, but getting practice with them is hard. Whenever make a mistake, have to kill one of them. It is hard to get more Goblins when have already killed a lot of them. So, instead, will just train other animals until I am very good at training.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Right,¡± </em>I said, <em>¡°I guess that makes sense. Though, I¡¯m not sure a beetle¡ª¡±</em>


    <em>¡°His name is Kabuto,¡±</em> Ainash interrupted.


    <em>¡°Sure,¡± </em>I responded. Honestly, I was mainly just surprised she was able to transfer a name through our mentalmunication; I always found doing that extremely difficult. Maybe working on verbalmunication with the Goblins was helping her even more than I realized. <em>¡°Anyway, I¡¯m not sure Kabuto is going to be very simr to a Goblin. So it might be hard to¡ª¡±</em>


    ¡°Hey,¡± Erani whispered, nudging me in the side.


    I stopped speaking and looked over. Off in the distance, approaching the outpost from up in the mountains, was a group of five. ¡°Is that¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Jon and the soldiers. They aren¡¯t supposed to be here yet, right?¡±


    ¡°They shouldn¡¯t be. Supposed to be another, like, fifteen minutes before they arrive.¡±


    ¡°It was actually eighteen minutes in the future when they arrived here in the previous timeline,¡± Index said.


    ¡°So why are they here?¡±


    ¡°No idea.¡±


    Sylvie, hiding behind some foliage, looked back up at us with a questioning expression. I shrugged. Maybe something had caused a knock-on effect that led to them arriving more quickly?


    We were all well-hidden, so we simply stayed put and watched as the group of Jon and his soldiers walked up to the door to the outpost. I wondered if Ripley would give them the wee she gave me¡ªan instant axe to the face¡ªor if she would hide, having seen therger group. I felt like it would be best if they were all let in first, but if Ripley came out with an instant attack, it would still leave us in a good position to ambush the soldiers partway through the fight, taking them down at the perfect moment.


    Jon stepped up to the outpost door, and paused, staring at it. I frowned, wondering what he was waiting for. Then, one of his soldiers¡ªthe one with the maul¡ªcame up to him and started speaking with him. They had a conversation thatsted for some time, and then Jon turned back around. Only, he didn¡¯t turn to face the door, he turned to face the wilderness. To face us.


    Then,pletely ignoring the outpost, Jon and the four guards started walking straight in our direction. The guards readied their weapons, and Jon held out his hands, fingers practically crackling with energy.

 Chapter 215: Dread

    Chapter 215: Dread


    Jon and his four soldiers approached us in our hiding ces, seemingly fully aware of our location. Or, I didn''t think any of them could see us, since none of them were looking directly at us. Rather, they were simply walking in our directions with clear purpose. I just assumed that purpose was ¡°let¡¯s go kill An and his pals.¡± At the very least, they clearly knew <em>something</em> was over here.


    It was only a matter of time before they found us if we kept hiding, so we¡¯d have to take the initiative. Better to spring a half-revealed ambush than to not spring one at all. I spoke quickly with Erani and Ainash through our mental link, unfortunately leaving Sylvie out of it, and we figured out a basic n of action. We¡¯d wait until Jon was in range of Crippling Chill¡ªwhich would also put him well into range of Erani¡¯s Firebolt¡ªand then both attack at the same time. I had Index carefully watching distances so she could warn us if he was ever close to getting within his fifteen-pace kill range.


    Sylvie slowly, carefully crept away from them, positioned far enough ahead that they¡¯d pass her on their way to us. I watched as she expertly maneuvered behind trees, using the tall grass to keep out of sight while also somehow not causing enough of a disturbance to the grass for our enemies to notice. It reminded me of the fact that, despite my Level and the amount ofbat experience I had, I still definitely wasn¡¯t an expert. Really, a couple months ago, I¡¯d have still been ssified as an amatuer even when it came to swordfighting. And now I could barely even use <em>that</em> training. I had basically no formalized education on how to fight with my current skillset. And Sylvie, maneuvering through the brush in such a skillful manner she made it seem like nothing definitely exposed the fact that I wascking in any sort of teaching from a more skilled professional.


    Now, I still had some skill¡ªI didn¡¯t think it was egotistical to say something like that. Really, the best way to learn something was to be forced into a situation where you <em>had</em> to figure it out, and I felt like a Demon invasion, constantly fighting for my life against more and more powerful threats, was a pretty good way to force me to learn. But still, I¡¯d have liked to have someone to teach me the tricks of my ss. Though, Erani¡¯s help with general advice regarding Spellcasting was certainly helpful.


    It was with that doubt in my mind that I watched Jon and his soldiers advance, thankfully not taking notice of Sylvie. Or, if they <em>did</em> notice her, they seemed to consider whatever was going on in our direction to be more important.


    I waited patiently for him to get forty paces away, where Crippling Chill would be active. Due to what was effectively a hard limit on how close we could let him get, there were a good few Spells that were locked off from use on Jon. Noxious Grasp and Sanguine Bond were the obvious ones, but Curse of Echoes also had a fairly short range at just ten paces, so I couldn¡¯t use it on him, either. And Ray of Frost¡¯s twenty-five pace range would also force me to get ufortably close to use; if he had a high enough Dexterity or any decent movement ability, he could rush another ten paces closer to get into his range and kill me.


    ¡°Few paces to go,¡± Index said, bringing my attention back to reality. Just a couple more steps, and¡­


    You have cursed Level 28 Cleric with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, he loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and his Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.


    56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1998.


    Instantly, both Erani and I shot off our Spells in unison, with Jon lurching over from the unexpected debuff just as his eyes widened as he looked up at the Firebolt beingunched at him.


    An explosion rocked my senses as I leapt to my feet. Jon stumbled back, and the soldiers he brought with him were actually knocked much further back than he was by the st. Seemed like his Stats were significantly above theirs, if he could take a full-on hit like that.


    ¡°Go!¡± he shouted back to his men as he, too, charged forth at us. I could see several effects simultaneously take ce on all five of them¡ªa glowing halo around their heads, a wreath of white light around their bodies, bright yellow mes behind their eyes, plus a half-dozen more changes such that I wasn¡¯t sure which came from their own individual buffs and which were just two different effectsing from the same Spell. Either way, I didn¡¯t like how much he was powering these guys¡ªand himself¡ªup.


    Another Firebolt came from Erani as I continued with my own Spells, casting Crippling Chill on the other four soldiers that were noticeablygging behind Jon¡¯s charge. Erani and I were both backing away from him, and I watched as her Firebolt¡¯s explosion sted against Jon¡¯s skin, an explosion enveloping him¡­and he continued charging, as though he hadn¡¯t felt the force at all. Shit.


    By this time, Sylvie had figured out what was going on, popping out of her own hiding spot andunching a nocked arrow at Jon¡¯s head. The glowing arrowhead scraped against Jon¡¯s scalp. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure whether it had done any significant damage at all, but hoped it had.


    Sylvie sprinted forward, her job technically being to be the one engaging Jon on a physical level to keep him from reaching us, and drew a dagger as she came up behind him. The four soldiers moved to intercept her, but she dashed to the side, ducking under one of their hasty swings and continuing her chase after Jon.


    Another of Erani¡¯s Firebolts hit his body, which he continued strolling through as though it were nothing, his buff Spells clearly giving him quite the advantage. By now, he¡¯d gotten within range of Gravity Well, which I activated on him, and as we continued in our retreat from him, he eventually got into the twenty-five pace range, too, meaning I could hit him with Ray of Frost. I shot him with as many as I could as I nced back at him during our flight.


    You have struck Level 28 Cleric for 34 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 28 Cleric with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 7.76.


    25 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1919.


    Despite being a direct hit, my Ray of Frost only dealt 34 of its maximum 62 damage¡ªand that was after it¡¯d been slightly <em>boosted</em> in its damage output from the few triggers I had on him with Cumtive Catastrophe. So, one of those buff Spells he had on himself was almost certainly a damage reducer.


    Sylvie caught up to Jon and wrapped her arms around him from behind, driving her dagger into his throat with as much force as possible. It nced off his reinforced skin, and as she reached back for another stab, he fished something out of a pocket on his shirt, then shoved it back with his hand into her face, where the object burst into mes. She yelped and leapt back, with the soldiers catching up with her, all swinging their weapons from different sides.


    As Sylvie moved to fight back against the soldiers, Jon continued chasing after us.


    It was clear our only real option was to oust him. Those buff Spells had to be on a timer, and he wouldn¡¯t have the Mana to keep them active forever. Conversely, I only got <em>stronger</em> with time, Cumtive Catastrophe buffing the damage output and debuff potential of my own Spells. As long as I could avoid Day of Judgment, I¡¯d eventually be able to overtake him.


    <em>¡°Circle around and help Slyivie,¡±</em> I sent to Ainash, who was up until now simply running alongside us, no way to get into melee range without exposing herself to Jon. <em>¡°We¡¯ll try to lead him away from that fight so you¡¯ll be safe.¡±</em>


    Ainash split off from me and Erani, Jon not paying her much mind as she moved to help the very non-meleebat-oriented Sylvie in the four-on-onebat that she had somehow not yet been overwhelmed by.


    On our side, it was mainly just Jon running after us while both Erani and I kept throwing our projectiles at him. Erani was being more sparing than I was, knowing that the Firebolts weren¡¯t actually doing much, and that she¡¯d definitely want to save some Mana for when they were actually helpful. She also had the Health and Stamina necessary to use about three activations of her Elemental Embrace Talent, which would massively power up one single cast of Firebolt at the cost of a little over 100 Health, Stamina, and Mana each. Those powered-up Firebolts would hopefully actually <em>do</em> something against the guy, so we¡¯d want to keep those in our back pocket for when we had no other options.


    On my end, I could be a lot morex with the amount of Mana I spent on Rays of Frost. I had a good Mana capacity by now, and my absurd Mana/Minute meant that even if I ran out, I¡¯d just need to wait some time to get it back. And, considering my entire n for this fight was to wait Jon out, I anticipated doing that already. Besides, the man wasn¡¯t fucking <em>invincible</em>, he just had enough buff effects to make it hard to hurt him. Continuing the damage put more pressure on him, and ideally would at least slightly disrupt his actions.


    Besides, the extra triggers helped out with Cumtive Catastrophe; my boost was already approaching 25%, increasing all of my debuffs by quite the significant margin. Hopefully, even if the damage was being diminished by Jon¡¯s Spells, the Stamina drain would get to him soon.


    So, we were left effectively just sprinting through the fiel;ds surrounding the outpost, looking back and shooting Jon with Spells whenever possible. I was just d he didn¡¯t seem to have many good ranged options, himself. His face was one of deadly calm, mouth open to take heavy breaths as he chased, but otherwise betraying no emotion except pure determination. We ducked through the hills that surrounded us, sprinting through valleys and behind fallen stones by the mountains, effectively running in circles around the guard outpost. Part of me considered running down into the mountain pass itself, retreading our old ground, but that felt like an unnecessary risk with the monsters that roamed through there.


    Though, it seemed like a risk would have to be taken, because Jon was gaining on us, despite our attempts to prevent that. Now running past the front of the outpost, I turned to see a Firebolt Erani hadunched st against Jon¡¯s body, the force throwing debris away from him as he braced himself against the impact.


    We took the opportunity to keep moving and regain a bit of our lead, mbering over a mound of stone and leaping down behind it¡ªnot before I shot him with another Ray of Frost, bringing my Mana down below 1500. I¡¯d been keeping Gravity Well active this whole time, which was quite the costly endeavor Mana-wise, but definitely worth it when it came to slowing him down.


    Just as we were about to keep running off, though, the door of the guard outpost burst open, revealing the boot that had just kicked it off its hinges. It stepped back down on the ground, and Ripley walked out of the building.


    ¡°Jon!¡± she shouted. ¡°What are you doing here?!¡±


    ¡°Oh, Ripley, it¡¯s you,¡± Jon said, standing up straight and turning to face her. He was breathing heavily. ¡°I was looking for you.¡±


    Erani and I took this opportunity to retreat back further away from them, sneaking away as Jon and Ripley spoke.


    ¡°You¡¯re here for me?¡± she asked. Then she nodded over in my direction. ¡°Not him?¡±


    ¡°Both,¡± he said. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll deal with youter. Don¡¯t want the fugitive getting¡ªwait, what?¡±


    Ripley frowned at Jon interrupting himself. I watched him, too, recognizing his behavior from the previous timeline¡ªhe was speaking to that woman in his ear, Asmo.


    He frowned, listening to her speak. ¡°Call a¡­really? Well. I suppose you¡¯re the boss.¡± Jon turned to face me, shouting out, ¡°Fugitive, I¡¯d like to call a ceasefire! You don¡¯t move from that spot, and I won¡¯t make chase. We will resume thister, once I¡¯m done speaking with Ripley.¡±


    I blinked. <em>What?</em>

 Chapter 216: Frustration

    Chapter 216: Frustration


    ¡°Fugitive, I¡¯d like to call a ceasefire! You don¡¯t move from that spot, and I won¡¯t make chase. We will resume thister, once I¡¯m done speaking with Ripley,¡± Jon called to me and Erani. He turned over to where Sylvie and Ainash had been fighting the soldiers. ¡°Men, put down your weapons. We will¡­oh.¡±


    I looked where he was staring, only to see Ainash standing in the middle of four bisected corpses, all cut cleanly in half by her whip. Blood covered her body and the yellowish grass that surrounded her. An obviously horrified Sylvie stared at her, and Ainash herself was enthusiastically waving hello to us with a big, open-mouth smile on her face.


    Jon pursed his lips, sighed, then turned back to Ripley. ¡°Well, that¡¯s dealt with then, I suppose. Anyway, I¡¯d like to negotiate with you regarding a peaceful return to the Koinkar Kingdom.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going with you,¡± Ripley growled, weapon still drawn.


    Part of me just wanted to sprint off with Erani. Jon was distracted, speaking with Ripley, and maybe we¡¯d get a good bit of distance between us before he realized. But the other part of me knew he probably would notice instantly, and we¡¯d resume our chase as we had before in just as bad a situation as we¡¯d been in.


    Fact of the matter was, we got a lot more out of this break time than he did. His buffs would wear off, so he¡¯d have to reapply them once we got back to fighting, meaning he¡¯d waste all of that Mana. And on my end, I¡¯d get much, much more Mana back from natural regeneration in the time that passed than he would.


    He had probably understood that he¡¯de off a little behind as time passed because of the buffs, but he had no way of knowing about my insane Mana/Minute, meaning he waspletely unaware of the fact that every second that passed directly tranted to almost 2 full points of Mana being deposited right into my pool. So I was more than happy to let him argue for a moment with Ripley, especially considering I knew what the oue to this conversation would be, anyway; he¡¯d already had it in the previous timeline, and Ripley had refused to go with him, choosing to fight instead.


    Jon continued speaking with Ripley. ¡°Asmo wants you back in the kingdom. She said that you were, ahem, ¡®an invaluable strategic and emotional asset.¡¯ So, my orders are to bring you back.¡±


    ¡°Emotional asset, huh?¡± Ripleyughed. ¡°Yeah, that sounds about like what she¡¯d say. I get what you want, Jon, but I can¡¯t go back with you. If Asmo wants me, she¡¯s gonna have toe and get me, herself. I wanna duel her, one on one, and we¡¯ll see who breaks first. Go back home and tell her that.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t go back to the kingdom without you,¡± Jon said inly. ¡°So, if you won¡¯te voluntarily, I hope you understand that I¡¯ll be forced to put you into a more agreeable state.¡±


    Ripley chuckled. ¡°Really? You¡¯re outnumbered, what¡­one, two three¡­eight to one. Don¡¯t care that there¡¯s a bit of a Level gap between you and me, you really wanna sit there and tell me you can make up for that?¡±


    ¡°Have you been viewing the battle so far?¡± Jon asked. ¡°How many lives do you think your so-called allies have taken?¡±


    Her face turned to a scowl at that. ¡°Ah. Right. Y¡¯know, I never liked that Spell. Feels too much like cheating.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be a gue on the world, and it won¡¯t affect you.¡±


    ¡°How much damage would it do to <em>you</em>, Jon?¡±


    ¡°I will admit that I have taken on much of a personal burden in my mission to improve the world. I have cured many sicknesses by taking them onto myself. I am a blight, just as many others have been, and it will be a better ce when I am dead. But before then, I will continue to work to help as many people as possible.¡±


    Ripley rolled her eyes, preparing to say something, but before she did, another voice shouted out.


    ¡°Hey, Annor!¡± I nced over to see it was Sylvie, confused at her interjection. She continued, ¡°Ask him!¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I responded, yelling back across the battlefield.


    ¡°Ask him! The guards!¡±


    I nced at the guard outpost confusedly. Was something wrong with Bon, Jannin, and Poppins? Didn¡¯t seem like it.


    Sylvie saw my confusion, and looked at me like I was crazy. ¡°The whole min¡¯ reason we¡¯re here! Those border guards who went missing! With the bounty?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right,¡± I said. That <em>was</em> technically the reason we¡¯de out here initially, and as far as Sylvie knew, the entire reason we were here. Jon was just a suspect in the crime we were investigating, not an assassin here sent to kill us. Right. ¡°Uh, yeah, Jon, did you, like, kill some guards on your way across the border? In an outpost like this one?¡±


    He ignored my question, instead looking to Sylvie. ¡°That¡¯s what he has you believing? You¡¯re here to collect some bounty for a missing person? Do you even know who you¡¯re working with?¡±


    Hm, yeah, that¡¯d be a problem. I stepped forward, preparing to re-engage with some Spells, but Erani was a step ahead of me, using one of her limited activations of Elemental Embrace to shoot off a superpowered Firebolt straight at him.


    Jon tried to dodge, and managed to avoid a direct hit, but even with the explosion merelying from nearby, it was still massively powerful, forcing him off his feet and onto his back. Ripley took this moment to charge him, weapon drawn, as I enabled everything I could on him. Crippling Chill had been active the whole time, meaning Cumtive Catastrophe not only carried over, but got more powerful over our brief chat, now past a 50% bonus on all Spell effects.


    With Ripley swinging her axe down on the still-recovering Jon, he had little time to roll out of the way, quickly going through his buff Spells to power himself back up. Another swing by Ripley, another strike dodged, and I realized that we finally had some frontline power to back us up and keep us from being forced on the run this whole time. My job was now to keep Jon in as bad a state as I could, and hope Ripley would do the rest.


    In the previous timeline, Jon had beaten Ripley pretty badly. But in that timeline, he hadn¡¯t been sapped of his resources before the fight began, nor had he been afflicted with several powerful curses during the fight proper. With those circumstances, he was put at a significant disadvantage.


    Ripley swung her axe at his head, but he ducked down, catching a kick she aimed at him at the same time and only sliding back a bit. I saw his hands dig into her armor, and the metal began to melt, his acidic touch digging for her skin as she drew her foot back, using the momentum to fuel a full-power swing at his midsection which forced him to backpedal again, giving her more ground.


    Jon¡¯s movements were growingbored. He wasn¡¯t defenseless, but given enough time, Gravity Well would be strengthened enough by Cumtive Catastrophe to make him effectively immobile.


    He raised a hand in the sky, and it glowed a blinding white¡ª-I immediately recognized it as his Day of Judgment Spell, the one which killed me in a single hit in the previous timeline.


    <em>Index, he isn¡¯t aiming at me, right?</em>


    ¡°No, you¡¯re still out of range.¡±


    <em>Okay. Keep an eye on those distances, please.</em>


    ¡°Yeah, not exactly what I was created for, but I think I can handle tracking the distance between you two as long as I focus.¡±


    With me and Erani ineligible targets, there was only one remaining: Ripley.


    She froze in ce, seeing hisnd lifted to the sky, ready to strike down at any moment. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°If you prove capable of killing me, I have no other choice,¡± he said, breathing heavily.


    ¡°Asmo wants me alive. You can¡¯t kill me.¡±


    ¡°Then you need to ensure I have better odds with you than I do with her. Currently, I don¡¯t. Lay down your weapon, and that will change things.¡±


    Ripley was obviously hesitating, effectively caught in the same position she¡¯d been caught in when we found them in the other timeline. Dammit, we couldn¡¯t lose our frontliner here. We were so close to killing this guy, but if we went back to him chasing us, I didn¡¯t like our chances.


    Frantically, I looked over to Sylvie, who was standing where she¡¯d been before, hesitantly gazing upon our battle. I signaled for her toe over, engage with Jon again and keep him busy, but she didn¡¯t budge. Did she not understand what I was asking? I could yell, but I didn¡¯t want to get Jon to start paying attention to us again. Or maybe Sylvie just didn¡¯t <em>want</em> to fight, whether because she was afraid of Jon, or hesitant to fight on our side after he implied that we had secrets we were hiding from her. Maybe I could¡ª


    ¡°Oh, An, behind!¡± Index shouted suddenly.


    I whipped around, but before I could even get an idea of what I was looking at, I was suddenly hit with a wave of force and sted away from whatever was behind me.


    Only a tiny bit of damage, but I was somehow thrown that far? I blinked groggily, opening my eyes to see what¡¯d happened. Three more soldiers had snuck up behind us, and it seemed like some of them were Magic-Types, using some fucking force Spell on us. Something like it, at least. But they still didn¡¯t deal much damage, so¡­


    ¡°Range!¡± Index voice shouted again. ¡°You¡¯ve been knocked into¡ª¡±


    A bright light filled the air above me, and I had just enough time to think ¡°<em>fuck¡±</em> before¡ª


    You have been smitten. 1075 damage.


    Dark te has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 340.


    Your Health is 332.


    The weight of heaven itself felt to havee down to crush me, Dark te the only thing leaving me stubbornly alive. I felt my body steaming, burnt and broken, and I was lying t on my back, though I had no idea how I¡¯d gotten into that position.


    Barely opening my eyes, I saw Erani holding out her hand and throwing off a Firebolt before the same blinding white light filled the sky above her, and then came crashing down on her body, as well. She was crushed, though not technically dead, with her own Angelic Shielding in to save her from being killed¡ªthough it also left her with no Mana.


    ¡°So, that¡¯s dealt with, then.¡± Jon¡¯s muffled voice came through my ringing ears. ¡°Anyway, Ripley, I¡¯d rather not waste time fighting you and making this take longer than it has to. Youe with me, and we both end up alive. If I¡¯m forced to kill you, I¡¯m sure neither of us would enjoy what woulde of that.¡±


    Something prodded my arm, and I opened my eyes again to see one of the soldiers poking me with his foot.


    ¡°S-sir!¡± he said. ¡°This one¡¯s still alive!¡±


    ¡°They both are!¡± said another,ing from Erani¡¯s location.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s curious,¡± Jon said. ¡°I was sure they¡¯d have died in a single hit, especially considering they¡¯re Magic-Types. I suppose I should pay more attention to my notifications, shouldn¡¯t I? Well, no matter.¡±


    I sat up, trying to get to my feet and hopefully scramble out of his range, but before I could even nt a foot on the ground, I was mmed back into the dirt by one of the soldiers using that damn force Spell again.


    And then the bright light filled the sky, came crashing down on me for another time, and I was reminded once again of the sins Jon convicted me of.


    You have been smitten. 1075 damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have died.


    **********


    In the in-between ce, I plopped down on the ground. Not that there <em>was</em> a ground, or that I even had a body to plop onto that non-existent ground, but I put enough force of will into the idea of copsing into the floor in an expression of defeat that I got the damn message across.


    <em>Fucking really?!</em> I thought. <em>He had soldiers in reserve the entire time? Yeah, no, that¡¯s cool, just keep three entire Magic-Types literally hiding behind some rocks or whatever, and then don¡¯t even fucking use them for the entire first timeline. That¡¯s really cool, and totally fair of you to do. I mean seriously, what the fuck?!</em>


    I tried to calm myself down, putting some thought into the concept of closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.


    <em>So there¡¯s him, his four apanying Melee-Types, and then three more Magic-Types staying back as cavalry to call in if things get dire, I guess. Or, at least, one of them was a Magic-Type, with some Spell that can throw us around like ragdolls. What a jackass.</em>


    Yeah, I still wasn¡¯t calm. I could feel my mind fading by now, though, so I hurried to pick a time¡ªthe furthest back, as usual.


    **********


    And then I was back, walking down the road yet again. I was actually back before I¡¯de to this point when looping the first time, meaning nobody knew anything, still.


    I instantly turned around and began walking the opposite direction.


    ¡°Uh, Annor, what¡¯re you doing?¡± Sylvie asked.


    <em>¡°Is there trouble?¡±</em> Ainash asked as well, though I wasn¡¯t sure if it was actually her, or if she was just rying a message from Erani.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, we¡¯re going back to town,¡± I called back to them.


    ¡°What? Why?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re getting more people.¡±


    <em>If Jon can bring in reinforcements, so can I.</em>

 Chapter 217: Bewilderment

    Chapter 217: Bewilderment


    I hadn¡¯t been able to sync up my memories with Ainash and Erani in the previous timeline, meaning I wasn¡¯t able to fully bring them in on what¡¯d transpired just by transferring their memories back to them. I could¡¯ve transferred them my own memories of the previous timeline, but it took a lot longer to give them my memories than it would to give their own back to them, and we were with Sylvie,plicating the process by forcing us to hide it from her.


    In the end, I was able to discreetly touch Ainash¡¯s hand and give her the prepackaged memories from the timeline beforest, and settled for just recounting what I¡¯d experienced over our mental link.


    After that short dy, we were off, heading back in the direction we came. Or, three of us were off. The fourth stood confusedly in the road, looking at us as we marched away.


    ¡°Are you gonna tell me why we''re leaving?¡± Sylvie called after us before jogging forward to catch up. ¡°And why you decided to wait until <em>after </em>we¡¯d been traveling for, like, two hours before doing so?¡±


    ¡°I have an ability that asionally gives me semi-random information,¡± I said, recalling that this same exnation worked in the previous timeline. ¡°It just now gave me some relevant info on the bounty.¡±


    ¡°And what¡¯s the info?¡±


    ¡°The guy behind the missing people is in that direction. If we¡¯re going over there, there¡¯s gonna be a fight, one we¡¯re not well-enough equipped to deal with right now. So we either need to collectively Level up, like, five times, or we need to get some more people.¡±


    ¡°Wait, so we know that it was a person behind the missing guards? Are they dead, or just captured? Why¡¯d they get attacked in the first ce? And what¡¯s up with the dude behind it all? What¡¯s his ss, Level, that sort of thing?¡±


    ¡°Uh, just give me a second. Gotta sort through the info, and stuff.¡±


    I¡¯d half said that just to get away from the barrage of questions, and half because I actually <em>did</em> need to sort through what I knew.


    <em>Index, they were able to detect us somehow in the previous timeline. Jon walked to the guard outpost earlier than he should have, and then found our location almost instantly despite the fact we were hiding. How¡¯d he do that?</em>


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you exactly what it was, but they have a variety of Divination methods. What got you there was specifically an ability that lets them know the number of people in any given location. When you went to the guard outpost, Jon was nearby, and they saw that the number of people in the area had increased, so he went to check it out. That happened in both timelines¡ªit was the reason he came each time. Only, the second time, once he got closer to the guard outpost, he realized that the number of people in the area was split between the outpost and the field nearby, so he went to go investigate the field, where you were. Of course, most of the stuff about his intentions is just spection, but that¡¯s what best lines up with the ability.¡±


    <em>Shit. So ambushing him won¡¯t work unless we¡¯re already in a densely popted area, enough that he wouldn¡¯t notice the tiny shift in numbers, then?</em>


    ¡°Pretty much.¡±


    <em>This guy fucking sucks.</em>


    I sighed, trying to think through my options. The walk back to town would take around two hours. If it took an hour to get some people together, then we went back to the guard outpost right after, we¡¯d be fighting far into nighttime. And the darkness would not be our ally, with Jon¡¯s people-detecting ability preventing us from using it to set up an ambush. Instead, he¡¯d almost certainly be the one to get the drop on us.


    So then, if we had to get more people on our side¡ªI still wasn¡¯t entirely sure what our strategy for that would be¡ªthen it would probably be best to just go back to town, sleep, and wait until tomorrow. The fight had only happened because we¡¯d gone to seek him out, so there was a chance we would be able to just wait and do itter.


    I tried to think through the consequences of leaving him be until tomorrow. Obviously, the big one was that, right now, we at least knew where he was. If we waited until tomorrow, we¡¯d have no idea. But then, I also tried to figure out what would happen in this timeline without us there at the guard outpost to fight Jon. Ripley was there with Bon, Jannin, and Poppins, so if Jon walked in¡­before, he¡¯d interrogated them, and then flooded the outpost to drown them all. Erani had been the one to bust the wall down, so then would they all die?


    Wait, no, Ripley had only decided to wait and let Jon interrogate the border guards because we were there. When we¡¯d first arrived and Ripley was alone with the guards, she¡¯d attacked on sight. I assumed her strategy there was to just get in an early strike and then run off if it were Jon at the door. She only waited to ambush them because she thought we could help fight him off. So would she be able to escape sessfully?


    Or, wait, Jon had only gone to approach the guard outpost in the first ce because we¡¯d arrived and he saw our arrival on his people-detector thing. So, if we never went there, would he just leave them alone? Or was he going to approach eventually anyway, and only went there a little earlier than nned because of our arrival?


    I fought the urge to groan and rub my face with my hands. Time travel was fuckingplicated. Who knew.


    I tried to just think of the worst-case scenario. As far as I knew, the worst possibility would be that Jon fights Ripley at the guard outpost and wins. In that case, there wouldn¡¯t likely be any casualties, since it seemed like Bon, Jannin, and Poppins generally stayed out of things so they would hopefully be little risk of coteral damage, and Jon¡¯s intention was to capture Ripley, not kill her, so even if she lost she¡¯d just be in custody. At the end of the day, I wasn¡¯t exactly responsible for her life, or anything, but I¡¯d have liked to prevent the death of one of the few people who seemed to be my ally in all this.


    So, if she got captured, then what? Jon needed to stick around, since he was here to capture her <em>and</em> kill me, so that would still leave me with an opportunity to break her out. And if my intention was to kill Jon anyway, then it wouldn¡¯t be an issue to set her free anyway.


    The only issue would be finding him. Except, he would probably set out to find me, so if I just¡­what, grabbed as many random adventurers as possible, said I knew where to find the missing guards for the bounty, promised them a cut if they helped me fight off their captor, Jon, and then walked out on the road and waited for him toe to me¡­that could work?


    One of the biggest advantages of that n was that it¡¯d all happen <em>tomorrow.</em> Meaning, it would be a new day, and I¡¯d get a full refill of my Time Loop uses. I was down to one final usage of the ability before I was vulnerable, and I¡¯d have liked to avoid that as much as possible. So if I let today pass, got my free Stat from Recycled Loop converting myst unused activation of Time Loop, got three fresh uses, and then did the fight tomorrow, I¡¯d be in the best shape I could be in to kill this guy.


    Overall, it seemed like a good n. I¡¯d been rying my abridged thoughts to Ainash so she and Erani could stay informed. At least, I assumed Ainash was sending everything to Erani; she was currently petting the beetle sitting on her shoulder, having run back to pick it up after I transferred her memories to her so she didn¡¯t ¡°leave it behind in the past.¡± Regardless, Ainash hadn¡¯t sent me any objections from herself or Erani, so I assumed they agreed with the n. Or, they didn¡¯t know what I was talking about and just assumed it would work; they still only had a cursory knowledge of the most recent timeline since I still hadn¡¯t had an opportunity to more than briefly summarize it.


    ¡°So¡­are you gonna answer any of those questions I asked five minutes ago, or¡­¡±


    Looking over, I saw Sylvie walking along, looking at me expectantly. I cleared my throat. ¡°Oh, right, yeah. Uh, basically¡­wait, what¡¯d you ask again?¡±


    Sylvie rolled her eyes. ¡°I cannot <em>believe</em> you¡¯re the one in charge of your group.¡±


    ¡°First off, I¡¯m not technically the one in charge. I¡¯m just the one who¡¯s best at talking. Second, aren¡¯t you the one who¡¯s in charge of you and Entismo, as a pair? And you drink profusely at all of our meetings? And forget¡­most things?¡±


    ¡°Being a hypocrite is one of my core abilities as a leader,¡± Sylvie said proudly.


    ¡°I¡­can¡¯t tell if you¡¯re fucking with me or not,¡± I said.


    ¡°If I¡¯m <em>what</em>-ing you?¡± Sylvie asked, eyes wide. Then she blinked. ¡°Oh, right, right, I forgot you Koinkarians use the word ¡®fuck¡¯ to mean, like, everything, instead of just sex.¡±


    ¡°You thought I was asking if you were currently having sex with me? ¡­I don¡¯t think I¡¯d have to ask. Also, my girlfriend is two paces to your left.¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve had people proposition me in weirder ways. Anyway, I¡¯ll have you know that shameless hypocrisy is an important part of any decent leader. You have to be capable of telling other people to get their hands dirty, kill a monster, build a house, whatever, without actually being capable of doing it yourself. That¡¯s the whole point of leading¡ªgetting people to do stuff you can¡¯t do. So <em>I </em>think it shows how effective of a leader I am that I¡¯m capable of pointing out your ws of being a terrible conversationalist while I, too, am terrible at conversation.¡±


    I sighed. I still didn¡¯t know if she was fucking with me or not. ¡°Well. Regardless, the news on the bounty is that we¡¯re gonna just try it tomorrow after gathering together as big a team as possible. Effectively, to kill the guy behind the disappearances, we¡¯re gonna need as much power as we can get a hold of, and it¡¯ll be bad if we try to ambush him at night because of some of his abilities. And before you ask me for specifics, I don¡¯t have many¡ªthe ability isn¡¯t too specific in what information it gives me.¡±


    ¡°Wait, wait, we¡¯re just gonna kill the guy?¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Well, yeah. What¡¯s the problem?¡±


    ¡°Is he a wanted criminal? Or, like, is there no way to just capture him and turn him into the police? Because right now, I think you¡¯re technically colluding with me tomit murder, if killing him is a foregone conclusion for no reason.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s just¡­It¡¯ll be really, really hard to get past him without killing him. You know how Magic-Types are. Leave them alive, and they can cast a Spell to end you in an instant.¡±


    ¡°Still seems like going for the kill instantly would be a pretty great way to get arrested.¡±


    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll do my best to leave him alive,¡± I lied. ¡°We¡¯ll only kill him if it¡¯s clearly a self-defense situation.¡±


    ¡°You seem pretty fine with murder, is all I¡¯m saying.¡±


    ¡°Well, sometimes killing is necessary.¡±


    She stared at me for a minute. ¡°...So, how many people have you killed? You an assassin, or something?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I mean, the way you¡¯re talking, it¡¯s obvious you¡¯ve killed some folks.¡± She waved her hands in front of her face. ¡°No issue with that, it¡¯s all cool¡­but you can¡¯t just allude to something super interesting like that and then <em>not</em> borate. So, what¡¯s the number? What¡¯s your coolest kill? Did you, like, work for a secret Koinkar government project, assassinating political rivals? Have you killed any famous people?¡±


    ¡°I feel like you intentionally push conversations to run away from their original topics sometimes.¡±


    ¡°Well I¡¯ve found that I have to do that when <em>someone</em> is being all aloof with what they know about the job we¡¯re currently doing,¡± Sylvie said, voice dripping with sass. ¡°Do you want to at least tell me why you find it so necessary to bring in, as you said, ¡®as big a team as possible,¡¯ to help us kill some random dude? Is he really that strong?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Strong enough to justify splitting our cuts that much? I¡¯d like to actually make money from doing this, you know.¡±


    ¡°Are you gonna drop the job if we bring in too many people?¡±


    Sylvie let out a half-sigh, half groan. ¡°No, I guess not. I¡¯m just too good of a person, it seems. Too dedicated to helping these poor victims of kidnapping, such a selfless soul.¡±


    ¡°Do you actually care about saving them? I thought you didn¡¯t care about the border guards, since they all defected from Etrin and spread those rumors about him assassinating Lyra to take her spot as emperor?¡±


    She frowned. ¡°How do you know about that? Did Entismo tell you about one of our arguments, or something?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡±


    Oh, shit. Had that conversation happened in a previous timeline? I thought she¡¯d told me¡­no, yeah, we were walking down the road on the way to the guard outpost when she told me about her resentment for them. It felt like that¡¯d happened yesterday, or something. From my perspective, it¡¯d been¡­what, eighteen hours ago that we talked about it? Fucking Time Loop, destroying my sense of when stuff actually happened.


    ¡°I just assumed,¡± I said, trying toe up with an excuse, ¡°since you¡¯re technically a noble, and all. I know a lot of the nobles feel that way about that whole political issue.¡±


    ¡°I mean, I¡¯m not <em>technically</em> a noble, I¡¯m literally a noble. I just don¡¯t like being one.¡±


    ¡°I thought you ran away from home, or something. Does that not mess with your title and stuff?¡± I honestly had no idea how this all worked¡ªI hadn¡¯t known shit about nobility in Koinkar, much less in this foreign country.


    ¡°On paper, I¡¯m actually on an ¡®extended sabbatical¡¯ right now.¡±


    ¡°Oh, huh. Well anyway, do you think the whole payment thing is gonna be a problem when ites to finding more recruits? I would really like to get as many people together as possible.¡±


    She gave me a look for a moment. ¡°Doing this is important to you?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean, you obviously aren¡¯t doing it for the money. You¡¯re sitting here saying you¡¯re willing to cut your reward down to basically nothing just to get it done. So I¡¯m assuming there¡¯s something personal going on?¡±


    ¡°...Yeah,¡± I conceded.


    I waited for her to press for more info, ask me an avnche of way-too-personal questions, something like that, but eventually she just said, ¡°Well, if it¡¯s important, then I can make sure money isn¡¯t an issue.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I can personally provide some funds to make sure people don¡¯t get pissy that the pot¡¯s running out.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure? I mean, I¡¯m really looking for a lot of people, so I don¡¯t want to surprise you when I start approaching as many people as I can find to¡ª¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t be an issue. I have the money.¡±


    I looked at her. ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±


    She rolled her eyes. ¡°Yes. You just go and grab the people you want to add onto our party, and I¡¯ll handle the finances.¡±


    ¡°Okay, so like¡­what¡¯s the budget, then?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯d be okay with providing at most ten percent of my yearly investment allowance, assuming this is genuinely, actually important, so¡­Let¡¯s see, I think I currently receive around fifteen million eyt a year from our estates, and then there¡¯s the tavern chain in Westershire, which brings around another five, I believe¡­¡±


    I blinked, suddenly finding it difficult to focus on Sylvie¡¯s words after the absurd numbers she¡¯d just thrown out.


    ¡°...So, in the end, I believe I could provide you three, maybe three and a half million from my ie. Though, I would imagine you¡¯d need a lot less than that?¡±


    I was just staring at Sylvie. ¡°Are you fucking with me?¡±

 Chapter 218: The Prelude

    Chapter 218: The Prelude


    When we got back to the town of Salvation, the first thing Erani and I did was go to the guild lobby and sit down to have a drink. For me, it¡¯d been a long twelve hours of fighting and re-fighting Jon, and for Erani, it had been a slightly less long six hours. We both wanted to unwind, if just a little bit.


    We were also eyeing up the surrounding adventurers. Tomorrow, we¡¯d go in for another fight with Jon, this time with as much backup as we could bring. Allowing more people into the fight would cause some obvious problems when it came to hiding my identity, but I figured that I¡¯d rather have to face that sort of problem than have to face the sort of problem that involved me dying instantly to a 1000-damage Spell.


    We¡¯d spoken with Sylvie regarding funds. She was, apparently, pretty wealthy with the money she¡¯d made as a noble. Most of it was technically in her parents¡¯ name, which was something she really didn¡¯t like, but she was allowed to spend as she pleased. Though, they¡¯d always interrogate her if she ever spent a lot all at once, which was pretty antithetical to the whole ¡°running away¡± thing, so she didn¡¯t like to spend it if she had to. But she trusted me when I said this was important, which I really appreciated. Though, I figured she also probably just wanted to see a massive battle between two teams of ssers, and if she had to fund it to see it happen, so be it. Though that was just spection on my part.


    One of the first things that popped into my mind upon hearing she had so much money was to just take it and use it to teleport out of here, but that woulde with several issues. First, it wouldn¡¯t actually <em>solve</em> this problem, just kick it down the road. Jon would still exist, he¡¯d still be here, attacking people in search of me, and the moment he figured out that a group of people that seemed suspiciously like An, Erani, and Ainash teleported to the capital, he¡¯d go straight there. It would be better to get this sorted now, while we at least knew what was going on.


    And second, Sylvie hadn¡¯t even offered to pay for teleportation in the first ce. She said she¡¯d pay for us to hire adventurers for this fight. We¡¯d told her and the others days ago that we were saving up to try and pay for teleportation, and she never mentioned she was wealthy, so I had to assume she just didn¡¯t want to, or couldn¡¯t for some reason. Honestly, I was leaning toward ¡®didn¡¯t want to,¡¯ considering she now knew we were actively in trouble. If she wanted to help us run from our problems, she would¡¯ve offered to help. Seemed like she wanted to help us fight.


    I looked back over at Erani, who was muttering and tracing her finger on the table, drawing figures to help with her calctions.


    ¡°We¡¯ll want at least eight Melee-Types at the very least,¡± she said, ¡°to match the four melee soldiers, three magics, plus the main enemy. With one for each, we¡¯ll want maybe half as many Magic-Types and Ranged-Types to hold back the lines, though actually, Ranged-Types can also often be good at scouting ahead. If the three magic soldiers are hiding, then we¡¯ll want someone to poke around for them so they don¡¯t catch us off-guard. sses that would be good for that would be Rogue, Ranger, Archer¡­We¡¯ll definitely need specialized sses to handle our main enemy as well. With his buff effects, we¡¯ll want Wizards with builds to handle that, if we can find them. I think there are some paths that can increase the cost of enemy Spells by the time you reach Level 20, so if we had two of those for redundancy¡¯s sake, plus maybe two more debuffers focused on movement penalties, we could¡­¡±


    ¡°You figuring out the optimal team?¡± I asked.


    She looked up at me, surprised, as though she¡¯d forgotten she was in a room with other people. ¡°Oh, yes, I felt like that would be prudent.¡±


    ¡°Y¡¯know, I was thinking we could probably just go with the strategy of ¡®ask as many people as we can and win through sheer numbers.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Well, sure, having more people would be nice, but when you reach double digits in numbers, you run the risk of coordination issues. Once you have so many people that each individual adventurer can¡¯t really keep track of everyone else, you¡¯re going to need to put them in squads that they can look out for, or give everyone a pre-assigned role that they¡¯ll fill.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Yeah, maybe the path of brute force and ignorance isn¡¯t the best.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Brute force is just fine. Ignorance, I could do without.¡±


    I smiled and took a sip of my drink, looking down at the table. Erani was still idly tracing her finger along the wooden grain of the table, using her non-dominant right hand, of course. Her left hand was still missing. I set my drink down. ¡°So, um¡­How are you faring? With the arm thing.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said, looking down to where I was gazing. ¡°Well. It¡¯s been a good few days, so I¡¯ve at least begun to limate, in terms of re-learning how to write. I just¡­hope it doesn¡¯t remain ufortable for the rest of my life.¡±


    I nodded and reached over the table, grabbing her hand with both of mine. I could feel how much tension had been held in her hand, slowly rxing at my touch. ¡°I promise you now, and I¡¯ll promise you every day until the end of time, I¡¯ll find a fix. You won¡¯t have to worry about getting back to the way you were before, I¡¯m going to ensure you end up better off. You saw those limbs the soldiers had, right? They were stronger than a normal person¡¯s, faster, and with more flexible control. Imagine if we could get someone to create something like that for you, without the downsides. Just a limb that¡¯s better than a normal person¡¯s.¡±


    She chuckled weakly. ¡°You want me to be inspired by our enemies?¡±


    ¡°The best inspirationes from your enemies. They¡¯re doing their best to figure out what you want and to take it away. All you have to do, then, is the opposite.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Maybe.¡±


    There was a moment of silence between us, my hands still gripped around her hand. Erani¡¯s gaze was fixed solemnly downward. It was times like these where I had no idea what to do or what to say. Maybe I should¡¯ve stayed silent, not brought up such a bad topic. But then, I had no idea when she thought of it on her own; if, every night, she stayed up, staring at the ceiling, wishing for a way to get her arm back, then I wanted to do everything in my power to make those moments better.


    I took a breath and stood, Erani¡¯s eyes breaking away from the floor to gaze up at me.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, ¡°let¡¯s make the rounds, talk to some people. It¡¯d probably be a good idea to do our recruiting sooner rather thanter.¡±


    Erani nodded and stood, and I didn¡¯t let go of her hand yet. First, I used my grip to pull her in close for a tight embrace. That always seemed to get a smile out of her¡ªthough, if I were being honest, it always got a much wider smile out of me. I felt a pang of annoyance that I couldn¡¯t kiss her right now, since we were in public and I needed to cover my face with Dark te, but I just sighed and focused on other things.


    Sylvie had split off from us when we got into town, but would being back to meet uster in the evening so we could start to concretely offer funds with her present. But for now, it couldn¡¯t hurt to at least introduce the offer with some people and get the buzz going.


    So that was what we did, walking through the guild lobby, introducing ourselves¡ªthough, many already recognized us from our distinctive looks¡ªand telling them about the job.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re offering ten thousand,¡± I said to a man with deep scars across his eye and cheek. ¡°In return, you¡¯ll assist us in self defense from a certain man and any soldiers he brings along. We suspect he has something to do with the missing border guards, if you¡¯re familiar with that bounty, so things will likely get messy and turn tobat.¡±


    He grunted, though his eyebrows were raised slightly ever since I mentioned the payment. ¡°What¡¯s his Level?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a high silver degree.¡±


    ¡°And you mentioned he¡¯d bring soldiers along with him? You know what they¡¯ll look like?¡±


    ¡°At least six, though there¡¯s the possibility there¡¯ll be more. From what I know, most of them would be in the bronze degree range, though it¡¯s possible some of them have passed Level 20. Some of them are more total unknowns, but they¡¯re almost certainly not any stronger than the main target.¡±


    ¡°¡®Target,¡¯¡± he grunted. ¡°You¡¯re saying this is self defense, but I get the feeling he¡¯ll be the one defending himself.¡±


    ¡°Not at all,¡± I reassured him. We¡¯d had plenty of people ask something along the lines of ¡®Are you asking me to assassinate someone?¡¯ which I supposed was fair. ¡°I¡¯m just fairly sure he¡¯s going to end up attacking us, and he¡¯s the type of person to fight to the death. So it¡¯s closer to a monster elimination job than a typical search and rescue one, since it¡¯s basically a guarantee we¡¯re going to be getting into this fight.¡±


    ¡°And where¡¯s your informatione from?¡±


    ¡°A very robust reconwork. Several different Divination-adjacent abilities.¡±


    He chewed on his lip, staring at me.


    ¡°We were hoping to slot you in with our other Melee-Types,¡± Erani said. The man looked a little taken aback at her voice, which was under Distortion Strike¡¯s effects, but at this point Erani was used to peoples¡¯ reactions enough to just keep going without paying mind to how they acted. She eyed the spiked club hanging from his belt. ¡°I¡¯m assuming you <em>are</em> a Melee-Type?¡±


    He nodded.


    ¡°Perfect. We don¡¯t need to know your precise ss or Level, unless you have anything to tell us that seems particrly relevant. All we need to know is your degree, so we can figure out a good teamposition.¡±


    ¡°Teamposition? What, are you building an army?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re¡­¡± Erani faltered.


    ¡°Something like that,¡± I said. ¡°More like the biggest group we can muster.¡±


    He looked between us. ¡°How many people do you have? And how many casualties do you expect?¡±


    ¡°We may seem like we¡¯re building an army, but I promise you we¡¯re no heartless generals. We ¡®expect¡¯ no casualties whatsoever, other than those of our enemies. That¡¯s part of the reason we¡¯re getting as many people as we can. We don¡¯t want any tragedy.¡±


    ¡°And the number of people?¡±


    ¡°Currently, we¡¯ve found eighteen people who are considering taking our job. That¡¯s on top of the four of us, plus a few of our friends if we can manage to find them.¡± Finding Entismo, Aliss, and Boy was another thing Sylvie was trying to do while she was out. ¡°We¡¯d be doing this tomorrow, not today, so you have time to mull it over. We cane back to you, tell you our final numbers, stuff like that. Though, I¡¯ll say now, those eighteen maybes came from just people we¡¯ve spoken to today, and we started at just a couple hours past noon. We n on asking around for the rest of tonight, plus tomorrow morning, so I¡¯d expect the force to get pretty big. We¡¯re taking no chances when ites to this guy, so I¡¯d hope you understand this is a good paycheck in return for little to no risk on your own part.¡±


    He nodded slowly. ¡°Well, you certainly drive a hard bargain. Let me think about it, talk to some others about how trustworthy you are. Bute back to me tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°I look forward to fighting with you.¡±


    We walked away, and sat back down at the bar.


    ¡°That¡¯s everyone currently in here, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I think so,¡± Erani replied. ¡°Pretty sure we¡¯ve asked them all.¡±


    ¡°Cool. So then it¡¯s just watching the door.¡±


    It was around eleven at night by now, the sun having long set behind the horizon. Our n was to stick around until at least one in the morning, since that was when new patrons typically stopped arriving, and then we¡¯d retire for the night. The time of the attack in the original timeline¡ªaround seven in the evening¡ªhade and gone without anything going wrong.


    Not that I¡¯d logically expected anything to go wrong, of course, but there was still an itch in the back of my mind that had suspected something would happen. Some explosion off in the distance, or whatever. I¡¯d asked Index to let me know when the time had passed so I could stop worrying, and it did so without any disasters whatsoever. And that was several hours ago at this point, anyway. By this time, I imagined the three main possibilities were that Jon had either ignored the outpost with Ripley in it, that he¡¯d confronted them and Ripley had escaped, or that Ripley had been captured. In any of those cases, the situation would be under control, as long as our fight tomorrow went as nned. And, judging by the number of people we¡¯d managed to recruit, it seemed like it was going to go swimmingly.


    I¡¯d found that I actually kind of enjoyed the process, walking up to strangers and doing my best to pitch the job to them. There was a sort of science to the whole thing, trying to pick up on whatever cues I could, see when they were getting skeptical, see when they needed reassurance, or when they needed me to go all-in with how glorious the battle would be, or whatever. The stakes were there¡ªobviously I wanted them to say yes¡ªbut not so high that it felt crushing to hear a no. It just meant I¡¯d made a mistake along the way, and I would need to adjust my pitching strategy.


    Another woman walked through the doors of the lobby, this one alone. She was hunched over, a scarf pulled around her face, and had two daggers in sheathes on her belt.


    ¡°Oh, she looks like a Rogue,¡± I whispered to Erani. ¡°We still needed one of those, right?¡±


    ¡°It would certainly be helpful to have one.¡±


    The woman walked straight up and sat down next to me at the bar, so I was nked by her and Erani. Though, she didn¡¯t seem to pay either of us any mind, instead looking toward the bartender and nodding him over, ordering a drink.


    Once she had her mug in hand, I turned to look at her. She just gazed at the wall, ignoring me.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said.


    She nced over.


    ¡°Uh, I was just wondering if you¡¯d be interested in a job, tomorrow morning. We¡¯d be¡ª¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± she said. ¡°Busy.¡±


    ¡°Ah. Well, you might still want to hear about my offer. Our reward is ten thousand eyt to anyone who assists in¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the kind of busy that you can¡¯t reschedule,¡± she said. ¡°Not avable.¡±


    With that, she turned away from me, gazing back at the nk wall.


    I let out a breath and turned back around. asionally there was just a non-starter like that. Best to move on and find someone who was actually interested.


    A few minutester, I heard the door to the lobby open once again. I looked over eagerly to see who it was¡ªI hoped this interaction wouldn¡¯t be like thest with that Rogue woman, who was still sitting next to me at the bar,pletely ignoring my existence.


    When I turned my gaze to the entrance. I saw a man standing in the doorway, having swung the door wide open and stepped inside. He looked around the room with a warm smile on his in-looking face. Then his eyes went to the bar, and he locked on to me, his smile turning from warm to ice cold.


    His Cleric¡¯s robes rustled as he took another step inside, letting the door swing idly closed. His eyes were still locked onto me.


    It was Jon.

 Chapter 219: The Inciting Incident

    Chapter 219: The Inciting Incident


    So the thing was, I kind of thought Jon was an idiot.


    He walked straight into the guild lobby, eyes on me, and I watched as he no doubt prepared to cast his typical Day of Judgment Spell. Seemed like this had been his original n; go and ask around at the border outposts to see if anyone knew where I was, and thene to town to kill me. But, really, how did he expect to do that? Sure, he could get a single cast of his Spell off and hit me for a ton of damage, but Dark te would save me from dying in a single hit, and the <em>moment</em> he picked a fight here? In the middle of the damn guild lobby, casting lethal Spells? He¡¯d be swarmed by ssers before he could even think of finishing me off.


    I stood from my seat at the bar, as did Erani, each of us readying for an attack. I didn¡¯t want to strike first,beling myself as the aggressor, and it seemed like Jon was hesitating for the same reason. Maybe that was the whole point, actually. Maybe he was here <em>because</em> whoever stuck first would be the one to be ganged up on by the dozens of adventurers around us. But then¡­why? It could be that he was here to talk, but from my previous interactions with him, he certainly didn¡¯t seem like the type to have a sudden change of heart and decide to try diplomacy. Who knew, though.


    However, he didn¡¯t know what I¡¯d been doing this whole time. Some of the adventurers I¡¯d been talking to had left by now, but there were still at least a half dozen in here who¡¯d agreed to help me in a fight with him. And then there were more still who¡¯d only refused my offer because they were busy tomorrow, which, considering he was here in front of them right now, scheduling would most likely not be a problem anymore. All I had to do was somehow tell them that he was here, ideally without Jon noticing and acting first.


    Jon nodded at me, a gesture that broke me out of my thoughts. What was he doing? Or, wait, he wasn¡¯t quite facing me; maybe he was nodding to someone behind me? I turned to see what¡ª


    A dagger shed out from the woman who had been sitting by the bar next to me, striking me across my throat before I could react.


    You have been sliced. 68 damage.


    Your Health is 612.


    You have been poisoned. 121 damage.


    Your Health is 491.


    Venom is coursing through your veins. You will lose 15 Health every minute for a number of minutes equal to 500 minus your Endurance times 5 <em>(160 minutes)</em>.


    Magic is enhancing the venom¡¯s strength in ravaging your body. All poison-based damage-over-time effects applied to you will have their damage elerated by a factor of 10.


    This effectsts until all poison-based damage-over-time effects on you wear off.


    I gasped, stumbling back and gripping my hands around my neck. The pain radiated through my bloodstream, swimming through to destroy my body from the inside out. I could instantly feel what that final notification was talking about; the eleration caused the poison to work that much faster, so that it dealt its damage in ten times less time. I wasn¡¯t taking 15 damage per minute for 160 minutes, I was taking 150 damage per minute for 16.


    The sensation was beyond debilitating. I was reminded of long ago, when I¡¯d been afflicted by the Banestinger venom. That¡¯d been bad; the pains hade in waves, each individual tick of damage feeling like a stab to the heart. It¡¯d been so bad, back then, that I could barely walk while under its effects. This new poison, though¡­If it had happened back then, when my Endurance wasn¡¯t mitigating the pain as much as it was now, it could bepletely possible that the pain itself would kill me before the poison did.


    I copsed backward into the bar behind me, and as I did, the entire room burst into action.


    Erani was first to move, leaping forward and mming her fist into the Rogue¡¯s nose. I heard a <em>crunch </em>of breaking bone that would have definitely been satisfying to the ear had I not been in the process of dying painfully, and a sh of bright light that confused me for a moment before I remembered that Erani had technically been using Distortion Strike this whole time to hide her identity. That Spell was <em>supposed</em> to be used to hide in the darkness before making a melee strike that revealed you in a bright sh and dealt a massive amount of bonus damage. So yeah, definitely made sense that the Rogue¡¯s nose had broken, considering Erani had just hit her for an extra 200 damage.


    Everyone else jumped into the fray about a half second after that. The bartender vaulted over the counter and grabbed the woman¡¯s wrists, wrenching her hands behind her back, and plenty more surged forward to offer help apprehending her.


    Erani crouched down next to me. Distortion Strike¡¯s effects had automatically ended when she made her melee strike, revealing her natural looks. In a moment of what was probably my mind trying to think about anything other than the pain radiating through my throat and chest, I was faced with her beauty, and wished I could see her without the effects of the Spell more often.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± she asked frantically, looking over me. With me in Dark te, she wouldn¡¯t be able to see much, but that didn¡¯t stop my blood from spurting straight through the incorporeal armor, which I was sure she noticed.


    ¡°Dying,¡± I got out, my voice a gurgle. ¡°Poisoned.¡±


    ¡°Healing!¡± she instantly shouted, turning to face the room. ¡°We need healing!¡±


    As she searched for someone who could help, I caught a glimpse of Jon standing in the back of the room. He raised his hand, the sky glowing a bright white around us, and I weakly raised my own hand to try and point to him, but everyone was too panicked, frantically trying to take care of the attacker that was still struggling to escape her captors, to notice.


    Jon brought his hand down, and a second world of pain was brought upon me.


    You have been smitten. 1075 damage.


    Dark te has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 340.


    Your Health is 114.


    The room burst into further panic at the second attack. Some people fled from me, apparently concluding that any ce near me wasn¡¯t safe, while others moved into action to apprehend Jon, who was already raising his hand in preparation for a second cast of Day of Judgment.


    Once again, Erani was the first to act, and the entire wall behind Jon was shattered by the force of the ten or so haphazardly-aimed explosions throwing Jon back in sequence. Each of her Firebolts shook the room, and though the lobby had clearly been built to survive high-power fights like these, it had definitely not been built to survive them unscathed. Honestly, it was a miracle the building was still standing after getting an entire wall blown out.


    Jon was flung back by the power of explosion after explosion, the savage series of attacks throwing him out of the lobby and onto the street, at which point the bartender put a hand on Erani¡¯s shoulder to pull her back and keep her from killing any civilians. Most of her shots missed, with Jon being thrown around unpredictably by the force of her attacks, so it¡¯d be a problem if he were around other people. More ssers rushed out after Jon to grab his body, but he was already getting to his feet the moment the attacks stopped.


    I¡¯d already activated Regenerate in an attempt to keep my Health high the moment Jon¡¯s attack came, and it was doing its work, but the majority of its healing was being canceled out by the venom¡¯s damaging effect. The first instance of it ended, and I hurriedly activated it again, dropping my Stamina down to around 200. I only had enough Stamina to activate it three more times¡ªthirty seconds worth. After that, I¡¯d be left with nothing to deal with the fifteen more minutes of 2.5 damage per second. Thousands of total damage; nothing I¡¯d be able to survive.


    ¡°D-does anyone have healing?¡± I called out.


    Someone rushed out of the crowd, and I looked at the young man with suspicion, unsure if he was another assassin secretly working with Jon. But he simply replied, ¡°I-I¡¯m a lower-Level Cleric, I can offer some healing. It¡¯ll restore 30 Health over the next thirty seconds.¡±


    I nodded at him, then looked out at the crowd for anyone else. Just 1 Health per second wouldn¡¯t be enough to counteract the poison, so I¡¯d need more. But nobody else was offering.


    ¡°We can pay!¡± Erani shouted. ¡°Fast healing, if anyone has it, please!¡±


    No takers.


    The Cleric reached out to try and heal me, but I raised my hand and waved him off. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°B-but you said¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll survive,¡± I said even louder, projecting my voice across the room. ¡°I have just enough Health to survive the attack.¡±


    I stumbled to my feet, leaning heavily on the bar as Erani looked at me with worry carved across her face. ¡°You¡¯ll be okay?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be okay,¡± I said loudly once again.


    That seemed to be enough. From the back of the crowd, an Archer quickly drew his bow back and released an arrow from it. In the moments it flew through the air, the arrow multiplied to two, then three, then four four, spectral copies of the projectile splitting off in the split seconds before it and its copies hit their target¡ªwhich was me, naturally.


    Three of the arrows hit me, stabbing into various parts of my chest, and the rest thudded into the wooden bar behind me.


    You have been pierced. 41 damage.


    Your Health is 121.


    You have been pierced. 37 damage.


    Your Health is 84.


    You have been pierced. 43 damage.


    Your Health is 41.


    He was drawing her bowstring back again when someone tackled him to the ground, and more followed afterward.


    I coughed, blood leaking from quite a few holes that¡¯d been made in my body, now, and falling back to the floor.


    The Cleric instantly got to healing me, but I knew it wouldn¡¯t be enough. I had about twenty seconds left in this timeline before my final use of Time Loop would be spent to send me back.


    In that time, I tried to piece together what I¡¯d learned. Jon woulde into town at this time, with at least two additional peopleing alongside him that hadn¡¯t been present in the original group of soldiers he brought; he probably used these two because they didn¡¯t have those glowing spirit arm things. I hoped he hadn¡¯t brought those other soldiers anywhere near, but if he did have them around here somewhere, that¡¯d mean I¡¯d be going up against¡­nine people, plus Jon? And that was at minimum; it waspletely possible he had more in reserve.


    Part of me had the urge to try and stand up again and feign survival to try and draw more of Jon¡¯s allies out of hiding¡ªif I could get another person to attack me, that¡¯d be one more person I¡¯d know we needed to deal with¡ªbut I didn¡¯t have the strength to physically stand, at this point. It wouldn¡¯t be likely I could speak at all, much less act like everything was going to be fine.


    My Health ticked away as my mind began fading. I wasn¡¯t quite fond of the feeling of a slow death, so I decided now was probably a good time to go ahead and manually activate Time Loop before I had to experience it.


    But Jon had tipped his hand quite low here. I knew, now, where he¡¯d be throughout this entire timeline. If he was at the border before, and now he was here, then I would necessarily know the roads he took, and when he took them. I effectively had a perfectly-mapped-out route of where I needed to avoid, and where I¡¯d need to go to confront him at any time I wanted to. Sure, he had me outnumbered in a fight, and maybe even overpowered me one-on-one as well. But in the information game, I had all the power.


    In the in-between ce, I used the limited time I had to continue piecing things together in my mind, constructing as good a n as I could construct. I <em>did</em> have all the information, but that wouldn¡¯t make the impossible possible. Jon had demonstrated his ability to have contingency after contingency here, and I was afraid that I¡¯d escape death from this instance of his n only to run into another unexpected death right after. So if I wanted to beat him¡­


    Yeah, that was it. Maybe¡ªactually, <em>definitely</em> dangerous, but I didn¡¯t have much else choice when it came to this.


    I picked how far I wanted to go back¡ªthe maximum, as usual.


    And then I was back.

 Chapter 220: The Shocking Reveal

    Chapter 220: The Shocking Reveal


    I arrived in the previous timeler than I had in the past, since so much more time had passed before I died this go-round. This time, I¡¯d already exined everything to Erani and Ainash, and had agreed with Sylvie for her to help pay adventurers to help us fight Jon. I knew we wouldn¡¯t need to swap away from that n, at least. Jon had revealed he had even <em>more</em> people with him than we¡¯d thought; that only proved more than ever that we needed the extra firepower. Once I got back, I silently exined all I could to Ainash and asked her to pass it all along to Erani.


    <em>¡°You do not have any more time travel ability?¡±</em> Ainash asked me as we walked down the road.


    <em>¡°No, I used it all up. I¡¯ll transfer my memories to you and Erani as soon as possible, once Sylvie is gone.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Mother wants to know if we will die. I do not think we will. Bad guys always lose.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll die. At least, we won¡¯t end up dead for good.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    ¡°Do I really need to find Aliss and Boy?¡± Sylvie asked. ¡°Or should I just look around for, like, five minutes before giving up.¡±


    I remembered this conversation from thest timeline. I¡¯d asked her to look as much as she could, since we needed all the help we could get, and she agreed. This time, I responded differently. ¡°Try, at the very least. But if you can¡¯t find them, don¡¯t worry about it. We can always just use hired help in their ce, right?¡±


    ¡°Hey, I know I said I¡¯d fund this since it seems like you¡¯re desperate or whatever, but I¡¯m not <em>made</em> of money, okay? I technically have to get all my expenditures reviewed by my family so they don¡¯t take my assets away, and writing this off to make it look like necessary expenses is hard work.¡±


    I grimaced. ¡°Ew, paperwork.¡±


    ¡°I know, right?! It¡¯s awful. So, unless you want me to force you to help me do it, do try to keep in mind that I don¡¯t <em>like</em> losing money. Only spend what¡¯s necessary.¡±


    ¡°Well, thanks again for the assistance. I will do my best to keep your finances in mind. But, uh, can I ask you to do one more thing for me?¡±


    ¡°Depends on what that thing is.¡±


    I went over my mental construction of the timeline in my mind, making sure I had everything straight. Jon didn¡¯t know what Sylvie looked like, he¡¯d be in town alongside those two others at least a few hours after we got there¡­ ¡°Okay, so, at around ten at night, can you go to the guild lobby and wait there? Just act natural, get a drink or whatever, and wait until these two people, a Rogue and an Archer,e in. I¡¯ll describe what they look liketer, but they may not enter at the same time. After they get there, there¡¯s a chance another man will enter, a Cleric. If he does, just keep an eye on him, and if he leaves, tail him. If that man neveres in, then tail the Rogue and the Archer when <em>they</em> leave, and hopefully they¡¯ll lead you to the Cleric.¡±


    ¡°This sounds more and more like you¡¯re trying to get my help in assassinating someone.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°Not that I¡¯d mind that, by the way.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­Okay. Well, no, it¡¯s not assassination. Think of it like¡­I don¡¯t know, advanced self-defense.¡±


    ¡°Now it <em>really</em> sounds like assassination.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not asking you to assassinate anyone. This guy that I¡¯m asking you to tail, <em>he¡¯s</em> the assassin, if you wanna throwbels at people. Besides, you definitely should not be attacking anyone. They¡¯ll kill you if they find out you¡¯re tailing them. Just find where the guy¡¯s staying¡ªor, if he¡¯s leaving town, what road he¡¯s going down¡ªand find me.¡±


    She frowned, then shrugged. ¡°Okay. If it seems too dangerous, just know I¡¯m aborting immediately, by the way.¡±


    We kept walking for a few seconds, then Sylvie turned to me again, looking confused.


    ¡°Wait, didn¡¯t you say <em>you</em> would be at the guild lobby?¡±


    ¡°ns have changed. I¡¯ll be out of town by ten, hiding out up the northern road.¡±


    ¡°What? When did ns change? We talked about this, like, two hours ago! When have you had the opportunity to decide to change your oh-so-nebulous n?¡±


    ¡°Just¡­it¡¯splicated. New informationes in pretty quick. We¡¯re still doing most of everything the same¡ªstill recruiting more people to help fight and all that¡ªbut the timetable of the fight is probably going to be moved up a decent bit.¡±


    ¡°So, what, we¡¯re just gonna find the guy and kill him in the middle of the city? That sounds like it¡¯s going to have some legal problems.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll attack first.¡±


    ¡°What if he doesn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°He will.¡±


    Sylvie rolled her eyes. ¡°You know, I really hate being kept in the dark with all this stuff. And not just the dark that literally surrounds your creepy armor. I also hate the metaphorical, ¡®Oh I¡¯m waaaay too cool and important to tell you what¡¯s actually going on because I¡¯m just soooo mysterious stuff. It¡¯s annoying.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it is. You¡¯ll probably figure some if it out eventually, though.¡±


    She broke out into a toothy grin. ¡°Yeah, I will. It¡¯s actually pretty fun. I think I already put a little bit of it together.¡±


    ¡°I thought it was frustrating, not fun.¡±


    ¡°Well, maybe I¡¯m just too cool and important to tell you how I really feel about it,¡± she said, turning her nose up in a well-practiced snobby voice.


    I rolled my eyes, and we kept walking.


    Once we got to town, Sylvie set off inside while I stuck back with Ainash and Erani so we could share memories. I¡¯d told them the basic n and my reasoning behind it, but it would still definitely be best if they knew everything I knew. Once we did that, Erani and I went into town just likest time, and Ainash circled around to the other side of town to find a ce we could hide out near the walls.


    In town, we also went about our recruiting rtively simrly to how we did before. Only, this time, we weren¡¯t asking people for help in a fight the next morning out in the fields, but rather we were asking them for help in a bodyguarding job during a confrontation that¡¯d take ceter that night. Stand around and look dangerous, and in case a fight broke out, they¡¯d help us. Of course, we emphasized the point that a fight would, in fact, almost certainly break out, so hopefully not many people would be surprised when that inevitably happened.


    I was able to go through it all much more efficiently now, since I¡¯d already spoken to most of these people and knew which were interested and which weren¡¯t. Though, of course, we were asking them for something slightly different this time around, so it wasn¡¯t the exact same. Still, there were some people that had given us a one hundred percent no answer, so I could just avoid them altogether, and for most others, I knew what aspect of the job was most intriguing to them so I could hook them into the conversation, what pay they were willing to settle on, and a lot more. If I knew someone was more interested in money, I¡¯d lead with that. If another was more curious about the circumstances with the job and their personal safety during it, I could lead with how many people would be helping alongside them.


    That efficiency in speeding along negotiations was very much appreciated, though, since we needed to be out of town well before Jon got here. We¡¯d been left with a very limited amount of time to get as much help as we could.


    However, most of that time went over without a hitch. By the time it was around a quarter past nine, we hurried out of the lobby and left town, going up north and out of the town walls, where we soon met up with Ainash and found a spot to wait by the side of the road.


    In the end, we were able to recruit a total of about a dozen people who were assuredly going to help us. We¡¯d given them the ce to meet, exchanged everything, even gotten an official contract written up with the guild so they were sure we¡¯d pay them as long as theypleted the job correctly. That was all set.


    Now that we were in private by the isted road, I checked, then double-checked that nobody was around, and nodded to Erani. She disabled Distortion Strike, something she typically did when we were alone so she could save Mana. Then, with a thought, I dismissed Dark te, leaving me standing in my normal day clothes. I almost felt naked like this, considering how I pretty much always had one or the other form of my armor on¡ªDark te during the day, and Light te at night, so I could train Noxious Grasp while I slept.


    ¡°Gods,¡± Erani muttered, idly poking my chest with her finger, ¡°I only see you like this when we¡­¡±


    ¡°When we¡¯re taking off the rest of our clothes?¡± I asked with a chuckle. ¡°Yeah, I guess that¡¯s true. Maybe I should just gopletely naked under my armor, to save some time in the future.¡±


    Her face went red. I missed seeing it; Distortion Strike normally hid her blush. ¡°That¡¯s wildly inappropriate. Especially when we¡¯re about to fight for our lives in just a few hours.¡±


    I raised my hands in mock surrender. ¡°Well, screw me for trying to lighten the mood, I guess.¡±


    She narrowed her eyes. ¡°You worded it like that on purpose, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely.¡±


    She rolled her eyes, and I thought I could hear her mutter something about me being pletely shameless.¡± But I also saw her smile in the light of the moon, so I was still happy with myself.


    <em>¡°Father, if you are going to be fighting bad guys in Human settlement, will I have to stay outside?¡±</em> Ainash spoke up in the silence, sounding worried she¡¯d miss the spectacle.


    I almost replied and told her she¡¯d have to stay back, but then I frowned and thought for a moment. Technically, it might be possible.


    I looked over at Erani. ¡°You think we¡¯d be able to sneak her in?¡±


    ¡°That sounds dangerous.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s a big kid, she can handle breaking into a ce. Besides, it¡¯d be good life experience. And, I mean, it feels kind of unfair to let her miss a big fight like this, right?¡±


    <em>¡°Really want to kill the bad guy!¡±</em>


    ¡°See?¡± I nodded to Erani.


    She frowned. ¡°We <em>could</em> use the help, I guess. Just¡­Ainash, baby, make sure you have a way you know you can get out if something goes wrong. That Jon guy is really dangerous, and we don¡¯t want you to get hurt.¡±


    <em>¡°Will not be me getting hurt, will be him!¡±</em>


    ¡°Do you think you can get in without being seen?¡± I asked.


    <em>¡°Can jump over big wall!¡±</em>


    I shrugged. That worked. ¡°Well, we¡¯ll have some time to make sure it¡¯s all perfectly safe. Sylvie isn¡¯t arriving for another hour at the earliest, and then we¡¯ll have a while after that before we move in.¡±


    Sylvie ended up arriving after around two and a half hours. At a certain point, I¡¯d started getting worried she wouldn¡¯t be showing up at all, but eventually we spotted her trekking down the nearby dirt path. We hadn¡¯t ever told her <em>exactly</em> where we¡¯d be, but instead what road we¡¯d be on, so she was just walking along and waiting for us toe stop her when she was in our sight. So, when I spotted her on the path, I took a nervous breath and got ready to call out to her, casting Ethereal Armor again and hurriedly equipping my gear. Not Dark te like usual, but Light te.


    ¡°You ready?¡± I muttered to Erani. ¡°Time to flex our acting skills.¡±


    ¡°Technically, we were doing all the flexing of our acting skills before. Now, we¡¯re just telling the truth.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Huh. Yeah, I guess that is the case. Well, regardless, this is still our do-or-die moment.¡±


    ¡°I highly doubt we¡¯re going to die if we mess it up.¡±


    ¡°Just¡­let me be dramatic for a minute, alright? This is a big moment for me.¡±


    She smirked in the way that let me know she considered this payback for all the times I¡¯d teased her. ¡°Fine, fine. Yes, this is all very dramatic. The bards will write about this very conversation for centuries toe.¡±


    All the while, during our hushed conversation, Sylvie continued wandering down the path.


    ¡°Ahem, Sylvie!¡± I called, waving my hand in the air. If my voice didn¡¯t catch her attention, the glow from my armor would have. I saw her turn to me in confusion, then hesitantly start approaching.


    ¡°Annor?¡± she called back.


    ¡°Uh, no,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m a friend of Annor¡¯s. My name is An. An Nota. You may have heard of me?¡±

 Chapter 221: The Dramatic Buildup

    Chapter 221: The Dramatic Buildup


    Sylvie stared at me and Erani, standing before her on the side of the abandoned road. With our faces exposed, she was clearly taking a moment to absorb the details.


    ¡°You¡¯re¡­the fugitive,¡± she said, eventually. ¡°The one everyone¡¯s looking for? That¡¯s min¡¯ awesome!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± I said with a nod. ¡°Annor is a friend of mine, and the man we¡¯re fighting is someone who¡¯s trying to kill me.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s the chick?¡±


    ¡°My name¡¯s Erani.¡± Erani held out a hand to shake. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure meeting you.¡±


    ¡°So the two of you are, like, what, trying to overthrow the Koinkar kingdom or something? Is that why you¡¯re being hunted?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a long story,¡± I said. ¡°But the short version is that we¡¯re being hunted for no good reason, and are just trying to stay alive. Now, I understand it mighte as a shock that you¡¯re being asked to help an ouw, but¡ª¡±


    ¡°Wait, wait, you can¡¯t leave it at that!¡±


    I blinked. ¡°At what?¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t just say ¡®it¡¯s a long story¡¯ and then move on without telling me the long story. At least give me, like, the highlights! What¡¯re the bad guys'' secret ns? Any cool stuff happened? Have you blown up any buildings? Or, wait, cities? Killed any Dragons? I¡¯ll have you know, <em>I¡¯ve</em> killed a Dragon, so if you haven¡¯t done that then I¡¯ve got one up on you. And, by the way, for a pair of ouws, the two of you don¡¯t look nearly gruff and scary enough. If you at least had¡ª¡±


    I put my hands out. ¡°Woah, let¡¯s cool it for a second. We have a little bit of time, so if you want, I can answer your questions one by one. But first, we need you to tell us about the man you were tailing, Jon. Where is he now?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you, but first you have to at <em>least</em> tell me if you¡¯ve blown anything up.¡±


    ¡°No, I haven¡¯t¡­Well, okay, maybe I¡¯ve blown a building up. Or, I guess, depending on your definition of what a single building is, then it¡¯s been dozens? But with one explosion. ¡­And, I guess, depending on your definition of ¡®blown up¡¯ then I¡¯ve done one more? More like ¡®demolished,¡¯ really, though it <em>was</em> a really big building. Though, it wasn¡¯t really <em>me</em> who did it, more like bargained with someone else to¡ª¡±


    ¡°Okay, if all of your answers are gonna be thatplicated, then forget I asked about anything.¡±


    ¡°Like I said, I can give you the short version if you like. But first, you <em>did</em> find out where Jon is, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I did. Those two people Annor told me about basically just hung out at the guild lobby for hours on end waiting around for nothing, until eventually they left and I followed them to this old cheap inn where they met the main guy and went in to stay the night. Those two made themselves <em>really</em> hard to follow, by the way. Good thing you had I,¡± she ced a hand on her chest proudly, ¡°the great, amazing Archer and tracker and doer-of-other-things extraordinaire, Sylvie, to rely on.¡±


    ¡°Right. Well, good work.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re damn right it was. I don¡¯t know if Annor told you this, but I¡¯m actually basically the leader of my adventurer group. Which, I guess is mainly because the rest of everyone just kinda wandered off so I¡¯m the only one left, but being leader still means being leader. And as leader, I¡¯ll go ahead and be the one to do negotiations with you.¡±


    ¡°Negotiations?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah. You¡¯re trying to get us to join you in your little band of ouws or whatever, right? I don¡¯t know why else you¡¯d reveal yourself to us. Unless you just wanted to be super dramatic or something. Anyway, joining up with you guys sounds like something that¡¯s gonna need some negotiations.¡±


    ¡°Nothing like that. I¡¯m ¡®revealing myself¡¯ to you because we need help against Jon and the people he has with him, and he won¡¯t leave us alone until either he or I is dead. And if I tried to fight him with my identity hidden in some way, he¡¯d just shout out who I was in the middle of the town and reveal me anyway. I¡¯m just getting ahead of the game, this way.¡±


    ¡°Okay, sure. But when I first agreed to this, I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be helping a <em>fugitive.¡±</em> She said the word with a mock gasp, as though from the start she fully expected she¡¯d be breaking thew. Which, knowing her, she probably saw it as an upside. ¡°I think I need somepensation in exchange for the extremely dangerous¡ªnot to mention <em>immoral</em>¡ªthings I¡¯ll be doing. Things I¡¯ve already done, without my knowledge!¡±


    I thought of the immense fortune she already held. ¡°What would you even want from us inpensation? We¡¯re running on limited funds.¡±


    ¡°I want¡­¡± She rubbed her chin, as though in deep thought. Honestly, I had no idea if she was just making a joke or if she actually was trying hard to think of something we could give her. I sure as hells had no idea what she could want from us. Eventually, she nodded and threw her hand out, holding a single finger up. ¡°I want one adventure per week.¡±


    I frowned, and looked at Erani, who was in turn staring straight over at me, confused. ¡°...What?¡±


    ¡°This can count for our adventure this week. But clearly, you¡¯re the type of people to go and do interesting things. I mean, the entire kingdom of Koinkar is after you, and no offense, but if you¡¯re not strong enough to beat some random guy who just wandered into town, then you¡¯re not strong enough to beat a whole kingdom. Which means you¡¯re probably gonna go and get stronger, right? Well, if you¡¯re going out to Level up, find special Enchanted items, all that stuff, then I wannae along. So, I demand to be brought along on a minimum of one adventure per week.¡±


    ¡°That sounds¡­logistically difficult. I mean, if we¡¯re ever in different towns or cities, it¡¯ll be hard to notify you, much less actually get you over to where we are. And also, though I feel like this goes without saying, I do not think you actually want to tag along with us. Most of what we do isn¡¯t exactly by choice. It¡¯s a lot of danger without much reward.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure that <em>most</em> of what you do absolutely sucks ass. That¡¯s why I only want one per week. My choice, of course.¡±


    ¡°Once again, that doesn¡¯t sound like it would be easy to facilitate. Just on a basic level, what if we don¡¯t do anything interesting over the course of a week?¡±


    Sylvie sighed and rolled her eyes. ¡°Fine. In that case, just keep me notified about the adventures you <em>do</em> go on, and I¡¯ll tag along when I want to. Does that work with you?¡±


    ¡°Are you just gonna drop everything like that? Leave everything behind to go tag along on random shit that has nothing to do with you?¡±


    ¡°What part of ¡®one per week¡¯ do you not understand? I just want a nice, rxing day of killing vicious monsters every now and then. It¡¯s not gonna be my whole life, you know? But if the two of you are going to be looking for quick paths to power already, then I don¡¯t see why I wouldn¡¯t want to be kept in the know about anything you end up finding. So, in exchange for me helping you out with this stuff, as well as stuff in the future, I would like to think that telling me about that stuff would be a small price to pay.¡±


    ¡°I mean, sure, I guess. Not like I¡¯d be personally opposed to it. I just don¡¯t think you know what you¡¯re getting yourself into.¡±


    ¡°Well, I reserve the right to terminate this agreement at any time.¡±


    I looked back over at Erani, who had been watching this entire interaction with skeptical eyes.


    ¡°Anything I need to know?¡± I muttered to her. Sylvie would definitely be able to hear whatever we said with her enhanced senses, of course.


    ¡°Nothing urgent,¡± Erani muttered back. ¡°But we can talk about itter, when we¡¯re free of prying ears.¡±


    ¡°So,¡± Sylvie said, ¡°when are we gonna get this show on the road, eh? Walk into town and start handing these people their own asses back to them?¡±


    ¡°Give us¡­around twenty minutes,¡± I said.


    ¡°What, do you gotta prepare? Waiting for Annor and Eita toe back?¡±


    ¡°They won¡¯t be participating.¡±


    Sylvie frowned. ¡°Why? Don¡¯t you need all the help you can get? I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re aware, but those two are strong. And, like, kind of insane when they fight. I mean, I guess it kinda makes sense why they¡¯d sit this one out, if the fight¡¯s gonna be in the middle of town, since they¡¯re kind of¡­explode-y, but still. Where even are they?¡±


    We were approaching a topic that I couldn¡¯t exactly speak on, so I tried to think of a way to change the topic. Honestly, Sylvie wasn¡¯t the main person I was worried about finding out about my identity; she was at least somewhat trustworthy, and quite frankly, it was most likely a matter of time before she figured it out. Erani and I may have been able to change our appearances, but that was pretty much it. Speaking from inside a helmet somewhat changed my voice, and Erani¡¯s voice was masked pretty thoroughly, but our heights and builds, fighting abilities, and pretty much everything else stayed exactly the same. If someone interacted enough with Annor, and then interacted with An, there wasn¡¯t much of a possibility of keeping things secret for long.


    That said, I still definitely didn¡¯t want to just outright tell her. Completely ignoring the fact that it was an unnecessary risk to give someone information they didn¡¯t need, it was also extremely dangerous because of Truth Stones. Regardless of whether or not Sylvie had deduced that Annor and An were <em>probably </em>the same person, if she was interrogated under Truth Stone, she would still be capable of saying ¡°I don¡¯t know¡± and technically falling under the truth. But if I told her, or gave her actual evidence that it was the case, I¡¯d be putting her in a really tough spot if it came to that.


    Effectively, the way things were, I just didn¡¯t want to tell her much about anything. Not that she was the type to <em>let</em> me keep her in the dark, so I had to resort to some slight conversational gymnastics.


    ¡°Now, the thing is, while Erani and I would love to live our quiet lives out in the countryside¡ªkill this Jon guy and get on with imagining we have no further problems brewing out of our sight¡ªwe don¡¯t have the option to do that. We¡¯ve ended up getting quite a bit on our te. Everyone who works too closely with us eventually does. So, Annor and Eita are in the hole with us, and even if we can keep it from getting deeper, we still do have to eventually dig ourselves out. What that means is that, while we¡¯ve got to solve smaller, more immediate problems as they show up around here, we also have to go out and do our own thing from time to time, handling problems before they be problems. Annor and Eita are doing that. Very important, very secret stuff, you see.¡±


    Looking skeptical, Sylvie opened her mouth to speak, but Erani cut in before she could. ¡°These things can get kind of high-up, I hope you understand. Speaking with the right people, cutting deals under the table, that sort of thing. Annor and Eita are currently doing some of that. Naturally, it leads to us not being able to talk much about it explicitly. Butter on, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to.¡±


    At that, Sylvie began to rx some. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what it was about Erani¡¯s words that did it, but it worked regardless, and Sylvie seemed to decide to stop pursuing that line of questioning. She paused for a moment, thinking, before just shrugging. ¡°Okay, sure. So what¡¯s the n for now, then?¡±


    ¡°Like I said before, we¡¯ve got a few minutes before we move. So let¡¯s just rest for some time. I¡¯d say we give it around eighteen and a half minutes.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a suspiciously specific time.¡±


    ¡°It sure is.¡±


    At precisely midnight, I smiled and took a deep breath, then stood. We¡¯d sessfully stalled for enough time to get on to my next day¡¯s worth of Time Loop uses. I had three more, now that it was a new day. Though, getting any more than that would likely be an impossibility. I had the three I could use during today, but the only way to get any past these would be to wait another full twenty-four hours for the day after. With Jon so actively on our tail, I doubted that would happen.


    But, even if these were ourst uses of Time Loop to get the fight right, I was confident in our chances. Jon had fucked up; locked himself in a room, in a town, in a <em>timeline</em> that I knew and controlled.


    ¡°Were you really counting out exactly eighteen minutes and thirty seconds?¡± Sylvie asked as I stretched, gazing at the distant town walls.


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh.¡± She stood, too. ¡°So are all Koinkarians a little bit insane, or is that just the four of you? Also, did you go insane because you¡¯re getting chased? Or are you being chased because you went insane?¡±


    ¡°I would like to think I¡¯m sane,¡± Erani said as we started walking down the road.


    ¡°Nah, you¡¯re differently insane from An over here, but you¡¯ve got this quiet intensity in your eyes that definitely makes me think you¡¯re about to, like,mit a terrorist attack or something. Kinda reminds me of Eita. Are you two friends? Or, like, sisters? Also, An, I¡¯ve been meaning to ask, is your armor attached to you too, like the way Annor¡¯s is? If it is, then you¡¯ve <em>got</em> to answer some sex questions that Annor rudely refused to answer when I asked him.¡±


    I just stared at Sylvie.


    ¡°...You think I¡¯m a terrorist?¡± Erani asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I dunno. You¡¯ve just got the feel to you.¡±


    ¡°Do you know a lot of terrorists?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, apparently I know at least four.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we qualify as terrorists. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re bombing cities or whatever.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯ve blown up some number of buildings?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, but that was necessary.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure plenty of terrorists believe that.¡±


    ¡°Listen, are you on our side or not?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m just messing with you,¡± Sylvie said, ncing at me with an impish grin on her face.


    ¡°So,¡± Erani said, ¡°moving past terrorist usations. We¡¯ll be going into town using a different entrance from you. You go through the eastern one, and we¡¯ll use the west.¡±


    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Our method of entrance is ssified,¡± Erani replied.


    Sylvie scoffed and rolled her eyes. ¡°Okay, sure. ssified. What, some secret shadow government?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°If you¡¯d like to pretend, we can say we¡¯re a secret shadow government. We¡¯re just governing a body of an extremely small number of citizens.¡±


    ¡°Man, you people always like to throw around big words like ¡®ssified¡¯ like you can just pretend they mean what you want them to mean. ¡®ssified¡¯ doesn¡¯t just mean ¡®secret,¡¯ it means it¡¯s being held secret by a governing body. Just because you don¡¯t want to tell me doesn¡¯t make your super duper special method of entrance ¡®ssified.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Never took you as a stickler for word choice.¡±


    ¡°Ugh. I deal with Entismo too much to <em>not</em> notice when people use words wrong.¡±


    ¡°Also, what do you mean by ¡®you people?¡¯¡±


    Sylvie waved a hand dismissively. ¡°You know, peasants.¡±


    I stared at her with thin lips, but she didn¡¯t seem to realize she¡¯d even said anything wrong. Sometimes I forgot she <em>did </em>have a noble upbringing.


    ¡°Oh, the road¡¯s splitting up ahead,¡± Sylvie said. ¡°I guess that means you two are going to do your extra secret entrance into town? You know, you don¡¯t have to hide it from me. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re just, like, climbing over the walls or something stupid.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I replied. ¡°We¡¯ll meet with you in town.¡±


    She gave a sarcastic salute. ¡°Aye aye, captain.¡±


    Getting into town was as easy as donning our Annor and Eita disguises and just asking to be let back in. Utterly uplicated, unlike Ainash¡¯s entrance. She¡¯d gone ahead of us, and through mentalmunication, it seemed like she had, after some difficulty, managed to vault over the walls and snuck along on the rooftops to our destination. Erani and I were left to walk through the streets like normal people.


    Once we were getting close, we ducked into a side alley and changed back out of our alternate personas, going back to Light te for me and normal appearance for Erani. Technically, we¡¯d be strolling through the streets openly as fugitives, but it would take some time before people recognized us, so we were free to walk around for a little bit first. And all we really needed were another five minutes before we got to the inn Sylvie had said she¡¯d saw Jon at.


    So, we got back onto the main road and began heading there. I even spotted some of the adventurers we¡¯d hired on their own way to our destination, all getting ready for the scheduled job we¡¯d set for half past midnight. About a dozen of them, as nned. I hoped what I¡¯d brought was overkill; enough to end the fight in a matter of seconds, before things could get too out of hand. At least it waste enough that nobody was around here to get hurt in the coteral damage.


    In the distance, I saw the decrepit building set up on the side of the road. It was a shabby old thing, barely left standing after what had clearly been years of neglect. Jon would be inside, presumably with his gang of soldiers, all hopefully sleeping soundly and unaware that they were currently surrounded by a small army of ssers.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I muttered to Erani, staring at the shack. ¡°Let¡¯s blow up a building.¡±

 Chapter 222: The Monologue

    Chapter 222: The Monologue


    Jon was almost asleep when he heard the crash.


    He had just finished meditating for the night¡ªsomething that had been somewhat difficult, considering his squad¡¯s failure to locate the fugitive this evening¡ªand had gotten into bed, closing his eyes and hoping for a more productive tomorrow. While he hadn¡¯t found the man, he <em>had</em> at least gotten a couple leads. The fugitive was located somewhere in this town, and frequented that adventurer¡¯s guild, so it would be most likely that simply spending some time around the area would turn him up eventually. The sooner that happened, the better. He was aware of the catastrophes that regrly urred from giving the man enough time to prepare.


    It was while he absent-mindedly pondered tomorrow¡¯s ns that the sound echoed through the building.


    Jon instantly bolted from his bed, throwing sheets from his body as he rushed for the door. He¡¯d stationed guards throughout the building to ensure they couldn¡¯t be ambushed, but if they¡¯d failed¡­


    Flinging the door open and dashing into the hallway, he nced down either end of the hall to see who was there. Right then, someone shouted. It was one of the guards who¡¯d been stationed in the hallway. At the same time Jon heard the shout, he also saw what the man was shouting about. The entire wall had been busted down. Standing there in the hole at the end of the hallway, silhouetted by the soft light of the night streets, was a man in glowing white armor. He looked up, and Jon stared at the man¡¯s face, rage etched into his own.


    Jon instantly sprinted at the fugitive, who, in turn, turned and started fleeing. He was out of range for Day of Judgment, and that was going to be his main weapon here. Shoving guards and furniture alike out of his way he charged, his targetpletely having fled the building at this point, running right into the street. Jon briefly wondered why the man would have evene here if he was just going to run at the first sign of confrontation, but concluded that whatever his n was, it didn¡¯t matter. Jon¡¯s sole goal was to kill him, and all it would take to do that was getting within a few paces. And the fugitive probably didn¡¯t even know he had the capability to kill him like that, so Jon was the one with the informational upper-hand, here.


    He trampled over a fallen ally who had failed to get out of the way in time. Sacrifices would be made. A half-dozen other soldiers were bursting out of their own rooms by now, looking around to see what had caused themotion.


    ¡°There he is!¡± Jon shouted as he chased after the fugitive. ¡°Get him!¡±


    The fugitive was running fast¡ªprobably some sort of Dexterity-enhancing Spell. But Jon had some enhancing Spells, himself. He began to cast one just as he ran through the hole in the wall, bursting out into the open streets surrounding the building.


    Instantly as he came through, the fugitive turned around to nce back at him. Jon could just barely make out a smug grin on the man¡¯s face, and had to fight off a scowl of disgust from creeping into his own expression. That man was an absolute disgrace.


    ¡°There he is!¡± the fugitive shouted at the empty surroundings. ¡°Get him!¡±


    Instantly, the streets burst to life. From behind every building, popping around every corner, stepping out from behind every tree was an adventurer, all of their weapons trained on Jon. And then they attacked.


    Our group of ssers shed against Jon at the same time that I cast all of my curses on him. Archers shot their bows, Wizards cast their Spells, and the Melee-Types rushed in to strike him with their des. Honestly, as I watched him get hit with so many attacks all at once¡ªa good number of which were explosive¡ªI half expected him to just die right there. But unfortunately, just before they hit, I saw the light of his defensive buffs shing around him. He wasn¡¯t invulnerable, just a lot harder to kill.


    But as the wall of Melee-Types rushed in, it seemed like he wouldn¡¯t be able to get past them to attack me. Sure enough, he backed off, dodging and blocking attacks where possible, and asionally getting in a strike of his own. His touched melted skin and steel alike, and sometimes he¡¯d take a coin out of his pouch and flick it at someone, the thing bursting ame the moment it touched them. This guy was somehow holding out despite being outnumbered something like fifteen to one. Not <em>winning</em>¡ªnot by a longshot¡ªbut he wasn¡¯t dying, either.


    Just as he was pushed through the threshold back into the broken building, a mass of soldiers came rushing out of the ce, charging through doors and crashing through windows. In total, there were about twenty of them, and they instantly ran to confront my own hired help. Their rangedbatants sniped at our Melee-Types from afar as they fought against Jon, while their Melee-Types started hunting down our mages and bow-wielders.


    Luckily, we still had Ainash in reserve, having been forced to keep her from joining the fight against Jon because he could instantly kill her. So she, standing in the backlines, tore forth, ughtering any who got in her way. I attempted to do the same, throwing out strategically-ced curses and Rays of Frost to keep the enemy soldiers from attacking our own squishy back-liners, and Erani took something of a leading role among the Magic-Types, considering her extremely above-average physical Stats.


    All-in-all, the entire battlefield was chaos. In the night streets, out in this abandoned part of town, there were plenty of empty buildings surrounding us, and those buildings did not go unharmed. Magic-Types threw explosives into them when they missed their targets, Melee-Types swung their weapons into their enemies and smashed them straight through the walls¡­The crashing of buildings copsing echoed through the night, harmonizing with the ng of steel against steel, the many shimmers and sounds of Spells being cast, and the shouts of pain above it all.


    Jon had retreated fully into the building by now, using the half-broken wall as a choke point to keep himself from getting overwhelmed by his many enemies. Though, a good number of the Melee-Types on my side had splintered off from the main force, either taking cover from the potshots being thrown at them, or chasing after the shooters, or fighting off the enemy soldiers who hade to engage with them at a close range.


    At this point, Jon only really had to stand back and watch, as did I. If he tried to get closer, the soldiers would fight him off, and if I tried to get closer, he¡¯d kill me with Day of Judgment. I stared at him, and he met my gaze. In the town block-turned-battlefield, I felt what was almost a sense of calm, gazing at my true enemy amongst the chaos.


    Jon shouted over the cacophony of sounds. ¡°Do you see the destruction being wrought around us, An? Surely you know how much suffering you cause by fighting. Surely you see that some people here will not make it out alive. Your selfish decision to fight an unwinnable battle will cause the deaths of countless innocents, as it already has, and it won¡¯t even save <em>you</em> in the end. What is the point in fighting?¡±


    ¡°You think this battle¡¯s unwinnable?¡± I shouted in reply, gesturing to the fighting around us. ¡°You think you¡¯re immortal? It¡¯s only a matter of time before you lose.¡±


    It <em>was</em> a matter of time. He was in range of Crippling Chill, and that was the one Spell I had been keeping active on him this whole time, never letting up. And every single second that passed, it would tick away, dealing its damage and making itself even stronger through Cumtive Catastrophe. Given enough time, he¡¯d either get paralyzed from the Stat loss, go limp from the Stamina loss, or die from the Health loss. All three, eventually.


    ¡°You¡¯re truly naive if you think <em>this</em> is the battle I¡¯m speaking of,¡± Jon said, scowl on his face. ¡°You may kill me. You may kill all of my personal soldiers. You may escape this ce, hide yourself, be unknowable. But the battle against the Demons will never be won. You will never defeat them, and they will never leave. Not until you are dead. For as long as you struggle against the inevitable, they kill more. Innocents are dying because you are alive!¡±


    ¡°Fuck you!¡± I shouted back. Honestly, I barely even wanted to engage with his arguments¡ªI¡¯d have rather just ignored everything he said, at this point¡ªbut I wanted to keep him arguing, so he¡¯d keep feeding Cumtive Catastrophe. ¡°Who do you think is making the decision to kill those people?! It¡¯s not me. It¡¯s the people <em>you¡¯re</em> working for. Stop helping them, and maybe more will survive.¡±


    ¡°Getting the Demons to leave is the only sensible option, and the only sensible way to aplish that is by killing you. They¡¯ll invade this ce next, you know! They¡¯re already gearing for war. These people will be the next victims of the Demons. At least, they <em>will </em>unless you die. Right now.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not convincing me to fucking kill myself!¡± I said.


    ¡°The sooner you die, the sooner everyone is safe!¡±


    <em>Gods,</em> I thought, <em>is he just fucking dumb? Is this some sort ofst-ditch effort to get me to surrender?</em>


    ¡°An, behind you!¡± the voice of Index startled me, and I turned to see one of the adventurers I¡¯d hired, one of the high-Strength Melee-Types, standing behind me.


    ¡°Hey, what are you¡ª¡±


    He put out his hands and shoved. I stumbled backward as he stepped to follow, then he lifted a leg and kicked me in the gut, pushing me further back. The bastard was trying to get me into Jon¡¯s range!


    I hurriedly cast as many of my curses as I could on him, but before I could even finish mentally running through them all, a Sorcerer from the backlines saw what was happening and shot an Explosive Firebolt in our direction. Not aimed at my betrayer¡ªaimed at me.


    I tried to duck below it, but it was aimed at the ground by my feet, so there was nothing to dodge. Instead, it hit the dirt and blew me back even further. The Sorcerer was thankfully not so high-Level that he could throw me away like Erani¡¯s Firebolts tended to do, but I still stumbled backward, and ncing behind me at Jon, I saw him making a mad dash for me in my moment of weakness. Normally, the wall of ssers fighting at the hole in the wall would¡¯ve blocked him from leaving, but I was seeing a notableck of resistance in those people. Some seemed to refuse to fight whatsoever, while others seemed reluctant enough for Jon to rush by before they could make up their minds.


    I tried stacking as many Expedites on myself as possible and making a mad dash for survival, but before I could take more than a few steps, the bright light appeared above me and crashed straight down. I activated Time Loop before the pain of death reached me.


    In the dark space, I would have definitely called Jon all kinds of mean words if I¡¯d only had a mouth to say them. The fucker wasn¡¯t talking to <em>me</em>, he was talking to my allies. I was so used to just fighting alongside Erani and Ainash¡ªpeople I could actually trust¡ªthat I¡¯d forgotten some people could be swayed into acting against their allies through some stupid monologue.


    I tried to calm myself down, which was actually a little harder to do when I wasn¡¯t capable of taking deep breaths. It wasn¡¯t their fault, really; I mean, Jon had basically threatened them by saying the Demons woulde after the empire next. Which, he was probably lying with his whole ¡°they¡¯re already geared for war¡±ment, saying whatever he could to convince them to change sides. It was my fault for being too single-minded and chasing down what I¡¯d thought was a sure avenue to victory without considering the people around me. The more people in the fight, the more variables.


    I felt myself beginning to fade, and moved to pick a time to go back. If all I had to do to beat Jon was win an argument, then so be it.

 Chapter 223: The Clash of Ideas

    Chapter 223: The sh of Ideas


    I arrived in the previous timeline not too far in the past. I hadn¡¯t gone the entire six and a half hours back that I was capable of, instead opting to go back to the moment the time struck midnight of the current day¡ªnot even a minute beforehand. The reason I chose to do this was a specific quirk in the way Time Loop worked and that Index had exined to me a while back.


    Essentially, Time Loop only gave a certain number of uses that could be expended during any given day. Yesterday, I had used all three of my Time Loop uses in my fight against Jon, and now today, I¡¯d used one of my three. But that meant that if I went <em>back</em> to yesterday, I¡¯d go back to having no more uses of Time Loop, and only once the time passed back to being today would I get ess to my two remaining Time Loop uses. So, if I went back my fullplement of time, I¡¯d suddenly go to a time where I had absolutely no safety, and would have to wait until today in order to get it back.


    Now, I <em>did</em> know that it was possible to go through yesterday and survive just fine by retracing all of my old actions, but quite frankly, I still wasn¡¯t interested in going any more time than I had to without Time Loop to keep me safe. If I identally messed something up or forgot where I needed to be at a specific point, then I¡¯d run the risk of dying. Not a good idea, especially during such a high-danger situation as I was currently in.


    So I only went back a portion of time, to the moment Erani, Sylvie, and I set off back to town from our meeting spot up the road. I more or less went through the same steps we¡¯d done before, using the idle time spent walking to try and think up a solution to the Jon problem. As usual, it felt like he always had a n to get ahead of me the moment it felt like I might be winning.


    Or, no, maybe it was less of him having a n for every contingency, and more of him thinking up a new solution to every problem I threw at him. It would have been ridiculous to assume he¡¯d nned ahead for a situation where I¡¯d recruited people who knew my identity but hadn¡¯t been allied with me for enough time to be unable to be swayed by a stranger¡¯s words, and where I¡¯d used those people to keep him from reaching me, <em>and</em> was in a battlefield chaotic enough for them to turn on me without me instantly realizing it.


    It was just so frustrating to go up against someone who happened to be capable of figuring out all these strategies to beat me. Like he was just out-thinking me at every turn.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say it¡¯s your fault,¡± Index said, responding to my thoughts. ¡°Quite frankly, I¡¯ll say that I¡¯ve also been pretty surprised at what he¡¯s been doing.¡±


    <em>What do you mean?</em>


    ¡°Well, think about it. He¡¯s clearly an aplished fighter; his Level is high, he knows how to use his power, and he¡¯s developed a solid strategy for defeating his opponents. But then, on top of that, he¡¯s got all of these resources at his disposal to bring troops in from the kingdom¡ªtroops with unique modifications done to their bodies to make them better soldiers¡ªand not just one toon, but enough to make up several squads that he can keep in reserve. And then, on top of that, he¡¯s <em>also</em>pletely ready and willing to take adventurers that <em>aren¡¯t</em> his soldiers and <em>haven¡¯t</em>e with him from the kingdom, it seems, but rathere from the empire, and hire them at a moment¡¯s notice to kill you in the guild lobby. And now, not only is he doing all of that, but he <em>also</em> is some sort of master orator who¡¯s capable of manipting the masses into doing his bidding? It was surprising to me, so I think it¡¯s reasonable for you to not have been expecting all of that out of him, too.¡±


    <em>Well, I guess it¡¯s good to know we both agree that he¡¯s bullshit. I guess now, we just get to go and see what stupid new n he pulls out of his ass the moment we beat his surprise persuasive abilities.</em>


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t think of it like that. It¡¯s no more likely¡ª¡±


    <em>I know, I know. Just ranting, I guess.</em>


    ¡°Well I know you don¡¯t fully mean what you¡¯re saying, but it¡¯s still not good to think like that. Hopelessness can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, you know.¡±


    <em>Sure, I guess.</em>


    The beginning of the battle went off without a hitch, just as nned, just asst time. We arrived, some of the external forces attacked immediately, we took them down, ambushed Jon, pushed him back behind our forces, and then did our best to keep his reinforcements from within the building from causing much trouble.


    The real test came when he opened his mouth and shouted at me.


    ¡°Do you see the destruction being wrought around us, An? Surely you know how much suffering you cause by fighting. Surely you see that some people here will not make it out alive. Your selfish decision to fight an unwinnable battle will cause the deaths of countless innocents, as it already has, and it won¡¯t even save <em>you</em> in the end. What is the point in fighting?!¡±


    It was the same way he¡¯d opened the dialogue between usst timeline. Now that I was looking for it, I could see the subtle maniptions in his speech, as Index had said. He was sowing hopelessness in my allies, telling them that they¡¯d die, and so would I, and also telling them that I had already caused the deaths of innocents. It was the perfect morale-killer, dering that not only would they die in this fight, they¡¯d also die for a terrible cause.


    I mentally went through his points, deciding on ways to counter each one.


    ¡°What¡¯s the point of fighting?!¡± I shouted back. ¡°To keep motherfuckers like you from killing more! You say my fighting back has ¡®caused¡¯ the deaths of innocents, and yet you fail to mention who was the one to kill them. No battle is pointless if you¡¯re fighting for something good, and this fight sure as hells isn¡¯t unwinnable, because I will personally be the one to bury you in the ground!¡±


    He scowled at my words. ¡°Oh, you love to do your moral grandstanding the moment the conflict is brought public. But I know you never even considered the lives you were endangering every second you stayed alive in the past. Only now, when your evils are brought before you, do you retroactively justify what you¡¯ve done. Just what will you decide to justify in the future? When will you decide that it¡¯s not enough to just <em>let</em> people die for your sake, that perhaps you should begin actively murdering people in order to further your strength and your chances of living? Your ambition to survive will only lead to the suffering of more and more, and it will bear no benefit for anyone else in this world.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Index said, ¡°that¡¯s a logical facy. You can¡¯t say that just because something has happened, apletely different esction of that thing will happenter on. Just because other people are killing innocents doesn¡¯t mean <em>you¡¯ll</em> go and start killing them. There¡¯s no logical throughline there.¡±


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    I nodded, and pointed exactly that out. ¡°You have no proof I¡¯d ever do something like that. It¡¯spletely baseless as an usation. Unlike the things I can say against you and the Demons, which entirely hold weight. Things like you smuggling these military forces into the empire in order to ughter me <em>and</em> the citizenry, and things like the Demons you work for killing countless people in the kingdom just because they could!¡±


    The battle raging around us was still going strong, my hired help showing no signs of defection, this time. In fact, I could even see a couple of them seeming to fight <em>harder</em> now that they learned that this battle was bigger than a paycheck.


    ¡°You keep speaking of the evil I represent, but you never answer the simple statement that you being alive causes more suffering than if you were dead. And you cannot answer it <em>because </em>it¡¯s that simple. You can¡¯t wriggle around it or shout over it; it¡¯s a fact. The fact that your death would be doing the world a favor. Yes, the Demons are causing that suffering; I hate them just as much as you do. But I am at least realistic enough to understand the fact that you cannot fight them off. They¡¯re here, and the best way¡ªthe <em>only</em> way¡ªto get them to stop killing is to allow you to die. You are simply too stupid, egotistical, and self-important to understand¡ª¡±


    ¡°Ah, he used personal insults in his argument,¡± Index said as Jon finished his spiel. ¡°You can get him for that, it¡¯ll make his whole statement seem pointless.¡±


    ¡°Resorting to personal insults to my character is proof you¡¯ve run out of things to say,¡± I called back. ¡°If you just want to kill a man for no reason, then admit it!¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡± I heard a voice call from across the battlefield, still raging amidst the argument between me and Jon.


    ncing over, I saw Sylvie pumping her fist in the air, standing by a run-down house she could duck behind for cover.


    ¡°Go burn in hell¡¯s mes, evil-doer!¡± she shouted, pulling her bowstring back and sniping someone through the face.


    Next to her, someone ran up from behind the building and nced around frantically. It was Entismo. I saw him lean over and speak with Sylvie, obviouslypletely panicked at the sight of such arge-scale battle happening within the town¡¯s walls.


    At this point, there had been a good amount of destruction, mainly by the hands of Jon¡¯s forces¡ªthe ones who wouldn¡¯t be forced to <em>live</em> in the town they¡¯d just destroyed. Stray explosions blew buildings to rubble and left craters in the streets, powerful Melee-Types would strike each other so hard they¡¯d go flying through walls, and plenty of other Spells that left behind residual effects, whether that be torrents of water or hunks of stone being shot through the streets.


    There had been a few people I¡¯d seen that hade to see what was happening¡ªsome of them ssers who had obviouslye to try and break up whatever fight they¡¯d heard from afar. But when they saw just how massive the battle was in scale, they fled. I even caught some guards running around a corner, taking one look at what was happening, and then turning around and leaving. Of course, more powerful reinforcements would be arriving soon to break up the fight, but for now everyone who realized what was happening simply ran.


    Thas is, except for Entismo. Evidently, once he noticed Sylvie was here, he decided to try and get an exnation of what in the hells she was doing here¡ªand what was going on in the first ce¡ªrather than running off like a sensible person.


    ¡°You think your self-conception of ¡®decency¡¯ excuses the trail of destruction left behind you,¡± Jon shouted at me. ¡°There¡¯s blood on your hands, and no amount of fighting will wash your evils away!¡±


    ¡°His argument¡¯s breaking down,¡± Index said. ¡°He¡¯s repeating himself now, so it¡¯s barely even necessary to refute the points he¡¯s making. Now¡¯s the moment to go in for the kill. Metaphorically, that is. Though, if you can also find a way to end his life, that would probably be helpful, too.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a murderer!¡± I yelled, projecting my voice across the entire battlefield. ¡°You kill without thought, without consideration, you just see someone who¡¯s <em>convenient</em> to kill and¡ª¡±


    I was interrupted by a battlecrying from my side, and turned to see a stray soldier charging at me. One of them must¡¯ve gotten behind our lines, and was now running right at me, the squishy Magic-Type.


    Only, I wasn¡¯t the typical squishy Magic-Type that sucked in close-rangebat. He swung his longsword down at me and I stepped back, absent-mindedly hitting him with my curses¡ªCrippling Chill and Gravity Well to start with, and when that seemed like it would just barely not be enough, I shot him with a Ray of Frost and then stepped forward to grab his neck and activate Noxious Grasp.


    He copsed, gasping from the sudden draining of both his capabilities and his life. I lowered his frozen body to the ground and kicked my leg up against his face to keep contact so Noxious Grasp would stay enabled.


    Entismo arrived just as I took the guy down, his sword raised, apparently having charged in to help. But he slowed in his charge and lowered his de as he realized I definitely didn¡¯t need any. With an awkward motion, he stuck his sword into the ground and leaned on it, like that was his n all along. ¡°Y-you are an acquaintance of Annor¡¯s, correct? P-pleased to make your¡­acquaintance. My name is Entismo, I am¡­I havee to offer my abetment in this endeavor. G-good sir.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Good to know. You¡¯re with Sylvie, right? Where are the other two? Aliss and Boy.¡±


    ¡°Ah. W-well, it seems you have been informed of my attempts to locate the pair. Er, those attempts have ended¡­unsessfully, un-unfortunately. I, I suppose I haven¡¯t the slightest idea where they could be¡­or, where they have been¡­for thest while¡­or what they¡¯re doing together, or¡­¡± his voice began to trail off at that point.


    I looked over at Jon after that and continued in my speech. ¡°You see my death as the pragmatic choice, the <em>easy</em> choice, and so you decide I <em>have</em> to die! It¡¯s depraved. You act like you¡¯re morally superior when all you¡¯re doing is what you find convenient.¡±


    Jon looked at me for a moment, squinting. Eventually, his stare morphed into a scowl, and he muttered something I couldn¡¯t hear.


    I frowned, gazing at him. Entismo seemed inspired enough by my words, though, so at least I seemed to be making some persuasive enough points. I didn¡¯t really care how they sounded to Jon, honestly, as long as they convinced the crowd to kill him and not me.


    ¡°An, just a heads up,¡± Index said, ¡°Jon¡¯s been using that Spell of his for a while, the one that lets him infuse elemental properties into mundane items. He¡¯s been holding onto a coin for most of your debate and putting more and more fire magic into it, so it¡¯ll burst into short, intense mes at will.¡±


    Jon let out a deep breath, his face settling into grim determination. He called out to me, ¡°You don¡¯t believe a word that you¡¯ve said, do you? You don¡¯t care about what I¡¯m saying at all. Like you¡¯vee into this assuming I¡¯m wrong.¡±


    I scoffed. ¡°As if you aren¡¯t doing the same thing.¡±


    ¡°I am <em>not</em>.¡± He seemed genuinely upset by the usation. ¡°Just because your arguments arepletely illogical, and thus do not shake my faith in my own, does not mean I am disregarding you. But it seems that you aren¡¯t speaking to me at all. You never have been. You are speaking to the crowd.¡±


    He spread his hands, gesturing to the dozens of people fighting all around us.


    ¡°Surely you are spreading your ideas to them because you truly wish to see them do the right thing?¡± he asked sarcastically, as though he already knew exactly what the correct answer was. ¡°Surely you would never simply say whatever it took to discredit me and keep yourself alive? Surely, you don¡¯t see my ideas as a <em>threat. </em>As something that, if these people actually heard what I had to say, they might agree with, ande to my side. You call me despicable. You say I do whatever it takes to win, without even considering the morality of it. I could never find more fitting words to describe <em>you</em>. Let¡¯s see how much you truly care about your precious allies in arms¡ªyour audience.¡±


    With that, he twisted his body, then unfurled, pelting a small coin through the air¡ªthe coin Index was talking about. At first, I thought it was aimed at me. But then I realized it was aimed just a couple paces to my side¡ªstraight at Entismo.

 Chapter 224: The Self-Sacrifice

    Chapter 224: The Self-Sacrifice


    As the coin flew toward Entismo, time seemed to move in slow-motion. If that thing hit him, it¡¯d kill him for sure¡ªI¡¯d seen what those mes could do to people in previous timelines, and they were no joke.


    I could already tell exactly what Index would say, if it had the time to say it: <em>An, by doing this, Jon has given up all credibility. He no longer has any argument that what he¡¯s doing is moral, and allowing Entismo to die here will only prove your point more that he¡¯s willing to kill someone just because he wants to.</em>


    My thought process got about as far as ¡°I don¡¯t agree¡± before I was forced into action. The coin was flying straight at him, and I needed to do something.


    So, before I could even think of what that ¡®something¡¯ would be, I leapt forward, tackling Entismo to the ground and preemptively activating Regenerate. My body covered his, between him and Jon.


    And then the copper piece struck right against my back.


    Instantly, it lit ame, the bonfire roaring alight around it and licking my skin.


    You have been burned. 95 damage.


    Due to Heat Resistance, damage has been reduced to 48.1.


    Your Health is 551.


    The coin fell to the ground and I hurriedly kicked it away, out into a street where it harmlessly rolled to a stop, melting the stones around it. But the mes on <em>me</em> continued to burn.


    You have been burned. 57 damage.


    Due to Heat Resistance, damage has been reduced to 28.8.


    Your Health is 526.


    I nced back at Entismo, who had fallen to the ground. He was staring up at me in shock and horror, motionless. But he wasn¡¯t burning; the fire hadn¡¯t touched him.


    You have been burned. 54 damage.


    Due to Heat Resistance, damage has been reduced to 27.3.


    Your Health is 503.


    I could feel the mes eating at my skin, my Health preventing it from fully melting my flesh away, but not doing much for the pain. It was all I could do to not fall to the ground on the spot, screaming in agony. The intense sensation went beyond just being ¡®hot¡¯¡ªit was pain incarnate. I wanted nothing more than to leap into a body of water and extinguish the mes, but this fire was magically-created, not mundane. It would be impossible to put out through normal means.


    I would just have to wait it out.


    You have been burned. 46 damage.


    Due to Heat Resistance, damage has been reduced to 23.3.


    Your Health is 484.


    Regenerate was marginally helping to ease the damage, giving back just around 4 Health each second, but the real thing keeping me standing was the Heat Resistance I got from my Bond with Ainash.


    ¡°A-are you¡­will you be okay?¡± Entismo muttered, only barely loud enough that I could hear it over the roaring mes that covered my body.


    My clothes were already burnt to a crisp below my magical armor, and I could feel the heat singing my flesh by now. Health steadily dropping, I turned to face Jon, who was standing in shock, staring at me. Everyone was.


    ¡°You want to know what I really think, Jon? What I care about?!¡± I screamed into the battlefield.


    The fighting had stopped, the sounds of shing steel reced by the quiet crackle of the mes around me and my own echoing words.


    ¡°I don¡¯t give a single shit about your calctions. Your fucking value propositions, saying it¡¯s objectively correct to do this, or that, or whatever. I don¡¯t give a shit that you¡¯ve decided to murder someone. I don¡¯t give a shit that you¡¯re doing something immoral. You want to kill me? Sure, okay, that¡¯s fine. I understand killing for a cause you believe in. The thing is, you <em>don¡¯t</em> believe in the Demons¡¯ cause. You couldn¡¯t care less. You¡¯re killing me because you¡¯ve decided it¡¯s optimal. It¡¯s emotionless.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s correct! It¡¯s the perfect decision!¡± he shouted back.


    ¡°Who fucking cares what¡¯s perfect?! Let me tell you what I want.¡± Somehow, it felt like the mes around me began to burn brighter. ¡°I want to wipe the entire face of the clean of these Demon jackasses! Theye here, invade our homes, kill our people, and expect us to roll over and submit?! It¡¯s long since gone past being about my life. It¡¯s about punishing these scum fucks. Thinking they can push us around and demand what they want. You know what I saw, running from those soldiers in the kingdom? What I saw in the eyes of every one of them? Hopelessness. People who had learned to want nothing more than survival. Nothing more than what was <em>technically</em> optimal. That¡¯s no way to live. If the Demons are gonnae here, gonna step all over us, gonna poke the sleeping bear¡­I say we show them just what Humanity is capable of!¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡± Sylvie shouted, raising a fist in the air. There were a few more scattered shouts.


    Jon grunted. ¡°Surely you understand how unlikely¡ª¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not about likelihoods. It¡¯s not about probabilities, or expected values, or fucking <em>forms!</em> Surely you understand what it¡¯s like to be <em>alive?! </em>You understand that Humanity never prospered in the face of Dragons and Faerie Queenes and the hostility of nature by sitting down and making a fucking pros and cons list. We did it by saying ¡®we¡¯re going to persevere through that evil,¡¯ and then <em>doing it!</em> Against all odds, because we don¡¯t care about the odds.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not¡ª¡±


    ¡°Listen. I get it. I get the urge to mathematically figure it all out, only ever make the ¡®right¡¯ choice. In fact, most of the time, I¡¯d say that¡¯s the correct thing to do. Looking for a new job? Sure, take the one with the best pay. Trying to figure out what to say during some political conversation? Sure, examine the circumstances and figure out the perfectbination of words. But sometimes¡­¡± I shook my head, mes billowing off of my body. ¡°Sometimes, it¡¯s just non-negotiable. Sometimes, you <em>have</em> to make something happen. There¡¯s no choice. You just wouldn¡¯t be capable of living with yourself if you didn¡¯t. And I¡¯m telling you, right here, that there is something I <em>have</em> to make happen. I have to kill every single Demon that exists. Every single one that¡¯s responsible for doing this. And you can say it¡¯s unlikely, or even impossible, but I will still not rest for as long as there is even one more of those fuckers that still has its head attached to its body!¡±


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    Another cheer by the crowd, this one stronger. Sylvie was still the loudest voice, full of mirth andughter, but there was a determination in everyone who shouted in agreement. Even Entismo had gotten to his feet, tentatively shaking his fist in the air with a smile on his face.


    You have been burned. 21 damage.


    Due to Heat Resistance, damage has been reduced to 10.6.


    Your Health is 249.


    The mes that¡¯d engulfed my body were in the process of finally petering out, which was good, considering how my Health was only barely able to protect me from long-term damage, at this point. The pain had mostly subsided¡ªthough I couldn¡¯t tell if that was because it was genuinely getting more bearable or because I¡¯d just gotten used to it, standing in the white-hot mes this whole time. Either way, I wanted to end this.


    Jon, by now, seemed as though he had decided words were not his weapon of choice anymore. He was fighting harder than ever to break through the wall of soldiers keeping him back, but he wasn¡¯t seeing much luck in that endeavor. This was mainly because most of the soldiers on his own side had stopped fighting. Arge number were severely injured, but even a couple of the healthy-looking ones were standing around, unsure of what to do. It seemed like my words had influenced them, after all.


    And with nobody else remaining to fight them, all of my allies were left with all their energypletely ready to face Jon with. The force of Melee-Types was one thing, but now he had to contend with all of the long-range fighters as well. Plus, by this point, enough time had passed that Cumtive Catastrophe was buffing my Spell effects by close to 80%, even though I¡¯d mostly been focusing on dealing damage with Crippling Chill this whole time.


    Suffice to say, Jon wasn¡¯t getting very far in his attempt to kill me.


    ¡°Th-thank you for saving me, good sir,¡± Entismo said from behind. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re¡­Y-you are still, er, enmed, currently. Can I¡­do anything? A-assist in any task you require to bepleted? With my life in your debt, I can assure you I intend to spend the rest of my days assisting you in whatever I can, however I am doubtful I will ever be given the opportunity to pay back all of what I owe you.¡±


    I turned to face him, wincing as I got yet another damage ping from the fire. It wasn¡¯t doing much anymore, just getting in thest of its pricks before dissipating naturally, but now that I wasn¡¯t all pumped up by my speech against Jon, I was feeling it a little more. ¡°Yeah, you can actually go ahead and pay the whole thing off right now. Can you just go over there and fucking kill Jon?¡±


    ¡°I, I will do my best to fight him.¡±


    He instantly rushed off, sword drawn. <em>Oh, shit, he might actually kill himself trying to fight someone as experienced as Jon.</em> ¡°Hey! Be careful, too!¡±


    Sylvie looked over at me from across the battlefield, and shouted, ¡°Are we killing him now?¡±


    ¡°We always were,¡± I responded. ¡°The n never changed.¡±


    She mumbled something that was surely very witty and sarcastic, and turned, drawing her bow and trying to aim a good shot through one of the windows. Jon was nothing if not extremely tanky.


    On my end, though, I just kept an eye on things, ensured Crippling Chill was always active on him, and stayed prepared to activate a pulse of Gravity Well in case it ever seemed like the close-range fighters needed help.


    As I did this, Erani casually walked over to me. ¡°Quite the speech.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, I was just saying what I thought.¡±


    ¡°I just don¡¯t know how you¡¯re able to put your thoughts into words so well.¡±


    I chuckled. ¡°Not sure it¡¯s quite ¡®so well,¡¯ more like it was good enough for other people to understand my opinion. And I think I received quite a bit of help from the Demons being so obviously terrible. They deserve whateveres to them in the future.¡±


    ¡°Even if whates to them is us dying?¡±


    ¡°Okay, them winning would be the one thing they <em>don¡¯t</em> deserve.¡±


    ¡°Sounds hypocritical.¡±


    ¡°Being a hypocrite is great. I get to believe all the good, helpful stuff, without ever having to also believe any of the bad stuff, ufortable stuff.¡±


    ¡°The whole ¡®making your life into a mission of killing literally all Demons¡¯ thing seems like a pretty ufortable thing to do. Honestly, I kind of think you¡¯re a hypocrite in the opposite way you just said. You believe all the stuff about what <em>you</em> should do, without considering that if you have such harsh requirements on yourself, then you would necessarily have to require the same of everyone else.¡±


    ¡°What? I don¡¯t think I¡¯m too hard on myself. Or too easy on others, really.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s less about being hard on people, and more¡­Like, you said you would literally never be able to live with yourself if you didn¡¯t put everything in you toward killing the Demons. But, when Ainash talks about her own simr convictions, you tell her that she should live more for herself, and try to focus on more achievable goals.¡±


    ¡°Well, maybe I think I¡¯m the only one who can kill all the Demons.¡±


    ¡°Do you?¡±


    ¡°Not particrly.¡±


    Erani frowned at me.


    I shrugged. ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m a hypocrite. I¡¯ll admit to that. I know myself better than I know anyone else in the world, so of course I¡¯m gonna hold myself to different standards than I would another person. For someone else, I have to give advice based on assumptions. For me, I know for sure whether I¡¯m motivated by the right thing, or whether my idealism is based on suicidality, or whether I would be harming myself by setting my life on a mission. Besides, I¡¯m the only person I can be a little unfair to without it being technically immoral. So I¡¯m gonna abuse the hells out of that little loophole.¡±


    Erani grimaced. ¡°That sounds like the sort of thing your Index thing would say about morality. There are no ¡®loopholes.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Well, anyway.¡± I gazed back to the fight raging in the building. It was almost peaceful, the way the chaos and noise had faded into the background. Or, maybe I was just feeling extra good because the fire had finally extinguished itself.


    ¡°Are you okay? No burns, right?¡±


    ¡°Nah. Well, yeah, of course I have burns, but my skin hasn''t melted. You think Jon¡¯ll go down beforew enforcement arrives?¡±


    ¡°Do you want him to?¡±


    ¡°He certainly doesn¡¯t seem like the type of guy we want around with life behind his eyes, so¡­yeah. Probably.¡±


    ¡°Should we ask Boy to move in and join the fight against him, too, then? I¡¯d asked him to stay back in case one of the resting soldiers from Jon¡¯s side suddenly got up and tried attacking.¡±


    I looked over at her. ¡°Wait, Boy¡¯s here? I had no idea.¡±


    ¡°He ran up recently.¡±


    ¡°Aliss, too?¡±


    ¡°No, I have no idea where she is. I tried asking Boy, but¡­well, it was pretty hard to get anything other than ¡®I know where she is, but I can¡¯t tell you.¡¯ She is safe, though, ording to him.¡±


    ¡°Just not nearby? Damn, I kind of wanted to introduce the two of us, An and Erani, to those four.¡±


    As if on cue, I saw Boy lumbering over in our direction from behind some cover¡ªa broken down wall that was just barely keeping itself from crumbling to rubble.


    ¡°Oh, there you are,¡± Erani said. ¡°This is An, my partner. He¡¯s also a friend of Annor and Eita¡¯s. We have to stay back because we¡¯re vulnerable to a certain Spell that man has ess to, but if you¡¯re willing, could you go and help the others in the fight against him? He seems¡­difficult to take down, currently.¡±


    He looked over at the fight between Jon and the crowd of people. Simultaneously, three people swung their weapons down at him. He ducked underneath one of their strikes aimed at his head, parried a de straight off his arm¡ªsomething that only seemed possible because one of the many buff Spells he had active on himself¡ªand then allowed the third de to pierce his chest, using the moment of vulnerability to swing his fist at the man who stabbed him. His strike connected with the man¡¯s face, but just as the man stumbled back, a woman stepped forward to take his ce and fill the circle surrounding Jon and keeping him focused on defending himself.


    After a few seconds of watching, Boy nodded and began walking over to the site of the battle.


    ¡°Wait, one moment before you go,¡± I called out.


    He turned and looked at me.


    ¡°You do know where Aliss is, right?¡±


    He nodded.


    ¡°Are you willing to tell us, if you were made able? Like, if I got you a paper, could you write it down? Because with what¡¯s going on, it seems dangerous¡ª¡±


    He interrupted me with a shake of the head.


    ¡°Can you at least tell us when she¡¯ll be seen again? We n on leaving soon, so¡­¡±


    He shook his head again, then turned away to keep walking toward Jon.


    ¡°Damn,¡± I said.


    ¡°Told you,¡± Erani replied. ¡°He¡¯s keeping some sort of secret. Though, whatever that secret is, or why he¡¯s keeping it, who knows.¡±


    ¡°You think we can trust him?¡±


    ¡°Probably. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s killed her and stuffed her in a barrel, or anything, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking.¡±


    ¡°No, no, I doubt that too. More like¡­it just feels like Boy is covering something up for Aliss. Something big. I think I have a good enough read on the other three¡ªBoy, Entismo, and Sylvie. I know their general goals and personalities. But Aliss was always weird.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re wondering what she¡¯s been doing with her alone time?¡±


    ¡°We haven¡¯t seen her in several days now, right? What could she possibly need that much time alone¡ªnot just alone, but <em>hidden</em>¡ªto do?¡±


    Before Erani could answer, I heard a scream of rageing from the fight between Jon and the soldiers. I instantly activated Gravity Well on Jon before even seeing what was going on, trying to ensure he didn¡¯t escape, as I looked. Erani held up her hand in preparation to cast a Firebolt, as well.


    Jon <em>did</em> seem obviously pushed down by my Spell, though no less angry because of it. He whipped his head around to look at the soldiers circling him and eyeing him cautiously. Boy was standing by the edge of the circle, seemingly not having gotten fully close to Jon yet so he could watch how he fought before engaging.


    ¡°You think you can kill me?!¡± Jon demanded. His normally collected voice had a hint of desperation to it now, like he¡¯d been run ragged. ¡°You think you can destroy all that I¡¯ve worked for? The sacrifices I¡¯ve made, all reduced to nothing? Fine. The world would be better off without you people in it, anyway.¡±


    And then he dropped onest coin to the ground right by his feet, and it burst into the brightest inferno I¡¯d seen.

 Chapter 225: The Execution

    Chapter 225: The Execution


    Jon dropped the coin, and it burst into me. Everyone around him was engulfed, screams instantly echoing through the wreckage of the battlefield. The Melee-Types dove back, but many of them were already set ame, including Entismo and Boy.


    <em>Is he too low on Mana to use Day of Judgment?</em> I asked Index.


    ¡°Yeah, he used up thest of it on that final Spell.¡±


    I sprinted forward, calling back to Erani and telling her it was safe. Ainash also followed from her spot on the sidelines, though she looked much less worried about the burning people.


    Ainash tore forth and shed her whip right across Jon, who waspletely consumed by me, much too distracted to do anything to avoid her attack. In the meantime, I knelt down by Entismo and Boy, both of whom were still on fire. Boy¡¯s entire chest had been set alight, and I could do nothing but watch as he scrunched his face up in clear agony, rolling back and forth on the ground. But he could do nothing to extinguish the magical mes.


    Entismo was screaming. He¡¯d caught arger brunt of the fiery explosion, and his entire body was being consumed before my eyes as he writhed in the dirt.


    ¡°Put it out!¡± he screamed. ¡°Put it out! Please, for the love of everything!¡±


    ¡°Fucking Jon¡­¡± I muttered, frantically looking around for anything to help. Even if I knew I had no capability to help, maybe someone nearby had something to put it out. There were plenty of Spells that created magic water or otherwise ended magical effects, but¡­


    Looking at my surroundings, I mainly saw people on fire. And out of the surviving ones, nobody was moving to take action¡ªnot even the defectors from Jon¡¯s own side. Unlucky. Or, maybe Jon purposely popted his team with people who couldn¡¯t put out magical mes, as contingency for¡­what, this exact scenario? I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised, honestly.


    Entismo let out a shuddering breath. ¡°I can¡¯t. I can¡¯t! Don¡¯t let me die, please! By the gods, I¡¯m going to die!¡±


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 28 Cleric.


    Due to killing a member of your own species, you have earned 0 XP.


    I nced over and saw Ainash drawing her whip away from Jon¡¯s corpse. He¡¯d already been burning to death by his own Spell, so it evidently hadn¡¯t been difficult to finish him off.


    <em>¡°Ainash,e over here so I can sync up memories with you and Erani? I need to go back and do this once more.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Why? Bad guy is dead!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Yeah, but a lot of good guys are, too. C¡¯mon.¡±</em>


    She frowned at me. <em>¡°Would be waste to use limited ability to save Human lives.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°It¡¯s not a waste.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°What if more bad guyse, and you need ability? Have needed to use a lot of ability this time, what if there is another bad guy just as strong?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°You can¡¯t keep me from going back. You can only keep yourself from remembering it.¡±</em>


    After a moment¡¯s pause, Ainash huffed out a breath and marched over to me. I beckoned Erani over, too, trying to ignore the still-ongoing screams of the dying. Though, trying to ignore the screams almost made me feel worse, despite the fact that I was going back to make sure they never happened.


    Erani got to me first, and before I could even say anything, she spoke.


    ¡°We¡¯re going back,¡± she said definitively, sweeping her hand around the battlefield. ¡°This cannot be final.¡±


    ¡°I know, I know,¡± I said, nodding. ¡°I¡¯ve already arrived at the same conclusion. Did you think I wouldn¡¯t have?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think <em>you¡¯d</em> decide it was best to stay in this timeline, but I do think that Index would. And it seems to be good at convincing.¡±


    ¡°It <em>would </em>be optimal,¡± Index said in response to Erani¡¯s words. ¡°Though, not without downside, considering the reputation cost. Still, by my estimations you¡¯d get more from the safety provided by saving the use of Time Loop, plus the extra Stat if it went unused. We don¡¯t know when you¡¯ll Level up next, so we want to ensure you get the Recycled Loop triggers in when possible.¡±


    <em>I¡¯m not¡ª</em>


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother arguing. I didn¡¯t try fighting you on this because I knew I wouldn¡¯t be able to persuade you.¡±


    I sighed, turning my focus back on Erani. ¡°Well, you don¡¯t have to worry about Index on this one, I guess.¡±


    Ainash walked up to us, avoiding my gaze. On her way over, she stepped on the arm of one of the men we¡¯d hired, who was lying catatonic on the ground. His body¡¯s injuries from the fires were¡­indescribable. But suffice to say, some of his insides stuck to the bottom of her foot when she stepped off. She avoided my gaze the whole way over.


    ¡°What¡¯s with her?¡± Erani asked, clearly concerned.


    ¡°Rebellious phase? I dunno,¡± I said with a frown. ¡°Didn''t want to go back. <em>She </em>was the one who tried to argue, actually. Not Index.¡±


    ¡°What? No way. She wouldn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I think you¡¯re being a little too kind in your estimations of her moral code.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s been doing so well with the Goblins, though.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not saying she¡¯s not learning to be kinder, but it¡¯s clearly a process. One that¡¯s still ongoing.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll talk to her.¡±


    ¡°Might be best to save that for after we transfer memories and go back. We still have some work to do, even if it¡¯s in a different timeline.¡±


    And then I was back, only having gone a few minutes. Before transferring memories, Erani and I had a discussion on what our strategy would be, and we came up with something that¡¯d keep everyone safe. Only, redoing the entire fight would put the whole n in jeopardy if we made any mistakes along the way. We needed the timing to be the <em>exact</em> same¡ªnot a second off¡ªand any tiny difference in action would likely influence things enough to change that.


    So, with just a little bit of time before Jon set himself and everyone around him on fire, I arrived back, instantly called Erani and Ainash over to me, and transferred their memories back to them.


    After that, we got back into our previous positions, trying to reenact everything that¡¯d happened before to the best of our ability.


    Then, right on time, I watched as Jon looked around at the people surrounding him, desperation filling his wild eyes. He said his line, ¡°The world would be better off without you people in it, anyway.¡±


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The coin dropped. But before it could even leave his hand, Erani had already shot an Explosive Firebolt, one aimed for the exact spot the coin would¡¯ve hit. They both flew toward their destinations, and just before the coin nked against the ground and burst into me, the Firebolt collided at Jon¡¯s feet first.


    The explosion sted everything in the area away¡ªthe coin most of all. It flew high into the air just as it set itself alight, the massive explosion of me bursting into nothingness harmlessly in the sky. Though, of course, the fighters weren¡¯t all left without harm; Erani¡¯s Firebolt Spell packed a hefty punch at its current Rank.


    But the damage dealt to them was much, much less than the mes of Jon¡¯s superpowered Spell. Everyone seemed more or less safe, untouched by the inferno that¡¯d quickly fizzled out in the air above them all.


    Before anyone could recover from the quick series of events, Erani, Ainash, and I were all dashing forward,ing in to finish the job.


    <em>Index, just to make sure, Jon doesn¡¯t have the Mana left to use Day of Judgment, right?</em>


    ¡°Still no. Though, he won¡¯t be as much of a pushover this time around. Before, the damage he¡¯d taken from his own attack had brought him down pretty low. This time, he still has a good amount of Health left.¡±


    I nodded. <em>As long as he can¡¯t one-shot us.</em>


    I¡¯d boosted my Dexterity with Expedite, so I got to Jon first. And I introduced myself to him with a punch to the face.


    You have struck Level 28 Cleric for 51 damage using fist.


    In his dazed state, he obviously hadn¡¯t been expecting it, and took my knuckles straight to the cheek, stumbling back. I¡¯d been keeping Crippling Chill active on him this whole time, which, with Light te¡¯s discount, actually cost less to do than my natural Mana/Minute restored, so my Mana reserves were still quite high.


    So, naturally, during the moments my fist was connected with his face, I cast Noxious Grasp, Sanguine Bond, and Curse of Echoes all targeting him. And the moment he¡¯d backed a couple paces away from me, I aimed my palm at him, shot a Ray of Frost, then surged forth to hit him again.


    You have struck Level 28 Cleric for 147 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 28 Cleric with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, his Dexterity score is lowered by 19.22.


    12.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1.51k.


    I coughed when I saw the effects of my Spells¡ªnot just Ray of Frost¡¯s insane damage and debuff, but also Noxious Grasp dealing 15 damage in a fraction of a second, and Sanguine Bond draining 17 Health per second. That was all the work of Cumtive Catastrophe, which had been silently growing more and more powerful from Crippling Chill¡¯s stacking buff on any of my Spells cast on Jon.


    But I didn¡¯t hesitate, stepping in for another swing, this time aiming to grab him by the throat so I could hold him for a longer time with Noxious Grasp active. It¡¯d deal over 50 damage per second currently, if I could keep on him for long it¡¯d be enough to end the fight here and now.


    He was anticipating me now, though, and despite my debuffs, was able to parry my strikes, redirecting my hands with his arms. But I still got in a short pulse of Noxious Grasp during the time we were in contact, meaning more damage, and one more percent of Spell power from Cumtive Catastrophe.


    He struck back, pushing me away and lifting his leg up to try and kick me in the gut. But I pulsed on Gravity Well as he lifted his leg, and the sudden sluggishness made it trivial to keep out of the way as he tried to strike me.


    I was about to move back in when I got a message from Ainash. <em>¡°Father, back away for second!¡±</em>


    I did, taking a few steps away from Jon without looking behind me to see what Ainash was doing, and soon got my answer to that question. An answer in the form of a series of Firebolts flying into his face. Six of them, to be precise, all shooting through the air in the span of just a couple seconds, and each one exploding against Jon and pushing him back. With his lower Health, he barely had the shield necessary to resist those sts, and it was showing.


    The final Firebolt wasrger and brighter, obviously having been powered up by Elemental Embrace, and upon hitting Jon square in the chest, it sted him clean off his feet and to the ground, where he was set ame.


    Before he could even attempt to stand, Ainash flew over my head in a massive leap,nding with a spin, her whip out and cutting into Jon¡¯s stomach. I saw blood finally begin to be drawn from him as theceration drew a line of red across his belly. Ainash didn¡¯t let up, throwing her arm back and forth like she was trying to slice him to pieces, and Jon¡¯s weak attempts to raise his arms and block the strikes did nothing to stop the onught.


    I saw the faint glow of light around his hands as he used what was presumably thest Mana in his pool to try and heal himself, but it was clearly a pitiful amount, likely undone entirely by a single of Ainash¡¯s attacks, of which there were plenty.


    In the end, Jon was the victim of an absolute ughter; less a fight and more an execution. He didn¡¯t die all that quickly, and maybe not even effortlessly, but it <em>was</em>pletely one-sided. Or, it was one-sided in this timeline. And, considering the amount of grief he¡¯d given us in the many, many timelines before it, I felt like an easy fight was well-earned.


    Ainash ended up giving me the final blow, which she seemed to view as quite the honor. Even if I wasn¡¯t as pleased to kill the guy as she seemed to think I was, I was still happy to know she wasn¡¯t too upset with me about going back to save everyone.


    I did it with Noxious Grasp, pressing my hand against Jon¡¯s chest and keeping it active until he died. My palm instantly became sticky with blood the moment it pressed up against his chest, which had been all but cut to ribbons by Ainash¡¯s whip. His face looked no better, entire chunks of his nose having gone missing during the conflict.


    Despite his injuries, his eyes still somehow looked as bright as ever, looking up at me as I finished him off.


    ¡°...I¡¯m going to die,¡± he croaked, just barely loud enough that I could hear.


    ¡°No shit,¡± I said.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­I knew it would happen, eventually. I just hoped¡­it would be different. I had hoped I would die protecting people.¡±


    ¡°Then you should¡¯ve protected more people.¡±


    There was a flicker of anger in his eyes, like he was about to argue, before he took a shaky breath and the anger seemed to disappear. ¡°I did¡­the best I could do, with the situation given to me.¡±


    A few seconds passed in silence.


    ¡°You believed in what you said,¡± Jon said, eventually. ¡°You truly think you can win. I don¡¯t agree.¡±


    ¡°I was able to beat you, wasn¡¯t I?¡±


    He chuckled weakly. ¡°I don¡¯t agree that you can beat the Demons. But¡­I respect it. You¡¯re fighting for what you believe in. I once thought I could help every person on the. You remind me of¡­if that version of me had lived longer than he had.¡±


    ¡°Well, maybe I can live just a bit longer, then.¡±


    He chuckled once again, the rising and falling of his chest only barely able to be felt beneath my fingers. ¡°I¡­doubt it.¡±


    You have offered moderate contribution toward the ying of Level 28 Cleric.


    Due to killing a member of your own species, you have earned 0 XP.


    His eyes closed, and I stared at his corpse. ¡°Well fuck you, too.¡±


    I took a breath and stood, looking at the destruction around us. For the most part, everyone looked okay.


    ¡°Well?¡± I called out. ¡°Nobody¡¯s dead, right? Seriously injured?¡±


    There was a beat of silence, and then everyone¡ªwho would have all also received the kill notification if they¡¯d done any damage to Jon over the course of the fight¡ªerupted into a cheer. I heard a few mentions of ¡°So we¡¯re still getting paid, right?¡± in there, but for the most part, it seemed to be the genuine celebration of a fight well won. And I¡¯d be lying if I said I hadn¡¯t broken out into a smile, as well.


    It was around that point, surveying the absolute cmity of a battlefield, that I spotted a massive contingent of guards surging in from the streets. They stared at the destruction¡ªthe copsed buildings, the holes blown into roads, and the burning piles of rubble scattered throughout¡ªin obvious shock and horror. But there was no obvious fighting going on anymore, which clearly led them to pause.


    Eventually, one of them just shouted out, ¡°What in Hell¡¯s mes happened here?!¡±

 Chapter 226: The Inspirational Speech

    Chapter 226: The Inspirational Speech


    Town guards swarmed the battlefield. Fires and rubble were spread throughout, as were bodies. There were quite a few casualties, unfortunately¡ªthough most of them were those of our enemies¡ªbut not only that, there were plenty of <em>living</em> people that¡¯d also copsed on the ground, unmoving. It had happened at some point during the fight, but many of the enemies that originated from Jon¡¯s side and decided to stop fighting once they heard what I had to say had copsed to the ground. Upon closer examination, I found that they simply no longer had limbs to hold themselves up on.


    I remembered in my first fight with Jon, back at the guard outpost, I¡¯d seen something simr happen. These soldiers could have their limbs remotely shut off when their leaders decided they deserved to be punished. I wasn¡¯t sure whether to apologize to these people or thank them, that they¡¯d been willing to have that happen to them for my sake. Or maybe they¡¯d just decided they¡¯d be killed by my side if they kept fighting, and reasoned that living without limbs was better than not living at all. Either way, I was happy to see them alive.


    The town guards didn¡¯t seem to care about any of them, though, instead focusing on those of us with functioning bodies. They rushed in from all sides, quickly forming a perimeter around the entire poption of everyone who had been engaged in the fight. Erani, Ainash, and I stood beside each other, and I saw Boy, Entismo, and Sylvie find each other in the chaos and form a group nearby. Several adventurers¡ªsome of them allies I¡¯d hired, and others the survivors from Jon¡¯s side that hadn¡¯t had their limbs shut off¡ªattempted to flee from the scene and escape into the night, but were quickly apprehended by the guards.


    ¡°Stay where you are!¡± the head guard shouted, speaking with an Enchanted voice amplification device. ¡°Resisting the guard will be considered a crime. Attempting to flee will be considered a crime. You are all under arrest, pleaseply while we try to understand what has happened here tonight.¡±


    Erani leaned over and whispered to me. ¡°Are we just going along with this? Legally, we could im self-defense, and I¡¯m sure everyone here will vouch. So if they take us in, they¡¯ll probably end up letting us go.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t trust that at all,¡± I responded. ¡°Just because we <em>im</em> self-defense doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯ll agree. Besides, we don¡¯t have time to spend all week locked up in some cell going through legal proceedings. We beat this team that got sent in, but what about the next one? Because there <em>will</em> be a next one. We need to get out of here as fast as possible, and we can¡¯t do that in custody, especially not as An and Erani, the fugitives.¡±


    ¡°So then, what? Run away and hope we don¡¯t get caught? I¡¯m not sure that¡¯ll work.¡±


    ¡°Well we gotta do <em>something.</em> Proactive, not reactive.¡±


    ¡°We are sending in soldiers to apprehend each of you! I repeat: do not resist,¡± the lead guard shouted. A wave of guards surged forth, each grabbing a different person. Confusion and disorganization rippled throughout our group. Some tried to resist, but were quickly tackled by a nearby guard who had been dealing with someone much more docile and didn¡¯t need as much of a hands-on approach.


    It was while ncing around at everything going on that I noticed something. Despite being surrounded, our group was pretty big. Big enough that¡­


    <em>Index, do we outnumber the guards?</em>


    ¡°...Yep, just got a birds-eye view. I mean, you outnumber them by, like, two people, but still. It¡¯s at least an even match.¡±


    <em>You know what I¡¯m thinking, right? Think it¡¯s a good idea?</em>


    ¡°All of your allies here are still pretty high in Health and energy, for the most part. Plus, they still have adrenaline pumping through their systems from the fight. Should work.¡±


    <em>Adrenaline?</em>


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯d call it ¡®battle fever.¡¯ My point is, they¡¯ll be pretty ready to fight back.¡±


    I nodded and took a breath. <em>Alright, here goes.</em>


    ¡°We fight off an invasion and this is what we get?!¡± I shouted at the top of my lungs, my voice tearing through the scattered sounds of shuffling shoes. The few people who¡¯d already been grabbed by the guards stopped in their tracks. I raised my arms and turned to look around at the crowd. Honestly, I¡¯d gotten prettyfortable with taking the role by now. ¡°The kingdom¡ªthe <em>Demons</em>¡ªsend their armies into this empire, this town, and we defend them! We protect the citizens and do these useless guards¡¯ jobs for them! And they arrest us! They treat us like criminals! They should be treating us like heroes!¡±


    The crowd around us cheered, and several more people broke from the grips of the guards. With the guards shouting for us to follow their orders and the adventurers yelling about how they refused¡ªwith a lot more profanity than the guards were using¡ªthe whole battlefield was louder than when there was an actual life-and-death battle going on.


    ¡°We saved this town, and we saved this empire!¡± I shouted again. ¡°We cannot be held down by these dogs! Serving the nobles, the royals? How about us, serving the <em>people!</em>¡±


    Erani gripped my wrist as we were shoved back and forth in the struggle. She leaned back over to me. ¡°Are you sure you know what you¡¯re doing? This feels less like an escape attempt and more like the inciting of a riot.¡±


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Trust me,¡± I said back, then raised my voice to continue. ¡°We <em>saved</em> this town, and we¡¯re being rewarded with a jail cell?! Speak with us before arresting us! You¡¯ll regret treating us like this tomorrow, when these forcese back in twice the number, and you¡¯ve got nobody left to defend you!¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± I heard the head guard say over themotion with his amplified voice. ¡°Hey! <em>Hey</em>! Calm down! We can talk!¡±


    ¡°Okay everyone!¡± I shouted out, hoping I still had control over the crowd. ¡°They aren¡¯t arresting us. Guards, you all back off, and yeah, we can talk.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure how it actually got to be like this, but the head guard and I sat on two pieces of rubble that¡¯d been slid into ce to form a pair of seats, with the adventurers and guards all circled around us. Honestly, it reminded me more of a negotiation between two armies than a civilian talking with a guard.


    ¡°Alrighty, son, listen. Let me introduce myself,¡± the head guard said. He was a tall,nky man with some well-grown but poorly-trimmed facial hair, wearing chainmail and a plumed helmet. ¡°My name¡¯s Mick Luvvon. I¡¯m the captain of this here guard, and I don¡¯t take my position lightly. I need you to understand that there are procedures. Now, I can avoid taking all of you to the jail cells¡ªI don¡¯t even know if we have the room for all of you on such short notice¡ªbut I can¡¯t just let you all go without asking you some questions about what happened here. So let¡¯s start with your own name.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m An Nota,¡± I said.


    He froze for a second, then began to nod slowly. ¡°...That would exin themotion, I suppose. What, were these bounty hunters here?¡±


    ¡°No, not at all. I discovered that there were Koinkarian soldiers hiding out in this town, presumably here to scout out for arger invasion.¡±


    ¡°An invasion to catch you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure of that,¡± I said. ¡°The Demons took over Koinkar, and I¡¯m not living there right now, am I? They¡¯re bent on conquest, is how I see it. Even if they had me, that would just grant them even more power, which they would likely use to elerate their staging of this invasion. At least, if they weren¡¯t here to conquer the Overworld, I don¡¯t see why they¡¯d need to havepletely reced the leadership of a kingdom in order to catch one man. I¡¯m a side goal, from what I can tell.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°And all of this¡­All these people can back you up on that, if questioned independently?¡±


    ¡°Probably not all of that stuff about the going-ons of the kingdom, but what happened here? Yes, they were all here while it happened. Oh, and the ones without limbs, lying around on the ground, they aren¡¯t dead. Those are all soldiers from the kingdom, had some sort of procedure done on them. I don¡¯t know exactly how it works. But they can probably be questioned under a Truth Stone, and you¡¯ll get all the info from them to back me up regarding the kingdom.¡±


    The captain looked back at some of the guards behind him. ¡°Get some people and start questioning them. Back this guy¡¯s ims up.¡±


    ¡°Yes, captain Mick,¡± one of them replied, and rushed off.


    ¡°Now,¡± Mick said, turning back to me, ¡°about what happened here, exactly¡­¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± I nodded. ¡°I heard rumors of these peopleing to invade, so I hired a bunch of people toe help me¡ªthat¡¯s who the vast majority of these people are, by the way, hired help¡ªin case anything went wrong while I came to investigate the area. When I found the enemy soldiers, they attacked me on sight, and from there, we fought to defend ourselves.¡±


    ¡°And as for all the destruction?¡±


    ¡°Coteral damage.¡±


    Heughed. ¡°Surely you don¡¯t expect me to believe all of this was coteral damage. Was there a bomb that went off?¡±


    ¡°Well, most of thebatants here were at minimum Level 15, and a good number were in the 20s. The leader of the enemy forces, a man named Jon, was a Level 28 Cleric.¡±


    ¡°Their leader was a Cleric?¡±


    ¡°He had taken a fewbat-focused Spells. There was one¡ªI don¡¯t know the name¡ª¡±


    ¡°Infuse with the Elements,¡± Index whispered in my ear.


    ¡°Oh, actually I do,¡± I said, continuing as seamlessly as I could. ¡°Infuse with the Elements. It could¡ª¡±


    Mick¡¯s raised eyebrows showed that he already knew what the Spell could do. ¡°Well, shit. That would exin the fire. Is that man still around here? Or did he get away?¡±


    I pointed. ¡°His corpse should be in that pit.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Good.¡± He blinked. ¡°Y-you killed a Level 28?¡±


    ¡°It was a team effort.¡±


    ¡°Level 28 with Infuse with the Elements. If he¡¯d gone on a rampage¡­¡± Mick trailed off, shaking his head. ¡°Well, sir, you did a mighty fine deed today. Assuming we can get everything you just said verified on Truth Stone, well¡­I¡¯d say you are a hero.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to call me a hero.¡±


    ¡°Is there anything I <em>can</em> do for you?¡±


    ¡°Hm,¡± I said, taking a moment to think. ¡°Can you get me into contact with the people who run teleportation around here? I have a friend who I¡¯d like to speed things up for, maybe get a discount on services for him, if it¡¯s possible.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯d have to ask the mayor. I mean, as long as we don¡¯t find any reason to turn you in to the kingdom. But with them invading us¡­Good grief, I don¡¯t even know how we¡¯re going to send that up the chain. War? Already?¡± He shook his head. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll see what I can do with the teleportation, but we won¡¯t be arresting you for now, at least. You¡¯re safe with us.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± I said with a nod. I nced over at Erani, who was standing off on the sidelines, more than happy to let me do the negotiating. Then I looked back at the guard captain, and lowered my voice. ¡°Hey, Mick, also¡­I know you¡¯re gonna want to give those limb things on the kingdom soldiers to your Enchanters or whatever to look over, but could you spare one of them and let me have it? A left arm.¡±


    ¡°You got something to use a non-functioning limb for?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m hoping I can make it into something I have a use for, yeah.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± he shrugged. ¡°I hate saying ¡®I¡¯ll see what I can do¡¯ over and over, but you know how these things go. I don¡¯t have all the information yet, but if it¡¯s possible, I¡¯ll do my best to help you out.¡±


    ¡°Great, thanks.¡±


    He called someone over and started speaking to them about my requests, asking for a report on what they¡¯d learned from the other people they¡¯d been questioning.


    While he received back confirmation that I¡¯d been telling the truth, I took a breath and nced around at the rubble. Take a curse, turn it into a blessing. That was what I would do, every step of the way. Curses into blessings.


    I blinked. There was probably something else I should¡¯ve asked for.


    ¡°One more thing,¡± I said, and Mick looked back at me. I took a breath. ¡°Can you get me any Spell Crystals?¡±

 Chapter 227: The Negotiation

    Chapter 227: The Negotiation


    I sat in front of a man at a desk in an opulent room. He was older, dressed in nice clothes that matched the decorations filling his office. There were a good few guards in the room with us, which, while I understood the use of caution in this scenario, I still wasn¡¯tfortable being surrounded by all of these ssers. Especially when Erani had been outright refused entry because of her ¡°destructive magic capabilities,¡± plus the fact that she wasn¡¯t technically necessary for negotiations. She¡¯d offered to go and talk things over with Sylvie, Entismo, and Boy using her identity of Eita, which we hadn¡¯t been able to do since the battle a few hours ago.


    I, too, was using my non-fugitive identity right now, dressed in Dark te and speaking as Annor. Mainly because the man in front of me was the mayor of Salvation. An was still very much a man with a bounty on his head, after all, and even if I¡¯d used some social capital and raw power to buy myself negotiating power with the guards, that was only temporary. After that conversation, I¡¯d gone and found a secluded spot as quickly as possible so I could swap back to Annor, whose only connection to all of this was that he was a man who knew An and could speak with him.


    So it was with that much less hunted personality that I was doing my more formal negotiations with the mayor now, as the sun rose around the city at a time that was technically early morning, but as I¡¯d yet to sleep, felt like it was stillte night.


    The mayor raised a hand to his chin, rubbing the patch of smooth skin that was nked by graying mutton chops as I situated myself in my seat.


    ¡°My name is Annor,¡± I said, deciding to go ahead and kick things off, ¡°but you probably already know me. If you haven¡¯t been informed, I¡¯m one of a few people who have direct contact with An Nota and Erani Wos, who are the two that led the defense against the foreign terrorists that attacked your townst night. I helped him arrange his hired forces, by the way. Defending you cost us quite a lot of money. Anyway, I¡¯m mainly here to negotiate the dropping of any charges that might be thrown against us¡ªI assume that¡¯s a given, considering what we did¡ªand also any additional reward you could spare.¡±


    He shifted his lips around on his face, whiskers twitching along with the movement. Then he cleared his throat and spoke in a rusty voice. ¡°Right, right. Well, I can absolutely and positively say for the sake of me and my estate and my citizenry that you are, indeed, a hero and a saint, one which has graciously given your help in a time during which it was needed, and for that I can offer my profuse thanks and salutations and give you all the graciousness in my heart and mind and soul, and I can indeed tell that you are such an individual that would appreciate such a thank-you, that you are here today and in this hour to seek such a thing from me, and so I can surely offer such a thing as that in order to satisfy your desires and keep you from feeling that we have taken without giving or anything of that sort of set of concepts, my good sir.¡±


    I squinted behind my helmet¡¯s visor. ¡°...So?¡±


    ¡°So I, as well as the organizations and governing bodies that I run, would be pleased and eager to offer you some amount of reward orpensation for you in return for the help you have given in this day, of course under the conditions that you simply agree to not make any direct moves or actions against our town and surrounding bodies, as well as to do some small amount of work to assist us with further problems that may or may not appear in consequence of the tragic and unfortunate events that transpired today and in the preceding hours, in the sense of¡ª¡±


    ¡°Woah, woah,¡± I held out my hands to stop him in his spiel. Even with my small movement, a couple of the guards in my peripheral vision reached their hands to their weapons. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to help with shit that goes down after this, just FYI. This may have been mentioned, but my group is nning on teleporting out of here¡ªthat¡¯s why we¡¯re requesting for a discount on that teleportation service. So if you want us to fight off stuff in the future¡ª¡±


    ¡°That will most certainly not be in any way necessary, ideally,¡± the mayor sputtered. ¡°We were more thinking that, in the case that such a thing as an attack from a foreignpany of soldiers uring on the grounds of this town were to be revealed to the public¡ªeither the public of this great town of Salvation or therger public of the Barinruth Empire¡ªit could and likely would cause issues for me and my ability to govern and keep the peace in this town, as well as cause issues for the town¡¯s economy and general ability to keep poption, as the public would interpret such an event as one which woulde with the risk of carrying with it events simr to it that could happen in sequence afterward, whether theye sooner orter, even though both you and I and everyone present during the event spoken of know that such a thing would be unlikely to transpire, of course.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Sorry, uh, let me make sure I understand what you¡¯re saying. So, if I talk about this attack, you¡¯re saying it¡¯d cause a mass panic, right? People wouldn¡¯t want toe here to do trade and stuff, since they¡¯d think there¡¯d be a possibility of more attacks happening. And I assume it¡¯d also cause issues between you and the emperor¡ªor, whatever higher governmental power you answer to, I guess. And so the help you¡¯re asking for is just that I keep all this under wraps?¡±


    ¡°Effectively, yes, in the sense that you would both not intentionally inform anyone of such a thing, and that you would not contradict any information we may or may not release regarding it.¡±


    ¡°...Right. So, you¡¯re gonna cover it up, maybe sugarcoat things to your superiors, and you want me to corroborate everything. That might cause some issues for me, I¡¯m gonna be honest, since I was nning on speaking really publicly about all of this, but I might be able to work with you depending on how much you canpensate me.¡± The whole ¡®I was nning on telling everyone¡¯ thing was pretty much aplete lie, but upselling how much trouble doing so would cause me would, in turn, upsell how much hush money he¡¯d feel the need to give me. ¡°So, I have a few things I¡¯d like to ask for, but to begin with, how about¡ª¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯d allow me to begin,¡± the mayor interrupted, ¡°I would like to start off with an apology and an exnation that we may be slightly underfunded in terms of liquid coin in the current moment, as we are currently spending quite a bit of the money we would normally reserve for savings or emergencies or other projects that maye up throughout the year on repairing the coteral damages caused during your fight, both by your side and the enemy¡¯s, though I would of course never use you of something like causing unnecessary damages, but regardless we are somewhat limited on the amount of raw currency we might be capable of rewarding you with, which is something I am, I hope you understand, extremely sorry to tell you, however we will still be eager topensate you in any other way you might be willing to suggest in lieu of direct coin.¡±


    ¡°...Okay,¡± I said. Good gods, this guy was long-winded. ¡°Well, I have a list for you, with a few things I¡¯d like. But the main thing is Spell Crystals. I want as many as you can provide of the Spell Types I¡¯ve got written on this paper. Additionally, rather than directly giving us coin, any discount you can provide on your teleportation service would work just fine.¡±


    ¡°Ah, well, Spell Crystals are unfortunately something we may have in somewhat short supply, as the recent international conflict has caused¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I understand,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll befortable with you just giving us everything you have on-hand.¡±


    ¡°R-right, we can offer you one or two Spell Crystals from our supplies, but we may need to hold some number of them back with us, as the recent events will likely cause need for increased spending on our guards and increased attempts to keep them in top shape, which would involve both Leveling and the Ranking of Spells, and so as such we would¡ª¡±


    ¡°Listen,¡± I said. ¡°I could threaten you. I could. I could say that I¡¯ll go and personally tell everyone who¡¯ll listen that the town of Salvation did nothing to stop foreign soldiers from infiltrating their borders, and then when those foreign soldiers attacked, started killing people and destroying property, the town guard did absolutely nothing to stop it, instead relying on the sole efforts of yet another foreign man to keep the soldiers at bay. But I¡¯m not going to threaten you. It¡¯s not how I¡¯d like to go about this conversation, and quite honestly, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s necessary. Because I think you want to be on my good side regardless of how much I¡¯ll hurt you. You want to be on my good side because of how much I¡¯ll <em>help</em> you. Think of giving me those Spell Crystals as more of an, let¡¯s say, investment in a very powerful ally. Because I promise you, in theing days, teams are going to be chosen, and if the results ofst night¡¯s battle were anything to go off of, the people on my side are going to be much happier than the people on the side of the Demons.¡±


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    I walked into Boy¡¯s house once I was finished negotiating with the mayor, loot in tow. I hadn¡¯t gotten what I¡¯d asked for¡ªa dozen Spell Crystals of every single Spell Type that Erani and I had¡ªbut I hadn¡¯t expected to get that, anyway. What I did get was what I¡¯d been actually nning on; a few select Crystals of the types that the town had on hand. And of those were some very important Types that we¡¯d been in sore need of.


    Sitting around the living room table was everyone I¡¯d expected to see: Erani, wearing Distortion Strike so as to disguise herself as Eita, as well as Boy, Entismo, and Sylvie were all talking when I walked in. Though there was still a noticeableck of Aliss.


    Their eyes all went on the bup sack in my hands as I entered, which clearly contained a good number of crystal-shaped objects.


    I sat down in an open seat, the bag sitting in myp. ¡°So, what¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°W-we were just¡ª¡± Entismo started, but Sylvie immediately interrupted him.


    ¡°What¡¯s in the bag?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Nothing you¡¯re concerned with,¡± I replied. ¡°It¡¯s something for An.¡±


    She rolled her eyes. ¡°You don¡¯t get to tell me what I¡¯m concerned with. And I¡¯m telling you right now, I <em>am</em> concerned with what¡¯s in the bag. They look like Spell Crystals. Did you extort Spell Crystals out of the mayor?¡±


    ¡°¡®Extortion¡¯ would definitely not be an urate¡ª¡± Erani started to answer, but Sylvie interrupted once again.


    ¡°Ohh, you totally <em>did</em> extort the mayor! That¡¯s awesome. Though, Eita, you weren¡¯t there. I think. Annor, you gotta tell me, were you all like,¡± Sylvie deepened her voice in a terrible impersonation of me, ¡°¡®I¡¯m gonna use my cool-ass magic to kill all the people in this room unless you give me all the money in your vaults. And also you have to bow before me. And also you should totally give this really cool girl I know named Sylvie ess to free liquor whenever she wants. And also¡ª¡¯¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna go ahead and tell you I didn¡¯t say any of that,¡± I replied. ¡°It was just basic negotiations. Pretty much, the thing was that¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I know,¡± Sylvie rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively. ¡°It¡¯d cause economic problems if the truth were to get out about the foreign attack, especially considering the press and rumor mill would obviously spin the wording into something closer to ¡®Salvation allowed a terrorist attack to happen,¡¯ which would lead to poption flight,ck of trade, and probably a move by the higher government to rece the mayor with someone more militaristically oriented to save face, which would lead to both the loss of the current mayor¡¯s job, obviously, as well as a border town suddenly being led by someone focused onbat and conquest, which would almost certainly lead to international incidents caused by the new mayor¡¯s aggressive mindset, which would only cause more death and destruction, yadda yadda, h h politics. Who cares? <em>I </em>just want you to get me free booze, and I also want to let you know how disappointed I am that you didn¡¯t do that.¡±


    I raised my eyebrows. ¡°Uh, yeah, I guess your analysis is spot-on. Actually, the mayor didn¡¯t even mention the second part.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, he probably didn¡¯t wanna let you know how much he was in deep shit because of all this, since it would give you so much more bargaining power. But you seemed to do well enough. Or, at least, I could give you an assessment on how well you did in negotiations if you just told me what¡¯s in the bag¡­?¡±


    I stared at her. ¡°Did you seriously just flex your political knowledge just to try and convince me to tell you what I got? You have a high Dexterity, your hearing is probably enhanced enough for you to tell what¡¯s in it just from the sound.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I have a fine enough idea of the fact that it¡¯s Spell Crystals, but I don¡¯t know the exact number or type. So¡­?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all you need to know. I hope you understand why I¡¯ve been so secretive in the past now, considering the secret¡¯s out about my involvement with An Nota and the Demons and all that. But just because the fact I¡¯m involved is known now, doesn¡¯t mean I get to tell you everything about everything. It just means I get to tell you <em>why</em> I¡¯m telling you nothing.¡±


    She flopped back in her chair in an exaggerated motion. ¡°That¡¯s so <em>boring</em> though.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well. Anyway, Entismo, Boy, sorry that the two of you were kept in the dark during that whole fight. We would¡¯ve told you, if we had managed to find you. Regardless, you¡¯re all caught up now?¡±


    Boy nodded. Entismo tentatively raised a hand, as though waiting for me to call on him. When I looked at him for a couple seconds, he just put his hand down and spoke. ¡°S-so, if I understand the current situation befittingly¡­The two of you are currently allied with individuals who are being pursued by Demons. And we are allied with you. In that case, are we vulnerable to assault?¡±


    ¡°Not unless people think you have some sort of unique information on us,¡± I said. ¡°Which I¡¯ve been taking care to ensure you don¡¯t have. We¡¯ll be teleporting out of here sometime soon, anyway, so you won¡¯t even know where we are. In that case, there wouldn¡¯t be any reason for anyone toe hunting you down.¡±


    Boy nodded, then stood and turned to the front door.


    ¡°You¡¯re leaving?¡± I asked.


    He nodded.


    ¡°If you see Aliss, do you mind telling her all of this for us? I assume we won¡¯t be seeing herter.¡±


    He nodded again.


    ¡°W-will I be able to apany her sometime?¡± Entismo asked. ¡°She isn¡¯t gone¡­forever, correct?¡±


    Boy just shrugged at that, then walked out of the building.


    ¡°min¡¯ weird¡­¡± Sylvie muttered.


    ¡°I do pray she is in good condition,¡± Entismo said.


    ¡°You two have no clue what¡¯s up with her, either?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We haven¡¯t known her and Boy for much longer than you have,¡± Sylvie said. ¡°If she disappears like this often, we haven¡¯t seen it happen yet. But honestly, she seems like the type to just run off randomly sometimes. In the noble world they call people like that ¡®entric,¡¯ but in my opinion, they¡¯re just nuts. Sometimes my uncle would get an idea for an ¡®invention¡¯ and then go disappear into his underground ¡®research facility¡¯ for a weekend doing what was probably copious amounts of drugs, only to emergeter smelling like shit and leaving a bunch of garbage nailed together for his maids to clean up. So maybe that¡¯s what¡¯s going on with her, only with less money involved. And probably less drugs.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯s fine,¡± I said, mainly for Entismo¡¯s sake. He honestly seemed really worried for her.


    ¡°Y-yes, well¡­¡± he took a deep breath. ¡°I believe it would be best if I went home, myself. So, goodbye.¡±


    With that, he stood and hurried out of the building before I could even say anything.


    ¡°That was weird,¡± I said after the door had shut behind him. I turned to Sylvie. ¡°Do you know what he¡ª¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re An, right?¡± she asked suddenly.


    I blinked. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re An Nota in a different set of armor. And Eita is just Erani with an appearance-changing Spell active. C¡¯mon, you have literally the exact same Spells and fighting styles. It¡¯s pretty obvious.¡±


    Sylvie was sitting between Erani and I, and was currently looking at me, meaning she couldn¡¯t see Erani. And Erani was using that fact to stare at me with wide eyes and frantically signaling to me with her hands a bunch of shit that I didn¡¯t understand but seemed to vaguely trante to ¡°This isn¡¯t my fault! I didn¡¯t say anything!¡±


    Sylvie was still staring at me expectantly.


    ¡°So,¡± I said, trying to figure out how to word this, ¡°as I said before, there are a lot of very good reasons to keep you in the dark about as much as I possibly can. This is one of those things. You¡¯re free to make whatever observations you want to make, but currently, if you¡¯re questioned under a Truth Stone about me and my associates, you can truthfully say ¡®I wasn¡¯t told anything, I don¡¯t know anything for sure,¡¯ and so on. If I answer a question like that, you¡¯re not only putting us in danger, but also yourself. So sure, interesting observation, but whether that¡¯s the case because we¡¯re the same people, or because we¡¯re clones of each other, or it¡¯s just coincidence, or whatever, I can¡¯t tell you.¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay, just¡­¡± Sylvie paused and gave me a very serious look, continuing in a grave tone. ¡°Please, for my sake, if you¡¯re actually clones, then¡­you have to promise me you¡¯ll do weird sex stuff.¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m serious. You need to do all the weird clone-rted sex stuff you possibly can. Everything you can think of.¡±


    I stood and made my way to the door. ¡°Will do, Sylvie.¡±


    ¡°And then you need to report back to me! You gotta tell me how it all went, what was worth trying, and then tell me how I can make clones of myself to do weird sex stuff with! This is all very important.¡±


    I opened the door and Erani and I stepped out. ¡°Bye, Sylvie! See youter.¡±


    ¡°You still owe me for helping you out! This is me cashing in on that favor! You can¡¯t just get my hopes up by mentioning clones and then <em>not</em> talk about weird clone sex!¡±


    I shut the door behind us, then turned to Erani. ¡°I can¡¯t tell if I¡¯m eager to leave this ce, or if I¡¯ll miss it once I¡¯m gone.¡±


    ¡°Either way, we¡¯re still going to be working alongside Sylvie more after today, since you made that deal with her,¡± Erani responded.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess that source of chaos won¡¯t be leaving anytime soon.¡± I took a breath. ¡°Anyway, wanna see all the Spell Crystals I got?¡±

 Chapter 228: The Change of Surroundings

    Chapter 228: The Change of Surroundings


    Eventually, Erani and I finally got some sleep. It was probably around midday when we actually dozed off. Part of me dreaded trying to get my sleep schedule back on track after this, but the other part of me knew it waspletely fucked already, following the entire journey we¡¯d made to get to this damned empire to begin with. So one all-nighter didn¡¯t matter.


    Besides, I got to watch the sun rise with Erani, and our delirious, sleep-deprived states were kinda like being drunk. In a way, it was almost romantic. Well, insofar as the morning after killing a man could feel ¡®romantic.¡¯ But we made it work in a weird way.


    After my negotiations with the mayor, where I¡¯d secured a heavy enough discount on teleportation that we could afford it right away, I was finally rid of my being forced to spend all my Mana on charging batteries, leaving me able to go back to practicing Noxious Grasp full-time. And because of that, it wasn¡¯t long until I got a new Rank-up notification.


    Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 3.71k.


    Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 19.


    Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 19, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 5.73 to 5.87


    Health Drain: From 24 to 25.2


    Stamina Drain: From 12 to 12.6


    I looked it over once we woke up¡ªa time I almost called ¡°the next morning,¡± but was already solidly into the afternoon. The next Rank would bring me to 20, and with that woulde my second Upgrade for Noxious Grasp. Of course, that also meant the Spell XP cost went up tremendously for this next Rank, since it brought with it such a tremendous power-up, but I was happy to pay it.


    Noxious Grasp¡¯s 20th Rank would require 7618 Spell XP. At 112 Mana/Minute, I was looking at a few full days of straight practice to get it. Of course, I¡¯d also need two Poison Spell Crystals, but I wasn¡¯t as worried about that requirement as I would¡¯ve been even one day before. Because now, I had the Spell Crystals needed to Rank up a lot more than just Noxious Grasp. In fact, every single Spell I currently had waiting on a Spell Crystal¡ªCrippling Chill, Ray of Frost, Expedite, <em>and</em> Curse of Echoes¡ªsuddenly had their requirements fulfilled. Well, they were assuming I was going to exploit Time Loop to use the same Crystal more than once. Which I of course was. I even got two Fire Crystals for Erani to Upgrade Firebolt.


    Though, I was going to have to wait for my Upgrades until I had a good time to do them. With all of my unused Time Loops turning into free Stats, I didn¡¯t want to waste any when I could double-dip on a single one. If I was going to go back to kill a monster a second time or whatever, then I could use my Spell Crystals <em>then</em>, before I went back, and that¡¯d save me one loop. It pained me to wait a little longer when I <em>really</em> wanted to blow them all right away, but I had to be a little more economic with my resources.


    Today, though, I got to do something else I¡¯d been wanting to do for a long time. And that was get the fuck out of here, and get the fuck <em>in</em> to the capital city of the Barinruth Empire. I didn¡¯t even know what that city¡¯s name was, but it was where I wanted to be. Any ce that housed Emperor Etrin himself had to be the most guarded damn ce this side of Kingdom¡¯s Edge. No more fighting off invaders myself, I could just rely on the city guards for that.


    I sighed, thinking of the luxurious, free life I¡¯d be living in just a few hours.


    ¡°What¡¯s that sigh for?¡± Erani asked, lifting her head from my chest, mostly under the covers of our semi-ufortable bed. Though, in the soft light from our room¡¯s window, her glowing face was so gorgeous, just looking at it would make any bed feel like the clouds of heaven itself.


    ¡°Just the sigh of a job well done, I guess,¡± I said with a grunt, pushing myself out of bed. I was still nude from our ¡®celebration activities¡¯ the night before, so with a thought, I cast Ethereal Armor and summoned Dark te, putting it on. I never would¡¯ve thought when taking the Spell that one of its main functions would be to serve as instant clothing.


    ¡°Ah, and my lover disappears from my sight once again,¡± Erani mockmented as I went through the familiar process of strapping the different pieces to my body. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m not sure ifst night counted as a ¡®job well done.¡¯ By my count, we demolished four buildings in that fight with Jon.¡±


    ¡°First off, <em>I</em> didn¡¯t destroy any buildings, so <em>my</em> job was done perfectly well. I just cast my coteral-damage-free Curses and went about my day. You¡¯re the one who decided to go all-in on explosions with your build.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re using me of deciding to fight Jon in the middle of town?¡±


    ¡°It was the outskirts, not the middle. Also, no, I¡¯m not using you of that, Jon would be the one who decided toe here to fight us. <em>Also</em> also, you didn¡¯t let me get to my second point. My second point was thatst night was a job well done because we did pretty much everything we needed to do, all in the series of a few hours. It wasn¡¯t just about beating an enemy, we also got the teleportation ready to go, <em>and</em> we got free Spell Crystals on top of it all.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you said you got two Fires for me, right?¡±


    I nodded and walked over to our bedside table, digging into the sack and grabbing the two reddish orbs, and then tossing them over to her. She deftly snatched them out of the air, and gazed down at the spheres in the palm of her hand with a greedy expression.


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    ¡°You know what you¡¯re gonna take?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Firebolt Rank 20 was one of the choices I <em>didn¡¯t</em> have nned out from the start,¡± Erani said, shaking her head. ¡°Didn¡¯t think I¡¯d get here so fast. And even if I did have it nned out, those ns would certainly be interrupted by now¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re here. But I¡¯m tired of being here, so you wanna go ahead and leave? Teleportation center¡¯s just around the block.¡±


    ¡°Already? We just woke up.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna be honest, I¡¯m kinda eager to just get out of here. Being near the border afterst night is getting me antsy. Don¡¯t you feel that way, too?¡±


    ¡°Well, surely they wouldn¡¯t be sending in <em>more</em> soldiers so soon after their previous attempt failed.¡±


    ¡°Never rely on your enemies being smart,¡± I said, stretching. ¡°They¡¯ll always be exactly as smart or dumb as is most inconvenient for you. I say, don¡¯t give them a chance to be inconvenient.¡±


    ¡°I suppose that makes sense,¡± Erani said. ¡°I would¡¯ve liked to get some more time with our friends, though. At least until we saw Aliss again. I liked her.¡±


    ¡°You barely talked to any of them,¡± I said with a frown.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t like them.¡±


    ¡°Well, Sylvie¡¯s gonna apparently be traveling back and forth, if she ns on keeping contact with us. Maybe we can hitch a ride with her one day toe see the rest again. Always good to keep our options open, if we ever need more help. Though, I sure hope that¡¯s never the case again.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tempt fate, saying things like that.¡±


    ¡°What, you think the gods wille down and smite me for daring to hope my life gets better? If they do that, fuck ¡®em. I personally think I¡¯m just as good as the gods, and that nothing bad will ever happen to me, ever again.¡±


    ¡°Now you¡¯re just doing it intentionally,¡± Erani said, rolling her eyes. Though I could also see a twinge of nervousness in her expression.


    Iughed. ¡°Well, at least now, if anything bad ever happens, we know who to me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you.¡±


    We walked into the teleportation center soon after, ready to leave. Though, most of the process had already been set up when the mayor had talked to them to give us the discount. So all we really had to do was walk in and hand in the remaining money owed. It¡¯d only take a couple minutes before we would be led out to the teleportation circle, where we would meet up with Ainash to be taken along with us.


    Only, when we walked into the building, I spotted a familiar face conversing with one of the teleporters.


    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t take long at all for me to work up the remaining money,¡± Ripley said to the man. Her body was covered in dirt and grime, and she looked about as exhausted as I¡¯d been before I¡¯d finally gotten my bit of sleep.


    She nced over in our direction as we entered, and the moment sheid eyes on me, her hand went to her battleaxe.


    ¡°Now, now,¡± the elderly man said, hurriedly stepping in between us, ¡°there will be no fighting in here. If you have a dispute, feel free to settle it <em>off</em> of our premises.¡±


    ¡°No dispute between us,¡± I said.


    ¡°Then why¡¯d youe here?¡± Ripley asked.


    ¡°I was about to ask you the same thing. But I think if we asked each other, we¡¯d probably end up giving the same answers.¡±


    ¡°So you know about the moves our enemy is making, then?¡±


    I blinked. For a second, I¡¯d forgotten that, in this timeline, I¡¯d never actually made contact with Ripley. She¡¯d been left to fight on her own.


    ¡°I killed Jon,¡± I said.


    Now it was her turn to look surprised. ¡°He¡¯s dead? Would¡¯ve thought he¡¯d have given more of a fight.¡±


    ¡°He definitely did.¡±


    ¡°Well if <em>you</em> killed him, he couldn''t have.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just gonna ignore that. Anyway, if you¡¯d like to hitch a ride with us, it wouldn¡¯t be a¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll stop you right there and say I¡¯m not going with you.¡±


    I raised my eyebrows. ¡°You sure?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want you knowing where I¡¯m going, or when I¡¯m going there. The less you have the ability toe and bring <em>your</em> enemies to <em>my</em> doorstep, the better.¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t going to have trouble paying for teleportation?¡±


    ¡°Thankfully, I imed a bounty handing in my fellow prisoners. Apparently, some of Jon¡¯s other captives were border guards who went missing, or something. Anyway, I won¡¯t be having any money troubles.¡±


    Oh, right. I¡¯d forgotten that was our original goal in all this. Well, not an issue now. ¡°So you did get captured by him, then?¡±


    ¡°Yep, thrown in this holding cell, guarded by a bunch of ssers, locked down with Enchanted shackles, the works. But I broke out.¡±


    ¡°How did you¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, did you still need me?¡± the elderly man standing beside us looked between us awkwardly.


    ¡°Oh, right,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m here to use your teleporters. My name¡¯s Annor, you should have a note from the mayor regarding me.¡±


    ¡°Ah, right this way.¡± The man immediately walked off, leading us away.


    As we followed, I heard Ripley shout from where she¡¯d been left, ¡°So am I just supposed to wait for someone else so I can keep talking with them, or¡­?¡±


    It took a bit of time to get there, but eventually we were left standing in the middle of the teleportation circle. It was massive, dozens of paces in diameter, and ced out in the middle of the wilderness¡ªpresumably because they simply couldn¡¯t fit something of this size in the town proper. Thankfully, that made it possible for us to bring Ainash along, despite not having a license to bring her within the town walls. So she stood alongside us without issue.


    ¡°Do you have anything to dere?¡± One of the teleporters said, holding a piece of paper in his hands. ¡°Dangerous items, or items that could be perceived as dangerous? Other than the monster, of course. We¡¯ll be sending this information through with you, for the security team on the other side.¡±


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve got some Enchanted stuff, but¡ª¡±


    ¡°What Enchantments?¡±


    ¡°Uh, just some Spell Crystals, as well as¡­¡± I dug into my bag and grabbed the arm attachment I¡¯d gotten from one of Jon¡¯s soldiers. It was switched off¡ªwith no way to switch it back on, from what I could see¡ªso it looked like a little ring of metal and not much else, currently. ¡°This thing. Which, I have no idea what it¡¯s Enchanted with, or what it really does, or how it does whatever mystery functions it has. It¡¯s just Enchanted.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°...They may not let you keep that.¡±


    Erani looked at me, frowning, too. ¡°You never told me you had that. What is it?¡±


    ¡°One of the limb things fromst night,¡± I answered Erani, who only looked more confused at my answer, but regardless I looked back at the teleporter. ¡°If they don¡¯t let me keep it, there¡¯ll be problems.¡±


    ¡°...And a statement like that will only cause more problems,¡± the man muttered, writing something down on his paper. He looked back up at me once he was done. ¡°Nothing else, then?¡±


    ¡°Just the stuff we already discussed,¡± I replied.


    <em>¡°Father, will I see Human settlement now?¡±</em> Ainash telepathically asked me as the teleportation circle began to whir to life. Markings on the ground began to glow blue, and a faint magical hum could be heard growing steadily louder.


    <em>¡°Hopefully,¡±</em> I replied.


    <em>¡°Will miss Goblins,¡±</em> she said. <em>¡°Need toe back and see them soon! Will train them good enough that they cane to Human settlement, too!¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...Hopefully,¡±</em> I replied again, with less conviction this time.


    ¡°So,¡± Erani said, ¡°you ready to see the big city? It¡¯ll probably make a ce like Carth look like the boonies.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just hoping it lives up to the hype.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re ready!¡± one of the teleporters shouted over the hum.


    ¡°Ready!¡¯ I replied.


    ¡°Ready,¡± Erani said.


    Ainash gave an enthusiastic wave.


    And then, with an explosion of sound, my surroundings disappeared before my eyes, and I was suddenly standing somewhere totally new.


    ¡°Wee to Precipice,¡± a gruff voice said. ¡°Try not to cause trouble.¡±

 Chapter 229: Welcome to Hell. And Welcome to Someplace Else.

    Chapter 229: Wee to Hell. And Wee to Somece Else.


    A Devil stood on a rock in a barren, gray wastnd. He had just stumbled through the Door 999 portal that led to the surface of the Underworld and dashed through, narrowly escaping the grasps of his captors. And now, he was here.


    He nced back. The square of ck that the portal had opened up had already closed behind him, not even a second after hede through. Seemed like nobody was keen on chasing him out here.


    Blood dripped from his shoulder onto the stone beneath his feet. Hed ripped off his entire left arm to get out of that Nefariors grip, and now he was left with nothing but a tiny stump at the end of his shoulder with pain radiating through it.


    He took a shaky breath, trying to calm his still racing mind.


    Fuck, he muttered. Then, louder, Fuck! Fucking bitch!


    He gripped his remaining hand into a fist, face twisted in anger. If his damned superior hadnt done all of this, he wouldveWell, he wouldve at least been better off. He wouldve had a better life. Not that his old life had been all that great, he supposedhe seemed like hed been practically brainwashed back then, from his current perspectivebut it wouldve been <em>normal</em>, at least. At least he wouldve still had his fucking position, a modicum of respect, his fucking <em>arm!</em>


    He fell to his knees and mmed his fist into the stony ground. It cracked beneath the force.


    I fucking hate you!


    He punched the ground again.


    You moronic jackass! Why couldnt you just see


    He lifted his fist again to m it into the groundbeing forced to lift up his entire body to do so, as he couldnt support himself on his nonexistent left armand stopped, kneeling upright and gazing into the horizon.


    You just cant fucking see, I guess, he muttered. Thats why. Youre fucking blind. You, and everyone else above me. And everyone else above<em> you</em>. You cant see how fucking miserable this ce is. Well fuck you all, Im leaving.


    He got to his feet, and began to walk.


    It took many hours of walking in a straight line before the Devil decided to take a break. The open sky had kept himpany on his stroll through the empty fields of rock, with him looking out at the stars and other bodies floating above him. Though, most of his attention had been captured by the Overworld, slowly flying by above his head. Its bright blue coloring was just so mesmerizing.


    He wondered what was happening now. Was An Nota dead? What about those allies of his? The other Human, and that Nymph thing. He vaguely recalled injuring the woman, but couldnt remember if the damage had been fatal or not. Human bodies were so fragile, it was impossible to tell if something would actually end up killing someone. And hed been unconscious too soon afterward to see if shed died of the blood loss.


    He wondered about his own Human subordinatesthose VIP assistants. He wondered about the kingdom hed taken over. He wondered about the Overworld. It somehow felt so chaotic and so serene at the same time there. Like there was anarchy flooding through the streets, each individual taking orders from nobody, but at the same time, the people there just seemed to take so many <em>breaks</em>. Where were they getting all of that free time? He tried to think back on his memories of when hed been there to see if he could figure out the secret, but hed been working so hard back then, his mind had simply not picked up on the details. And now hed never know.


    The Devil wondered how long it would take for him to walk all the way around the circumference of the Underworld. He had no frame of reference for the amount of time a task like that would actually take. Would it be a matter of hours? Days? Years? Perhaps that would be what hed do up here. Just keep walking and hope that one day hed see something interesting. Perhaps that was his purpose nowkeep walking in circles and hope.


    It took a long time for something interesting to happen. He had the ability to keep track of time passing now by watching the sun and the Overworld pass in the sky, but he didnt actually know what amount of time each movement tranted to. Did the Overworld setting on the horizon mean a day had passed? What about when the sun disappeared behind it? He didnt know, but enough revolutions of each type had happened that he knewwhatever meant a day, several had passed.


    He had, for the most part, just been walking this whole time. Other than brief stops to rest, he simply walked. asionally, he wondered if he should stop for good and find a ce to set up. Hed been here before, andst time hed upied himself by making little pieces of artwork with the stones. But this time, he just didnt think something that simple would suffice.


    He wanted something <em>more</em>. Last time, that work to find something greater had been what led him to the art pieces. So maybe, if he kept looking, hed find something this time, too. He had nothing but time, after all. Why not waste some? He wasnt forced to be perfectly efficient anymore, and there was something to be enjoyed in the act of simply being unproductive. Not just taking a break, but <em>doing</em> something that waspletely pointless.


    It was while doing that task, walking in a meaningless direction with the Overworld positioned directly above his head, that something peculiar happened.


    He felt a strange sensation in his mind, like a pingingsome sort of signal reaching out, looking for someone, and finding him. The signal bounced off his mind, and returned to its owner. And then


    You are being summoned. Beginning transference


    He blinked, re-reading the strange notification. Wasdid his superiors have some method to bring him back?! Panic flooded his mind. If he had to go back to the Seventh Circle


    He couldnt. No fucking way. Hurriedly, he dropped to the ground and grabbed arge stone with his one good hand. He lifted it into the air, and then mmed it directly into his face.


    591 damage.


    He brought it back and hit it against his head again.


    204 damage. The stone broke on impact, shattering into dust.


    He fell back to the ground, searching for a new one, but blood from his forehead was seeping into his eyes, blurring his vision.


    The notification in his mind changed.


    Transference is taking longer than expected. Please wait


    Perfect. He had no idea what the fuck was going on, but apparently it wasnt going smoothly. That meant more time. He couldnt allow himself to go back there, in that fucking cage.


    If he had no rock to m into his skull, hed just m his skull into the rock. Leaning back, the Devil grunted in preparation, and then threw himself forward as hard as he could, smashing his head and face into the stone ground. He could feel the ground crumble beneath him. A couple thousand more damage. Not enough, not enough, not enough!


    He pulled back, and did it again. The stone was turned to gravel from the impact. Still not enough damage.


    From pure rage and frustration, the Devil let out a scream as he pulled his head back once more. He could not let this happen! Never!


    Just before he threw his skull into the stone onest time, he got another notification.


    Insufficient power.


    Due to distance required to travel, transference cannot power itself.


    He stopped.


    <em>Oh.</em>


    Itwasnt happening? That seemed to be what the notification was saying. Whatever this transference was, it couldnt power itself, which certainly seemed to mean it was being shut off. Sohe wasnt going back, then.


    He sighed and flopped to the ground. Blood still covered his face, his head ached like nothing else, and he couldnt see a thing. He was breathing heavily, soft gasps of air pushed through his mouth.


    Shit, he muttered. Ireally dont wanna go back there, huh.


    Hed barely even realized how badly he despised the concept of being sent back to his old home. Just a few circles down, and hed be back in hell. He couldnt imagine feeling anything but pain down there, at this point.


    He frowned, looking back at the notification hed gotten. Due to the distance required, huh? What did that mean? Was it really that far from here to the Seventh Circle? He didnt think teleportation like that would be so impossible. Andhed never heard of something like that be referred to as a summoning before. In fact, the only time hed heard of the System calling something a summoning was


    Insufficient power.


    Rather than self-power, summoning will utilize subject power.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Draining Mana to power summoning


    He looked at the newest notification, feeling the distinct sensation of something draining from his mind. It was stealing his Mana to power this summoning thing!


    Insufficient power.


    Mana is 0.


    Draining Stamina to power summoning


    Suddenly, the Devil felt himself growing extremely tired as his Stamina began bottoming out, as well. It was a sensation he hadnt felt in a long time. Within seconds, he was lying t on the ground, unable to move. Paralyzed.


    Insufficient power.


    Mana is 0.


    Stamina is 0.


    Draining Health to power summoning


    That sent his eyes wide. If itd bottomed out his Mana and Stamina, then would it just fucking kill him by draining all of his Health?! What was even going on? He had no idea who was even doing this! Unable to do anything to protect himself, he watched as his Health quickly ticked down, reaching the triple digits, then the double digits, passing through the single digits in a sh, and then


    Insufficient power.


    Mana is 0.


    Stamina is 0.


    Health is 1.


    Draining Levels to power summoning


    That sent his eyes even wider than before. No way it could


    But sure enough, he saw his Status tick down. His Level, XP, Stats, everything suddenly decreased. Level 61 to 60, to 59, 58, 57


    The Levels ticked down more and more quickly, and he began to see things disappear right from his own Status. Spells and Talents, erasing themselves like they were never there. His Level hit 55. Then 50. 45. 40. 30.


    He gasped for breath as he felt his own capabilities stolen from him.


    20.


    He could feel his physical power shrinking, his limbs borderline incapable of exerting force, his senses dulled, his skin raw, as though hed been dipped in a bath of acid.


    10.


    He could feel his mind shrinking, as well. Things that he could once do, now alien. He suddenly felt as though hed simply forgotten the method by which he used to set people ame with a simple snap. He wasmundane.


    5.


    He couldnt breathe. What was happening? What was he turning into?!


    4.


    He


    3.


    Was


    2.


    Nothing.


    Mana is 0.


    Stamina is 0.


    Health is 1.


    Level is 1.


    Power requirement fulfilled.


    Continuing transference


    He could do nothing but blink as he saw the new notificatione through.


    Level is 1.


    But he could hardly even pay attention to that, because now this transference was being continued. And hed be taken towherever he was being taken to.


    It only took a few seconds, but quite a lot of things ran through the Devils mind during those few seconds. His mind was operating at an hour a minute, so even that long stretched out into an eternity. And the dominating thought during that immortal moment was:


    <em>What in the actual fuck?!</em>


    He got his answer with the next notification.


    At least, he sort of did.


    Transference finished. Bringing Level 1 Devil to Overworld.


    A Devily on the floor of a damp, dark room.


    Only, this floor was made of wood, not the all-too-familiar stone of the Underworld. And the room didnt just house a simple desk and nothing else, it was full ofthings. He didnt know what most of it was, and his bleary vision and horrific headache did nothing to help identify the objects, but it was certainly more cluttered than any space in the entire Seventh Circle. Which could only mean one thing.


    He blinked and wearily turned his head to the side, being forced to shift his entire body to do so. He had apparently regenerated a modicum of Stamina during this transference, so he could at least move slightly to look at his surroundings.


    And, sure enough, standing over him was a real, flesh-and-blood Human.


    She stared at him with a look of shock and awe. She was frozen in ce, eyes wide, and hands shaking like she had no idea what to do with them.


    What the Devil groaned. Whatthe <em>fuck</em>have you done to me?


    She began breathing quickly, like his words knocked her out of her stupor. Taking a step back, she closed her eyes for a brief moment topose herself, and then stuttered out, D-dont move.


    Suddenly, the Devils entire body froze, like he was paralyzed. Only, it <em>wasnt</em> like he was paralyzed, because in that case hed have gone limp. Here, it was like his muscles froze exactly where they were, his slightly tilted head still tilted in the same way, his arm still barely propping him up. His muscles worked, they just werent under his control. He couldnt even breathe. Which was a problem, considering his suddenly powered-down state.


    The Human quickly turned to a table sitting next to her, which the Devil could now identify was covered in books. She grabbed one and quickly threw it open, flipping frantically through the pages. The Devil tried to blink and clear his eyes so he could read the title, only to realize he literally couldnt move his eyelids.


    She stopped on a page and scanned through it for a moment, then looked back to him. O-okay, so, uh, you may breathe, blink, and move your mouth.


    Instantly, it was like the locks on those body parts had been lifted. He took a gasp of a breath into his lungs, and looked up at the woman. She was obviously unsure of herself, but the overwhelming emotion painting her face was excitement. At this point, she was already staring down at the book again, muttering to herself.


    Okay, okaySo, we can get to thosemandsterbut the main one they said during the initial summoning was She looked back over to the Devil, speaking in thatmanding tone once again. Tell me your intentions regarding me, this ce, and Humanity as a whole.


    The Devils mind moved quickly and efficiently, instantly working to find answers to those questions in himself. He didnt even have a chance to try to understand <em>why</em> he was trying to answer them. The moment he knew what they were, he spoke. I do not know, I do not know, and I do not know.


    She frowned at him for a moment, as did he frown at himself. What the fuck had just happened?


    The woman had her nose buried back in her book again, flipping through the pages.


    Did any of them <em>ever</em> answer with something like that? she muttered.


    The Devil decided he wouldnt get any answers just lying there. So he spoke. Im in the Overworld, right? You summoned me here?


    She nced over at him, still muttering. I suppose it might be confused. If it doesnt know where it is or what its situation is, it wouldnt be capable of forming ns in the same way the Demons of old did, maybe? I suppose they <em>would</em> be more familiar with this type of situation.


    And whats this Spell you have active on me? the Devil asked. Why do I feelpelled to do what you say?


    She took a breath before turning her body fully toward him, taking a proper stance. II am your summoner, yes. You are currently in the Overworld, in a ce called the Barinruth Empire.


    Barinruth? Why did he recognize that name?


    You are under mymand because I am your summoner, she continued, seeming to fall more and more into afortable role as she spoke. No matter your previous situation, you are now beneath me, and you must always do what I say. You live to serve me. I am aware that you may find this jarring or ufortable, but do be aware that I will treat you well and with care, as long as you treat me with respect and follow my orders cleanly. My name is Aliss. Tell me yours.


    I dont have a name, the Devil answered automatically.


    Hm, that wont do. I have to call you something. Would you like me to give you a name?


    II want to name myself.


    Oh? I thought she flipped through the book as she spoke, I thought Demons didnt name themselves. Isnt there some sort of ceremony given to naming? They denote respect, and are given to one another by tribe elders, correct?


    Tribe elders? What are you talking about?


    Oh, dear, she said, looking genuinely distraught, is this source unreliable? I really thought it was good.


    IListen, the Devil said. His mind was still a jumbled mess in such a strange situation. You said Im in a ce called Barinruth, right?


    Yes, you are. Oh, do you know Overworld locations? I would love to hear what the Demons perception of the Overworld is, and how youve learned what you know. Uh, give me one second, I just need to get a piece of notepaper


    The Devil was kept from speaking for exactly one second because of hermand before it faded away and he was able to talk again, watching the woman rustle around on the various desks thatd been scooted out of the way to make room in the center of the floor.


    Just He took a breath, still trying to get used to his depowered body. Youre familiar with the Koinkar Kingdom?


    Oh, yes, she said. Are you connected with the invasion?


    I am, he was forced to say before continuing his own line of questioning. Are we near a mountain range called Kingdoms Edge, right now?


    She frowned. UmOh, you mean Empires Edge?


    Maybe. Are we?


    Yes. Why do you want to know?


    This time, the Devil waspelled to answer with exactly what he was nning to say in the first ce. I want to know if youre familiar with a man named An Nota.

 Chapter 230: Arriving in the Outskirts

    Chapter 230: Arriving in the Outskirts


    In a sh, our surroundings changed. Erani, Ainash, and I were all suddenly standing in apletely new areaa massive building constructed around the Teleportation Circle. We were no longer in the town of Salvation, but rather in the capital city of the Barinruth EmpirePrecipice.


    The building was a massive cube, probably almost a hundred paces in each direction, all made around the Circle. I had to imagine a ce like this was expensive to build; Salvation just had its Teleportation Circle set up in the middle of the woods outside the town. And more than that, this whole ce was fitted with countless defense measures. There were armed guards crawling the floor, massive weapons set up on balconies lining the walls armed and ready to fire, and by the looks of it, it even seemed like the support pirs keeping the roof up were rigged to be easily knocked down, so they could copse the entire building if need be.


    Halt! a voice said the moment I tried to take a step forward. It was an armored guard standing off to the side of the circle, hand already on her sword. Do not move until we finish questioning you. What are your names?


    Gods, paranoid much? I muttered. Then, in a louder voice, I answered, Annor Ton.


    Eita Niin, Erani called out as well.


    The woman, looking at a paper, nodded. Then she pointed at Ainash. And the monster?


    Shes unlicensed, I responded. But officially shes currently under our responsibility.


    Mhm. She nodded. Okay, we will put you under Truth Stone to verify your identity and intentions ining here. Please stay where you are.


    I sighed and mentally asked Index to prepare to help me get past the Truth Stones once again. This whole process seemed like it was gonna take a while.


    The process did, in fact, take a while. Several hourster, we were through the many security checks necessary to leave the building, and collecting our gear from arge tabletheyd confiscated pretty much everything not attached to our bodies and thoroughly examined that, too.


    Is that everything you brought with you? another woman asked. Shed been the one to throw everythingquite roughly, I might addonto the wooden table for us to sort through.


    Uhyeah, I think so, I said, sifting through my backpack, all its contents having been rearranged by the examiners. Oh, actually, theres one thing missing. It should look like a small puck of shaped metal, about as wide as an arm.


    Lemme check in the back for you, she said, ducking into a side room. Eventually she came back out, with a noticeableck of my missing item. It was Enchanted, right?


    Yeah.


    Theyre still looking over it. Its apparently got a weird configuration, or something; I dunno anything about that stuff. Anyway, itll be another few minutes.


    I fought the urge to groan in frustration. I understood why they were cautious of <em>that</em> itemit was one of those prosthetic arms thatd been attached to the enemy soldiers Jon brought in, and those things had even confused Index when it examined thembut Id still spent more than enough time going through these rigorous security checks, and was not happy to hear itd be yet more time before Id get out of here.


    Er, were here for the capital city, Erani said, making conversation with the woman while we waited. Which road should we take to get there fastest? Or are we close enough that it doesnt matter?


    Theres only one road heading out of here, so youll just walk down there for about a days worth of travel before you get to the outer walls, she said.


    Wait, a <em>days</em> worth of travel? I asked. Were really that far away?


    She nodded, face betraying no emotion. Just be d youre not at the eastern arriving circle; that ones three days away from the city.


    Are there any ces we can stock up before the journey?


    Nope. Youre pretty much in the middle of nowhere, right now.


    Well. Good to know, I guess.


    It was closer to half an hour than ten minutes before we got all our stuff back and were finally good to leave. The stone-walled building had no windows or openings that let in natural light, so I honestly didnt even know what time of day it was; though, Index apparently had a perfect internal clock going at all times, so it helpfully informed me that wed spent exactly four hours, twelve minutes, forty-six seconds, and nine hundred and thirteen milliseconds in the building thus far. Still couldnt tell me what the weather was like outside, though.


    But now we could finally leave. With everything collected, we headed for the front doors, which were surprisingly small considering the buildings massive size.


    The moment we stepped through, a wave of heat hit me. We were standing in the middle of an expansive desert, dunes all around us, with tall six-sided crystals cropping up from the sand like trees. They were multicoloredsome green, or blue, or red, while others were perfectly clearand varied just as much in size. Some that I could see nearby were small enough that they didnt pass my knee in height, while others were tall as a noblemans three-story mansion and wide enough that twenty people holding hands wouldnt be able to wrap their arms around them. Those massive ones were much rarer, though, only appearing once or twice off in the distance, with most being about as wide as a tree trunk and a little taller than I was.


    Other than the sand, the crystals, and the building at our backs, there was almost nothing in sight. Well, there was also the road, of coursea thin strip of packed sandstone stretching off in a straight line, into the horizon. It looked worn down, and entire sections of it were crumbling off into the sand to either side of it. I just hoped there werent any stretches of the journey ahead of us where the fragile road had entirely worn away; hiking such a distance in the sand dunes would be miserable.


    <em>This is amazing!</em> Ainash yelled into our minds. Looking over at her, I saw her looking around with wide eyes and a big smile on her face. <em>Have never seen this type of ground before! Have never seen these big crystal things before! There are lots of animals underground! Do not know what they are!</em>


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the vition.


    <em>Im d you like thendscape,</em> I replied with a chuckle. <em>Seems like well be spending the next while out here.</em>


    I had been expecting Ainashs enthusiasm to wear off pretty quickly once we set off, but surprisingly enough, she seemed just as interested in the in sandy surroundings after our second hour as she had been during our first two minutes. She constantly bent down to poke at the multicolored crystals we passed by, as if being a slightly brighter shade of red wed seen before would change its nature. As far as we could tell so far, there was nothing special about them. Just normal old boring crystals.


    Though, the boredom wasnt the problem, Id found. It was the heat. When wed first exited that building and I felt the wave of hot air st into my face, wed still been in the shade cast by the damn thing. Now, out in the sweltering sun, there was nothing to protect us. Ainash, of course, waspletely unfazed by the temperature, but Erani and I werent so lucky. Really, I estimated that if it werent for our Stats, wed have died from heat exhaustion by now.


    You think theres any reason they put the Teleportation Circle this far away from the city? I breathlessly asked. Or is it just to fuck with us?


    Probably a defense mechanism, Erani answered, just as feverish as I was.


    What do you mean? Felt like they had plenty of guards in the building itself, what do they need more defense for?


    Well, having a Teleportation Circle near your capital citywhere your own emperor livesis a pretty risky move. Especially for a massive empire like Barinruth, where there are plenty of ess points where people could theoretically take over some random small town, then use that Circle to invade the capital. So it makes sense theyd monitor whoes through pretty closely. I mean, sure, if wede through and started killing random people, the guards would have it handled, but what if instead of just using through, wed been holding the people running Salvations Circle hostage, and we secretly teleported in an army of two hundred? With another twenty thousand on the way?


    Guess that makes sense, I said.


    Yes, the Teleportation Circles are great for the economy, but can be a double-edged sword when ites wartime. Thats why youd have them set up so far from the city, with such a low-quality road headed there, and no natural resources or towns you could pige on the way. It ensuresrge armies will have an extremely tough time getting from the Circle to the city itself. Same reason they have several Teleportation Circles all around the citythe one youll go to when you teleport here is randomized depending on the day, meaning you cant n ahead if youre trying to invade.


    You seem to know a lot about this sort of thing. Does it happen often?


    Erani gave me a strange look, then smiled and shook her head in exasperation. Yes, Teleportation Circles are used constantly during wartime. You know, sometimes I forget that youre uneducated. E-er, no offense, I mean. Its justYou know.


    Wow, I said sarcastically, the love of my life called me uneducated. Excuse me while I go find the nearest monster and shove myself into its mouth.


    Shut up, she said with augh.


    You know, if I was really thatmitted to the bit, I <em>could</em> go and actually let a monster kill me. Just for the sake of the joke.


    She looked at me seriously. Do not do that. It would be a waste of resources.


    Yeah, yeah, I know,  I sighed. Plus, you wouldnt even remember it if I actually died; I wouldnt be able to transfer your memory of my dramatic final moments. So unfortunate how these things work out. I have the opportunities to make some of the funniest jokes ever, and yet only I get to remember them. Its a curse, really.


    I dont think it would be that funny anyway, so not much is lost.


    Uneducated <em>and</em> unfunny, I gasped, mockingly clutching a hand to my heart. I dont think I can go on.


    Yeah, yeah, she said, smiling. You have my sincerest apologies.


    Unfortunately, my pride has been wounded too severely. I can only ept your apology if you give me apliment equal to your grave insults.


    Erani gave me an unamused look. Except, there was still a hint of amusement there, it was just well-hidden.


    I just called you the love of my life, I said. Surely thats earned something in return.


    I Erani suddenly looked extremely flustered. You said that as a joke. You dont get to retroactively decide it was serious.


    What if I say it again, but totally seriously this time?


    Well now, youve ruined the moment anyway. Its toote.


    Ah, damn. Unfortunate. Though, to be fair, it wouldnt be as meaningful a phraseing from me, considering how many lives I have. So saying youre the love of my <em>current</em> life doesnt hold muchmitment to it. Id have to say something like, I looked over to her with as serious an expression as I could muster, Erani, you hold more importance to me than anything in the worldin my current life, in any futures I may live, and in all the pasts Ive experienced. In all of those times and all times toe, you will never stop meaning everything to me. So please, stay by my side forever, and I will do everything in my power to ensure you never regret that decision. Id have to say something like that.


    Erani stared back at me, red in the face, then shut her eyes and shook her head, lightly pping my chest. You seriously cant joke around saying things like that!


    Iughed, wrapping an arm around her. What if I said Im just practicing for our wedding day? Would that be too much?


    She looked at me. Yes. That would be too much.


    Fine, fine. Then Im just practicing for some nonspecific day that may or may note in the future when I say that seriously.


    She sighed. Thats only a little bit better.


    An hour of walkingter, we came across a group of travelers going in the same direction as us. Id been periodically using Expedite to speed us up, so it seemed like we caught up with the people going at normal speeds. They were traveling in a caravan, three lined up wooden carts wobbling along as best as they could on the thin road. Though, these carts didnt seem to be drawn by anything at all, instead turning their own wheels through some sort of surelyplex system of Enchantments.


    Ho there! I called out with a wave, having swapped into Dark te as soon as we saw their silhouettes ahead of us. Dont mind us, justing up from behind!


    A middle-aged woman poked her head out from the middle cart, looking back at us and squinting. Our forms were assuredly startling to anyone who saw uswith me and Erani looking somewhat monstrous in our disguised forms, and Ainash literally being a monsterbut thanks to my warning, she at least knew we were friendly. Eventually she called back, Are you three adventurers? Headed for Precipice?


    Pretty much, I replied. And yes, were going to the capital.


    Come then, sit with me! Id like somepany with a few Levels under their belts, especially now that were headed for Sand Hive territory.


    Sand Hive? I asked, slightly speeding up in my walking so I could catch up with the carts.


    Ah, are you new to Precipices surrounding deserts? Yes, this ce is crawling with the Sand Hive monsters. Terrifying, deadly beasts that get aggressive if you dont respect their territory.


    Are you nning on doing that?


    I surely dont <em>n</em> on getting attacked, but Id like some insurance in case I do. Ive got some hired guards, but thats more for any roving bandits trying to intimidate the coin out of me. If youre a group of dedicated monster hunters, Im sure youd be happy to sit in one of my shaded carts in exchange for some help in the case that a disaster does strike?


    Shaded? I nced at Erani, who also perked up at the mention of respite from the sweltering sun. And all weve gotta do is solve a disaster or two? Yeah, youve got a deal.

 Chapter 231: Preparation in the Desert

    Chapter 231: Preparation in the Desert


    It didnt take long before I saw what the Sand Hive was.


    After meeting the woman in her caravan, we hitched a ride in the back of one of the covered carts, legs hanging off the back. She had a few hired guards with her, as she said, who walked alongside the carts in big, intimidating suits of armor. It seemed like their jobs were mostly to scare off any prospective bandits from trying to steal the womans cargo.


    After some conversation with her, I learned that she apparently owned apany that dealt in the transportation of goods for otherpanies. Right now, she was heading a shipment of steel from some mining town to the capitalevidently, enough steel to warrant an armed guard to ensure nobody took it. Though, I wasnt sure how some random bandits would manage to sell off three carts worth of ingots.


    It was during that conversation, though, that I caught my first glimpse of this deserts wildlife.


    Initially, the only one I saw was thisrge four-legged beast with tusks protruding from its mouth. In the expansive desert, the monster was so far-off that I couldnt tell how big it actually was, but I assumed it was at least as tall as I was. It wandered the dunes, sniffing idly at the ground.


    Is the Sand Hive just a bunch of those things? I asked our travelingpanion.


    Theyre a part of it, she answered. Just wait, the restll show up.


    Sure enough, not soon after, some more monsters began to show up, as well. Many were more of the tusked ones, but then I saw others. Big flying insects that zipped through the air with surprising speed, considering their size. And, though it took me a while to catch a glimpse of one, I could even notice some worm-like things digging through the ground. When I first saw them, I thought they were Hellions and started panicking, thinking the Demons had somehow beat me here, but then I noticed the differences. First off, they were much thinner and longer, definitely not able to bite your leg off in a single chomp, and their coloring was different. Their origins didnt seem to be that of the Underworld, so I imagined they were a lot less bloodthirsty.


    These things are all part of the same hive? I asked as we passed along the road. Interestingly enough, none of the monsters ever came near enough for me to examine one up-close. All of my watching was done peering across the wide empty fields of sand dunes into the packs of the things in the distance.


    Pretty much, she responded. Sand Stompers, Sand Stingers, and Sand Sifters. Thosere the tusked ones, the flying ones, and the digging ones. They sometimes form smaller colonies and get into little territory disputes and such, but for our sakes, theyre all one big collective. You anger one, you anger them all. Even if you start killing Hivers from a colony that another colonys at war with, theyll still both drop everything to fight you.


    As we continued traveling further and further down the road, I saw more and more Sand Hive monsters popping up over the horizon. Id frequently see them all grouped up around some of therger of those multicolored crystals cropping up from the sand, eating the ssy rocks. Seemed like we were passing into their territory now.


    Are they hostile? I asked.


    Only if you really get on their nerves. Just dont be aggressive, dont get too close, and dont mess with the crystals in their territory, and youll be fine.


    I went ahead and passed that information along to Ainash, emphasizing the part about not getting too close. Knowing her, I was worried she might try to befriend the things or train them into being her soldiers or whatever. If pissing one off would anger the entire hive


    I looked around us, seeing the hundreds of monsters wandering around off in the horizon. The Sand Stompers lumbered along, the Sand Stingers buzzed from ce to ce, and presumably the Sand Sifters were doing whatever they did undergroundmaybe they ate the buried portions of the crystals. Either way, if you got on the bad side of every single one of these things, itd probably mean a fight that would never end.


    Though, thinking of that


    Thats a lot of XP, I muttered.


    Dont even think about it, the woman responded, as if automatically.


    What? I asked.


    Do not, for a second, think you could survive a scuffle with the Sand Hive. Not to mention youll just get me killed in the crossfire, if you do that, more monsters than you can countll being for you. And not just today, either. Those thingsmunicate with each other through scent, and when they fight you, they mark you with a special one. One you cant easily wash off. For a long, long time, youll be enemy number one the moment you set foot into this desert.


    Mhm, mhm. What Level are they? I asked.


    She looked back at me with a serious expression. It doesnt matter what Level they are. There are enough of the damn things to kill you no matter what. I dont care if youre a particrly cocky bronze te, or a gold te that doesnt realize youre still not quite a god just because you have a shiny hunk of metal around your neck. If you go against those things, youll die. End of story.


    <em>Index, what Level are they?</em>


    The tusked ones go up to Level 30, the winged ones to Level 20, and the worm ones to Level 25.


    <em>Thanks.</em>


    Are you considering going for an XP run? it asked. Kill as many as you can for the Levels, then go back to before the fight?


    <em>If theyre weak enough that I can kill a good few before I go down, that seems like a good y. I need to find reasons to use Time Loop anyway since Ive got Spell Crystals waiting to be consumed, which I cant do until I can go back in time to keep them while still Upgrading my Spells. So this seems like as good an excuse as any.</em>


    Oh, before you go and do that


    <em>I was gonna wait until nightfall, actually.</em>


    Right, sure. But before you go and kill yourself against these monsters, I want you to do something for me. Remember when you killed that Young Dragon back in Salvation, and when the Goblins were going through its hoard, they found that glowing crystal? The Beacon?


    <em>Oh, yeah, I almost forgot we even got that. It set itself up in the forest, right? And then we needed to travel super far away before itd let us set down an anchor point or whatever?</em>


    Right, exactly. Youre definitely far enough away now to set down that Anchor Point.


    <em>So you want me to do that now? The location mattered, right? Is this ce a good spot for that?</em>


    I cant tell you very much right now, but this exact spot would probably be a little suboptimal.


    <em>I really wish you could tell me </em>why<em> so I could at least pick a spot on my own.</em>


    Thats exactly what Im trying to help you do. Pretty much, just go ahead and put down the Anchor Point before you get into that fight you know youre going to reset. Then, when you use Time Loop, you can go back to before you set it down so nothings wasted, and then you get to actually know what it does! And since you know more about it, that means I get to tell you even more, too.


    <em>Oh, thats actually a really good idea.</em>


    Well of course its a good idea. I came up with it.


    Ignoring Indexs cockiness


    Hey! Index interrupted my thoughts. Dont call me cocky behind my back. Im omniscient, remember? So it isnt being cocky, its being correct.


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    Trying even harder to ignore Indexs cockiness, I went ahead and sent a message to Ainash asking her to pass along everything I learned to Erani, so everyone was in the loop. Then, it was just down to waiting for the right time to start a fight.


    Around an hour before midnight was the time I decided was best for bloodshed. That way, I wouldnt have to spend very long in a situation where I had no Time Loops remaining after I went back post-fightI still only had a single use remaining because of my fight with Jon.


    Plus, it seemed like we were beginning to leave the Sand Hive territory, with the monsters starting to thin out as we went further and further. And I wanted to go up against as many of them as possible; lessening the numbers just wouldnt do.


    So, before starting the fight, I looked through my list of Spells, finding all the ones that needed an Upgrade.


    Spells:


    Curse of Echoes <strong>9</strong> - XP <strong>355</strong>/<strong>355</strong>


    Sanguine Bond 11 - XP<strong> 59</strong>/623<strong></strong>


    +Hypnotic Bond


    Expedite 9 - XP 355/355


    Ethereal Armor 11 - XP <strong>212</strong>/623<strong></strong>


    +Broadened Armor


    Gravity Well 11 - XP <strong>21</strong>/623<strong></strong>


    +Taxing Well


    Ray of Frost 9 - XP 355/355


    Crippling Chill 9 - XP 355/355


    Noxious Grasp <strong>19</strong> - XP <strong>688</strong>/<strong>7.62k</strong>


    +Venomous Grasp


    Currently, in my possession I had two Poison Spell Crystals, one Curse Spell Crystal, one Alteration Spell Crystal, and one Arcane Spell Crystal. The two Poison ones would be for Noxious Grasp once I got the Spell XP up to the current requirement, and the Arcane couldnt be used for anything currently, either; all of its Spells were already past the Rank 10 milestone. That left the Curse and Alteration Spell Crystals.


    The only thing Alteration could be used on was Expedite, so that was a given. Which meant my main choice right now was which of the Curse candidates I wanted to Upgrade: Crippling Chill, Ray of Frost, or Curse of Echoes.


    At the end of the day, it didnt matter all that much which I chose to go with first, since theyd all get Upgraded eventually, but making the right choice here still mattered. Id be getting these Upgrades before a fight, and if I could perform better in that fight, Id be able to kill more enemies before I died, which would mean more XP. So, I turned to my guiding light in situations like these.


    <em>Index, got any info for me?</em>


    Youve got good Upgrades for all three Spells waiting for you, to be honest. I will say that the Curse of Echoes Upgrades wont help as much for this particr fight, but thats mainly because the Spell itself isckluster against these enemies to begin with.


    <em>Yeah, I was already thinking that. Thedy was talking about how theymunicate through pheromones, so if they put their scent on me, then it doesnt matter how many copies of me there are in their sight since they can always sniff out the real one. What about between Crippling Chill and Ray of Frost?</em>


    Id say Ray of Frost will be the more useful Spell overall during the fight since youre gonna have to deal with flying enemies, but Crippling Chills Upgrades might prove to be more impactful. Like normal, there are some options for the Upgrades that provide a simple numerical boost to aspects of the Spells functioning, while there are other options that fundamentally change its use cases. In this instance, something like a damage boost would definitely be better if you got it on Ray of Frost. But some of the options for ChillI like them.


    <em>So you suggest using the Spell Crystal on Crippling Chill, then?</em>


    I think either would be fine, ites down to your preference.


    <em>Well, Id really prefer to be fighting those flying Sand Stinger things on </em>my<em> turf, rather than theirs. Bringing them down to the ground and killing them from there sounds much preferable to trying to snipe them out of the air with Ray of Frost. So, if thats gonna be my n, then Crippling Chill would probably be the way to go. And if you like the Upgrades for it, then Im happy to improve its effectiveness in aplishing that goal.</em>


    Grabbing the two needed Spell Crystals from my bag, I focused my Mana into them and selected the Spells I wanted to Upgrade.


    Threshold reached. Expedite XP has reached 355.


    Expedite Rank has increased to 10.


    Due to Expedite Rank reaching 10, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 68.7 to 85.9


    Dexterity Buff: From 31.1 to 32.7


    Buff Duration: From 46.5 to 48.8


    Expedite Upgrade has be avable.


    Threshold reached. Crippling Chill XP has reached 355.


    Crippling Chill Rank has increased to 10.


    Due to Crippling Chill Rank reaching 10, it has undergone the following changes:


    Mana Cost: From 56.2 to 70.3


    Health Drain: From 7.76 to 8.15


    Stamina Drain: From 6.21 to 6.52


    Dexterity Debuff: From 15.5 to 16.3


    Crippling Chill Upgrade has be avable.


    In a way, it was almost emotional for me to see Crippling Chills numbers change away from their previous values. That Spell had been stuck at Rank 9 for the longest out of any I hadever since what felt like the beginning of my journey. Id memorized its cost and damage, having gotten to the point where my mind instantly did shortcuts when working with those numbers. I knew instantly that hitting, say, six enemies with Crippling Chill would set me back by exactly 337.2 Mana, and that after its fifteen second duration, itd have taken 116.4 Health and 93.15 Stamina away from each target, because that was the way itd been for so long.


    Now Id finally moved on. And once I finished Upgrading Ray of Frost and Curse of Echoes, thatd be every single one of my Spells past the Rank 10 barrier. It was like the end of an era, in a way.


    But that was an era I was d to end. If the future contains better Spells with bigger numbers, I say head straight for it!


    <em>Alright, time to see what those Upgrades are. And to finally see what the fuck that Beacon thing is.</em>

 Chapter 232: Information in the Unconscious

    Chapter 232: Information in the Unconscious


    Sitting in the back of the carriage transporting us through the desert, I closed my eyes and began meditating. At the same time, I also handed Erani the two Fire Spell Crystals for her to make her own choice, as well. Firebolt had been at Rank 19 for a while now, so it would be great for the Spell to finally reach its next Upgrade. From my talks with Erani, it was clear she still had no idea which of her options she would pick, but I figured now was a good time for her to take some dedicated time to figure things out in meditation.


    The moment ten minutes had passed, I eagerly opened my options.


    Choose one Upgrade for Crippling Chill:


    Weakening Chill


    Crippling Chill now reduces the beings Strength equal to the amount it reduces its Dexterity. <em>(Currently 16.3 Strength)</em>


    Contagious Chill


    +Poison


    When a being that has been coated with frost dies, Crippling Chill is spread to up to three other beings of your choice within 40 paces of both it and you.


    Ruining Chill


    Crippling Chills Health and Stamina drain are doubled. <em>(16.3 Health per second and 13.04 Stamina per second)</em>


    Choose one Upgrade for Expedite:


    Expanded Expedite


    Expedite can be cast on any being within 25 paces of you, rather than any being you are touching.


    Hefty Expedite


    Expedite can only be cast on an individual that does not already have Expedite active on them.


    Expedites Dexterity buff is multiplied by 2.5. <em>(81.8 Dexterity)</em>


    Rejuvenating Expedite


    School: +Holy


    Expedite also increases Stamina/Minute by 0.1 for each point it increases Dexterity by for the length of its effect. <em>(Currently increases Stamina/Minute by 3.27)</em>


    I nced over the options avable for my two Spells. At least they werent too dense, word-wisethough, that didnt make the decisions any easier.


    Starting with Crippling Chill, Weakening Chill and Ruining Chill were easy enough to understand; they simply improved elements that were already there. Ruining Chill doubled the damage and drains of the Spell, turning those rtively minor effects into some true forces to be reckoned with. Especially considering Noxious Grasp started out only dealing a paltry 10 damage per secondand that was with the requirement of me needing to be in constant physical contact with my target for the effect to applythe idea of getting to deal 16 damage per second without any additional requirement was almost enough for me to take that Upgrade right away.


    And Weakening Chill did something simr for the Spells other aspectthe Stat drain. Only, instead of simply doubling how much Dexterity the Spell took away, it allowed the Spell to double dip into two separate Stats. That, too, was a phenomenal increase in the Spells effectiveness. Not only would it be extremely disorienting to get so many of two separate Stats taken away, but that Upgrade would also allow me to exploit the weakness of anyone who was particrly weak on either Dexterity <em>or</em> Strength.


    Currently, if an enemy had bolstered their Dexterity Stat, my Spells would have a much diminished effect on them. Taking away 16 of someones Dexterity when they had 200 of it wouldnt have much effect, after all. But now, against that enemy, Id be attacking their Strength at the same time. If theyd kept their Strength at 10 in order to boost their Dexterity so high, itd be over for them. And, of course, the same applied in reverse. This Upgrade would effectively double the number of enemies I could instantly paralyze with a simple thought. Certainly an attractive prospect.


    Contagious Chill was a strange one. It would allow my Spell to propagate through anyrge poption off of a single cast. Theoretically, the Upgrade could save me on massive swaths of Mana throughout a battle as long as I used it right. I would only ever need to spend enough for a single Spell even if there were plenty of enemies to fight. Though, that was all theoretical, of course. Because actually pulling something like that off would be difficult.


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    To begin with, Id need to kill the enemy to get Crippling Chill to move onto the others, which was a problem in and of itself. Monsters and soldiers didnte at you in a polite, single-file line, after all. Id be forced to fight against several enemies at once while focusing my fire on a single one so I could kill them and get the Spell to spread to the others. If I could get that to work, then itd be great, but if I couldnt and was forced to kill the others firstor to manually spend the Mana to cast the Spell on everyhen itd be a total waste of an Upgrade. And that wasnt to mention the range limitations; anyone I wanted to spread Crippling Chill to would need to be within 40 paces of both me <em>and</em> the initial subject of the Spell, which could certainly prove to be a problem at times.


    Though, the potential Mana savings <em>were</em> huge. I couldnt write the Upgrade off just for being high-risk when the rewards were equally high.


    Looking at Expedites Upgrade options, I was simrly torn. Expanded Expedite would help with my efforts in buffing others; Id noticed that, while it was nice to increase the Dexterity of Erani and Ainash before a fight began, it became functionally impossible to keep the Spell going on either of them because of how difficult it was to make physical contact with them at the right time while in the midst of battle. This would greatly help to mitigate that issue with the Spell, though it <em>would</em> leave the Spellpletely unimproved when it came to assisting in my ability to help myself.


    Hefty Expedite came with an appropriately hefty downside to go with its powerful effect. Full-on multiplying the effectiveness of a Spell by 2.5 was phenomenalCrippling Chills Upgrade options could only go as far as to multiply by 2, <em>and</em> they only affected one specific aspect of the Spellso it had toe with <em>something</em> to bnce things out. Only, I wasnt sure if this was simply too much. With the Upgrade, Id only be capable of putting a single cast of the Spell on any given person, meaning Id have to say goodbye to my ability to boost anyones Dexterity to sky-high numbers. Though, by increasing the Dexterity buff so much, it <em>did</em> mean Id have less reason to need multiple activations in the first ce.


    Rejuvenating Expedite, myst option, offered the ability to do somethingpletely new rather than strengthening an aspect already there. And, interestingly, it seemed to encourage theplete opposite strategy that Hefty Expedite did. On its own, an increase of a little over 3 Stamina/Minute wasnt very impactful in the middle ofbat, only leading to the 45-second Spell regenerating a total of around 2.5 Stamina by the time itd run its course.


    However, if I cast three, four, hells, even ten of the Spell on myself all at once, that Stamina regeneration would skyrocket. Stamina was valuable in its own right when interacting with Expedite, since the high Dexterity would lead to a high rate of consumption with all of my enhanced movement, but I also had some additional encouragement to find ways of increasing my Stamina, since my Regenerate Talent could let me spend Stamina in order to restore my Health. Effectively, this Upgrade turned Expedite into an extremely roundabout healing Spell in a pinch, not to mention its other benefits.


    <em>Index,</em> I thought after reading through the options, <em>got any additional info for me? Future options and whatnot?</em>


    Lets see it responded. I always imagined it was sitting down, flipping through a gigantic booklet of every single Spell and Upgrade in existence whenever we had these conversations. It continued after a pause, So, Weakening Chill and Ruining Chill progress just about as youd expect, each with their future options focusing on strengthening their respective aspects of the Spell. Weakening Chill will allow you to be more adept at attacking your opponents capabilities, while Ruining Chill will grow the Spells overall deadliness. At least, those are the general trajectories the Upgrades go into; theres obviously still a lot of input from you that can change things when ites to what theyll do, specifically. Contagious Chill, as you could expect, has a broader and stranger future trajectory, but its nothing too insane.


    <em>Like what?</em>


    Well, overall it likes the idea of going for efficiency and ease of use. There are some Upgrades that also just do whatever they want, with the only thing tying them with their preceding Upgrade being the overall theme of disease. Ironically, despite being the most individually unique Upgrade out of the three, its future options are the most non-specialized.


    <em>And for Expedites options?</em>


    Right. Going through them one-by-one, Expanded Expedite has a lot of options thatll grow the Spells capability to buff others. Theres even an option down that path thatpletely forbids you from casting the Spell on yourself. But its not only that, there are also a good few options that go for a wider suite of effects, like helping with the general usability of the Spell. Hefty Expedite has a few different focus areas; some future options go for the concept of Mana efficiency, since thats a big upside to the Upgrade, while others go for the concept of making the Dexterity buff as powerful as possible, while others still go in different directions. And finally, Rejuvenating Expedite goes in a broad number of ways, but generally likes increasing survivability and adding on new use-cases for the Spell.


    <em>Not too much specificity with a few of those, huh?</em>


    Nope. Well, generally speaking, any Upgrade that adds on a new School to a Spell can often introduce a wide range of possibilities for the Spell to explore, simply by merit of putting the newbel on the Spell. Like I said with Contagious Chill, since it adds on the Poison School, there are plenty of other Upgrades that have nothing to due with Contagious Chills effects, but simply sneak their ways into the list of future options because they thematically fit the idea of a poisonous Spell. Same with Rejuvenating Expedite. By turning Expedite into a Holy Spell, youre opening the door into all kinds of new Upgrade avenues if youre willing to further pursue the holy angle.


    <em>So is that a good thing, or a bad thing?</em>


    Depends on how you view it, I guess. Specializing your choices can be a good strategy if you have a specific idea of what you need from a Spell, and all you want is for it to do that thing <em>more,</em> but if youd like to see more concepts for what a Spell can offer you, then going the opposite route and broadening your options as much as possible is probably the superior y.


    <em>Hm.</em> I frowned as I looked over my options once more, trying to factor in all of my current knowledge. Most of them felt like solid candidates for being my final choices, but


    <em>Oh, wait,</em> I thought, <em>I almost forgot thest piece of knowledge I can acquire before I have to make my choice.</em>


    I was about to interrupt and remind you, Indexmented. So, this is gonna cause a visual and auditory effect, meaning your carriage friends are definitely going to notice and probably cause a fuss. But the moment you do it, Ill go ahead and quickly exin how this actually functions, and then you can make your Spell Upgrade decisions, and then leave your meditation to deal with them and go fight some monsters.


    <em>Alright. Hopefully I dont scare thisdy and her guards too much.</em>


    Yes, it would be troublesome if they shook you out of your meditation too early.


    <em>Well, sure, but I also dont wanna be </em>that<em> much of a dick to the people who picked us up off the side of the road to offer us a free ride.</em>


    Technically, it wasnt free. They gave it to you in exchange for the protection of having ssers travel with them.


    <em>Sure, sure, whatever. So then, how do I activate this Beacon Anchor Point thing, exactly?</em>

 Chapter 233: Assembling in the Battlefield

    Chapter 233: Assembling in the Battlefield


    After a little guidance from Index, I reached into my mind, and


    Anchor Point has been ced.


    Unced Anchor Points remaining: 0


    There was a faint sensation in my body, like energy had left through my chest and been focused into the world. There was also a soundsome sort of crystallization, like a rock was forming in front of my face. Though, I couldnt actually see what was happening, since I was still in the midst of meditation.


    Woah, what is that? the woman driving the carriage said, and I felt the floor beneath me shudder as we slowed down.


    Alright, first, can you just reach your hand out in front of you? Index asked as I tried to ignore the outside distraction.


    I did, and found myself bumping into something floating midair. It was hard and small.


    Hey, dont touch that! the woman shouted. I vaguely heard Erani speaking, trying to calm her down.


    Good, Index said, grab the Anchor Point and push Mana into it.


    I did that as well, gripping my hand around the floating objectit was small enough to fit into my palm, a rough stone-like textureand went through the familiar routine of pushing my Mana into the item.


    Anchor Point is charged with 1/1k Mana.


    I frowned. Okay, so, it didnt seem like Id be getting that charged up in this timeline.


    Its okay, Index said, you dont want to. Ugh, <em>finally</em> I can talk about this.


    A hand touched my shoulder, but then was yanked away. Id tuned out the conversation going on between Erani and the merchant woman, but clearly there was a disagreement going on right now.


    <em>Right, so get talking then.</em>


    Okay, so what the Beacon actually <em>does </em>is that its a teleporter. Once you charge it or any of its Anchor Points with Mana, you can teleport to any of the others, bringing anyone in an area with you, and then its cost gets multiplied by 10 for the next week.


    <em>Hold on, hold on. It lets me teleport?</em>


    Yes, as well as everyone with you. And I know what youre about to askthe base requirement is 10k, so if you use it once, youll need 100k if you want to activate it a second time during the next seven days. At your current Mana regen, itll take 8.88 minutes for the 1k requirement, which means itd take 1.48 hours to do it a second time, 14.8 hours for the third time, and itll be probably impossible to find the 148 hours necessary to do the theoretical 100k requirement if you do it four times in seven days.


    <em>So, the Beacon itself is currently back in the forest by Salvation. That means I can travel between here and there freely?</em>


    Well, not <em>freely</em>I literally just said eighty-eight words specifically detailing the cost of travelbut yeah, its definitely much cheaper for you to use the Beacon than to use this whole teleportationwork the empire has set up. Though, you cant exactly let other people know about it, since the cost goes up with use. Dont want others jacking up the price when you need it.


    <em>So thats why you said it needed to be</em>


    Hey! a voice came from outside, and I got jostled again, this time by a couple bodies rustling around, it sounded like. Were they fighting?


    Yeah, things are getting pretty intense out there, Index said. That woman seems to think youre about to blow up a bomb, or something.


    <em>Ah. Well then, guess I should probably go ahead and make my Upgrade choices before I get knocked out of my meditation.</em>


    Do you know what youre going to pick?


    I looked over my options again, considering them.


    Choose one Upgrade for Crippling Chill:


    Weakening Chill


    Crippling Chill now reduces the beings Strength equal to the amount it reduces its Dexterity. <em>(Currently 16.3 Strength)</em>


    Contagious Chill


    +Poison


    When a being that has been coated with frost dies, Crippling Chill is spread to up to two other beings of your choice within 40 paces of both it and you.


    Ruining Chill


    Crippling Chills Health and Stamina drain are doubled. <em>(16.3 Health per second and 13.04 Stamina per second)</em>


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    I felt like I had a good idea of what I wanted. Crippling Chill was, at least when I used it, primarily good because of its Dexterity debuff effect. The damage and Stamina drain were niceespecially the damage, since it gave me a guaranteed way to keep Cumtive Catastrophe going throughout a fightbut they werent crucial parts of the Spell. And the upside regarding Cumtive Catastrophe wouldnt get any better even if the Spell did more damage.


    Ruining Chill doubled the damage and Stamina drain of the Spell. That was great, if I was being honest. Really, the Stamina drain part really stuck out to me as pretty insane, being pushed up to around 13 per second if I took the Spell. It would thoroughly speed up most battles to be able to annihte someones reserves with a Spell like that.


    However, my mind kept going back to that previously mentioned Talent. Cumtive Catastrophe would eventually push the damage and Stamina drain numbers up to that point anyway, so improving them nowwhile it was certainly goodwas something I could already theoretically do by just navigating my fights more skillfully. Really, if I could just make an encounterst long enough for the Talent to double those effects, then wouldn''t that be just as good?


    And to do that, Id want Weakening Chill. The other OptionContagious Chillsimply didnt do what Id want it to, especially since it wouldnt do <em>anything</em> in one-on-one scenarios. Weakening Chill would not only help me slow fights down for long enough to simte Ruining Chills effects, it was also an effect that was much betterbined with Cumtive Catastrophe, since it gave me a brand new debuff thatd be getting stronger and stronger over the course of a fight alongside everything else. The way I saw it, attacking as many different facets of an opponent as possible was extremely important for my strategy to shut down their options.


    That sort of logic also yed into my decision when it came to Expedite. For myself, too, I wanted to focus more on expanding my options than on strengthening my numbers. I was wary of Hefty Expedite simply because it came with a drawback, but its upside wasnt even all that good either, considering I could just cast the Spell several times to get the same effect. I could definitely see where itd be usefulId certainly love an Upgrade like that when using the Spell to travel long distances, since I didnt want to move extremely fast in those cases, and Id be strained on Mana as Id be forced to sustain the Spell among severalpanions. However, now that I had ess to this teleportation


    Yeah, Hefty Expedite just seemed outssed in every way.


    So then, my other two options were left. Neither of them were simple numerical buffs, each bringing their own new tool to my belt, but I still had a favorite. Specifically, it came down to the type of tool that each introduced. Expanded Expedite would effectively rece an old, clunky tool with a much easier to use one. I could use it with much more freedom and in more scenarios, and generally had to spend much less effort nning my fights around its limitations. But then, Rejuvenating Expedite was like recing an old tool with two new ones. Sure, they were still both pretty clunky, but I got something entirely new added to my belt.


    To abandon the tool metaphor and just speak inly about what I mean, Rejuvenating Expedite would allow me to do something Id never been able to do beforeconvert Mana directly into Stamina. And, since I could convert Stamina into Health, it allowed me to convert Mana into Health. Even if it was at a rtively bad rate, something like that was typically an ability Id have to spend an entire Spell choice on, and here I was getting it for just a simple Upgrade. Id be remiss to pass such an opportunity down, especially when I already had such an abundance of Mana.


    So then, the two choices were made.


    Crippling Chill has gained the Upgrade Weakening Chill.


    Expedite has gained the Upgrade Rejuvenating Expedite.


    I opened my eyes to see


    Hey! I felt someone jostle against me again and turned to see the woman reaching back to grab my shoulder, Erani holding her back.


    Hey, I responded. Uh, sorry for the disturbance.


    What are you two doing?! she shouted exasperatedly.


    Im actually about to go and get in a fight with those monsters you said to never under any circumstances get into a fight with, and get all of us killed.


    What?!


    Stop messing around, Erani said with a sigh. You know thats not a good habit to have.


    Yeah, yeah, I guess, I said. Anyway, I did get everything done that I needed to get done, so you should prepare for somebat.


    You dont want to take them all on yourself? I wouldve thought youd want to maximize XP gain.


    Will someone <em>please</em> tell me whats going on?! the woman pleaded. You two arent being serious about fighting the Sand Hive, right? This is some sort of joke? A-also, I wont let you distract me! Whats that crystal you have floating in the air! You cant hide it from me!


    I absent-mindedly released my hand from the Anchor Point, looking at it as I continued speaking with Erani, ignoring the rest of the womans words. I definitely do want to maximize XP gain, so I guess that would mean doing most of thebat myself. But if we know Im going to die eventually, then our goal is to just prolong my life for as long as possible, so having someone to y defense and keep me from getting hit by an unseen strike would be much appreciated.


    She nodded. Thats fair. So Ill just hold back and try not to steal any XP unless it looks like youre about to die?


    Yeah, lets just try to postpone that as long as possible. You mind asking Ainash to help out with that, too?


    II get it, the woman muttered, stumbling back. Erani, with her high physical Stats, hadnt been having too much trouble with keeping her at bay, though, so it wasnt like the woman stopping in her attempts to get to me and the Anchor Point actually meant anything. Regardless, she continued, staring at us, You two are insane. This-this is some sort of suicide pact, right? Ive heard of people like you, religious fanatics who take the teachings of Jedan too far. Youre just trying to get as many Levels as possible and then kill yourselves so you can enter the afterlife.


    Sure, sure, I said, waving my hand to her. I hopped off the back of the cart. You can go ahead and leave, if youd like. Probably dont want to stick around for the next part.


    You wont kill me?


    Nah.


    She instantly took off, Erani being forced to step off in a hurry once the cart got moving with her still on it. Ainash was graceful as ever in her leap from the back.


    Anyway, I continued to Erani, did you make your decision for Firebolts Upgrade?


    No, she said. Well, yes, technically. I did the Upgrade before you activated that Beacon thing, but since thisll all get reset, I didnt <em>actually</em> pick the option I wanted. This is just the option I wanted to try out, so I can see if I like it before going back and choosing for real.


    I chuckled. You sure are making this into a whole process.


    Im just using all the information avable to me. Plus, this option <em>did</em> seem like itd at least be the most interesting one; quite the spectacle. Im sure youll be excited to have me defending you.


    Oh? Whatd you take?


    Well, I dont want to ruin the surprise.


    Not telling me how youre going to be defending me doesnt seem like its strategically viable.


    She rolled her eyes. Just let me have some fun. This timelines gonna get reset anyway, so the worst-case scenario is that my excitement costs you a few points of XP. I only get new Spells and new Upgrades on rare asions, unlike you, mister Spells galore. So let me have my moment, why dont you?


    Thats fair, I guess. Does Ainash know?


    Of course not. Shes the one Im most excited to show off in front of.


    Well then, I said, gazing off into the distance, where at least a hundred monsters roamed the dunes. Lets not keep her waiting.

 Chapter 234: Provocation in the Dunes

    Chapter 234: Provocation in the Dunes


    I strolled through the sandy dunes lit by the moon, eyes on the beasts in the distance. Erani and Ainash trailed distantly behind me, so I could attack first and be the sole person drawing the aggression of the animals.


    The Sand Stompers and Sand Stingers took notice of me, ncing over in my direction as I approached, and I could asionally feel the rumbling of the Sand Sifters worming their way through the ground beneath me, but there was no overt attack made. At least, not yet. They were apparently pretty territorial.


    Sure enough, the closer I got, the more agitated they got. I saw the Stompers casually moving to form a sort of semicircle around memovements that might seem natural at first nce, but I could tell were coordinated.


    Or you could just be paranoid, Index said.


    <em>Am I just being paranoid?</em>


    I dunno. Cant see far enough to tell how theyre acting.


    <em>Well, do I act too paranoid in general? Wouldnt you like it if I were less trusting of others, and stuff?</em>


    Hey, Im just pointing out possibilities. Its good to be aware of the self. Besides, even if you were paranoid enough to significantly improve your lifespan, that wouldnt really mean anything if it simultaneously decreased your quality of life.


    <em>Is that happening? Am I decreasing my quality of life?</em>


    See, I would normally say no, but now youre asking all these questions and are starting to get suspicious of me, which is ironically making you paranoid. And being paranoid about <em>me</em> will definitely decrease your quality of life. Im the smartest voice in your head!


    <em>You say that like there are more than just mine and yours. Also, I definitely think that out of everyone I know, youre probably the most worth being suspicious of.</em>


    See, look at how much youre distracting yourself already. Listen, I just think its worth it for me to be a figure that argues against whatever preconceived notion you may have at any given time, if at least to make you discuss it with me ande out more sure of yourself. Doesnt mean I think you should change your mind about every little thing I challenge you on.


    <em>So you just like to argue for the sake of arguing. Got it.</em>


    That would certainly be a way to put it if I were a wed, fleshy Human. But Im not, so its inurate. I like to argue because it gets you into the habit of thinking through everything you


    <em>Right, right, got it. Werent you just saying I was the one distracting myself?</em>


    Just correcting your factually incorrect statement.


    <em>Thanks. Do you mind going underground to keep an eye out for Sand Sifters? I wanna know the optimal time to attack.</em>


    I get the distinct feeling youre just saying that because you dont want to keep talking to me. And by feeling I mean Im reading your mind and can tell for certain that its your intention behind saying that.


    <em>Are you stalling for a reason?</em>


    What?


    <em>You can read my mind, you know what I mean. Youre just talking for the sake of talking to keep this fight from happening, right?</em>


    And why would you think that?


    <em>Im in your head just as much as youre in mine, Index.</em>


    I justI dont know how to exin it. I dont like it when you get into fights where youre for certain going to die. Ie from the Trailzer Title, not the Minute Mage ss, meaning I wasnt really created with the reasoning shortcuts to see death as temporary and more of a minor setback than the ultimate failure, so, while I can logically reason through the fact that nothing bad is going to happenI dunno. Its a strange feeling, and I try to ignore it. Though, it feels like its only gotten worsetely. Just carry on and do your thing.


    Listening to Indexs words, I supposed its reasoning made sense. At least, I could rte a bitit sounded a lot like a typical emotional response. It didnt want to see me die, even if it knew Id be fine in the end. It was kind of touching.


    Well, anyway. It was time for mindless ughter.


    Now that I was up close to the Sand Stompers, I saw just how big the things actually were. They were around twice as tall as I was, with legs as thick as tree trunks and old, chipped tusks that curved up from their mouths. Their yellowed skin sagged from their bodies, jiggling with each step.


    One of them had just barely gotten into range of Crippling Chill, ncing at me sideways as it roamed the dunes. The moment its foot crossed the invisible boundary, I cast my Spell.


    You have cursed Level 17 Sand Stomper with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 8.15 Health and 6.52 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity and Strength scores are lowered by 16.3.


    35.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 2.02k.


    Instantly, its head snapped to me and it started charging. Seemed like it reasoned through the fact that nobody else couldve cast the Spell pretty quicklyI just hoped it wasnt too smart in the other areas as well.


    So far, none of the other Sand Hive monsters had moved to attack yetjust the one Stomper. Presumably, thatd change once it got close enough to exhale its scent all over me or whatever, but for now, I had it all to myself.


    Gravity Well was the second Spell to hit it, and this one seemed to do a lot more than the Stat debuff from Crippling Chill. It stumbled under the extra weight thatd been saddled onto its massive frame, almost copsing from the pressure, but still staying up and continuing its strained approach. Backing away, I raised my hand and began shooting it with Rays of Frost.


    You have struck Level 17 Sand Stomper for 59 damage using Ray of Frost.


    You have cursed Level 17 Sand Stomper with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 7.76.


    12.8 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 2.01k.


    With Light te on and my Spells half off, I was d to go all-out with the Rays and deal as much damage to this thing as I could. I just continued backing away and shooting one after the other at the Stompers face, its strained movement only barely faster than my own pace. The other monsters still didnt seem to pay any mind to me, evidently not caring since I still hadnt technically been marked with any scent yet.


    Though, as I reached the tenth Ray of Frost shot at it, my Mana dropping below 1900, I figured that these monsters mustve had roles to them. After all, if they could all do everything, then why bother working together in this hive mind thing? The Sand Stomper was big and tough, probably meant to absorb damage just like this. And the Sand Stingers, which I could see plenty of buzzing around in the air or perched on the Stompers backs, I imagined those things mustve been the damage-dealers. They were quick and maneuverable, and if the sword-sized stingersing out of their abdomens were anything to go by, they seemed more than prepared to take down powerful targets.


    So then, if they had the Stompers as tanks and the Stingers as damage-dealers, then what were the Sifters for?


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Just as I pondered that, I caught the barest whiff of a sme putrid stench, like a shit-eaters morning breath. I nced up to see my Stomper opponents mouth open, coughing flecks of spittle in my direction.


    Instantly, every single monster in eyesight turned their heads simultaneously to stare directly at me. They stopped what they were doing, stared for about two seconds, and then charged.


    Below! Indexs voice pierced through the earth-shaking sound of the stampede at the same moment that I felt the ground burst open from below me, three separate Sand Siftersunching themselves up from the ground and aimed right for me. I was forced to dive out of the way to avoid their bites, rolling into the loose sand and frantically throwing some curses on a couple of them.


    I tried getting up to my feet, but another Sifter came through the sand as I tried. It was moving at a much slower pace, not having had time to build up speed like the others, but it knocked my leg out from under me all the same, my body clearly not having been built to maneuver through the flowing grains that made up the ground I stood on.


    Another came from behind me, this one bursting from the ground with easily enough speed to damage me, and this time I didnt have the time or the footing to roll out of the way, and before I knew it, it bit into my flesh.


    You have been pierced. 41 damage.


    Your Health is 639.


    Its teeth scraped along my Health shield as the monsters long body flopped through the air andnded on the side of a dune, rolling unceremoniously down the hill after doing its job.


    I hurriedly stumbled to my feet again, looking up to see the looming shadow of the Sand Stomper Id attacked earlier looking ready to gore straight through me with its massive tusks. It stepped forward as I shot it with another Ray of Frost to refresh the curse, readying myself to dodge its own strike. And


    You have been pierced. 83 damage.


    Your Health is 556.


    You have been poisoned. 88 damage.


    Your Health is 468.


    <em>Fuck!</em>


    Something stabbed my back, and I looked behind myself to see a Sand Stinger, having snuck up behind me and jabbed its stinger straight into my skin.


    <em>Yeah, I need more Dexterity for this shit.</em>


    In a single moment, I cast five stacks of Expedite on myself, and instantly it was like my perception sharpened to perfection. I was perfectly knowledgeable about every sound around me, all the monsters in my peripheral vision, the minute vibrations signaling Sifter attacks, everything. And damn, my perception did <em>not</em> like what it saw.


    I was surrounded on every endnot just around me, but above and below me as well. It was like I was inside a sphere made of monsters, all closing in and ready to annihte me. Hopefully, Id be able to kill a few with my newfound speed.


    At the same time as I activated Regenerate, I reached back and grabbed the Sand Stinger around its head, using my other hand to force its stinger downward, leveraging its ridiculous length to keep it controlled. The thing attempted to flutter away with its translucent wings at least asrge as my entire torso, but it seemed like these monsters werent capable of handling a full Humans bodyweight. My enemy unable to sting me again, I activated Noxious Grasp and Sanguine Bond to start draining away its Health.


    Stomper behind you still! Index shouted just as I heard a very close-by step. Right.


    I ducked down just as a tusk the width of my forearm went whooshing above my head. Then I threw myself to the side as the monsters leg came kicking forward, still grappling onto the Sand Stinger as the Stomper continued in its charge that almost ran straight through me.


    To my side, another Sand Stinger approaching through the air. I threw a Crippling Chill on it, hoping to slow it down so I could resolve the issueter, but the moment my Spell hit it, the thing fell right out of the air and to the ground, its spindly legs twitching on the ground. Seemed like these things couldnt handle the Stat debuff, then.


    I was still holding onto the Stinger thatd hit me, and considered just casting Crippling Chill on that one as well and leaving it as dealt with, but before I could do so, I got a notification.


    You have in Level 19 Sand Stinger.


    You have earned 213 XP. Your XP is 249.


    <em>Oh,</em> I thought, letting go of the corpse. Itd only been a few seconds of Noxious Grasp plus Sanguine Bond, and the thing had died. They werevery fragile. That was good.


    I cast about six more Crippling Chills on Sand Stingers thatd entered my range, immobilizing them instantly and hoping that their Healths were all low enough that the Spell would single-handedly kill them before its duration ran outthough, maybe that would be too good to be true. For now, I at least needed to stay alive long enough to get a few more kills and make this whole thing worth it.


    Another Sand Stomper came charging at me. I tried to dive out of the way likest time, but a Sifter came rushing up from the ground at the perfect time, not even attacking me, but rather forming a lump in the sand that my foot caught on, causing me to trip right into the path of the approaching monster.


    Its hoof, wider than my head, came crashing into my skull.


    You have been crushed. 165 damage.


    Your Health is 323.


    I groaned in pain as my body was flung aside by the monsters powerful legs, crashing into the side of a dune. Regenerate had done a little to repair my past damage, but that was a really bad hit to take in my current position.


    Right, so if the Stompers were tanks, and the Stingers were damage-dealers, then the Sifters were disruptors. In a way, they served the same purpose I didfuck with your opponent, make it hard to do anything, and generally be as annoying as possible.


    Maybe it was about time I called in some reinforcements, then, if they were gonna overwhelm me like this.


    Four separate Sand Stompers were charging at me from afar, two of them the ones Id scuffled with already. They stood in the valley of dropped insects, where all the Sand Stingers were lying around and slowly dying from Crippling Chill.


    <em>Ainash,</em> I frantically messaged, <em>can you and mother do something? Buy me some time and space to recover and catch my bearings.</em>


    <em>Okay!</em> she responded, enthusiastic as ever.


    Instantly, Ainash burst into the crowd of monsters. She leapt through the air and wove between them, her ming whip cutting through Stomper flesh like it was nothing. She asionally spun through the air and swung her whip straight through the ground, kicking sand everywheresomething I initially assumed was just an ident, but I quickly realized she was doing that to attack the Sand Sifters lurking beneath the surface when I got a System message about it.


    You have offered minor contribution toward the ying of Level 15 Sand Sifter.


    You have earned 46 XP. Your XP is 295.


    Level 33 Draconiad has offered major contribution toward the ying of Level 15 Sand Sifter.


    Due to having a Bond with Draconiad, you have earned 12 XP. Your XP is 307.


    Through the carnage, I caught a glimpse of Erani between the monsters. She wasdoing nothing. Id certainly anticipated her own entrance to be just as dramatic, explosions rocking the dunes and deforming the terrain. But she was simply watching. Had Ainash not messaged her, or something?


    The four Sand Stompers continued in their charge toward me, and I cast Crippling Chill and Gravity Well on the ones that werent already afflicted to slow them down. Regenerate ran out, so I instantly activated it again in an attempt to keep my Health high. With Expedites new Stamina regeneration feature, I could be much more liberal with my usage of the Talent. But still, without the time for it to work, itd be useless.


    But that was when I noticed something. Erani wasnt just watching. She was pointing. Her hand was outstretched, pointing straight at the pack of Sand Stompers headed for me. Shed mentioned getting a new Firebolt Upgrade, so maybe she was just waiting for the right opportunity to use the newly-improved Spell? But why hadnt she cast it yet?


    I supposed Id just have to fight these things alone, and hope I lived long enough to get one extra kill, or something. Adjusting my feet, I readied myself for a fight.


    But then I looked up and saw the meteor hurtling through the clouds, straight toward my enemies.

 Chapter 235: Killing in the Killing Fields

    Chapter 235: Killing in the Killing Fields


    Rather thanunching the typical explosive ball of fire from her hands, it seemed that Eranis new and Upgraded Firebolt Spell caused a meteor to fall from the sky. It hurtled to the ground, set to collide with the closest group of monsters charging at me, and Id be lying if I imed I didnt stare in awe a little bit.


    It looked like a lesser version of another famous Spell, Star of Extinction. That one was much, muchrger in scale and cost so much Mana that Erani would probably be physically incapable of casting it, though, so I wasnt worried about it killing everyone nearby, at least. In this case, the Firebolt itself had transformed into a mass of mes falling from the clouds, like the gods themselves were showering us in burning oil.


    The inferno crashed into the ground, spreading chunks of fiery mass across the desert sand and killingor at least severely injuringanything it touched.


    In that instant, I also got a good few kill notifications letting me know of my contribution to some of those deaths and the XP rewards that came with them.


    I stood in shock for a moment, staring at the mess Erani had made of the battlefield using a single Spell.


    ...What the fuck?


    But I was pulled back into my head the next instant by a Sand Sifter bursting from the ground near me, aiming itself for my leg. I hurriedly hit it with Gravity Well, throwing its arc through the air off-course, and stepped away.


    Right. This fight was far, far from over. I wasnt sure what in the hells Erani was capable of right now, but I needed to focus myself on killing as many of these things as possible before they killed me.


    In the few seconds thatd passed, any of the monsters thatd been killed had been reced by twice as many arriving on the scene, having started beelining for us the moment the battle started.


    Another few Sand Stompers charged in, alongside several of the winged Stingers. I hurried to cast Crippling Chill on all of the Stingers as I dashed to the side to avoid the Stompers attacks, while at the same time trying to keep aware of the fact that my movements could be interrupted by the worm-like Sifters at any moment.


    In the background, I could vaguely hear the sounds ofbat between Ainash and the horde of monsters, as well as distant Explosions from Erani thinning the pack and keeping herself protected, but for the most part, I was fighting on my own, separated from my allies by a wall of enemies.


    At this point, so many had arrived from off in the distance that it would be impossible to flee even if I wanted to. And not just because theyd outrun me, but also because there was literally nowhere to go. I was fully encircled by thema circle that was closing in rather quickly.


    More and more Sand Stingers kept flooding in, and while Crippling Chill made them easy to deal with, that didnt mean knocking them out of the sky didnt cost me anything. With each one I paralyzed, I had to spend another 35 Mana on Crippling Chi cost that added up much faster than Id have liked it to. And it didnt seem like a single cast of the Spell would actually <em>kill</em> them, either. Theyd recover from the Spell after 15 seconds, meaning Id need to spend another 35 Mana to hit them againsomething I was just now beginning to face, with the first waves worth of the things taking to the skies once again, rushing for me.


    Another Sand Stomper came at me and I just narrowly avoided getting trampled beneath its feet, throwing myself to the side, then getting back to my feet only to find another charging in my direction, where I somehow managed to dodge to the side once again. Then the first one turned around and charged right back at me again, and before I could even think about dodging, two Sand Sifters burst from the dunes and aimed for my head. I hurriedly moved to curse one of them and dodge the other, but then the Stompers foot kicked into my chest, throwing me back and tumbling across the ground.


    You have been mmed into something. 132 damage.


    Your Health is 221.


    Several more explosions echoed through the desert, fires lighting the battlefield. Erani had been casting her meteor-like Firebolts to try and control the Sand Stompers, but she still had to spend a lot of time just making sure they didnt kill herespecially the Stingers, since she didnt have nearly as much of a helpful Spell as I did when it came to protecting herself from them. Seemed like I needed to figure out a solution of my own, especially with the Siftersing up to interrupt me any time I was in trouble.


    I cast a few more copies of Expedite on myself, draining my Mana down below 1k and pushing my bodily control to its limits. I already wanted to keep as many as I could active on myself at a time, since each stack of the Spell would give me extra Stamina every minute that could be spent on Regenerate, but right now I was really just looking at the Dexterity boost.


    Another Sand Stomper came charging at me; at this point, that was pretty much constantly happening. This time, though, I didnt leap over to the side to dodge its stampede. Instead, just before it reached me, I hit it with every curse I possibly could and then leapt into the air, using my boosted stats tounch myself much higher than I would ever be able to normally. It stumbled and lurched forward, falling to its knees just as it crossed paths with me, where I frantically grabbed onto its sagging yellowish skin and held on for dear life.


    It roared and shook its massive body, trying to throw me back onto the ground, but I held strong, the level of control my current Dexterity offered helping me keep myself affixed to the monster. I was currently holding onto its shoulder, and slowly began making my way up to its back. The whole time, of course, keeping Noxious Grasp active.


    Ironically, I was much safer while literally on top of the monster than I was while on the ground, able to be crushed beneath their feet and exposed to the Sand Sifters, always ready to strike at my weakest moment.


    I got myself up onto the things back, despite its best efforts, and used my very shaky, very hostile vantage point to survey the chaos.


    Erani had made several still-burning craters in the surrounding area, but had also been chased back, steadily losing ground to the nigh-endless onught of monsters. Ainash, too, had her work cut out for her, currently surrounded and finding herself in a constant struggle to keep herself from getting overwhelmed. Id been getting frequent notifications of my own contribution to random killsmainly of the Sand Stingersbut also from the Bond with Ainash giving me a small percentage of all XP she got, which had been slowly adding up throughout the fight.


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    I felt a rumble from beneath me, almost falling from my unwilling steed. Itd been doing its best to shake me this whole time as I slowly drained its life away with Noxious Grasp, but hadnt been sessful, and at this point it was in a sort of panicked state, clearly unsure of what to do and now just running in circles. These things were numerous and powerful, but they werent smart.


    However, they still knew where I was, and they knew that they wanted to kill me. So, even though the Sand Stomper that I was currently riding atop didnt know what to do about it, the others figured it out pretty quickly. One of them charged forth and rammed straight into the one I was atop, hitting it with its tusks full-force and sending it stumbling back.


    It didnt immediately fall to the ground, but when the second of its allies charged and hit it again, blood spewing everywhere from the tusks digging their way through the beasts skin, it shakily fell to the sand, and me with it. Another contribution message entered my mind alongside the others, and I hurriedly sprinted along my now-dead rides back and leapt from the corpse straight onto the next Sand Stomper.


    This one tried to step back and avoid me, but I caught onto its pping flesh and dug my fingers in, quickly pulling myself up its nk and onto its back. It, too, attempted to shake me, but


    You have been pierced. 97 damage.


    Your Health is 153.


    You have been poisoned. 81 damage.


    Your Health is 72.


    Agh! I screamed out as the sword-like stinger of the giant flying monsters pierced through my back mid-climb. Instantly, I reached into my mind and hit it with a Crippling Chill and the thing fell straight to the ground behind me, but the pain didnt go away. At this point, my Health was much lower than it started, and the shield it provided was weakening. The Sand Stinger had broken skin with its strike and stabbed straight through my back and into my body. I leaked blood and venom as I fought to stay on the side of the Stomper.


    Another contribution message as the monster I held onto unintentionally stepped onto the paralyzed Sand Stinger in its attempt to throw me from its body. I just barely held strong, my legs pping to and fro as my fingers fought to keep their grip onto the thing. If I could keep this up for a little longer, maybe Regenerate could work its magic and


    Your Bond with Level 34 Draconiad has been severed.


    Due to your Bond being severed, you have lost the following effects:


    -Your Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity are no longer increased by 22.


    -Whenever Draconiad gains XP, you no longer gain 11% of that XP.


    -You no longer have 49.4% Resistance to all heat-based damage.


    -Your Mana is no longer increased by 110.


    -Your Mana/Minute is no longer increased by 8.1.


    -You may no longer transfer memories between yourself and Level 34 Draconiad.


    Instantly, I felt a massive portion of my Statsparticrly Strengthleave my body. The shockbined with the pain from my wound caused my grip to loosen from the Sand Stomper just enough that I slipped off, tumbling to the sand.


    <em>Fuck,</em> I thought, <em>did Ainash die?</em>


    But before I could even consider what the answer to that question could be, I felt a shadow cross over my face, and watched as a Sand Stomper did what its name implied.


    You have been crushed. 189 damage.


    Your Health is 0.


    You have died.


    In the in-between space, I took a moment to shake off the post-death jitters.


    <em>Well, that seemed like a pretty good run, all things considered.</em>


    <em>Time to see the spoils of war.</em>

 Chapter 236: A Tone of Stress

    Chapter 236: A Tone of Stress


    And then I was back, sitting in the back of a carriage driving peacefully through the sandy dunes.


    The first thing I did was check my XP.


    <em>Currently at 1.87k/3.5k, huh? Not bad.</em>


    Not bad at all, Indexmented, considering you started out at basically 0 XP. At your current Level, trying to get half of your XP requirement in a single day should typically cost you your life. Which it did.


    <em>A life well spent,</em> I thought back with a sigh. There was honestly something so freeing about fighting with Time Loop as a foregone conclusion. It reminded me of my old swordfighting days, where Id spar with partners for hours at the training groundsback when the fights werent life-and-death. There was something genuinely <em>fun </em>about fighting that was lost when it got so stressful.


    I turned my mind to my Bond with Ainash, sending her a message. <em>Hey, I just came back from Time Loop. I dont have any memories from your perspectives, but I do think itd be good for you two to get some from my own. Do you mind passing them from me to mother?</em>


    <em>Okay!</em>


    ***********


    Erani was discreetly touched by her daughter and instantly felt the transfer urring. An had apparently gone back with Time Loop and had some valuable memories for her, though she didnt yet know what they were.


    She slowly felt her mind being filled with images. It wasnt a single one, but rather a series of short memories only a few seconds long each, and every one was of Ans perspective watching a certain Spell at work. And that Spell seemed to be Firebolt, upgraded with Meteoric Firebolt. It took a couple seconds for her to remember that this Spell would have been hers, after shed Upgraded it to that option.


    It was strange to see a future version of herself, one whod made a decision that the current version of her hadnt made yet. So then, was it a forgone conclusion for her to pick Meteoric Firebolt? She hadnt been thinking shed take that one, honestly.


    Or, no, if it was her in the situation depictedIf they were going into a fight knowing that it would be undone, then she would just choose based on how she anticipated the Upgrade to perform in that fight only, which would change everything, of course. And it seemed that, after thinking things over in those circumstances, that version of her had concluded Meteoric to be the best option for that fight.


    Now, all that was left of that version of her were these memories.


    Erani blinked, forcing her mind back on track. Thinking about theoretical time deaths was a bad habit of hers, one that she stopped as soon as she noticed herself doing it. Right now, shed been given some new and valuable information about Meteorica live demonstration.


    In the memories shown to her, Erani saw the Spell doing the work shed heard it could do, but its drawbacks were made very clear, as well. Meteoric Firebolt was somewhat notorious for being an Upgrade with a massive downside that it didnt tell the user about, causing it to be considered a newbie trap Upgradeone that inexperienced or unprepared ssers often took and regretted taking soon after. Looking at the choice currently being offered to her, Erani gazed at the deceptive description.


    Meteoric Firebolt


    Firebolt is delivered from the sky instead of from your hand, and takes the form of a rain of mes that catches anything it hits on fire, dealing its normal damage initially and then 5% of that damage per second for the next 10 seconds to anything it hits. The rain of mes diameter is twice Explosive Firebolts explosion diameter.


    Anyone looking at such a description would be ecstatic to take the Upgrade. Doubling the area of the Spell <em>and</em> adding on a damage over time effect that could increase the total damage output of the Spell by 50% was absolutely massive. However, secretly hiding in that description was the drawback. The line Firebolt is delivered from the sky instead of from your hand was it. Being delivered from the sky, it turned out, meant that the projectile came from much further away, meaning it would take much longer to hit.


    In general, a cast of Firebolt would take around one second to travel thirty paces, meaning it was pretty difficult to dodgeespecially once it had an explosive effect. It <em>did</em> make it difficult to cast multiple Firebolts at the same target, however, since one Firebolts explosion could st an enemy out of the way of the second Firebolt, causing it to miss, but that was okay as long as you were either willing to be patient with your firing or you could find something to pin your target up against so they wouldnt get thrown away.


    At one second per thirty paces, a Firebolt would travel its current maximum range of around eighty paces in around three seconds. If Erani had taken the sniping path back at the First Upgrade, which would massively increase the Spells range, then this Upgrade would give her options to increase projectile speed, but that was beside the point. Those were the limitations she was working with. However, Meteoric Firebolt would make those limitations much worse.


    Compared to that three-second arrival time in the worst case for a typical Firebolt, Meteoric Firebolt would takeErani counted the seconds in her new memoriesalmost fifteen full seconds to fall through the air and onto her enemies. In that particr fight, the drawback had been fine. There were so many enemies that even if the ones she targeted moved out of the way by the time the Spell hit, others would have moved <em>into</em> that area and would get hit all the same. Of course, that left Erani with basically no way to protect herself, which she could see causing her issues in the few short segments of memory where An had caught glimpses of her fleeing from the monsters. However, in a timeline where her continued survival wasnt actually all that important, that was fine.


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    But now that her choice concerned the rest of her life, and not a single specific fight? The Spell would not work for her. It still had uses, of courseshed read plenty of passages regarding Meteorics possibilities as a positioning denial Spell, with its longsting fires being able to create imprable walls entrapping Melee-types, as well as how the Upgrade turned Firebolt from an already phenomenal sieging and destruction tool into one of the best a Sorcerer could get at this Level, but for Eranis purposes? It simply wasnt worth the massive drawback.


    That just left the other two options, then.


    Choose one Upgrade for Firebolt:


    Forceful Firebolt


    School: +Arcane


    When Firebolt makes a direct collision with a being, an additional force vector is applied to them with direction and force equal to that of Explosive Firebolts, except it ignores 35% of the natural force prevention that the beings current Health gives them.


    Double Firebolt


    When you cast Firebolt from one hand, you may have a second Firebolt be shot from your other hand as long as each Firebolt is angled to be shot 40 degrees away from each other.


    She looked them over. There was lots to consider, for certain. But she kept reading one section over and over. Double Firebolts shot from your other hand.


    Erani looked down at her single hand. Would Double Firebolt even function with her current body? She hadnt ever read anything about that.


    She knew that the obviously correct decision would be to simply ask An to talk to his Index thing about it, but she couldnt bring herself to do so. She wanted to verbally acknowledge her predicament as little as possible, if she was honest with herself. Besides, she really didnt like that Index Talent and what it said sometimes, so deliberately going to it for advice wasless than ideal.


    She <em>also</em> knew that it would probably have been a good idea for her to have taken Double rather than Meteoric in the previous timeline, that way she would know for sure if it would work. Why hadnt she? Well, this current version of her had no idea. Perhaps it was embarrassment at the thought of the Spell not working. Perhaps she had decided that the Upgrade was simply not worth taking even if it <em>did</em> work, and figuring out Meteorics exact timing was better. Perhaps she just didnt want to exin to An why shed taken an Upgrade to find the answer to a question that was easily answerable by Index. Perhaps she <em>had</em> already asked Index about it in the previous timeline, and An just hadnt given her that memory because he figured shed just ask again.


    In a normal situation, the decision between Forceful and Double was often a toss-up between different builds. Getting this far deep into the options always led to fractured opinions among schrs, Erani had found, since it was at this point that humanity simply had far less experience with the options provided. Everyone knew that Explosive Firebolt was the best option for Firebolts first Upgrade because pretty much every Sorcerer out there got to that point and could weigh in their opinions. Everything that could be said about the topic had been said, so most everything was known, and the schrs coulde to an agreement. At the second Upgrade, however, practical experience became sparse, and as such, so did understanding.


    Forceful was an interesting choice. Its wording was slightly obtuse, but effectively, the Upgrade would double the knockback of Firebolts explosion against whoever it hit at its baseline. But then, if that person had so much Health that it was reducing the effectiveness of the Spells knockback, this Upgrades added knockback would pretend that the persons Health was 35% lower for the purposes of deciding how much force would apply to them. Basically, it pushed people back further on a direct hit, even if they were really strong.


    Double was also quite interesting. A good number of aimed projectile-based Spells like this one had an Upgrade like this somewhere along the line, though the exact functioning of each varied a bit. In Double Firebolts case, what it did was effectively allow the user to shoot a second Firebolt for free when casting the Spell. That would be a ridiculously powerful effect if it didnte with a restriction, though, so in this case, Double Firebolt would only allow one to shoot the second Firebolt if the two Firebolts were aimed at least forty degrees apart.


    It was a measurement that was somewhat difficult to envision off the top of your head, but really, all that needed to be known was that it basically ensured you had to fire each Firebolt at a different target. Even with the explosions giving some leeway, it was almost impossible to hit the same person with both Firebolts unless they were extremely close to the caster. Also, the Upgrade gave no inherent knowledge of whether a persons hands were actually aimed far enough apart for the Upgrades effect to trigger until <em>after </em>the Spell was cast, and at that point, both hands had to already be in position and aimed at their respective targets.


    Effectively, from what Erani had read, the Upgrade had potential to be extremely powerful, but it came with an extremely high skill requirement. One needed to have the mental focus to aim at two separate targets at once, keep their hands appropriately apart, and somehow look in two different ces at once to keep track of both enemies they were shooting at. But if they could, it would mean an insane increase to their abilities. It was as close to doubling your power with a single Upgrade as you could get.


    Except Erani had no idea if it would work for her. Much less if she had what it took to train herself enough to use it. Forceful was clearly the safer option. It worked very well against weak opponents to keep them pinned down, keeping the stun-locking strategy that functioned well at early Levels relevant for just a little bit longer. The force effect of Explosive Firebolt was what kept Magic-Types alive.


    Sure, the force still scaled less quickly than peoples Health did, meaning the Upgrade would <em>eventually</em> be useless, but the now was just as important as the futureif not moreso. Keeping herself safe and inmand during these fights was important, even if she would just be dying the inevitable urrence of Explosive Firebolt bing unable to significantly push back any opponent at her Level.


    But Erani couldnt shake the thought of taking Double Firebolt. It was like the Upgrade was calling to her. She <em>wanted</em> to master the difficult Upgrade, to reach new heights of power. She <em>wanted </em>to spend hours training with it, memorizing the degree numbers, learning new fighting styles. She <em>wanted</em> to struggle, and to eventually seed.


    Erani had always felt a very strange connection with the lost versions of herself from other timelines. They werent quite <em>her</em>they had different memories, different experiences, and, of course, one was alive while the other wasnt. Rather, it was almost like a sistership. Both she and her time sisters were born of the same motherpast Eraniand would venture forth into the unknown, making new discoveries with the hopes that they would be passed onto their peers across time.


    In this case, Erani felt that her sister had made a mistake. That one had tried to find an easy way out of thisclung onto hope that maybe Meteoric Firebolts downside wouldnt be as bad as people said it was, and that she could just take that Upgrade without worrying about the other options. That hadnt been the case. It was time to ensure Eranis future selves wouldnt regret what she did now. At the very least, she had to <em>try.</em>


    Hey, An, she said, hearing her voice carry a tone of stress, do you mind asking Index to help me with something?

 Chapter 237: Take a Risk

    Chapter 237: Take a Risk


    As we sat in the back of the carriage, separated from the driver up front, I heard a sudden voice.


    Hey, An, Erani said, do you mind asking Index to help me with something?


    Hm? I asked. Sure. Whats up?


    Erani paused for a moment, like she was suddenly reconsidering. Shed been silent ever since she got back her memories, which Id assumed was because shed been looking them over and deciding which Firebolt Upgrade to finally take. Seemed like she needed help, after all. Though I wasnt sure what sort of a question shed have in this timeline that she wouldnt have hadst time.


    After a moment of silence, she answered. So, I guess I just wanted to know whether or not one of my Upgrades would work.


    I waited for her to borate, but she stayed silent. Are you gonna tell me what the specific Upgrade is?


    Oh. I thought it would justknow what Im talking about. It knows everything, right?


    <em>Index?</em>


    I cant read her mind. But I <em>can </em>assume what shes asking about. Though I thought she just didnt want to take the Upgrade or something, considering how obvious the problem is and how long shes gone without asking about it. Anyway, tell her that Double Firebolt wont function without both of her hands being intact.


    <em>Ah. I think I get why she wasnt eager to ask about it.</em>


    Oh, that? Index asked, reading my thoughts. Meh, not sure that I get it. Seems like its pointless to get all sad and embarrassed about a missing arm. Who cares? If thats actually why she waited, shes kinda stupid.


    <em>Index. Dont talk like that.</em>


    What? Holding the teamand thus, youback just because of a little difort at a topic is a pretty horrible thing to do. If shes willing to do something that horrible to satisfy an objectively incorrect emotion, then shes got no self-control, and is, thus, stupid.


    <em>II dont even know how to respond to that. Shes perfectly fine not wanting to remind herself of something thing like that. Just let me talk with her for a moment and answer her question. And dont talk about her like that again. I mean it.</em>


    Are you okay? Erani asked, looking at me with a concerned face. Id gotten pretty good at making out her expressions through Distortion Strike by now, so I was pretty sure that was what she was looking at me with. You look upset.


    Uh, yeah, its okay, I said, not wanting to tell her what Index had said about her. Just bad news, I guess. Well, assuming youre asking about an Upgrade called Double Firebolt? Index said it wouldnt work with, um, your current situation.


    Her face visibly fell. Oh. Okay. I guess Ill take the other option then.


    Was that your first pick?


    Well, yeah, probably. I guess I hadnt entirely decided on what my choice would be, but it was what I was leaning toward. B-but its alright; the other choice is still a very decent increase to my effectiveness as a fighter, so there shouldnt be any issues. And Double would cause some issues anyway in terms of finding time to practice it, so maybe things are better this way. I guess


    Do you really feel that way? I asked, interrupting her.


    What?


    Do you actually think its better to be locked out of picking Double Firebolt?


    Well, maybe. Im not sure. But its not worth thinking about now, is it? And I certainly dont want to make myself feel worse about not being able to have it, soI may as well try to think of things in terms of positives, right?


    I shook my head. I dont agree at all. If you always convince yourself that things are okay the way they are, youll never have the motivation to make them better.


    This isnt a situation you can make better, though. Good enough is okay, sometimes.


    See? Youve already lost the motivation. Let me seewhat about a wand or staff? Those can be enchanted to serve as extensions of your limbs for Spellcasting purposes, right?


    Yes, but this Upgrade specifically requires your hands. Its known among Magic-Types that if youre nning on taking it, you dont want to invest in something like that specifically because it cant function with them.


    What about a prosthetic, then? We were already nning on trying to find a way to make one for you.


    <em>You</em> were nning on that. Im not convinced itll ever happen, plus I dont even know if itd work anyway.


    <em>Index?</em>


    Uh, depending on how the item is Enchanted, it could effectively serve as a body augmentation instead of a tool, such thatYeah. Yeah, you could make it work. Itd most likely make things trickier for whatever poor Enchanter you get to make this thing for you, but its possible with the piece of example tech you have with you.


    Index says its possible, I said simply.


    Erani sighed. So, what? You want me to take the Upgrade in the hopes that itd <em>maybe</em> end up working out?


    Im not saying I <em>want</em> you to do anything. But if youre going to make a concession thats going to make you unhappy for the rest of your life when you arent being forced into making itIm at least gonna advise you to reconsider.


    Youre overexaggerating.


    Maybe youre underexaggerating.


    She rolled her eyes. Are you just being intentionally difficult?


    I leaned back against the railing. Okay, maybe a little bit. But Im also being serious. How can you be so flippant about this stuff? Arent you always the one saying you need to be <em>more</em> careful? Do <em>more</em> research? <em>More</em> preparation? Havent you told me you do all that because you dont want to regret your decisions? I dont see how you can decide to take this Upgrade knowing that you might be fucking yourself over with it.


    Theres no time you can ever make a decision like this without at least a little bit of doubt. What you <em>can</em> do is mitigate risk. Id much rather be slightly disappointed one hundred percent of the time than be happy half the time and absolutely miserable the other half.


    I frowned. That soundspletely turned around. Wouldnt you just be hopeless in that first scenario? Sure, dont take <em>unnecessary</em> risks, but youve gotta take some. Hells, most of the decisions you make should be risks.


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    If most of the decisions you make are risks, youre bound to fail sometime.


    Yeah, and then you just take more risks until youre not in trouble anymore.


    Erani stared at me. You sound like someone who just got themself into massive gambling debt and is now trying to convince themself that if they just gamble more then they can fix it all.


    Okay, okay, that was partially just me being difficult again. But speaking of, I should definitely go and gamble sometime, with my Talent. Anyway thats beside the point. The idea is, likeSure, in <em>your </em>scenario, taking a risk and failing is a big hit. Because you havent taken any risks before. Youre not used to it, and youre in a position where a loss would really suck. But if you take a chance on ten separate things and only one of them falls through, then who cares, right? Those other nine went well enough that it doesnt matter. Or, hells, reverse it. You take risks on ten different things, and sure, nine of them went belly-up and it was all a waste of time and effort, but if just one went well, that can be enough to set you up for life. And I get that Im being really general with the way Im speaking, but you get the overall idea, right? You <em>have</em> to take some risks at some point in your life, so set yourself up enough that it doesnt matter if it fails miserably.


    Erani just sighed. I suppose I understand your perspective. Being an adventurer carries a lot of risk with it in the first ce, so I would even say I agree, on some level. But life isnt the way you seem to think it is. Sure, you probably see and hear all of these stories from sessful people, saying Yes, yes, I got to the point Im at because I took a risk and it paid off, so my advice to you is to take more risks. And to them, of course you should live life on the edge, and do crazy stuff, and chase every insane dream you can think up, because <em>they </em>took a gamble and won big. But Im sure that if you walk up to a few beggars and ask them what not to do, theyll tell you they got into their position doing the exact same thing. Theyll tell you Dont take risks, dont live dangerously, dont gamble what you have on a childish dream. Looking only at the survivors will carry an inherent bias with it.


    I think theres more difference between the sessful and the unsessful than just pure luck. Sure, theres an element of luck to it, butImagine you have the ability to bet everything you have on a single coin flip. Heads will double your money, tails will lose it all. Only, this coin is weighted in your favor. Its got a sixty percent chance of heads, not fifty. So then, its technically a good idea to flip the coin, right?


    Mathematically, sure. But practically


    Right. Its simply not worth risking everything you have on the chance to maybe increase your means, even if the odds are in your favor. I agree with you on that. But then, imagine you have the chance to flip that coin a thousand times, and then take the average of all the results and <em>thats</em> your result. If the majority were heads, then you win. And since youve got it just barely rigged in your favor, doing it enough times will basically guarantee an overall win for you. So I feel like the difference between these people is that theyve got just tiny differences in their chances. Even if one person does two percent better than average, or someone else does just two percent worsethings that arepletely unnoticeable in daily lifethats absolutely massive when youre taking a persons whole life into ount. Thats a lot of repeated coin flips.


    But then youre just gambling on something else then, right? Youre betting that youre one of the people with the odds weighted in their favor.


    Well, how do you feel? Youre the one who''s lived your whole life. Youve got a record of every single one of your coin flips. Do you think youve got enough merit toe out on top more often than not?


    She pursed her lips, clearly unsure of how to respond.


    Ill tell you what, I said, Im gonna go ahead and give you my own vote of confidence. If you take this Upgrade, even if its got all these caveats, I think you can make it work. And if its truly better than the alternativesor even if you just think you mesh more with the fighting style thates along with itthen I think its worth taking that risk for the sake of yourself. Weve got a little time, and weve got some resources. If you waste it all acting as though we have nothing, then once were in trouble again, youll have really wished you acted differently back when you were swimming in opportunities. When theres a chance for greatness in front of you, youve gotta at least reach for it.


    Erani closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Ill just wait to make the decision. We can see how things pan out with this whole making me a new limb thing.


    I nodded. Ill be by your side either way you go. Just dont want to see you do something youll end up regretting.


    Believe me. If you can actually manage to pull off acquiring an Enchanted prosthetic in the middle of an Enchanter drought, Ill be too happy about that to be disappointed about some random slightly suboptimal Spell Upgrade decision.


    We sat in silence for some time, simply feeling the soft bumps of the sand sinking beneath the wheels of the carriage we sat in. But it didnt take long for that silence to be broken.


    Excuse me, a voice came from my side. I looked over and saw one of the guards, a man with a scraggly beard, having approached us from the back of the cart, walking along from behind. Ive been trained to be a poor listener when ites to private conversations held in these carriages, and I wont even pretend to have understood half of what you two were talking about. However, I still couldnt help but overhear a few words, and it sounds like youre trying to get some sort of Enchanted prosthetic limb made?


    Uh, yeah, I said. Thats kind of one of the reasons we came here. All of the Enchanters were called to the capital for military stuff because of the Demons invasion, right? If you happen to know any experienced, high-Level Enchanters in town looking for work, thatd be perfect.


    No, no, I wasing to tell you the exact opposite. Sure, therere plenty of Enchanters in the capital, but theyre not about to be epting deals with randoms. Theyre all bogged down with official empire work, and most of the important ones are even kept in walled-off properties so they can focus.


    What, like prisoners?


    He just shrugged. All I know is theyre not avable.


    Well, shit. I looked over to Erani and saw the unbearable sight of dejected eyes. Is there anything else possible?


    If you signed up for military service Im sure theyd outfit you with some gear. Other than that, I dunno. Go to the Koinkar Kingdom? I hear theyve got plenty of Enchanters.


    Yeah, I dont think either of those options are entirely possible, I said with a sigh.


    Hey, not every military job is all guts and glory. Plenty of Magic-Types get holed up in bunkers somewhere casting healing Spells and such.


    No, its nothing like that. I just dont really want to be tied down doing whatever the empire tells me to do. Sounds like a waste of time and energy. Besides, we have ces we need to be, and getting moved around as part of an army contingent would obviously get in the way of ns.


    I guess I get what you mean. I definitely prefer doing escort jobs. Lets me get by without fighting, and I get to see my family on my off-days. And Im definitely not strong enough to take up one of those special recruitment programs to try and get treatment like that from the military. Maybe you could join my employers contingent, he nodded to the woman driving the carriage. She pays well enough that you could probably get the money to buy some Enchantments once the whole Demon thing blows over and demand settles down again.


    Wait, what was that? I asked.


    Oh, yeah, shes got a whole group of trusted people that she normally calls on for escort stuff, so


    No, what did you say about a special recruitment program? Whats that?


    That? I honestly dont know much, myself. But apparently its Emperor Etrins way of trying to incentivise higher-Level ssers to actually sign up. Military doesnt really attract people whove already got power, yknow, just those whore weak and <em>want </em>to get stronger. So he set up some sort ofpetition where the best of the best get toe on as sort of contractors, doing government work without signing their lives away. But, I mean, youve gotta be <em>really</em> powerful to perform well in those things. I even know some silver-tes who got thrown out in the first round of eliminations for one of them.


    I frowned. How do they work? Do they just ask you for your Level, or ask you to take an aptitude test, or what?


    Again, I dont know the specifics. But ever since the empire got afraid of these Demons, theyve been rushing to hold these contest things back to back to back. And once youre out of one, youre disqualified from any future ones. They dont want sore losers mucking up the ranks, or something. But Im sure theyre getting full up on soldiers by now; I doubt theyll need to do desperate stuff like that much longer.


    And whoever wins one of these contests, they get the full benefits of the empires resources? Gear, Enchantments, everything? And they dont necessarily need to follow a bunch of orders?


    You really like asking questions I dont know the answer to. Im not totally sure, just going off of what I remember hearing about this stuff when I was in townst week. If you want to know more, go talk to one of the organizers or recruiters or whatever once you get into town.


    I might just do that.


    I looked over at Erani, who was staring at me as though she thought I was about to say I told you so. I wasnt going to say anything like that, however; I hadnt been proven right yet. All I knew was that there was a chance.


    But a chance was all I needed.


    So, I said to her, you wanna take a risk?

 Chapter 238: What to Do

    Chapter 238: What to Do


    Over the rest of that afternoon and night, we traveled through the desert to Precipice, the capital city. I passively practiced Noxious Grasp the whole time as I watched the sky darken, day shifting to night once more in this timeline.


    Id spoken with Index about more in-depth details regarding this Beacon thing that Id only just recently figured out, and it seemed like the best n of action would be to go into the city, figure things out there, and thene back out to the desertter when we werent around others and get it set up.


    That thing would need to be kept hidden because of its cost mechanics. With the cost to activate it getting ten times more expensive for a week with every use, taking a single group of people on one or two trips per week would be fine, but if someone else discovered it and started using it, suddenly itd be basically locked out of our use.


    Once we got it set up, itd suddenly be much easier for us to go back and forth from here to Salvation, that way we could keep in-touch with our old connections, and wed have easy ess to the Kingdom if that ever became necessary.


    But regardless, that was allter. By the time it began to gette enough for my eyelids to feel heavy, I asked one of the guards how much longer was left in the trip and whether wed break for the night. He responded that they normally made the trip in a single day, simply traveling through the night, so we wouldnt be stopping, but we could always sleep in the carriage.


    Sharing a single nce with Erani, I knew we werent doing that. Even if I knew logically that they were friendly, I was already ufortable being surrounded by so many armed ssers, and I wasnt about to betray that feeling any more by willingly falling unconscious on their watch. Erani seemed to feel the same way. Or maybe she just didnt think she could sleep on the wooden floor jostling up and down on the bumpy path we traveled.


    Ainash was the most ufortable of all of us, however. It stood out to me now more than ever, as Id just gotten here from a timeline where she was much more in her element. I wasnt sure if I should have found it worrying or not, but she was clearly much happier and morefortable surrounded by enemies on all sides, fighting for her life, than sitting in a covered carriage among a few Humans.


    It was the middle of the night when the city walls came into sight. It was built around a wide river that wound through the dunes, with the stone walls reaching high into the air and covering a massive area. Even whenparing it to Carth, thergest city Id ever seen by far, this ce absolutely dwarfed it in size. It had several tiers of walls, the shorter ones expanding out much further out into the desert, with the absolute tallest-rivaling the height of even the tallest towers-only covering a rtively small section in the direct center. I had to imagine the taller walls were there to provide safety from flying monsters like the Sand Stingers. Though, with there also being burrowing monsters out here, did the walls also extend deep beneath the ground as well?


    Here we are, the guard Id spoken with before said as the city came into full view. Should be just another hour or so before we arrive, get through customs, and I can finally sit down. You two <em>do </em>have a permit for that monster pet, right?


    No, I said with a sigh, getting slightly tired of exining our situation, we dont. Its one of the reasons we came here-to get her officially registered and all that. But I promise you shes totally friendly and understanding and all that.


    It is, huh? he asked, walking closer to the cart where Ainash was sitting, dangling her legs off the side and mindlessly kicking the air.


    She gazed at him and narrowed her eyes.


    Doesnt seem all that friendly, he said, raising a finger to poke at her calf.


    Before he could touch her, Ainash spun into action, leaping up to bnce deftly on the edge of the cart, drawing her ming whip in a single movement, and rearing back to strike utilizing her height advantage.


    The man shouted in surprise, stumbling back and holding his hands up to protect himself.


    But Ainash stopped before attacking, ncing back at me. <em>Father, think this Human is bad guy. Was trying to touch me. Probably casting Spell like you do by touching monster to kill it.</em>


    <em>No, no, its okay, </em>I assured her.


    Erani had already leapt to her feet and rushed over to grab onto Ainashs hand and hold her back from swinging. I didnt think it was necessary to go as far as physically restraining her, but I supposed it couldnt hurt to show a token gesture of us trying to prevent a murder from urring. Surely she wouldnt actually have gone that far, though.


    <em>You are sure?</em> Ainash asked me.


    <em>Yeah, I was just talking with him and he was curious. Look at him, hes just as scared of you as you are of him.</em>


    The carriage, still moving along, had left the man behind, frozen in fear and shock at the sudden death hed almost faced.


    <em>Afraid enemies are dangerous. Have nothing to lose.</em>


    <em>Well then, hes only a little afraid. The amount of afraid that makes a person not want to mess with you. So you dont need to worry.</em>


    <em>Humans areplicated.</em>


    Honey, why dont you sit down and sheathe your weapon? Erani asked in a soothing tone. Its a bad habit to get aggressive with people automatically like that.


    <em>Right, </em>I said. <em>Its good to defend yourself, but try not to make any enemies in the process. Otherwise, youll end up with more people to defend yourself against than you began.</em>


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    <em>If Human is bad enough to attack me out of fear, then should die anyway. Am rooting out the future bad guys.</em>


    Thats not a very urate way of thinking about things, Erani said. Plenty of people are good, but might think <em>youre</em> bad if you act like that.


    Ainash stared at the man for a moment, then plopped back down to her seat at the edge of the carriage, repeating, <em>Humans areplicated.</em>


    What in mes was that?! another guard shouted, running up to us.


    Yeah, friendly my ass! That thing just almost killed me! The one Ainash had threatened started jogging to catch back up, too.


    It was a warning, I said, rolling my eyes. Dont be a baby.


    Annor, Erani scolded me. Then she turned to the others. We apologize on the behalf of our friend here. She <em>is </em>friendly, but very jumpy. She would absolutely never actually attack someone like that for no reason; shes just a little used to the wilderness, and is still limating to Humanity.


    No way you get that thing registered as an actual pet, the man scoffed. min feral.


    Yknow, you dont have to refer to her as a thing, I said. Maybe try being kinder to her and shell trust you more. Treat her like an actual person, perhaps?


    He silently rolled his eyes, but I could tell what he was thinking. <em>That things no person.</em>


    I almost responded, but Erani cut in first. Anyway, we sincerely apologize for that, and well be sure to keep it from happening again in the short time well be together until we reach Precipice.


    The guard grunted and moved on, out of our sight.


    What an asshole, I muttered.


    Not everyone knows her like we do, Erani responded. To them, shes just another monster.


    Yeah, and to me, hes just another jackass waiting to be taught a lesson.


    Erani gave me a look. You should probably not be teaching anyone a lesson the day we enter a new city. Besides, he helped us out earlier by telling us about thatpetition thing.


    Thats fair, I guess, I said with a sigh. Just pisses me off how much effort we have to go through to prove to this empire that Ainash isnt some bloodthirsty monster.


    <em>But I am bloodthirsty, </em>Ainash responded. <em>Want to kill lots of bad guys!</em>


    <em>Okay, but its different from what theyre assuming. They think youre unreasonable, or that you might kill </em>them<em>.</em>


    <em>Will kill them if they are bad guys.</em>


    <em>You dont make a very good argument for yourself, you know.</em>


    We eventually made it to the outermost wall, thankfully without any murdersmitted, and got through rtively easily. Ainash unfortunately had to stay outside like she normally did, though that issue would be resolved soon.


    Once we were inside the walls, Erani and I quickly split off from the merchant and herpany of guards, left now to our own devices.


    So, I said, whats first? Figuring stuff out regarding thispetition, or trying to get Ainash inside?


    Well, unfortunately, we have no information regarding where we should go to do either of those things, so I think our only option as to whats first would be to wander around aimlessly.


    So we did exactly that. I had to imagine going further toward the center of the city would help our odds of finding something relevant to either of those objectives, so that was the general direction we headed.


    The outer ring of the city, surrounded by the shortest walls, seemed to be mostly residential in nature. There were thousands of shabby huts and inns positioned haphazardly along the winding roads, the sand obviously not doing too well as a foundation for building, which made me curious as to why someone would even found a city in a desert like this in the first ce, much less why youd make it the capital of such an expansive empire. Surely there were better ces to establish something like that with all thend they had?


    Overall, this ce was clearly the lower-ie area. ncing around, it seemed like the majority of people here must have worked as stonemasons, considering the equipment that was lying around, which meant the farming must have been done further in. Or maybe they just imported all of their food, with the teleportation circles so nearby.


    There were plenty of beggars on the streets, but most of them left us alone. We probably looked foreign enough that they assumed we didnt have any coin in the form of empire currency. But after walking around the web-like roads for long enough, I began to realize that we were barely making any progress toward the center of Precipice at all. Wede to a splinter in the road and walk down one path, only to find that it was a dead end, the tightly-packed buildings preventing us from moving any further. And then wed try to backtrack and go the other way, only toe to a six-way intersection with no idea of where wed originallye from.


    Eventually, I got frustrated enough to just ask the first person I saw for instructions in navigating this nonsensical ce. There was a group of three beggars huddled up on a part of the partially-crumbled road, speaking in mumbling tones. Their ragged x clothes rustled with movement as I approached, no doubt looking slightly more intimidating than Id have liked, with Dark te always giving off its menacing aura.


    Excuse me, I called to them. Would you happen to know if theresI dunno, like, a map for the city? Were new, and-


    The closest one, a woman with cracked tan skin, squawked out augh. If there were a map, itd be outdated within the week!


    The restughed with her, and Erani and I shared a nce.


    I see, I continued. Then, could you give us directions on how to get further into the city?


    Nope, she croaked, then turned back to her friends. Looking more closely, they seemed to be ying some sort of game using a couple decks of cards, shifting them around from different piles into their hands, then back onto the ground, turning them sideways and upside down and pushing them at each other in aggressive motions. Looked way tooplicated for me.


    Seems like theyre a bust, then, I muttered to Erani, and we moved on. Wed just have to make our way through on our own.


    As we left, I heard a stern voicee from behind us, seemingly speaking with the beggars.


    You know, you could be doing a lot more valuable things with your lives rather than ying that game all day, the new person said.


    Oh? We would love to hear your newest pitch on why we should go die in a pointless war. Please, madam, go on.


    I turned to see what was going on. Seemed like some woman-aw enforcement officer, from the looks of her uniformed armor-had walked up and started speaking with them.


    You wouldnt have to be footsoldiers. If you have a couple Levels under your belt, gopete in this weeks tournament. Youd get quite the cushy life if you win.


    The beggar scoffed and prepared a reply, but I interrupted, calling out to the woman. Sounds great. Where do we sign up?


    Erani nced over at me. I guess we know what to do first, then.

 Chapter 239: Going to Win

    Chapter 239: Going to Win


    Standing in the middle of the run-down city streets, the woman blinked, looking us up and down after my deration of interest in this tournament shed been talking about.


    You wanna know more? she asked.


    Course we do, I said, stepping forward. Weve been trying to find a ce where we can get more information on it. You can point us in the direction of where we can sign up?


    Ill walk you there personally. I get paidmission, she said with a grin.


    It seemed that the guard wasnt totally able to navigate these streets, herself. As we walked with her, she would asionally start heading down a path only to find it was a dead-end, or realize she was leading us in the wrong direction and turn around to start backtracking. Though, she didnt look totally lost. At the very least, we seemed to be getting <em>somewhere.</em>


    We soon arrived at a nicer building thatd been stuck in between a couple run-down shacks. It looked much more professionally made than everything else, standing wider and taller and without the half-crumbled, lopsided walls that characterized everything else thatd been built out here. Instead, its smooth stone exterior, while not exactly pretty, was clearly made tost.


    She led us inside, where there was a man standing at a desk with a couple pieces of paper on it, each covered in information.


    Ah! he eximed, face lighting up at our entrance. Are you here to sign up for the army?


    Uh, the tournament thing, actually, I said.


    Right, perfect, you can read more about that here, he said, pointing down at one of the papers. The two of you look like powerful ssers. Youll fit right in.


    Good, I said as Erani walked over and picked up the paper, ncing across it. So, if we win this thing, we get invited to join some sort of special military program, right?


    Exactly. Great to see someone well-researched! Essentially, by entering this weeks Conqueror''s Tourney, youre setting yourself up for the opportunity to be a preferred contractor, whiches with plenty of benefits and upsides whenpared to bing a normal soldier. Weve also got a special Leveling program for anyone under Level 10 to catch them up to our typical standard, and


    The program wouldnt be necessary for us, I said. But these preferred contractors get ess to military resources, right? Specifically Enchanters?


    Of course. The full might of the empire will be given to you in your assistance fending off the Demon threat!


    So if we want a specialty Enchanted item made for us, that would be possible?


    Depending on the item, yes, most likely.


    Great. And we wouldnt be getting shipped out to battlefields against our wills or anything, right? Itd be up to us what we do?


    Er, effectively, yes, he said.


    It says here that wed be mandated to go on at least one mission from a selection per week in order to receive continued benefits, Erani said, pointing to the pamphlet shed been reading. And if we ever neglect to do that, we lose our benefits?


    Ah, yes, thats true, but its not hard at all to do the missions, really, he said.


    Its not like its criminal to stop though, right? I asked. We wont get punished, wed just lose our benefits?


    No, no, you wouldnt be jailed or fined or anything like that.


    I looked at Erani. So we can just y along for enough time for our item to bepleted, and then were done.


    The man chuckled nervously. Ah, Im sure youll see it isnt as difficult as you seem to be anticipating. And besides, I find that it is extremely enriching to contribute to the fight against the Demons.


    Right, right, I said. Anyway, I think wed like to sign up, as long as we dont find anything else in this pamphlet to convince us not to. So then, for this tournament thing, whats up with it? What all does it entail?


    The Conqueror''s Tourney is a multi-round single-elimination contest of wit, skill, and fighting ability, the man said, getting back into the groove of his pitch. The opening elimination round will consist of a challenge you will need toplete before a time limit runs out, and then once that has beenpleted, you will be entered into the mainbat challenge, fighting against your opponents one-on-one in a specialty arena.


    What is this challenge?


    They change every week, that way you cant prepare ahead of time. But it often includes things like killing monsters or collecting certain items, meant to test your general abilities as a sser. Youre allowed toplete them as an individual or as a group, but each person has toplete their objective, meaning a pair of people would effectively have to do twice as much.


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    And the time limit?


    Again, it changes depending on the challenge, but its typically a number of days. As long as you can do whatever we ask in that time, youre entered into thebat rounds.


    Erani tapped on the paper again. It says here something about winning fame and glory during the tournament. This is spectated by the public?


    Ah, yes, you must be new here if you werent aware. The arenabat draws in thousands each week to watch the fights, especially once you get into theter rounds.


    I frowned. Wait, so is this tournament for recruiting or is it for entertainment?


    Its a method of finding the best soldiers around. But we cant help it if people like to watch. I mean, high-Level sserbat is something that many dont get to see their whole lives, so why not show it off while we have it happening legally?


    Hm, I said. Seemed like a slight conflict of interest, with them trying to genuinely see whos the best fighter while also trying to make the rounds as entertaining as possible, but I supposed what he said was fair. Anyway, this isnt to the death or anything, is it? Just, like, fight until someone cant physically fight back anymore? Or


    The man looked at me, horrified. To the death?! No, of course not, that would be horrible. Participants will only fight until they fall to a certain Health threshold, and may forfeit at any time if they feel they are in danger. Plenty of safety measures are provided as well, including Clerics on-site with active healing as well as preventative Spells such as Feign Death, which will keep you from passing below that threshold in the first ce.


    Feign Death only keeps you from passing below 100 Health for a single instance of damage, after which its effect ends, though, Erani said. So damage-over-time effects could still easily kill. I assume you have measures in ce to keep that from happening? And idental killings will not result in legal persecution?


    Im sure they wont ur in the first ce, he said. And yes, as Ive said, Clerics are also on-site to begin healing the moment Feign Death is triggered, meaning it would be extremely difficult to kill someone during the tourney.


    And what are the Levels of the winners, typically? I asked


    There have been a variety of different Levels among winners, and their exact information is of course ssified. However, I will say that, since the tourneys have been going on for some time now, the strongestpetitors have alreadypeted and won. So now is a perfect time to enter!


    Will we know anything about our future opponents? Erani asked.


    Youll know their names ahead of time, so manypetitors go and watch their future opponents matches to research their fighting styles. However, you can always keep some of your methods hidden to reveal themter in the tournament so your opponents dont know as much about you. Some of our most exciting moments havee from final-round revtions!


    More and more, I was getting the feeling that this tournaments focus on entertainment was greater than the recruiter was letting on. But that was okay; as long as we got Erani that new arm, I was fine with some publicbat.


    How many total rounds will there be? Erani asked.


    Seven, he answered. One each day.


    She frowned. I thought you did these each week? And several days are taken up by the elimination round?


    Next weeks elimination round runs at the same time as this weeks final rounds, he said. So, technically, for thepetitors the tournament runs for a little longer than one week. But the spectated rounds onlyst seven days


    When is the elimination round starting, then?


    Tomorrow.


    I blinked and looked at Erani, suddenly d that wede here as quickly as we did. Well, I guess we shouldnt hesitate in signing up.


    He grinned. Perfect. Juste into the back room with me and we can get all of your necessary information.


    While signing up, I had a brief moment of panic when they asked for my specific ss and Levelsomething I definitely would have trouble telling them when they would be watching me fight. But Index gave me the quick rmendation to just tell them I was a Wizard. Since that ss got a new Spell every single Level, by Level 21 there were so many differentbinations of Spells to choose that it was effectively impossible for Humanity to document every single one thatd be offered. So if I cast something they didnt recognize, theyd just assume Id gone down an undocumented path. Certainly an unorthodox thing for a Wizard to do, but not unheard of.


    Once we were signed up and everything was sorted, I thought of something and turned back to the recruiter. Hey, where can we go to get permission to bring a monster into the city?


    There are a few government offices in the outer circle of Precipice. One isnt too far from here. If you give me a moment, I can write down some directions for you.


    Good, thanks. And one more thing. Entrants into this tournament dont have to be specifically Human, right? If a monster gains citizenship, then it can participate as well?


    Yes, though that doesnt happen very often. There arent too many sentient monsters around this area that like to interact with Human society.


    Perfect, thanks. I turned and walked away.


    Erani looked over to me as we left. Are you thinking what it sounds like youre thinking?


    I mean, Ainash would probably love to have the opportunity to beat some people up, right?


    It might be hard to exin to her that shes not allowed to kill them. Also, getting not just a pet license, but full-on citizenship in a single day will be tough.


    We can probably figure something out. Cant hurt to try, right? We need as many people as possible so we have the best chances to get ess to those Enchanters.


    I suppose so. Im just worried about her.


    Shell be fine. Shes strong.


    Yes, thats precisely the problem.


    Sure, a problem for her enemies.


    It could cause issues if her main method of interaction with people other than us continues to be violence-based.


    Then well make her some friends once she can enter the city. Boom, problem solved.


    Erani sighed. Youre really eager to do this tournament. Do you like risking your life <em>that</em> much?


    Oh, our lives arent at risk at all.


    Im not sure if I entirely trust their promises of this being totally safe, and its a bad habit to rely on your Talent that much. Their countermeasures dont protect against plenty of things, like


    No, no. Were not in danger, I said, because were going to win.

 Chapter 240: Start the Test

    Chapter 240: Start the Test


    After signing up for the tournament, we then went to a nearby government office that the recruiter had pointed us to. The walk there was a little confusing, but having slightly wed directions was better than having none at all, so we got there rtively quickly.


    Inside, we were guided to an empty side-office once we told them we were there to discuss getting Ainash into the city, where we sat and waited. The room had only a desk and a few chairs inside, a small amount of lighting from a small window ced in the wall.


    Eventually, someone entered and sat with us. He was a short, balding man who wore clothes fancier than Id everid my hands on. Though, that wasnt saying much, considering Id neverid my hands on many fancy clothes at all.


    He sat in the chair opposite to us, back straight and hands folded on the table. So, youd like to speak with a monster specialist about obtaining a license for your pet?


    Ah, no, I said. Were here to try and get citizenship for a monster. Not a pet license.


    And you want it by He looked down at his paper. Tomorrow?


    Preferably by the end of today.


    He sighed. How do you expect that to happen?


    Were willing to pay the full fee right now, shes just outside the city borders, and shes very intelligent. Im confident shell pass any test you throw at her.


    Sir, its not that simple. Maybe if you were simply attempting to obtain a pet license, or to gain temporary permission for her to operate within the city, but full citizenship is a much moreplicated process. It would take several months at minimum to get the paperwork submitted and all necessary tests administered. Additionally, you would need proof that the monster could feasibly find work in the city, and you would need three sponsors that would each agree to take legal responsibility if the monstermitted any crimes.


    I frowned. This was harder than I thought itd be. Is there any way to speed up the process? Wed be willing to work with you on whatevers necessary, in terms of cutting some sort of deal to


    There is no cutting a deal with legal documents, sir. It will take a number of months, and there is no way to speed the process up. You will simply have to move your ns, Im afraid.


    No moving these ns, unfortunately, I said with a sigh. We were gonna try to sign her up for that tournament thing; I felt like she had good chances to win the whole thing, honestly. But I guess its not possible, so we can just do the pet thing for now if thats


    Wait, wait, he interrupted. You were nning on entering it into this weeks Conqueror''s Tournament? Thats why you wanted to get citizenship in a day?


    Uh, yeah.


    He took a breath. Ithink we may be able to cut a deal.


    Within an hour, we were standing outside the city walls alongside a few soldiers, a monster specialist, and another type of specialist that I didnt think was normally present during this sort of thing.


    Apparently, the fact that Ainash would join the tournament made a pretty big difference in the eyes of the government. The moment we mentioned it, the man in the office had rushed out of the room, speaking to a few different people and shuffling through various piles of documents. He said that he could get things expedited, but Ainash would need to take a different set of tests in order to gain citizenship, and shed lose it if she didnt get to at least the top sixteen finalists of the tournament.


    So once a few people arrived, we rushed across city borders and out into the desert to meet up with Ainash. Standing here with the guards and specialists, we waited for her to arrive.


    The normal monster specialist was a man with a pencil-thin mustache and well-trimmed hair, wearing a royal red suit that he seemed very upset was getting progressively dirtier with every minute we waited in the windy desert for Ainash to arrive. The guards wore the typical empire emblem emzoned on their chests, each wielding spears and generally looking bored.


    As for the second specialistI still didnt know what, exactly, he was here to dohe was a bulky man wearing in clothes, the only notable thing about him being a strange belt around his waist with a dozen or so metal rods attached to it. Id tried asking him what he was here for, but he brushed me off, saying he was only here to speak with the monster. Though he did seem to eye me and Erani asionally, like he was sizing us up.


    Eventually, Ainash appeared over one of the dunes, running over to us. The guards aimed their weapons for a moment at her sprint before I informed them that she was with us, not some random hostile monster charging at them. After I told them that, they still looked quite on-guard, but at least not actively preparing to attack.


    <em>Hello! </em>she sent to us as she approached. <em>Am excited to see Human settlement!</em>


    <em>Im hoping youll be able to today, </em>I responded. <em>Youll have to take a test, which will hopefully be pretty easy, and if you do well then you can enter. If not, well just have to figure something else out.</em>


    <em>How do I win the test?</em>


    <em>Im not actually sure. I guess well see when it starts.</em>


    <em>Okay!</em> Ainash said as she slowed from her sprint to a walk, arriving in front of the specialists.


    The first specialist walked up to her, seeming careful to keep his red suit from touching the glowing embers covering her body. He looked at her from a few angles as she stood there, looking confused.


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    <em>Am supposed to do something?</em>


    Hm, she seems well-enough behaved, at least, the specialist said. Although, Im not familiar with this species. These mes, do they hurt?


    She can turn them off, I said, mentally asking Ainash to show him.


    Sure enough, the embers burning across her skin quickly lost their luminescence. The specialist nodded and wrote something down on a notepad he held. He looked back at me. Can she speak?


    Uh, no. Her mouth isnt really built for Human speech, I said, lying slightly. It was true that any words she said came with a heavy lisp, but really, the issue was just that she hadnt been taught ournguage.


    He nodded again, noting my answer. That is fine, although it will make this next portion slightly more difficult to administer. Monster, please just nod or shake your head in response to my questions. Do you understand me?


    I tranted his words over to her, and told her it would probably be best if she just nodded to that one.


    Once she gave an enthusiastic nod of the head, he continued. Have you ever killed a Human?


    I told her what hed said, and this time just let her answer honestly. I didnt think something like that would result in an automatic disqualification, and if shed said no, Id worry he would think she was lying, which probably <em>would</em> lead to her never being let in. Though, if he ever asked how <em>many</em> people shed killed, that would definitely require a dishonest answer.


    The specialist continued asking more and more questions, most of which Ainash answered rtively truthfully. Eventually, though, the questions got into the realm of opinions and hypotheticalsthings like if a Human was being verbally aggressive with you and ended up shoving you, would you strike them back?" and do you believe you are above working for Humans? At that point, I started telling her what would probably be best to answer with. Some of them, even I wasnt sure what the answer they were looking for was.


    After probably over a hundred separate yes-or-no questions, the specialist nodded, looking down at the countless notes on his pen and paper. Okay, were finished with that part of the examination. Next, well move onto a test of arithmetic. First


    Woah, woah, the other specialist said, cing a massive hand on the smaller mans chest and stepping forward. This was the first time hed spoken since Ainash had arrived. Youve asked your questions. Supposed to be reduced requirements, right? Seems like this thing isnt nning on massacring any civilians; good enough for me.


    He took a step forward, eyeing Ainash up and down.


    She nced at me as he did. <em>This Human is different from other. First one did not really think of me as person. Thought more about answers. This Human isnot bad or mean, but kind of. Thinks of me like person. Like he is about to</em>


    In an instant, the specialist swung a massive greatsword at her, the weaponing out of nowhere.


    She ducked down below the swing and kicked away to put some space between them. He charged at her, wielding the de that must have been almost as long as I was tall. Before she could draw her own weapon, he was on her again, swinging the sword downward at her crouched position. She leapt back just in time once again, and the sword crashed into the ground, throwing sand across the dunes.


    <em>Father, am allowed to kill this Human?</em>


    Before I could even answer, he charged and swung again, this time a sideways swing that threatened to take her head clean off.


    <em>Fight back, </em>I said. The moment my words came through, she ducked underneath his strike and drew her whip in the same motion, spinning and swinging the weapon at his torso.


    He grunted as the thorned whip tore across his stomach, then stepped forward and swung the greatsword once again.


    I nced over to see Erani with her hand raised, ready to shoot a Firebolt at the man, and grabbed her wrist. Hey, I dont think were supposed to interfere with the test.


    Test?! she demanded, face full of fury. Hes trying to kill her!


    I gazed back at the fight. Ainash leapt straight over the mans head, holding her whip in two hands, andtched it around his throat as she came to the ground, choking him with the spiked vine.


    I dont think hell seed, I said. Besides, if we assist, Im sure hell take that as a deration of her loss.


    Erani frowned. I dont even get why this is necessary. Clearly theyre trying to assess her strength before letting her in, but doesnt the tournament do that already?


    If theyre making a special case to let her enter the city earlier than normal just for the sake of the tournament, then it makes sense to ensure she isnt just some random monster thatll lose in the first round. Special amodations are only made for special people, yknow?


    It makes sense, but still. I dont like watching it.


    I chuckled, looking back at the fight. I sure do. Makes me proud to see her fighting like that. I wonder what Level that guy is.


    She ducked under a strike, then stepped back to avoid the follow-up. She tried to throw her whip out in an attack of her own, but another swing of the mans de came directly after, forcing her further back. There was a steep sand dune rising up just a few paces back; he was trying to corner her.


    Soon, her back was to the dune. He took another wide diagonal swing, the anticipation of victory written across his face.


    But within the blink of an eye, Ainash somersaulted over his arm mid-swing, wrapping her whip around the de of his weapon as she did, and as shended on her feet by his side, she used the leverage shed created to pull the weapon from his hand and throw it a dozen paces away, where it sank uselessly into the ground. I had to cast Expedite on myself to enhance my senses just so I could keep up with the lightning-fast movements.


    She turned to swing at him once more, but before her whip could touch him, he pped his hands together, and a deafening boom echoed across the battlefield. Ainash was thrown away by an invisible forcea Martial Art, it seemedmanaging to twist andnd on her feet as she hit the ground.


    Okay! the man said, nodding at Ainash. I hurriedly began tranting his words to her. Did quite well, considering I pulled a little bit of a dirty tactic on you at the start there.


    <em>Can still kill the Human? </em>Ainash asked.


    <em>Wait, </em>I responded. <em>I think you might have won.</em>


    I was worried I might identally kill you a couple times, but youre pretty sneaky with your movements. Very impressive. Suppose we should get introductions in order; those have been long overdue by this point. Whats your name?


    Her name is Ainash, I said. And you?


    He nodded. Ainash. Good name. Reminds me of the Dragons. My name is Pike Pinesteel, champion of the third Conqueror''s Tourney. If you survive this, then Ill look very forward to working alongside you.


    I frowned. I thought shed already passed.


    Oh, no. That was just the warm-up.


    He reached down to his belt which held all of the metal rods, and I realized one of them was missing. Grabbing two more, he pulled them from the belt and held them up. The moment they left contact with it, they began shifting, the metal twisting and ttening to be new objects: two long knives, glowing blue and etched with intricate carvings.


    He nodded. Okay. Lets start the test proper.

 Chapter 241: Welcome to

    Chapter 241: Wee to


    The inspectorPike Pinesteel, victor of the third Conquerors Tourney, apparentlycharged at Ainash, wielding the glowing daggers thatd just appeared in his hands. She instantly readopted her fighting stance, waiting for him to get within range.


    But before he even got halfway to her, he nted his foot on the ground and spun around, using the extreme force to thwip one of the knives at her. It moved at lightning speed, to the point where even I, who had two casts of Expedite running on myself to enhance my senses, could barely follow it. In fact, it seemed to move even faster than even his muscr body could throw. An Enchantment was at work, most likely.


    Within a millisecond, it had crossed the several dozen paces necessary to reach Ainash, threatening to stick itself straight through her nose. She ducked down barely in time, and the de soared cleanly through the air above her. Then, from her lowered position, she dashed forward, eager to close the distance between her and her adversary.


    Pike charged forward too, ready to meet her with one dagger left in his hand. Ainash threw her whip out once he was close enough, and he leapt high into the air to dodge, holding out his dagger to drive the de into her as hended. In response, she rolled forward to avoid his counterattack, spinning around and using the momentum to propel her whip into him just as he hit the ground.


    But he simply ignored her attack, running straight at her as the thorns of the whip stabbed into his side, dagger ready to tear into her. Seemed like he was willing to take a Health sacrifice here and there in order tond an actual hit on such an elusive target.


    Still mid-attack, Ainash didnt have the freedom of movement she needed to dodge his head-on charge. So instead, with her whip still stuck into him, she closed her eyes, focusing for a moment, and suddenly the whip burst into a bright me, much more than was provided by the smoldering embers before. Pike stumbled slightly at the sudden damagenot for long, but long enough for Ainash to find her footing and sidestep his attack as he passed by her.


    She turned to look at him, clearly ready for another onught of attacks, but he didnt move. Instead, he stared at her. His dagger was out and ready, but he didnt initiate, this time. Instead, he slowly, cautiously backed away. Maybe hed ended up taking too much damage before, and was trying to y it a little safer now?


    Out of the corner of my eye, I caught something flying at Ainash from behind. I barely even had time to register what it was before it flew straight across her face, slicing all the way across her head and cheek. It was Pikes knife, the one hed thrown at the start of the fight. He held out his hand and caught it as it returned, as though it had a mind of its own. Thankfully, Ainash had enough Health that a cut like that wouldnt draw blood yet, but it still surprised her. And as she caught her bearings, he sprinted at her, once again dual-wielding his weapons.


    She leapt back just in time, drawing her whip back and preparing to counterattack, but he was on her too quickly, throwing his arm out to slice at her stomach. She kicked her leg up, colliding with his forearm just before he could hit her and throwing his strike off-course. Then, with her leg still raised, she nted it on his chest, leapt up with her other foot, and then propelled herself off of him into the air, swinging her whip with the newfound range.


    He stepped back to avoid the strike, then threw his knife at her again as shended. She easily avoided it this time, simply ducking low the moment her feet touched the ground. But the moment it passed her, the knife changed direction midair,ing right back at her head. ncing back, she saw the threating at her, and dove to the side to dodge it, the knife passing by her harmlessly.


    However, Pike didnt catch the knife like he did before. This time, he turned his body to let it pass by him, and it changed direction again. Not going fast enough to fly all the way to Ainash, but instead, as he shifted the position of the dagger in his hand, the dagger in the air shifted position as well, curving around his body as though it were orbiting him.


    He charged at Ainash, twisting his body and his hand so that the dagger flew in circles around him, and she backed away, clearly unsure how to approach her enemys new fighting style. As he came closer, he spun around quickly, the faster turn tranting to a quicker knife flying with a wider orbit around his body,ing from the side to stab into her skull. She ducked, but then he rushed in from ahead, slicing forward with the dagger still in his hand.


    Ainash tried to kick back from her ducking position into a backwards roll, but suddenly, Pike was holding yet another weapon in his once-empty hand, having grabbed another of the metal bars from his belt. This time it was a long spear with an icy head, letting cool mist off into the air. He threw it forward without hesitation, and it caught Ainash in the gut the moment she tried getting to her feet. Still having a decent barrier of Health, she wasnt left with the spear impaling her, but the force of the projectile knocked her back to the ground, sshing into the sand. And, as Pike picked his spear up from where itd fallen, I noticed leftover frost covering the ce the spear had hit, simr to what Ray of Frost did to those it hit. I had a suspicion she was left with a Dexterity penalty after the hit.


    Once again spinning around and using the momentum to propel his orbiting dagger, he threw the de into Ainash as she tried to kick away from him. This time, I could see the slightest mark left on her chest where it hit.


    Hey! Erani shouted, stepping forward. Dont


    Two of the guards moved to block her from going any closer.


    No interference, maam, one of them said in a stern voice.


    But


    <em>Not interrupt! </em>I heard Ainashs voicee through, sounding strained. Seemed like she was so focused on the battle that she couldnt even selectively message just one of us.


    Pushing her hands on the sandy ground, Ainash leapt to her feet and used one hand to swing her whip at Pike, forcing him back to avoid her attack. She stepped forward, swinging again and again to continue pushing him away from her.


    Between two of her attacks, he ducked in, holding his spear up to throw at her.


    But just then, Ainash threw her other hand out, casting a fistful of sand straight into Pikes eyes as the spear left his hand. The weapon flew just slightly off, and Ainash easily ducked below the orbiting knife that wasing at her at the same time, using Pikes moment of weakness to lunge forward and swing her whip forward, wrapping the thorny vine around his neck as she passed by him.


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    She pulled it tight from behind, forcing him to stumble backward as he tried to rub the sand out of his eyes. But then, he waved his hand that held the dagger, and the one in the air flew straight at Ainash, forcing her to let the whip loosen slightly as she dodged.


    In that moment, he grabbed the vine around his throat and yanked hard, throwing Ainash forward as he pulled the whip from around him and cast it aside.


    Then, as Ainash pulled herself back to her feet, Pike let the orbiting dagger return back to his hand, and turned to throw it straight at Ainash. She managed to tilt to the side, dodging that one, then nced behind herself, clearly anticipating the daggers return to itspanion, but it didnt change direction. Instead, Pike threw the second dagger, as well. When she realized, Ainash attempted to dodge this one too, but she moved toote, and it managed to graze her arm.


    And in his daggers stead, Pike drew two more weapons from his beltthis time, a and a wide-headed hammer.


    I groaned internally for Ainashs sake. Id sparred against users back when I was training to be a Swordsman, and they were horrible to fight against. The strategy was simpletrap your opponent under some rope thats been weighed down by lead balls on its edges, and then stab the shit out of them once they couldnt defend themself. Though in sparring matches, the stabbing part was usually skipped.


    However, I hadnt ever seen someonebine a with a hammer. Besides, Ainash would hopefully be strong enough to shrug off a weighted or two.


    A fiery intensity in her eyes, Ainash charged forward yet again, disregarding her opponents new set of weapons. She struck with her whip, but was slightly too far away, and Pike easily stepped back to avoid it. She swung again, and this time he lifted up his hammer to block the attack, the ng of thorns hitting metal echoing across the dunes.


    Pike, still looking perfectly calm, continued stepping back and conceding more ground. And Ainash, rushing further and further ahead with her flurry of blows, seemed to get more and more aggressive as time passed. She probably wasnt used to fighting against a single person for this long without turning them into mincemeat.


    With a methodical re in his eyes, he defended against swing after swing. Then, Ainash got just a hair too close, and he took his opportunity. Lunging forward, he swung the one-handed greathammer straight into Ainashs jaw, and she went flying. I instantly identified the hammer as being Enchanted just from the length she soared away. I guessed it was something force-based, but I didnt know much about the subject, so I couldve been wrong. But what I did know was that Ainash was thrown back around forty paces from the single hit, crashing into the side of one of the sand dunes.


    Stop it! Erani shouted. Shes had enough!


    Pike nced at her, then back at Ainash. Slowly, I watched the sand dune in the distance shift, then Ainash sat up from her position,boriously getting to her feet. She gripped her whip tightly, and the mes running across her body burned brighter than ever.


    I dont think she has, Pike said.


    In that instant, Ainash came dashing forth, running straight back at her opponent. He hefted his hammer once again, preparing to intercept.


    She was on him like a tornado, instantly swinging her weapon what felt like several times all at once, dashing from side to side, ducking down and leaping high to attack from all angles. Pike was given a run for his money, forced to block as many hits as he could as he bobbed and weaved, backing away to try and avoid getting caught up in the storm of vine and thorn. And even then, he was constantly grazed and sliced by the whip, and I even began to see marks being left on his skin as his Health was depleted more and more.


    But then, Pike seemed to spot another moment of weakness. I couldnt even see when it happenedAinash was moving much too fast for my mind to keep up withbut in an instant, he stepped forward again. Though, he didnt swing his hammer like before. Instead, he swung his other arm out, flinging the out so that it cast wide.


    With no recourse against the sudden attack, Ainash could do nothing but duck down and shield her head from the metal balls lining the edges. It wrapped around her, and for a moment, it looked like she was going to be rtively unaffected by the weapon, able to just throw it off without much worry. But then, in a single instant, she suddenly copsed to the ground, like the had gotten a hundred times heavier. She was crushed beneath the ropes, struggling to even rise to her knees as Pike walked up to her, greathammer in hand.


    <em>Wait</em>, I realized. That hammer and were a deadlierbo than I thought. With a powerful force Enchantment on his hammer, the weapon would obviously deal more damage, but most of the additional force it applied would just be tranted into harmless movement, throwing his opponent away. But if his opponent was trapped beneath something that didnt let them move and he hit them with that, no movement allowed to trante the force into, it would <em>all</em> be additional damage. It wouldnt be like the usually worked, with it trapping someone while you stabbed away at them until they eventually dieditd only take a single hit to kill.


    He reached his hammer back, ready to smash it into Ainashs skull, and Erani seemed to realize the same thing I did.


    Dont you fucking dare! I shouted, mentally reaching to throw all of my curses onto the man.


    At the same time, Erani reached out with her hand. Stop it now!


    He froze mid-swing, looking over at us. Ah, whoops. Think I got a little too into the fight, my bad.


    Drop your weapon, I said, walking forward.


    One of the guards stepped up to stop me. Dont threaten


    Ill kill you too, dude, I said to the guard. Stay out of it.


    Hey, hey, no worries, Pike said, raising his hands and dropping the hammer to the ground.


    He nced over at the and it seemed to lose all the weight it had suddenly gained, Ainash throwing it off of herself and looking wildly around, breathing heavily.


    Letting out a sigh, Pike rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. Phew. Your monster put up a solid fight. Havent had to go through so many of my weapon sets like that in a while.


    He reached down to lend a hand to Ainash, who was still lying on her back.


    She didnt take it, looking at him with fear in her eyes and staying on the ground, unmoving.


    Instead, Erani bent down and gave her a hug. I could see her clothes smolder slightly, as Ainash still hadnt turned down the temperature of the mes on her body. You did wonderful, baby.


    So. I looked at Pike. Does she pass?


    Hm? He looked back at me. Oh, yeah, for sure. Ive let in much weaker monsters topete. Though, a lot of them were pretty much just let in as beaters. Yknow, pad out the rounds, give some of the realpetitors a few entertaining rounds for the crowds sake. But this ones actually got potential, Id say, if lucks on her side.


    Erani helped a still-stunned Ainash to her feet. I frowned. She really looked messed up from the fightnot just physically, but mentally.


    <em>You okay, kiddo? </em>I asked. <em>You did really well, dont let a single loss get you down. He was stronger to begin with, so you were fighting with a disadvantage.</em>


    She didnt respond.


    So, Pike said, looking at her, thanks for the fight. Wee to the Barinruth Empire. Wee to Precipice. And wee to the Conqueror''s Tourney.

 Chapter 242: What She Wants

    Chapter 242: What She Wants


    Pike walked around the sand dunes, retrieving all of his lost weapons. In the meantime, I looked back at Ainash. <em>Are you okay?</em>


    After a moment, she finally answered. <em>...Human beat me. Did not win.</em>


    <em>You passed the test, </em>I said. <em>All you needed to do was fight well enough, and you did. So youre good; youre a citizen now, and all that.</em>


    <em>But in real fight, that Human would kill me.</em>


    <em>Dont worry, I dont think youre in danger. He seems friendly enough.</em>


    She frowned, gazing at Pike as he grabbed the icy spear. The moment he touched it to his belt, it instantly shrunk back down to a metal stick and attached itself to his waist.


    Erani walked over to me and whispered in my ear, Do you think shes okay?


    I think so, I replied. Just a little shaken up.


    She nodded, then looked over at Pike as he grabbed the two knives, both lying together in the sand. Furrowing her brows, she called out, How do those work, anyway?


    Hm? he looked back. Oh, the daggers? Pretty much just maized together, and I can control the force applied with my mind.


    So its just force Enchantments controlling the movement?


    Dont know much about the technicalities of it all, but as far as I know, these werent too difficult to make, so its probably that. Otherwise the Enchanter wouldve charged me out the ass.


    Oh, did you get these made from the privileges you got for winning the tournament? I asked. ess to Enchanters, and all that?


    Nah, nah, this was <em>how</em> I won the Tourney. Pretty valuable to be able to go into a fight against the easier opponents and only use the basic weapons, that way the stronger ones you fightter on are surprised when you pull out your serious tactics. He hefted the massive greatsword next, nodding to it. All I used for the first couple rounds; everyone thought I was just some basic high-Strength Swordsman.


    Is that one mundane? Erani asked. I didnt see any obvious magical effects with it.


    Nah, lets me control its weight. Make it lighter on the upswing, then heavier on the downswing, that sort of thing he said. Though youre right that it isnt obvious. Weight effects arent too intense. Here, try it; its heavy enough that you still cant lift it at its lightest if you havent shaped your Stats around Strength.


    He set it on the ground, and Erani shook her head. No, no, Im fine. I believe youthats way too heavy for me.


    I nced at her and suppressed a smirk. She wasnt refusing because she knew she couldnt, she was refusing because she probably could. With the Bond granting so many extra Stats to her, it was entirely possible that shed be able to pick up such a massive implement.


    Pike shrugged, grabbing the sword and attaching it to his belt, too. Whatever. Well, anyway, if you three are all serious about entering into the tournament, Ill go ahead and give you some advice: dont tip your hand too early. If its possible to win without showing something off, fight without showing it off. Cause your opponents <em>will</em> be watching, and theyll prepare. Rounds are a day apart, and you can bring whatever equipment you want in, so lots of rich bastards get pretty far by bringing in some potions that give elemental resistance against everything they know their opponents use. Thats why I wonI could change out my weapons each round, and nobody could prepare for me.


    Noted, I said. Thanks for the advice. By the way, whats your Level? Just so we know who well likely be up against if we wanna win.


    Just passed into the low 30s, he said. Though its often pretty tough to predict the Level of the winner. The Tourney before mhe secondwas won by some noble kid who couldnt fight for shit but was decked out in insanely expensive gear. Plus, therere plenty of rounds that are upset by outside conditions. Arena, or weather, freak ident, whatever. Will say, though, if raw powers your type of style like your monster over there, you might wanna train up another Level before the elimination rounds over, if you can. Extra numbers cant hurt.


    Yeah, as long as we arent spending all our time trying toplete it, that would be nice, I said.


    Ah, youll be fine, he said. Elimination rounds normally pretty easy. Just trying to sort out the riff-raff. Had plenty of extra time during mine. Anyway, I gotta get going. Duty calls, and all that. Hopefully Ill see you when one of you wins and gets recruited into the program.


    With that, he turned and started walking toward the citys entrance. The guards and the first specialiststill looking quite miffed at how unimportant he was in all thisfollowed shortly thereafter, leaving us standing alone next to Precipices outer stone walls.


    I looked back at Ainash, who still seemed shaken up at her loss. Hopefully this next part would cheer her up a bit. <em>So, are you ready to go inside?</em>


    It wasnt technically Ainashs first time inside a Human city since shed entered Salvation to fight Jon, but it <em>was</em> her first time inside a Human city legally, where she could walk around in the open air without worrying about anyone seeing heror about enemies ambushing her. Though, these outer reaches of the city werent exactly the most exciting ce to be. All the unimpressive huts looked the same, the streets were difficult to navigate, and the entire area didnt have much to do. I just hoped the inner circles of Precipice were betterat least, enough to make up for the disappointment of these outer slums a little bit.


    That said, Ainash didnt seem all that unhappy. She gazed around at the huts and the people as we walked through, and I even saw her smile slightly when we walked down a street only to find wed hit a dead-end.


    <em>What do you think? </em>I asked.


    She paused for a moment, as if trying to figure out a way to word what she wanted to say. Eventually, she responded, <em>Reminds me of home.</em>


    <em>Home?</em>


    <em>Lots of trees everywhere, sometimes hard to remember where to go. Pass by animals in lots of ces, and they do not even look at you. All are living their own lives, as you are your own. Fields and desert outside Human settlements feel toonot real. Like Humans took out messiness. This is messy, like home. I like it.</em>


    I nodded. <em>Im d you do. Dodo you like being reminded of home? I thought that maybe, because of how you were forced to leave</em>


    She walked in silence for some time, staring ahead. After a minute or two, she closed her eyes for a moment, then said somberly, <em>I miss mom.</em>


    Erani leaned over and wrapped an arm around her. I know baby, I know. I-Im sorry if we cantIf we arent


    Ainash detached herself from Eranis embrace and walked to the side of the road, sitting down on the ground and sinking her fingers into the sand. We stopped and looked at her.


    <em>I am not strong,</em> she said. <em>Am very, very weak. If want to kill all Demons, cannot lose to a Human. Must get stronger. Do not know if I can win in Human tournament. Do not know if I am strong enough.</em>


    Erani grimaced. You dont need to work so hard. You can take a break.


    <em>Cannot.</em> The single word was forceful and certain.


    I thought back. In my own memories, Id seen Ainash die several times by now. But in all of the timelines where shed lost a fight, Id always gone back to undo it. Sure, shed retreated here and there, but to actually, unequivocally <em>lose</em> in an encounter with an opponentHad it ever happened from her perspective since wed originally fled with her from the Demons invading her home? Had she never experienced defeat?


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    <em>Have to get stronger, </em>she said. <em>Cannotcannot fight other Humans right now.</em>


    Are you saying you want to withdraw? Erani asked.


    Ainash let out a wordless breath.


    I met her eyes. <em>I dont know if I can help you win every fight you have in the future, or even just win this tournament. But I can try. I can help you get stronger.</em>


    Erani looked over at me, clearly unsure of my words to Ainash.


    <em>If you want to get stronger, </em>I continued, <em>youre going to have to ept that youre </em>not<em> strong right now. Ive experienced death countless times. I know when Im beat. I know when I see an opponent that I cant win against. You have to understand that you cant win every time. And you might not win next time, or the time after that, or the time after that.</em>


    Ainash shook her head. <em>Cannot lose ever again. No time. Have to get stronger now.</em>


    <em>Strength is fickle, </em>I said. <em>You cant force it. Maybe you can do a bunch of push-ups, or go out on a big long trip hunting for XP, or practice your magic until you almost pass out, and sure, thatll make you a little more powerful. Youll punch harder, have better Stats, whatever. But you cant count yourself as being truly strong just because you can lift a bigger rock than all your friends. Strengthes from failure. Ites from messing up and fucking yourself over, and then looking back, and understanding what you did wrong. You add the misstep to your list of mistakes youll never make again, and keep moving forward.</em>


    <em>No, </em>Ainash said. <em>If am strong enough, do not need to make mistakes. Enough power will</em>


    <em>Its not about your raw power. Its not about how many obstacles you can force your way through before you copse. Its about whether or not, once you inevitably copse, you can get back up. Because you will. Im sorry to say it, kiddo, but you are going to fail. Over and over again, you will fall t on your face, and you will ask yourself why did I ever choose this life for myself? Strength is being able to answer that question. Strength is saying because I want to be better than I was yesterday, or because I cant stand to see the enemy win, or because I want to protect the ones I love, or whatever it is you fight for. But you have to fight for something. And you have to figure out what that something is, because this life youve chosen will beat you down until you cant stand anymore, and youre going to have to find a way to get back up.</em>


    Still holding my gaze with her, I saw tears moisten Ainashs eyes. I held my hand out.


    <em>Kiddo, do you want to get back up?</em>


    <em>I do.</em> She reached out and sped my hand, pulling herself back to her feet. <em>Father, want to win.</em>


    <em>You know its not guaranteed, right?</em>


    <em>Yes. But want to win.</em>


    I nodded. <em>Then Ill do my best to ensure you do with the little time we have to prepare.</em>


    Ainash didnt respond, but I got two System notifications telling me all I needed to know.


    Threshold reached.


    Your Bond with Level 33 Draconiad has deepened.


    Due to your Bond being deepened, it has undergone the following changes:


    Stat Increase: From 22 to 24


    XP Gain: From 11% to 12%


    Heat Resistance: From 49.4% to 52.4%


    Mana Increase: From 110 to 120


    Mana/Minute Increase: From 8.1 to 8.84


    Threshold reached.


    Your Bond with Level 33 Draconiad has deepened.


    Due to your Bond being deepened, it has undergone the following changes:


    Stat Increase: From 24 to 26


    XP Gain: From 12% to 13%


    Heat Resistance: From 52.4% to 55.3%


    Mana Increase: From 120 to 130


    Mana/Minute Increase: From 8.84 to 9.57


    Erani leaned over to me. Are you sure its best to encourage herpetitive attitude?


    She wanted to win. Who am I to deny the kid what she wants?


    Over the next half hour or so, we wandered the city looking for a ce to sleep. It was nighttime, and tomorrow was the day the elimination rounds requirements would be announced, so we figured a full nights rest would be helpful for a day as busy as it would surely be.


    Unfortunately, though, it seemed like inns were slightly harder toe by as Id hoped they would be. Wed searched for some time, now, without finding any. At least the temperature was much more bearable to walk around in now that it was dark,pared to the sweltering heat that beat down on us on our journey to the city itself.


    While we wandered the maze-like streets of the outer ring of Precipice, I saw someone walking up to me. Considering howte it was, most of the area had emptied out by noweveryone with work tomorrow had gone to sleep. So I prepared myself to either be begged for money, or mugged. Not that Id likely need to worry about a petty mugger, but still.


    However, as they got closer, I saw that the womans clothes werent tattered, her hair wasnt matted, and it actually looked like shed bathed in the past couple monthsvery unlike the other people Id seen around the area.


    Is that a courier? Erani asked. Shes got a messenger bag.


    ncing at her waist, I saw that she did, indeed, have a bag that looked like it would be used to carry letters around. Seemed like someone around here hadte-night mail.


    But then the woman stopped right in front of us.


    Excuse me, are you She nced down at a piece of paper. Annor and Eita?


    Uh, yeah, I said.


    Ive got a message from you, she said. Well, it was supposed to be either delivered to you, or to another pair of adventurers named An and Erani, whichever I found first. Regardless, its from Miss Sylvie-Ann of the Shirean family. What she wants is for you to hear it immediately, if you have the time; its quite urgent

 Chapter 243: Old Friend

    Chapter 243: Old Friend


    Erani, Ainash, and I stood in the nighttime roads with the courier, who apparently had a message from Sylvie.


    So, what is it? I asked.


    The courier showed us the paper in her hand. She saysHey, currently kinda in the middle of a financial crisis. Shits going down. Anyway, I cant really afford much, so hopefully you cane pick me up from Salvation and take me to Precipice? I know you two are probably busy with your terrorism or whatever, but heres hoping you can spare some funds or influence to let me room with you for some time. Ill help you out with whatever if you can. Anyway, sorry for contacting you right after you left, but a lot started happening once you were gone. So, yknow. Whoops. Anyway, see you soon. Sylvie.


    Financial crisis? Isnt she rich?


    Thats all that was written in the Message Paper sir, sorry. The courier stuffed the paper back into her pouch. Regardless, I wish you well. Good luck with your affairs.


    With that, she left.


    I frowned. Huh. Do you think thats real?


    What do you mean? Erani asked.


    I dunno. Random person suddenly asking for money and all that, sounds like it could just be some sort of scheme to steal from us. How do we know that was a real messenger?


    Didnt you see the bottom of the paper? She put her signature down.


    Have we ever seen her signature before now?


    Erani pursed her lips. Thats fair. But we have that item, right? A short trip to Salvation shouldnt be much of an issue.


    I nodded. Right, with the Beacon, it wouldnt technically cost us anything to go to Salvation and back. Just some Mana. True. Guess we can pop over to see whats up. And, actually


    I nced around to ensure there was nobody around, then continued in a lower voice, It could be beneficial to go there anyway, right? Annor and Eita have been seen around in Precipice. If An and Erani are seen all the way in Salvation the same day, with no record of anyone having used the teleportation circle, then it could help keep people from guessing were the same people.


    Thatssmart, she said. Only, it does require that An and Erani be seen publicly in Salvation. Which is dangerous, considering were known fugitives.


    I built up some goodwill for us when we killed Jon, remember? Shouldnt be an issue as long as were careful. I nced around the area. So then, should we figure out where to put it?


    We walked through the desert, in search of a secluded area that would be fitting for what we required of the Beaconnamely that it be easy for us to find while being difficult for everyone else to find.


    Generally, that meant walking a far way off in a random direction, foregoing roads and anything else that could guide a person to randomly stumble upon the location we chose.


    As we walked, the night grew darker, and eventually, midnight came.


    Time Loop has refreshed its uses.


    Recycled Loop has activated. Due to 2 uses being leftover, you have gained the following Stats:


    +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence


    5 Stats remain until you must Level up.


    Wed technicallye to the first day of the tournamentthough, nothing would start untilter in the morning. Hopefully we could get whatever Sylvies financial crisis was sorted out in time.


    I also still had two more Spells to UpgradeRay of Frost and Curse of Echoes. Normally, I liked doing them one at a time so I always had as many Time Loops avable to me as possible, but with the tournamenting up, Id most likely try to get both of them done before this new day ended, since soon wed be seeing the beginning of the fights themselves.


    Are you excited? I asked Erani.


    I mean, we only just left Salvation, so I dont see why Id be excited to return.


    No, for the tournament. Excited topete?


    She chuckled. Maybe half excited, half stressed out of my mind.


    Nah, dont be. Even if you lose a fight and get eliminated, youll still have me and Ainash. One of usll win for you.


    No, no, its not about the end results, I dont think. I mean, the high-stakes nature of this whole thing certainly contributes, but I guessI dont know, this feels like the first time my abilities as a Sorcerer are really being tested.


    What? I asked,ughing. You know youve fought a Young Dragon before, right?


    Well, sure, I guess. Its not really a logical feeling. But fighting Humans is different, you know? Against a monster, its very asymmetrical. You were both givenpletely different toolsets, and sure, youreparing who utilizes their abilities better, but if you lose, then maybe your opponent simply had a better set of tools than you did. But against other people, we all started at the same point. So if I lose, then its because I made the wrong decisions along the way, and they didnt.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the vition.


    But thats only true if you lose to someone whos the same Level as you. If theyve got even just two or three Levels over you, then it wasnt really fair to start with.


    No, even in that case, I still had opportunities to Level up more or shape my build to be better against opponents who have higher Stats than me. Youre a good example of thatyour build is good at evening those odds.


    I still dont think that you losing can be chalked up to you just being objectively wrong, or anything. Besides, youve fought against plenty of people before.


    Right, and I dont <em>really</em> think that, either. But I do feel it. Like I said, its illogical. Justa formalizedpetition like this, everything made equal except for your individual choices, it puts the pressure on. Especially with so many spectators. You dont feel what Im talking about?


    Not really. It kinda makes it more exciting for me. Maybe its the same aspects thatre making you stressed, except theyre just amping me up.


    Erani snorted. Well. d to know youre confident.


    I am confident. Im telling you, one-on-ones are where I thrive, and Ive beaten way more powerful opponents than some random adventurers. Itll be easy.


    See, now Im just worried about you. I sometimes fear that Time Loop is making you feel immortal.


    Oh, cmon, you know I was ying it up to ease your worries. I dont <em>literally</em> think itll be some piece of cake. But, that said, I <em>do</em> think were gonna win.


    You cant just say that. What if we lose?


    We wont.


    But see, now if we <em>do</em> lose, itll be even worse because youll have to remember all that time you were so confident.


    I looked at her. Do you think the moon is made of cheese?


    She blinked. What?


    The moon, up in the sky. Do you think it is a veryrge ball of artisan cheese?


    ...No?


    But how can you be so sure?


    Because I dont see any reason it would be made of cheese. Do we need to get you to a healer?


    No, no, but now if we ever find out that the moon is made of cheese, youre gonna be <em>so</em> embarrassed about how wrong you were.


    Erani rolled her eyes. Okay. Sure. I get your point.


    But arent you worried about how you might be wrong about the moon not being made of cheese?


    You do realize youve made a terribleparison, right? One of these two ispletely possible and youre understating how likely it is, while the other ispletely impossible and youre overstating its odds.


    Nope. They are equally likely. Bothpletely impossible.


    An, the longer this conversation goes on, the worse its gonna be if


    Youre right. If the moon is made of cheese, Ill probably be pretty embarrassed that Ipared it to thepletely nonexistent possibility that we lose this tournament.


    She gave me an unamused look.


    Okay, fine, Ill drop it, I said. But only if you admit that were gonna win.


    Im not going to


    Cmon, cmon, I said, wrapping an arm around her. Its easy. Just say, Were gonna one hundred percent dominate all the losers who are unlucky enough to be paired against us, and were gonna win the whole thing, and Emperor Etrin himself wille down and bestow upon us infinite Enchanting materials, and everything will be good forever.


    Ive never said I think were doomed to fail, or anything. Youre too worried about nothing.


    And youre too reluctant to act confident. See, now that Ive had this whole conversation, Im gonna have to do as best as I can, because if I fail then youll never let me live it down. But youre acting all modest and everything, meaning youre leaving the option to yourself to not try as hard as you can. And see, thats just not fair.


    She sighed. Okay, fine. Well win. Happy?


    Great. Now, if we fail, Ill make fun of you.


    For saying something that you made me say?


    Im trying to give you some motivation.


    Erani smiled and rolled her eyes. How kind of you.


    She pecked me on the lips, and we looked forward, continuing in our journey. Ainash had run ahead and was standing on top of arge dune, surveying the area.


    How would we even find out the moon is made of cheese, anyway? Erani asked.


    I dunno. Maybe well run into a moon denizen.


    You think there are people who live on the moon? And, what, theyvee down to our world to say hi?


    Its possible.


    Im going to go ahead and disagree.


    Fine, fine, I said with augh. If we actually meet someone whos from the moon, Ill be very embarrassed.


    <em>Found ce!</em> Ainash messaged us from up ahead. <em>Little cave that we could hide Beacon thing in!</em>


    <em>Oh, perfect, </em>I responded. <em>I think were far enough away that itd be unlikely someone would run across it, too.</em>


    It didnt take long, but soon the Beacon was set up and ready to go. Standing in the small covered area, sandstone all around us, all it took was a simple push of the mind, and suddenly the small crystal was floating in the air. From there, all it needed was a simple 1k Mana before itd be charged and we could teleport back to the Goblin forest in Salvation. To return, itd take 10k, and from that point the cost would be so high it would basically be unusable. But the cost reset after a week, so it would hopefully not be a problem.


    It took less than ten minutes to charge it up this first time, with me simply holding my hand around it as its glow became more and more intense.


    Then, eventually, I got a notification.


    Anchor Point is charged with 1k/1k Mana.


    Okay, I said, looking at Erani. Ready to head to Salvation? Time to see an old friend.


    Old friend? We saw her a day ago.


    Yeah, but it sounds better that way. Like were doing something important instead of just going to help her with whats probably some random annoyance.


    I dont know, she did say it was a financial crisis. Sounds important.


    See? So dont you agree that we should talk about it like its important? I mean, were using this new magic item that lets us teleport, for the gods sake. We get the right to be at least a little dramatic, dont we?


    Erani shook her head and let out a chuckle. You are so weird. Okay, sure. Lets see an old friend.

 Chapter 244: Welcome to the Overworld. What’s Your Name?

    Chapter 244: Wee to the Overworld. What¡¯s Your Name?


    A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room.


    This room, though, was different. Its walls were made of wooda strange substance that didnt exist in the Underworldand it was absurdly cluttered and messypared to the standards of his old home. But, really, the Devil didnt mind the mess. If it were cleaner, it might remind him too much of that ce.


    His summoner, Aliss, had given him a few more allowances since his initial summoning. Specifically, shed removed the restriction keeping him from moving, but added quite a few caveats to that movement policy. Her thoroughness and redundancy in hermands <em>did</em> remind him of Demon paperwork, unfortunately. But his body followed themands without him even needing to think about it, so it wasnt actually that bad.


    Effectively, it just came down to you can move freely, but you cant leave this room, you cant try to hurt anyone, and you cant try to break anything. Only, it took her about three hours of work to draft up and about fifteen continuous minutes to say aloud, with how long it was. Lots of you may move your body no closer than one finger-width away from this object, and you may not read the words in this book, and you may raise your voice no louder than this volume, and such. And every one of thosemands had their own caveats thatd allow him to ignore them in emergencies.


    He still wasnt used to this ce, his new Level 1 self, or the fact that he was under control of a <em>Human. </em>Itd been about ten hours since hed been summoned, he thought? He could barely tell.


    Hed been left alone for the past while, as his summoner had left to run errands. During his time alone, he upied himself with reading. While there were many books he had been forbidden from touchingmostly ones rting to Demon summoningthere were still plenty he was allowed to open and look through. He tried a random fiction book that was on one of the shelves, one called The Traveling Tavern or somethinghe couldnt quite remember the namebut he simply couldnt push past a few paragraphs. Why would you read something knowing it was fake? Perhaps he still had a lot more to learn about Humanity, after all.


    Instead, he skimmed through some of the history books, which seemed much more useful. Though, he still noticed some dramatization in those books, as well. It was as though Humans couldnt help but turn even history into an exciting story to pass down.


    Crucially, in one of the books, he found a passage about Demons that his summoner must have forgotten to forbid him from reading. It wasnt long, but still extremely enlightening.


    <em>Using a force of 150 summoned Demons, the Evenfort regiment managed to ovee Anglishmets ambush, sustaining losses of an estimated 80 Human soldiersonly 12% of that regiments numbers.</em>


    <em>However, due to the unexpected battle and the summoned Demons heavy involvement in it, two of the Demons reached a Level which allowed them to break their summonersmands. The following night, they killed the other Demons summoners in their sleep, leading to a massacre of the entire force and a major international incident wherein adventurers were dispatched to exterminate the freed Demons. It is suspected that this incident was what caused Evenforts eventual discontinuation of their usage of Demon forces in their military.</em>


    A couple sentences in that section were extremely important. If the Devil reached a high enough Level, or if his summoner died, he would no longer have to follow hermands. Hed been forced all the way back down to Level 1 as a consequence of the summoning, but if he could build himself back up


    The basement door opened, and he quickly turned the page to conceal the passage hed been reading. His summoner walked through, carrying severalrge boxes, and set them on the floor.


    Whats in those? he asked, subtly pushing the book away from himself while she was distracted.


    Some supplies to keep youfortable, she responded. Theres a sleeping bag in here, which wont be as good as a bed, but I couldnt fit anything big down thedder, as well as some other basic amenities. Ill try to bring you meals regrly, but Ive also brought in some food to store here in case something happens and Im not able to bring any to you. I dont want you starving since you cant leave for now.


    He frowned. I dont think thats necessary. I dont need to sleep or eat.


    Are you sure? she asked, grabbing a tome from a shelf and flipping through it.


    This was one of the books hed been forbidden from reading, so even if he nced at the pages, it was like his mind refused to process thenguage. Jumbled squiggles and symbols filled the pages that he knew he <em>should</em> have been able to interpret, but it was instead impossible.


    She tapped on a paragraph, ncing through it. Yes, here. Demons are sometimes confused by their sudden need to eat and sleep at a simr rate that Humans do, as the summoning process removes that property from certain species. Are you one of the species that still wont need to after being summoned?


    I dont know, he said, answering the question automatically, as he was forced to follow her every word. He shook his head, trying to understand what was going on. Um, that is, I dont think enough time has passed for me to recognize the sensation.


    Hm. Ill leave these here just in case, then. What have you been doing?


    Reading, he said automatically once again, and then immediately cursed his answer. He was a Devil; he <em>knew</em> contracts, he <em>knew</em> how to work within the letter of thew. He couldve answered with exploring the room, or sitting here, or even just not much. Giving her the information that hed been reading was a terrible idea, but because of themands, he answered without even thinking. And now, shed probably ask


    What have you been reading?


    This book, the Devil said, grabbing and showing her the history book hed been trying to hide this whole time. He bit his tongue the moment he got control of it back, but it was toote.


    What did you learn?


    He almost exposed everything hed managed to glean about possibly being able to break hermands in the future, but seemingly through sheer force of will, the Devil managed to redirect his automatic thinking into another answer that was correct in a different way. The histories of a few different wars. It was very interesting to read about the ways in which Humans go about resolvingrge-scale conflicts with one another.


    Oh, do Demons do that sort of thing differently?


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences.


    Yes. Our warsst much longer, typically. The only times I remember the fighting between my circle and another circle ending has been when the two formed an alliance to fight against a mutual enemy, after which the war between us resumed. Though, I wasnt high enough rank to really know much about the details.


    Hm, she said with a nod, as though mentally noting his answer. What was your rank?


    That was a question he <em>wasnt </em>forced to answer automatically, since he didnt technically have an answer. Status doesnt work for us like it does for Humans. There isnt a clean chain ofmand, or anything. You have a job description, but the easiest way to tell how important a Demon is would be by asking it its name.


    You said you didnt have a name, right?


    I did say that. I used to have one, though.


    Then, what was it? And what would you like to be called now?


    My name used to be Xhagduulinitharobabaiidooknaisantipoduuntorobaroxhixhonxhaxintep. And now, Im not sure what it would be.


    She nodded slowly. Idont think I would be able to remember that right now. But with some practice, Im sure I could. Do you want me to call you that?


    No. I dont think I like that name.


    Then, what about a shortened version of it?


    Once upon a time, a suggestion like that would have offended him to the highest order. But nowhe didnt really care about names that much. Call him whatever. Hed be the same person. Sure, if that works with you.


    So thenXhagduul?


    Go ahead.


    Great. Its certainly nice to finally have something to refer to you as in my head, instead of just thinking about the Demon all the time.


    He nodded, d to have fully moved away from that dangerous conversation about books. But he did have something hed been wanting to ask ever since she got back. Did you hear anything about An Nota while you were out?


    Her expression changed. No. No, not really.


    He examined her face. She was definitely hiding something. She almost certainly <em>had </em>heard something about him when she left. But unlike her, he had no way of forcing his conversational partner to tell the truth. Do you mind telling me what you know about him already, then? Im not sure how long its been since I was free and had ess to information about him, so hearing anything that happened recently would be nice.


    She frowned. Why do you want to know so badly?


    I dont know, he answered automatically.


    Hm. I hoped you wouldve figured out while I was gone. Please borate.


    I used to work closely on the operation to kill him.


    So you want to hunt him down still?


    No.


    Why not?


    I dont know.


    Her frown deepened. Then what do you want to do to him?


    I dont know.


    What <em>do</em> you know?


    I<em> dont know</em>.


    She paused, taking a moment to think. If you dont wish for him to be dead, why is that? Why did you work on this operation to kill him in the first ce?


    I had to.


    Thats not a good enough answer. Even when you were being forced to work on this operation, you always wanted to keep him alive?


    No.


    So its not just because you had to, then. Did your opinion on him change at some point?


    Yes. He spoke automatically, as always, but this time was slightly surprised by his own answer. After a moment of thought, he realized that maybe, yes, his opinion did change over time.


    When did it change?


    I dont know.


    What did it change to?


    I dont know.


    She sighed. Are all Demons this indecisive?


    No.


    So I just got unlucky, then?


    No.


    She blinked. What do you mean?


    Your summoning me was not up to luck.


    Why?


    I was the only one able to be summoned.


    She leaned forward suddenly. You know about summoning mechanics? Really?!


    Yes. A little bit.


    You can tell me about them? Like why its been so long since people have been able to summon Demons?


    Yes, he answered automatically once again, then got control of his words back. But, if I do, can you do me a favor?


    His summoner raised her eyebrows for a moment. It depends on the favor, I suppose.


    He took a breath, hoping. Hed been as cooperative as possible this whole time in an attempt to build up a friendly rtionship, and this would be his first test. Her personality seemed conducive to this sort of maniption, at least. If possible, Id like to see outside of this room. Or outside the building, even.


    You know thats not possible. It endangers both you and me. And I cant lose the first summoned Demon in hundreds of years on a whim.


    He leaned forward. First, a practical approach. She at least liked to think of herself as a researcheran academic. Demons need enrichment just as much as Humans do. Yes, I have to follow your orders, but if my mental state begins to deteriorate due to unhappiness, I may not be <em>capable</em> of following them. Depression causes memory loss, and I can personally attest to the fact that a poor living and working environment can interrupt my state of mind and cause me to be unable to recall things. If your goal is to learn about Demons and Demon society, then keeping me in a healthy state is to your interest.


    Keeping you alive is also to my interest. Youll be killed if youre seen. If you start showing real signs of distress, then I will consider it. But for now, I dont believe taking unnecessary risks like that is a good idea.


    He took a breath. Open up to her slightly. I was summoned in the middle of my execution, in the Underworld. I wasnt a good enough worker for them. And before I was being executed, I was imprisoned for a very, very long time. Time moves differently in the Underworld; when you see one day pass, we experience more like ten. I havent been allowed freedom in so long, and now, its this close to me. Please, I need to be let out of this cramped room.


    She pursed her lips. No immediate denial like shed done beforehed gotten to her. Even if she said no now, the foundation would beid.


    Let me think about it, she eventually said. Theres something I want you to help me with, anyway, and youd need to leave this room to do it, somaybe it would be good to get you used to the Overworld.


    He raised his eyebrows, not having expected that part. You need me to do something? What?


    Youre currently in the basement of an orphanage, you see. Oh, if you dont know what an orphanage is, its where one adult stays and takes care of kids who dont have parents. Or, thats what it normally is. The person here who used to take care of the childrenshe was killed. Ive been trying to take her ce in the meantime, alongside a man you havent met named Boy, but its not going well, since we have to spend all our time working for money to keep the ce standing.


    Orphanage, huh? He thought hed heard of the concept before in passing, but at the time hed just brushed it off as typical Human garbage. So, whats the favor you need from me? Want me to help you with money so you can spend more time here, or something? In the Underworld, we dont have a concept of money, so it probably wont go well.


    Oh, no, thatd be much too dangerous. Its the opposite, rather. I want you to take care of the children here full-time.


    He blinked. <em>What?</em>


    So, perhaps it would be best if we somehow got you out of here to gain more experience in the normal world? I do want you to raise them well, after all.

 Chapter 245: Return

    Chapter 245: Return


    Teleportation using the Beacon felt different from teleportation using a circle. It was more unstable, in whatever way teleportation could feel like thatI arrived slightly off-bnce, disoriented, and most importantly, absolutely sick to my stomach. The moment I saw the Goblins forest around me, I immediately lurched over, almost certain I was about to puke my guts up. A nce at Erani told me she felt simrly.


    <em>Do not feel good at all! </em>Ainash said, followed by a thudding sound. I looked at her, only to find her lying in the dirt, staring up at the treetops with her mouth hanging half-open. <em>Feel likebody is turning inside out.</em>


    <em>Yep, this is not great.</em> I gave a strained response. However, the sensation was quickly fading. I took a few deep breaths, finding each one returned some sense of normalcy back to my body.


    As my nausea subsided, I heard Erani groan. I really hope it doesnt feel as bad when we return.


    Im sure well be fine, I said, letting out onest shaky breath. I hoped my face wasnt visibly green.


    No, seriously, Im considering suggesting we find some way to take a carriage next time. I cant do this again.


    If were using mundane means of transportation, youll have to settle for walking, miss rich girl. Especially if Sylvie is apparently going through some sort of financial crisis right now.


    <em>Is okay if I stay here for rest of night?</em> Ainash asked, still t on her back.


    <em>Unfortunately, theres at least a thirty percent chance that Slyvies problem is actually as urgent as she made it sound, so we should probably get moving, </em>I responded.


    I would give it at least fifty, Erani said. Shes not stupid, you know; she wouldnt ask us to return right after we left if it wasnt actually important.


    Either way, I think were in agreement that we should head to town. I reached down to help Ainash up, and she reluctantly took my hand.


    It was only after I took a couple steps forward that I realized we werent alone in the forest.


    Off in the edges of the treeline, Goblins were staring at us with amazed eyesalmost reverent.


    Uh I gave an awkward wave. Hi.


    One of them stepped forward. It was draped in an oversized cloth that it was using as a robe, but was clearly just some grown mans tunic that I hoped it just stole and didnt loot off of a corpse. Have returned, just as prophesied!


    ...What?


    It turned to face the rest of the group of Goblins. Great Crystal has returned Great Ones to us! I am prophet!


    Ainash looked at them for a second, clearly confused, but after a moment seemed to figure out what was going on. She took a short breath, then stepped forward, puffing out her chest proudly. The Goblins all looked at her, and she dramatically made a few hand signalsher way ofmunicating with them. I had no idea what she was saying, but once she finished the short string of movements, the Goblins eyes widened and they bowed in reverence.


    <em>Whats going on? </em>I asked her.


    <em>Seems like Goblin in front thinks we are special people, and other Goblins believe one in front now that we teleported back. Said Goblin in front is right.</em>


    Erani turned to me and muttered, Did theystart an entire religion around us while we were gone?


    We were only away for, like, half a day! I responded. Ainash really mustve instilled the fear of the gods into them when she was training them, huh.


    Is this even a good thing? It feels like its not.


    Sure as hells tells me she knows what shes doing.


    <em>What Goblins are doing is called religion? </em>Ainash asked. <em>Is about gods?</em>


    <em>Uh, yeah, essentially, </em>I responded.


    Its when Humans take things like the System or the stars or other things of great, mysterious power and try to extrapte information from them to make sense of the world, Erani exined. Like, some religions say that the stars are actually the people who created everything that we see around us. Or that when you die, your consciousness goes somece else instead of disappearing.


    <em>That sounds good!</em> Ainash said. <em>Think I like religion!</em>


    <em>Yeah, it looks like the Goblins assume were one of those great powers,</em> I said. <em>Uh, it looks like youve got this handled?</em>


    <em>Will show them how great I am!</em>


    I turned to Erani. Should we just leave and go talk with Sylvie while Ainash doesthis stuff?


    Are you sure we should?


    Its past midnight. Ive got my uses back in case anything goes wrong.


    She pursed her lips. I guess.


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    We started walking back to town after that, leaving Ainash behind to sort out this Goblin business. I supposed that since we would being back here every now and then with the Beacon, it would be best to keep them rtively self-governing, but still obedient to her. Besides, I still wasnt sure if it would be a good idea to bring her into town.


    We entered Salvation not as Annor and Eita, but as An and Erani, with me wearing Light te and her keeping Distortion Strike inactive. It didnt take long after entering for people to notice, whispers spreading everywhere we walked. Nobody directly confronted or spoke to us though, not even the guard. After the stunt we pulled killing Jon in that massive battle, I was pretty sure the whole town would know of our presence within an hour.


    Which was perfect, since Sylvie didnt even give us a ce to meet her.


    Erani and I just made our way to the guild lobby, hoping shed be waiting for our arrival and would hear that wede. Maybe she would have someonee wake her up toe meet us, or something.


    But when we entered the lobby, I saw her sitting at the bar, front and center, a mug in her hand and about six more empty ones lying on the floor by her feet.


    The room went quiet when we walked inside, and Sylvie looked back to see us, eyes growing wide and a grin spreading across her face. Hey! Its you guys! Cmon over here!


    After a slight pause, I made my way across the room as she eagerly beckoned us forth, clearly drunk out of her mind.


    So what happened to financial crisis? I asked, eyeing the empty cups of booze surrounding her.


    Aah, Ill be fine. Whats onest night of a little fun, right?


    Whats going on? Erani asked. Why did you ask us toe here?


    She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. min...parents are being shitters. Took away my assets. No ie, no stockpile of eyt left. All Ive got is what Ive earned while here.


    What? I asked. Why? Is that even legal?


    Ugh. Its so stupid. They heard about me and the whole fight thing with that one Cleric dude, and were like Oh no, we dont want our daughter associating with terrorists andmitting cold-blooded murder, or whatever. So they disowned me. All my stuff was technically in the family name, so now Ive got nothin.


    Disowned? Eranis eyes grew wide. Thats extremely serious.


    Yeah, I know it is. Thats why Im drinking, dumbass. Sylvie groaned, her head falling into her hands. Its fine, whatever. Didnt wanna be a part of that whole family anyway. So, basically, Im just cashing in that favor I got banked with you two. You promised youd let me tag along with stuff you got up to, right? Boom, here we go. Youre probably out making bank and living well, so take me along with you.


    Are you sure you cant fight them on this? I asked. Like, you can just tell them you stumbled upon the fight, or you could convince them that you were fighting for the right side, or that you were just protecting people in trouble, or something.


    She flopped her head on the bar. Are you saying I cante?


    Well, no, but


    Good. Then Iming. Theyre stubborn, and I dont wanna have the argument. Would be way more satisfying to just go get rich without them or something, and then I can go rub it all in their faces. She sighed, as if imagining the scenario. Yeah, thatd be great.


    The problem is, we arent currently focused on money, Erani said.


    What, too busy fighting off more armies invading the capital or whatever?


    Nothing like that. Um, Annor and Eita have signed up for this tournament in Precipice. It was only created recently, so Im not sure if youve heard of it, but


    Youre doing the Conquerors Tourney?! Sylvies head shot up, staring at Ernai.


    Er, yes, they are, but


    She leaned forward. I wanna do it too.


    I thought you wanted money, I said.


    She turned to me. Do you think the empire doesnt pay the winners for their work? Are you stupid, or something? Thats perfect!


    You would technically bepeting against


    Im finepeting against you guys, whatever. Ill just win.


    Erani snorted. Yes, alright.


    What? She turned to face Erani again. You think the idea of me winning is soedic?


    No, no, its just that An said almost the exact same thing earlier. She nced around the bar. Er, he said it about Annor.


    Mhm, whatever, she said. Lets get going, yeah? I think I have enough leftover top you two for the teleportation, but youll probably have to fully cover my cost of living and all that, socall it fair?


    Uh, juste with us, I said. We have a cheaper method of transportation.


    I hope I dont need to pack for a week-long trip or anything. I think I have some shit at Boys ce, so let me go there first.


    You wont need to worry about a long trip. But I guess youd want to bring your things if youre nning on staying in Precipice for a while. Which I guess you are nning on doing?


    Probably. Dont really have anything attaching me to this ce.


    That seems rude to Entismo, Aliss, and Boy.


    Meh, they can take some bad manners. Besides, Aliss is still missing, so she deserves it. And Boy does too for not telling me where she is. And Entismo deserves it for not telling her he had a crush on her and finally nailing the woman before she disappeared. So, yknow.


    Youre really just gonna leave?


    Ille back eventually. Once Im obscenely rich.


    You mean once youre back to being as obscenely rich as you were a few hours ago?


    Oh, you havent seen obscene wealth if you think what I had was a lot.


    I rolled my eyes. Clearly I havent.


    We walked over to Boys ce together so she could fill a backpack with the essentials. The ce was empty, Boy apparently having spent the night somece else. Probably wherever Aliss was. Either way, Sylvie used her key to enter and packed up her stuff while also raiding his well-stocked food supply, which included a lot of expensive-looking cooking ingredients. I tried to stop her, but only managed to get her out of the kitchen after shed shoved a handful of raw sugar into her mouth.


    Honestly, I wonder if shell get along with the Goblins when we pass through the forest to get to the Beacon. Considering how much she acts like a savage, they seem to have a lot inmon Erani muttered while Sylvie shoved clothes into her back in the other room.


    I mean, she <em>did</em> just get disowned. Thatd probably convince anyone to just try and forget about it all for a night. And I guess in her case, forgetting about it involves drinking six mugs of straight liquor?


    She doesnt even have that high an Endurance, does she? I wouldnt think shed need something that strong as a mead recement. I worry that her stomach wont handle the teleportation very well.


    Yeah, shes definitely gonna puke her guts out. And wed picked out such a nice cave, I said sarcastically.


    I would like to at least keep it from smelling from half-digested tavern food. I mean, well probably be spending a decent bit of time in there with you needing to charge it every time we


    Erani was interrupted by the front door opening. Standing in the doorway was a hooded figure, standing there staring at us.


    Oh, the person said in a familiar voice, removing their hood. Ididnt expect people to be here.


    Sylvie popped her head out from her doorway, staring at the person. Aliss? Where in mes have you been?!

 Chapter 246: Reunitement

    Chapter 246: Reunitement


    I watched as Sylvie stood in the middle of Boys living room, staring at Aliss.


    Where in mes have you been?! Sylvie demanded.


    Who are these two? Aliss asked, nodding to me and Erani. Neither of us were in our typical disguise, so she didnt recognize us.


    Sylvie audibly groaned, clearly annoyed that shed have to y into our lie. This is An and Erani, theyre friends of Annor and Eita. Okay, shake hands, bow heads, exchange your philosophies on life, whatever, youre acquainted. Now answer my question, Alisswhere have you been, and why are you here now?


    Aliss chewed her lip. Ive beenrunning errands. Busy with something. Ivee by because I needed to pick up some food, but Im still busy. So, Im sorry, I would normally love to speak with the famous An and Erani, but I do need to get going soon. If youll excuse


    Are you min stupid? Sylvie interrupted. Obviously Im not gonna excuse you. Keep talking! Whatre you busy with?


    I cant tell you, Im sorry.


    Oh, cmon. Sylvie turned to me. An, can you convince her? Flex your Demon knowledge. Aliss, dont you wanna know what these two know about Demons? You can trade info, or something. And then tell me all the info you traded for. But like, for free. I dont have to trade anything.


    Before I could speak up, Aliss responded. I cant do that, not even for information about Demons. Though, I would love to speak about them with you sometime.


    What?! I thought you used to do, like, anything to get Demon info! Didnt you make us go and take that whole job with Annor just so you could interrogate them? What happened?


    I just Aliss sighed and shook her head. I have a new source of information now. Now, please, let me get into the kitchen so I can grab some food.


    Does Boy know youre taking his food?


    Yes. Were you always this nosy?


    Yes.


    To be fair, she was, I offered.


    Aliss groaned in anger. Im doing something seriously important, okay? Please let me do it without interruption. I can talk to you and answer all your questionster, but not now, and <em>definitely</em> not in presentpany.


    Oh, cmon, Im not <em>that</em> bad, am I? Sylvie asked.


    Im not talking about you.


    She nced over at us. What, An and Erani? They arent gonna kill you or anything, you know. Theyre actually very nice and kind and trustworthy and all that. Actually, I know a bunch of super top-secret stuff about them, so if you tell them anything youre worried theyll leak I can just ckmail them into not talking. Boom, problem solved. So talk.


    Its not about whether or not theyll leak it. Aliss turned to us. Im sorry, Im sure youre both wonderful people. But Imconducting some very sensitive research. And, quite frankly, given your history, I believe you may disrupt it if you know what it is. I hope thats a good enough answer for you.


    Its not a good enough answer for <em>me,</em> Sylvie replied. Cmon, Im downtrodden! Doesnt anyone ever think about the little guy?


    Aliss rolled her eyes. Youre anything but downtrodden.


    Actually, Im homeless now, Sylvie said smugly, as if that were something to be smug about. Totally broke. Nothing to my name. Disowned. Parents dont love. Fighting for my life. So yeah, actually youre maybe being super mean and a terrible person for not helping me out. Which, the main way to help me out would be to tell me all of your secret information.


    Aliss looked at us. Is she being serious?


    She actually is, I said.


    Why are you saying that like Im usually so untrustworthy? Sylvie demanded, folding her arms. Give me one time Ive told a lie. Ill wait.


    You literally just said youre homeless, which youre not. Weve given you a ce to stay.


    Okay, but I dont own an estate anymore, so, like, Im basically homeless. Im <em>house</em>less. Which is basically homeless. So boom, no lies. Sylvie the truthful, they call me!


    No, wait, you dont own an estate? Disowned? Aliss looked between us. What happened?


    Now, see, wouldnt I be an asshole if I just said Im busy, and then pranced around like I was so much more important than you? Thats what youre doing. Youre being an asshole.


    Okay, I will tell youter, Aliss said. But really, I cannot just say this to anyone. And these two are certainly more than anyone.


    Fine, fine. Sylvie stepped aside. As she watched Aliss walk by her to the kitchen, she muttered, Ill just follow you back to wherever youre going anyway.


    Aliss stopped and twirled around. Do <em>not </em>follow me.


    Oh, cmon, youll be fine. You just said youd tell meter, right? Whats the difference?


    Just, it would be extremely troublesome if someone followed me back to the ce Im going. For you, and for me, and foreveryone involved. Things would go very poorly. So please, just listen to me, and do not follow me. Do not bother me. Let me do what I need to do right now, and when I get some time, Ill exin things to everyone.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Sylvie raised her hands in mock surrender. Okay, okay, I get it. No need to get all pissy.


    Im pissy because you Aliss sighed. Nevermind.


    She walked past us and opened one of the cabs, staring into it for a moment. Then she whirled around to look at Sylvie. Did you eat out of this bag of sugar?!


    **********


    Entismo snuck through the streets, doing his best to be stealthy. In the dead of night, he tried to navigate correctly, ncing around at every intersection. He didnt want to get lost, and he <em>definitely</em> didnt want to run into the wrong person.


    The night before, after Boy had departed from his home, Entismo had gone shortly after to follow him to his destination. Perhaps it wasnt the most proper thing to do, but he needed to know what was going on with Aliss. If she was in trouble, hehe needed to save her. Though, he wasnt entirely sure how hed go about doing that. He really just hoped she wasnt in trouble.


    Either way, he needed to find out. Shed been gone for so long, what if she didnte back? He would never forgive himself.


    So he had done it. Hed followed Boy and managed to stay hidden as he discovered the location the man had returned toan orphanage in a run-down part of town. He hadnt the courage to go in at the timenot when Boy was still in therebut it should have been empty now. So tonight would be the night. Maybe Aliss would be there, maybe not, but he would at least look until he found something that pointed him in the right direction. A scrap of paper with an address written on it, maybe. Or a letter from someone calling her to another town.


    He looked up from the directions scribbled on his hand. This onest left turn would be thest, and thenYes! There it was! It was in sight!


    He crept up to the front door, turning it, andoh, it was locked.


    Wait, how was he supposed to get into a locked building?! He hadnt brought any tools for this. Could he just break a window? Thatd be a crime, he couldnt do that! Oh no, would he need to return home? Maybe tomorrow would be a better day


    No. He shook his head. No, it had to be today. Hed never be able to work up the courage again if he let his cowardice take him now.


    <em>Surely, theres some other way in</em>He crept around the building, pulling on each of the windows to try and open them. He was locked out by wooden shutters covering each of the holes in the wall, preventing him from entering.


    But then, around at the back of the orphanage, one of the shutters was broken! Just wide enough to crawl through. He pulled a crate over to use as a stepping stool, just barely able to wiggle his way through the hole, and crashed to the wooden floor. He was inside!


    Hello? a childs voice called. Miss Aliss, are you there? Im thirsty. Can you get me some water?


    His eyes widened, unsure what to do. He stayed there frozen for a while, but no more sound came. In front of him was a door that apparently went into a childs bedroom.


    <em>Of course, you dunce! Its an orphanage, the children will be sleeping inside here now. You must be quiet.</em>


    But that child, he had mentioned Aliss by name. So she had been here! That was his clue.


    He wanted to leave immediately. Crawl right back out of the window. Okay, good, he got his clue, he knew where she was, time to go. Buthe needed more. His heart beat so hard he felt like the sound of it may wake the children. He couldnt bring himself to stand on both feet. There were <em>people</em> in this ce! Some of whom were clearly awake! How could he just waltz around and look around? What if he got caught? Would he be taken to jail? Was this ce Enchanted? Would it kill him if he took another step?


    <em>No, no, no, stop worrying. Come on, Entismo. What was it mothers doctor always said to you? Ground yourself. Look around at the things you can concretely see, listen for the things you can assuredly hear. What can you smell? What did you have for yourst meal? Live in the real world.</em>


    <em>But the real world is the problem! I can see a dark, uninviting house awaiting me! I can hear the footsteps of these children ready to scream in fear!</em>


    He took a deep breath. He had to do this.


    <em>At the very least, just get to your feet.</em>


    As carefully as he could, he stood, wincing as the floorboards creaked beneath him. Nobody said anything.


    One step forward. Another step. <em>Its just one step at a time. You can turn and run at any sign of trouble. For now, just take a single step.</em>


    Eventually, he got to the living room. Empty. It was at that point he realized he didnt actually know where to go from there. Down another hallway? Itd just connect to more bedrooms. And he was sure that any room containing more information would have some big sign pointing it out.


    <em>Maybe I should just turn and leave. Youve got at least a little bit, isnt that enough?</em>


    And he almost did turn around and leave. Perhaps it would have been better if he had. But instead, he waited just a little bit longer to think things over. And in those extra seconds, he heard the faintest noise.


    A crash, like someone tumbling to the ground. And then, a shout. Fucking bullshit!


    It was faint, sounding like it wasing through the floor. But


    <em>That wasnt a childs voice. And what was it that they said? Was that Koinkarian ng? Annor and his crew are gone, and theyre the only Koinkarians I know. So then, who?</em>


    He looked around the room again. Was there some sort of basement door? Nothing in the walls, but


    His eyes widened. There. Underneath a stack of crates, he saw the corner of a hatch set into the floor. Breathing heavily, he crept over. There was clearly something going on here. And when he got to the crates, he realized so even more. They were heavyextremely heavy. Peeking inside, they were filled with a random assortment of stone and dirt. They werent even holding anything; their entire purpose was to keep this hatch closed.


    So then, that person wasimprisoned in the basement?! If there were prisoners being kept here, could Aliss be one of them?!


    With newfound haste, Entismo started pushing the crates off of the hatch, not caring about the noise he made anymore. He had to save her!


    Once hed shoved thest of the crates out of the way, the box toppling over in a loud crash, he threw the hatch open and started his way down thedder. Just before his head disappeared below the floor, he caught a glimpse of a childs foot walking out from one of the hallways.


    Miss Aliss? the little boy called. Are you working in the basement again? Can I


    Entismo mmed the hatch shut and continued down. He was past the point of no return now. He had to save her.


    Hopping off thedder to skip thest couple steps, he nced around to catch his bearings. He was in a short hallway, a door at the end of it. From behind the door, he could still hear muffled shouting.


    Of fucking course, you forbid me from touching a book, then leave the book in the middle of the fucking floor! What is this, the third time Ive tripped over it? I swear to the lord below, when shees back, I am going to


    Entismo threw the door open, ready to see a room lined with holding cells, and ready to find the one that held Aliss.


    Only, it wasnt a room lined with holding cells. It was justan office. A particrly messy one, really.


    And standing in the middle of the office, was


    Entismos eyes grew wide. Crimson skin. Blue, glowing veins. Horns atop its head. It was


    The beast nced back at him. Oh, youre herete. Hey, do you mind moving this


    Its eyes grew wide, too.


    Oh, shit, the thing said.


    Entismo stumbled back, hyperventting. Then, at the top of his lungs, he shouted. D-Demon!

 Chapter 247: Welcome to the Overworld. Let’s Explore, Shall We?

    Chapter 247: Wee to the Overworld. Let¡¯s Explore, Shall We?


    Xhagduul stared at a Human in a damp, dark room. Streams of light were let through the open door, the silhouette of a man standing within.


    D-Demon! he shouted.


    A half dozen ideas for what to do ran through Xhagduuls mind, none of him he could enact. <em>Attack and kill him.</em> No, he was forbidden due to his summoners orders. Plus, if this Human had a ss, there was a possibility hed be overpowered regardless. <em>Flee.</em> Forbidden as well. <em>Threaten him into leaving and staying quiet about me.</em> Hed be restricted pretty heavily in that, too.


    There was one thing that he knew might allow him to act, though. His summoner, when shed given him all of these rules, had given plenty of caveats through which he could disobey certain orders. He couldnt attack anyone, unless he was trying to protect her. He couldnt destroy anything in here, unless the thing was going to harm him. And he couldnt leave the room, unless he was protecting himself from imminent death. So then


    The Human started slowly backing away, fearful eyes locked onto Xhagduul. W-what are you doing here?! Wheres Aliss?!


    Normally, he would have responded with an attempt to calm the man down, since he didnt know how powerful he wassomething exining his situation and saying that Aliss was out running an errand. But his goal wasnt to deescte this encounter.


    Xhagduul chuckled, standing tall and baring the natural ws that tipped his fingers. Aliss? You mean lunch?


    The mans face paled. N-no, you didnt.


    Perfect. Xhagduul could read this guy like a book. He was afraid, which was a little suboptimal; if he ran away, thatd leave Xhagduul stuck here with no options. But if he could get the man angry enough Not yet. But sitting here in this orphanageI dont know. Im getting a little hungry. Little children like that can only keep a monsters appetite sated for so long.


    With a gasp, the man nced back at the exit. You, youre eating?


    Perfect. Now to bait him into attacking. Maybe once I get a little stronger, I can graduate to adult Humans. Its not quite lunchtime yet, you know. But Ill be powerful enough to feed myself what I want to eat by then.


    N the man gripped the hilt of the sword on his belt. No, you will not!


    He drew the sword, holding it with both hands, pointed at Xhagduul, who grinnedthis time a genuine smile.


    D-die, foul beast! the man screamed, charged forward.


    <em>Oh no,</em> Xhagduul thought, <em>it looks like this Human is trying to kill me. My life is in imminent danger. Seems like the only way to survive without hurting him is to leave the room.</em>


    Instantly, it was like a section of his mind was unlocked. His limbs were unshackled, and he could suddenly feel the list of his allowed actions expand. He could go through that door. Though, he also felt the weight of all those caveats. He still couldnt harm the man in any way unless he felt that there was absolutely no choice otherwise; he had to keep hidden while he was out of the room; he could only flee further from the room if he continued to feel his life was in danger; he would need to return back to the room once he felt safe. It went on and on.


    The man charged forth, sword over his head. Normally, Xhagduul would have nothing to fear from some random Human, but that changed when he lost all of his Levels. Of course, even at his base Level, a Devil was much more powerful than an Unssed Human, but this one seemed like he had somebat experience under his belt, and Xhagduul didnt like his chances in that case.


    However, even if his XP was gone, his experience wasnt. He had centuries of battle training, andpared to this newbie, he could easily avoid the attack.


    Xhagduul sidestepped the simple swing, then took off, sprinting to the door. The man turned and stared for a moment in confusion, clearly not expecting his adversary to run off like that. But as Xhagduul ran through the hallway and started climbing thedder, he awoke from his shock and moved to chase.


    Throwing the hatch open, Xhagduul nced around his new environment, eager to get out of the basement. Larger room, couches on the floor, andthere! A door leading outside. With the Human still giving chase, Xhagduul was still allowed to keep fleeing. He leapt out of the hatch and started running to the door.


    W-whats going on? a small voice came from behind him. He nced back to see a Human child peeking out from a hallway, but paid the kid no mind.


    The man climbed out of the hatch just as Xhagduul was slipping out the door, catching a glimpse as the man started running to catch up.


    Outside, he found it was the middle of the night. Perfect; no one was around. He still felt his rules forcing him to at least try to stay as hidden as possible while fleeing, but hed want to do that anyway. This Human knew of him, but that didnt mean hed want to go advertising his existence to any others. Besides, he wasnt sure hed actually be able to outrun this Human with their Stat difference. So his only option would be to lose him.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    After a nce around, he dashed off to the side, ducking into a tight alleyway between two run-down buildings just as he heard the Human open the door of the orphanage and run out. Hopefully he hadnt been seen.


    His heart was racing as he dashed from alley to alley, pressing his body up against walls when he heard footsteps, ncing around wildly at every moment. Heavy breathing, racing mindWas this what real danger felt like? Itd been so long, hed forgotten the feeling. True, primal fear. The closest hed felt for as long as he could remember was the anxiety that came with being given a massive workload. But this was different. It was exciting. It was <em>fun.</em>


    Xhagduul broke into a smile as he dashed across a wide road, hoping he hadnt been seen. Maybe, if he got far enough, he could escape to outside the town limits and find some wild monsters. Kill them, Level up, get strong enough to break out of his magic shackles. He had a clear road in front of him. Concrete steps to improving his life; something hed missed for so long.


    Instinctively, heughed, a manic expression painted across his face as he leaned against the side of a building. He barked outughter just like a Human would, hands on his knees to keep himself from falling over from the utter exuberance he felt.


    As he did, he heard the sound of boots on gravel as his would-be killer chased after the sound.


    <em>Alright, </em>he thought, <em>lets not die.</em>


    Sinking his ws into the wooden walls that made up these dpidated buildings, Xhagduul pulled himself up and climbed to the rooftops, where he gazed down to see the Human still searching the area, looking down alleyways and behind broken crates to try and find a Demon that was not there. He suppressed moreughteractually, he probably was being physically prevented fromughing right now, since he could now see a Human was close enough that making noise would alert him to his location.


    Instead, Xhagduul just smiled once again and tore off, leaping along the rooftops as he sprinted in search of a way to grow stronger.


    Entismo checked, double-checked, and triple-checked the entire town block. It wasnt there. The Demon hed identally set free was not there.


    No, no, no he groaned to himself. This cannot be happening. Please, someone find that beast and y it. Please, do not let thise down to me


    Hed reyed the scene over in his mind ten times now. The hatch had been covered by all of those heavy crates to begin withclearly they had been put there to keep the Demon trapped in the basement! But now, it had escaped, and it was entirely Entismos fault. He wanted to curl up into a ball and pass out. He wanted to lie in bed for the next three weeks. He wanted to lock himself in his room until he died. How could he have let this happen?!


    And now, he had to solve the problem. The problem <em>he </em>was clumsy enough to cause in the first ce! Would he not just make it worse? He still had no idea what that thing was doing there, why it was threatening Aliss, or what it was going to do now! He hoped to the gods above it would just leave town and run as far as it could, perhaps back to Koinkar. But something told him there was something tying that thing to this ce. It would not disappear so easily.


    With a shaky breath, he set off. Maybe he wouldnt be able to find it, but if he set the whole town on the task, perhaps another would. Then, the problem would solve itself.


    Sprinting at top speed, it still took him a couple minutes to reach the guild lobby. But when he threw open the doors, he saw the ce was almostpletely empty. Of course. It was the middle of the night; who would still be awake? But he couldnt return home yet. He had a duty to at least inform the guild itself, even if there was nobody around to solve the issue right now.


    E-excuse me, he said, walking up to a tired-looking woman at the front desk. I am here to report a monster sighting?


    She looked up at him with half-closed eyes, speaking in a bored tone. What do you have to report?


    A-a Demon.


    Her eyes went wide.


    I saw it in the southeastern part of town, but it fled before I could kill it. I-I believe it was running in the general direction of


    Hold on, she said, you saw a Demon <em>in the town walls?!</em> What was it doing? How strong? How did you find it?


    I Entismos face went red. How could he tell her the truth of what had happened? II happened upon it in the streets. I do not know how it got there. And, er, we did not have a direct scuffle, so its Level and exact species are unfortunately unknown to me.


    Shit, she muttered, hurriedly shuffling through some paperwork. Ill put up an emergency request right away. And I guess I need to tell the guildmaster; hes gonna wanna tell the mayor about this. This is horrible timing, with nobody awake right now, but hopefully at least the town guard will be on alert. I dont suppose you know any powerful adventurers that would be avable at this time?


    I, Im not sure. Aliss is still astray, and I do not believe I would be capable of locating Boyperhaps Sylvie, as long as she has not disappeared somewhere to go drinking


    Hold on, the woman at the desk said, Sylvie? Thats the noble girl, right?


    Y-yes, you know her?


    Shes the one who killed the invaders with those Koinkarian fugitives, right? I saw them in the guild for a bit today.


    An and Erani are still here? They would be perfect! Where did they go?!


    I dont know, I just saw them sitting around in the lobby not too long ago. I think they were talking about leaving town, from the snippets of conversation I heard?


    I, I see. I will try to find them, please get the town guard informed as quickly as possible!


    Before waiting to hear the womans reply, Entismo dashed out of the lobby. An and Eranitheyd be perfect for killing a Demon! He needed to find them. With a sliver of hope in his mind, he prayed to the gods as he sprinted through the town streets. <em>Please, please let them still be here! And please let that Demon be some random, insignificant scout, or something. If this gets out of control</em>


    Xhagduul grinned, spotting a pack of wild four-legged things wandering the fields outside of Human settlement. Hed managed to scale the walls from the inside and leap down into the tall grass, feeling his summonersmands being stretched to almost their fullest extent before hed be forced to return. But these monsters he was looking atthey looked passive, slow, and weak. They looked like free XP.


    Heughed to himself once more. <em>Time to get out of control.</em>

 Chapter 248: Resurgence

    Chapter 248: Resurgence


    After Aliss left, we took Sylvie with us out of town and toward the Goblin forest. Despite Sylvies best efforts, we never did figure out what Aliss had been doing this whole time, but she assured us up and down that there was nothing dangerous going on and that she was fine, so we reluctantly headed out. Plus, Sylvie was starting to get sleepy-drunk, so we didnt have much of a choice if we wanted to teleport out tonight.


    So, where are we going? she slurred as we made our way past the border checkpoint, informing the guard we were heading out.


    Precipice, I replied. Did you already forget?


    No, no, like, <em>how</em> are we getting there? she asked, stumbling along the cobblestone pathway with us. You, uh, you said no teleport circle, right?


    ...Right, I said, ncing around us. The town guard was still watching us leave. Just follow us, Ill exin when we get there.


    Ugh, you always say that.


    Ive always been saying that today because I have always nned to exin when we get there. Be patient; shouldnt take too long.


    Youre an asshole, she muttered, giving me a light shove that ironically almost made her topple over, rather than me. After regaining her bnce, she gave a little humph and grabbed a bottle from the side of her backpack, taking a swig from it.


    Did you seriously pack booze? I thought you were just bringing the essentials.


    I am.


    I sighed. Alright, I guess. Just please dont cause trouble.


    I wont cause trouble. I dont ever cause trouble, she said, half-mumbling her words as she stumbled along. Then she turned to me, suddenly angry. Dont tell me what to do, by the way! Youre not my min puppet master, yknow! I can do whatever I want. Could drink fifteen more bottles and you cant do anything about it.


    No, you <em>cant</em> do whatever you want, I replied sternly. Im doing you a favor, alright? Id like to help you. But if you put us in danger in any way, I <em>will</em> kick you out. Youre fine right now, but be careful with


    I stopped, frowning as I recognized the trembling sniffles of someone crying. In the light of my armor shining through the night, I could just barely see Sylvie wiping her eyes, looking like she was about to copse to the ground.


    Uh, Im sorry, I said, unsure of what to do. I didnt mean to threaten you or anything, just


    Why am I not good enough for them?! she sobbed. Throw me out of the house, then when I find some friends out here, they disown me. What could I have done for them to just be okay with me?


    Oh. Uh I didnt know what I could say to help.


    Itum, its okay, Erani said,ing and wrapping her arm around Sylvie to keep her from toppling over as she stumbled down the road with us.


    Wait, I said, did you say they threw you out of the house? I thought you ran away from home.


    I didnt. They didnt want me around anymore. And now they dont even want me to have theirst name.


    Thats horrible, Erani said.


    Yeah, shit, Im sorry. Uh, well definitely do what we can to help, alright?


    She threw her bottle of booze on the side of the road, liquid leaking onto the cobblestones, then sniffled and nodded. Th-thanks.


    I nodded. And then, when youre a big famous hero, you can go rub it in their faces that they dont get any of your limelight.


    Erani gave me a look that conveyed something along the lines of maybe dont stoke the mes of revenge <em>this</em> early? but I just smiled and winked at her, which I felt was a good response to anything she might have been trying to tell me.


    She rolled her eyes at me, showing me that it was, in fact, a good response. After our short exchange, she turned to Sylvie. We wont kick you out or anything, I promise.


    Sylvie kept walking with us wordlessly, grabbing another bottle from her bag and starting to down it as well. Eventually, once shed finished it and thrown it aside, she asked, ...So how are we getting there?


    Youll see, I responded with a sigh. There might be some pretty weird stuff going on, though. Sojust dont ask.


    Entismo rushed over to the guards standing by the town exit, gasping for breath. H-have you seen a woman named Sylvie leave town this way? She may have been apanied by a pair of people, one of them wearing glowing white armor.


    They frowned, and one of them said, ...Yes. They left through this gate bout an hour ago. Were talking about going to Precipice, or something. Why do you


    He sprinted ahead, down the path and out of town, not waiting for the guard to finish his question. They were leaving for the capital?! He had to find them before they got too far. He <em>needed</em> their help with this Demon. He had no idea how they nned to leave, but if they somehow disappeared before he could catch up to them, hed


    He couldnt let it happen. Facing this issue on his own would be impossible.


    Entismo pushed his legs to move faster, ncing along the dark road he traveled. Discarded on the side of the path was an empty bottle of boozethe exact kind that was Sylvies favorite. He was on the right path.


    <em>Please, please, please</em>He thought as he ran. <em>Please dont be gone.</em>


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences elsewhere.


    He had no idea how they were going to Precipice going in this direction, or why they were going there, or what was going on at all. Why did the Demon threaten him and then run right off? What were its ns? Why was it there in the first ce? Entismo was utterly baffled.


    But he did know one thing. He needed to find someone else who could solve the issue. Because if he was the one to create the problem, that meant he clearly hadnt the capability to make it better. If killing the demon came down to him, he knew he would fail, because hed already failed in preventing its escape from happening in the first ce. It had to be someone else. He needed someone else.


    <em>Please. Just this one time, let me seed in doing something. Let me seed in getting help. Please.</em>


    Once we arrived in the forest, I just needed to charge up the Beacon, and then wed be good to go. Since wed used it once already, the cost had gone from 1k Mana to 10k, meaning Id need about an hour and a half to prepare it. While I worked on that, Erani and Sylvie sat in the clearing. We were also waiting for Ainash toe meet up with us, so Erani had taken the job of letting her know she shoulde back from whatever she was doing with the Goblins to find us again.


    Hey Sylvie muttered, drunker now than she was before, isnt this where we fought that Young Dragon?


    Mhm, Erani responded with a nod. It is. Were in the Goblins forest right now.


    Why are we here?


    Were using that orb floating in the air to go back to town, Erani said. Shed taken on a tone simr to that of how youd speak to a lost child. It should be ready pretty soon.


    Okay Sylvie leaned her head on Eranis shoulder, trapping her one good arm to the side of her body.


    She looked up at me, and I could see the plea of please hurry up in her eyes.


    Eventually, I did get the Beacon fully charged. Its glow shone across the clearing, illuminating everything clearly. Ainash had arrived, along with a few Goblins who hade to see her off. They were all wearing some new robes that looked handcraftedlight green cloths that covered their heads and shoulders in a thick hood, with an insignia I couldnt quite make out woven across the backs.


    <em>Did you make them new clothes?</em> I asked her.


    <em>Taught them how to make! To show they are most important believers.</em>


    <em>...You really went all-in on the religion thing, huh?</em>


    <em>Yes! Is travel ready?</em>


    <em>It is. Just waiting on ourpanion to wake back up.</em>


    Erani shook Sylvie for the fourth time, wiggling the shoulder she leaned on back and forth to try and unpin her arm from her body.


    Wuhhuh? Sylvie muttered, groggily opening her eyes.


    Were leaving, I called over to her, standing with my hand around the Beacon.


    Ohokay, she said, slowly moving to get herself to her feet. She nted one foot on the ground, pushed up, and instantly lost bnce, falling t on her face.


    Good gods, I muttered. Arent you a Dexterity build?


    She didnt seem to notice me, still lying in the dirt. She closed her eyes and grumbled, Just go ahead without me. Ill catch up.


    That wont work, unfortunately, Erani said, getting to her feet herself and walking over to Sylvie to lend a hand. Well be going there all at once.


    Sylvie muttered something unintelligible about needing just five more minutes, and Erani sighed, bending over and wrapping her arm around the woman to pick her up.


    Id have gone over to help, or at least asked Ainash to do so, but thanks to the Stats given to Erani by the Bond, Erani didnt actually have much trouble at all in pulling Sylvie to her feet and providing something to steady herself on. She slowly guided Sylvie over to the Beacon.


    As I watched her approach, I thought I heard a noise off in the distance, like something stepping through the leaves. Had Ainash brought more Goblins along that were watching from afar? Or maybe it was just some animal wandering around.


    My attention was brought back to the Beacon when I felt Eranis hand touch mine. Shed put her hand on the floating crystal ball, showing Sylvie how to do the same.


    Alright, I said to her, this is probably gonna be ufortable for you, especially in yourprone-to-nausea state, but youll be fine. Hopefully. Uh, if youre gonna spew chunks, just try to do it away from our direction?


    She babbled noises in response, eyes still half-closed. Honestly, if it was revealed she was still unconscious at this moment and had just been sleep-walking the whole time, Id have believed it.


    ...So, I continued, Im gonna count us down from ten, just so you can prepare yourself. Honestly, well all probably need to prepare for the sensation. You all ready?


    Everyone nodded.


    Okay. Ten


    Entismo dashed through the forest, searching frantically for any sign of the people he relied on. An had saved his life against that Jon person, and Entismo had to hope hed do it again now. Sylvies empty bottles had led him here, but now that he was out in the middle of this forest, it was suddenly much harder to follow a trail like that.


    He wanted to shout out for help, but this was the <em>Goblin</em> forest. Hed heard the ce had been cleared out for the most part, but screaming at the top of his lungs sounded like a great way to attract unwanted attention from any of the ones that had been left behind. An wore that glowing armor, so all he needed to do was find the light.


    <em>Please, dont be gone. Please</em>


    That was when he heard it.


    You all ready? The faintest voice came from his left.


    He snapped his head over in that direction.


    Ten. Nine. Eight


    Was that An? Had he found them?


    Seven. Six. Five


    Wait, what was he counting down to?


    Entismo took off in that direction, hoping he could find them. Off in the distanceyes, he saw it! Light! It was even brighter than he remembered the mans armor being, casting brilliant rays through the trees.


    Four. Okay, get ready to teleport. Three. Two


    His eyes grew wide. Did An just say teleport?!


    No, Entismo muttered. Then, he shouted, Wait!


    One


    Wait! Theres a Demon! A Demon is attacking the town! Dont go! Dont


    Entismos voice faded as he arrived in the clearing.


    It was empty.


    The light was still there,ing off of a strange floating stone in the middle of the forest. But just as hede into the clearing, hed seen the figures of four people disappear before his very eyes.


    No. No, no, no. Entismo fell to his knees, the sharp bark of fallen trees digging into his skin. Shaky breaths exited his lungs as his mind struggled to process what had just happened. Hed failed. He was alone.


    Who you?! a scratchy voice came from beside him. Looking over, he found a de pointing at his face.


    Ah! he shouted, falling backward and scrambling away from the weapon.


    Why you here? the voice continued.


    He blinked and looked past the de, to the figure wielding it. Holding him at knifepoint were two short, green figures, each wearing woven hoods.


    You worshiper of Great Ones? You worshiper of Great Lady?


    Er He nced between the two monsters, each of them holding a de and ready to cut his throat out depending on his answer. ...Yes?


    When we arrived back in the sandy cave of Precipices surrounding deserts, I did, indeed, feel likeplete shit. The nausea wasnt as badmaybe because I was expecting it, or maybe because Id gotten a little used to the sensationbut not as bad didnt equal not bad at all.


    That said, the world spinning around me was the least of my worries. Because just as Id activated the Beacon, right as we were teleporting away, Id caught a voice from outside the clearing.


    <em>What the fuck was Entismo saying about a Demon?</em>

 Chapter 249: Adventuring Ailments

    Chapter 249: Adventuring Ailments


    Sylvie did, indeed, puke all over the floor. She¡¯d copsed onto the hard ground the moment we arrived in the desert cave we housed our Beacon Anchor Point in, and after a few moments of groaning and moaning, she coughed up a pool of yellowish liquid full of chunks.


    I took a deep breath to calm my own stomach, leaning on the cave wall. ¡°Ugh, I hoped it wouldn¡¯t be as bad this time.¡±


    ¡°What was that voice as we left?¡± Erani grunted. ¡°Was that¡­Entismo?¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± I said. ¡°He said something about a Demon? Think they spotted some approaching Infernals?¡±


    ¡°Should we go back?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d cost a hundred thousand Mana to activate this thing again. That¡¯d be, what¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d be 14.73 hours,¡± Index said. ¡°And toe back to Precipice afterward, a little over six straight days of Mana production.¡±


    ¡°Right, pretty much impossible. Even if we epted that we wouldn¡¯t be able to afford the trip back until the cost increases wore off, we¡¯d still need to spend pretty much a full day just charging up the Beacon, if we factor in the need for sleep. Which¡­¡± I yawned wide. ¡°...We do need to sleep soon.¡±


    ¡°But if the town¡¯s about to be wiped out by a Demon army¡­¡±¡°Did he say ¡®a Demon army?¡¯ Or just ¡®a Demon.¡¯¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Erani said. ¡°The teleportation was messing with my senses as it activated; I couldn¡¯t hear him very well.¡±


    ¡°Me neither. Shit, should we use, um,¡± I nced to Sylvie¡¯s half-unconscious form on the ground. ¡°Use¡­<em>my ability</em> to go back and¡ª¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to use Time Loop,¡± Index interjected. ¡°I could hear perfectly well up until the moment you arrived here, so I can attest that he only said there was one Demon.¡±


    ¡°An?¡± Erani asked. ¡°Why did you randomly stop talking?¡±


    ¡°Oh, apparently he said ¡®a Demon,¡¯ singr.¡±


    ¡°So the town should be capable of handling it on their own,¡± Index continued. ¡°No need to waste a use.¡±


    ¡°I do kind of agree with what it''s saying here,¡± I said, referencing Index without saying its name because of Sylvie. She didn¡¯t seem like she was listening, but if she did remember tonight¡¯s events, it would be best to keep our secrets. Erani seemed to understand what I was getting at. ¡°If it¡¯s just one Demon, then the adventurers in town will be absolutely fine. I mean, some of them are stronger than us, so our being there would really just be adding a few to the numbers of several dozen.¡±


    ¡°Entismo came to us for help for a reason, though,¡± Erani said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that imply something was happening that we¡¯re needed for?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know much about Human personalities,¡± Index responded, ¡°but from what I do know, it seems like Entismo is the type to run for help at the first sign of trouble. He probably saw a Demon, and his first thought went to you two, who are the only people he knows who have dealt with one. By the time he gets back to town, it¡¯ll probably have already been dealt with.¡±


    I thought for a moment. Index did have a point. But then, if the Demons were there, attacking and subjugating yet another group of people¡­I couldn¡¯t allow what happened to the people in Koinkar to happen here, too. Back then, I ran because I couldn¡¯t fight back. Now I <em>could</em>.


    ¡°Think about this rationally,¡± Index continued. ¡°It¡¯s one Demon, not an army. Why would they just send one? It¡¯s probably a scout, there to see if you¡¯re still around. If you show up to attack it, then they¡¯ll know you¡¯re there and will definitely send more. If you¡¯re nowhere to be found, they¡¯ll leave the ce alone. Especially if they prove themselves able to defend against an attack without assistance.¡±


    Shit. It had a point.


    ¡°You seem like you¡¯re in deep discussion,¡± Erani said. ¡°I assume you¡¯re being told ¡®abandon them, let them die, they don¡¯t matter¡¯ or something along those lines?¡±


    ¡°It hasn¡¯t said anything like that. Though, I don¡¯t doubt it¡¯s <em>thinking</em> it. But the main point it¡¯s made¡ªand that I agree with¡ªis that this Demon is just there to see if we¡¯re still around. If we show up to fight it, that¡¯s when they send in the full army. I hate to admit it, but just being in a certain ce will naturally put the people there in danger. We¡¯re better fit staying away, in a much better defended ce until we¡¯re sure we can fight off a full-on assault.¡±


    Erani sighed. ¡°I won¡¯t try to im I don¡¯t prefer staying hidden and away from conflict, regardless. But leaving these people to fend for themselves against a threat that <em>we</em> brought to them just makes me feel¡­dirty. I mean, even if they¡¯ll be okay against one scout, what happens if the Demons send in an army anyway, even though they didn¡¯t see us, just to be safe? What if, tomorrow, the town of Salvation sees a thousand Infernals marching to their gates?¡±


    ¡°Hm. We could send a message back, right? Ask Entismo what exactly¡¯s going on, and tell him where to contact us if there¡¯s a crisis.¡±


    ¡°That¡­could work. Only, I don¡¯t know how the courier system works here.¡±


    I looked down at Sylvie, still syed out on the floor. ¡°She sent us a letter. She knows how to do it.¡±


    Erani sighed. ¡°Yes, well, I¡¯m not sure she¡¯s in a state to give us tutoring at the current moment.¡±


    ¡°Then we do it tomorrow. She should be fine enough by then.¡±


    ¡°I suppose that works. We can send a letter to Entismo, he can exin, and¡­That <em>was</em> Entismo, right?¡±


    ¡°It was was his voice. And I caught a glimpse of him before we disappeared. No idea how he found us, though.¡± I frowned. ¡°Actually, if he saw us just as we were teleporting away, that kind ofpromises the Beacon, right?¡±


    Ainash sat up, having stumbled and fallen to the ground, herself. <em>¡°Goblins should make sure he is not problem.¡±</em>


    I nced over. <em>¡°What do you mean?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°They are supposed to kill all enemies,¡±</em> she said with a perfectly straight face, getting to her feet and dusting herself off.


    I stared at her. <em>¡°Ainash. They aren¡¯t going to murder him, are they?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Um¡­¡±</em> she looked everywhere except my eyes. <em>¡°Maybe not. Would be good if Human did not talk about secret teleportation item, right? Killing is one way to keep from talking.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Entismo is on our side. We can''t¡ª¡±</em> I ced my head in my hands. <em>¡°Ugh, I guess what they do isn¡¯t up to you right now, anyway. But you told them to kill anyone who entered the forest?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Only bad guys.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°And how do they know who is and isn¡¯t a bad guy?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°...Have not taught them yet. But they should know! I know who is and is not bad guy and I was never taught.¡±</em>


    ¡°If we teleport back to Salvationter only to see Entismo¡¯s corpse lying in front of us¡­¡± Erani nched. ¡°I really hope they don¡¯t notice him. Ugh, why would he go in there in the first ce?! Goblins are known to be dangerous, right?!¡±


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences.


    ¡°I guess we¡¯ll know how it turned out when we send him a message tomorrow,¡± I said, trying to put the issue out of my mind for now. It was out of our hands; we just needed to get Sylvie signed up for the tournament, then go to sleep and prepare for the thing to begin when we woke up.


    Erani nodded in agreement, and we all took a few moments to fully recover from the nausea that came from using the Beacon.


    Then, I looked down at Sylvie lying semi-conscious on the ground. ¡°So, who¡¯s carrying her?¡±


    I ended up carrying Sylvie, mainly because Ethereal Armor protected me from the puke dribbling down her shirt. Now back in Precipice, I¡¯d swapped back to Dark te, which covered my entire body, and it seemed like whatever Sylvie was thinking in her sleepy, drunken state, she wasn¡¯t intending to reach through my armor, because her body gripped right onto the ephemeral tes rather than passing through them.


    We trekked back through the desert and into the city, doing our best to retrace our steps in the run-down outskirts and find the office we could sign Sylvie up for the tournament in. It took some time, but eventually we got inside, and I woke her from her stupor as we walked to the desk.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°time to sign up.¡±


    ¡°...Huh?¡± she asked, blinking her eyes open. ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°The tournament. The one you were begging us to let you join.¡±


    ¡°...Oh, right.¡± She yawned, closing her eyes back and leaning against me, trying to settle back into her slumber. ¡°Go ahead and sign me up.¡±


    I shook her. ¡°No, no. You have to do it.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re sorry,¡± Erani said with an apologetic look to the secretary holding the paperwork out for her to sign. ¡°We¡¯ll be ready in just a moment.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna!¡± Sylvie said. ¡°Do itter.¡±


    ¡°This is thest moment to¡ª¡± I stopped and sighed. ¡°We¡¯ll find a ce with an actual bed once you do this. Because I already know you¡¯ll be pissed if we let you go to sleep without signing up. So do it now, and you can lie down sooner.¡±


    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Sylvie groaned and took aborious step forward, opening her eyes once again and squinting at the documents. ¡°Is this gonna, like, kill me or something if I sign it?¡±


    ¡°...No?¡± thedy standing at the desk answered.


    ¡°Cool.¡± Sylvie signed it without reading a single word. Then she turned around and began trudging out of the building. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    I shrugged at Erani, then started to follow.


    Erani followed suit. ¡°Is she already hungover, or something?¡±


    ¡°Pretty sure she¡¯s just extremely tired, which I imagine the drunkenness isn¡¯t helping with. Though¡­¡± I thought back to everything she¡¯d told us about with the circumstances surrounding her and her family. ¡°Maybe she¡¯s just in one of those moods where she¡¯d rather not be awake so she doesn¡¯t have to be inside her own head.¡±


    Once we were done with that, we found the nearest inn and booked a room there. Thankfully, despite having Ainash with us, it still wasn¡¯t much of an issue to get one. I was worried there¡¯d be a bunch of ces with no-monsters-allowed policies, or they¡¯d try to charge us extra, but it turned out that, since Ainash was a full-fledged citizen of the empire, there were a bunch ofws that protected her from that sort of thing. I supposed they did typically only give out citizenship like that after an extremely long and arduous process with plenty of tests to ensure the monster was safe andpatible with Humans, so it made sense they¡¯d earn some legal protections in exchange for that.


    ¡°You all are adventurers?¡± the innkeeper asked as we paid for the rooms.


    I nodded. ¡°We¡¯re here for the tournament.¡±


    ¡°Tourney, eh? That¡¯s starting tomorrow, isn¡¯t it? You¡¯re cutting it a little close.¡±


    ¡°Guess we are. But we made it in time.¡±


    He waved his hand ¡°We get a few like you every week. I get official announcements delivered here, so if you¡¯d like, I can slip some copies under your doorstep in the morning. Guests are always in a rush in the mornings of the elimination round to get out and get started on their objectives, so you should get your news on what the objective¡¯s gonna be as early as possible.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯d be a huge help, thanks.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Two rooms, they¡¯ll be down at the end of that hall.¡±


    Sylvie took one room, while Erani and I took the other. I asked Ainash if she wanted to go with Sylvie and share a bed with her or something, but she said she¡¯d be fine sleeping on the floor in ours. Evidently the entire Nymph species didn¡¯t have much of a need forfort while resting, being able to sleep just as well on a pile of rocks as they could on a luxury mattress. Not that the straw mattresses here were luxury, of course. But regardless, shey down and made herselffortable on the hard floor while Erani and Iy down and closed our eyes.


    ¡°You think she¡¯ll be alright in time for the tournament tomorrow?¡± Erani asked. I opened my eyes and nced over to see her staring up at the dingy ceiling.


    ¡°I can¡¯t imagine she¡¯ll be feeling very good, after the amount she drank. But it¡¯s just a hangover, right? And tomorrow¡¯s just the elimination round; not like it¡¯ll actually be a challenge.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m more worried she¡¯s still going to be drunk when she wakes up.¡±


    I chuckled. ¡°Actually, yeah. That¡¯s probably the more likely possibility.¡±


    She looked over at me, absentmindedly tracing her fingers along the bedsheets. ¡°Are you nervous?¡±


    ¡°Nah. I¡¯ll save my nervousness for once we actually get further into the contest. For now, it should be smooth sailing.¡± I was slightly lying, of course¡ªhow could I not be a little nervous, when messing this up could mean ruining my ability to help Erani get her arm back¡ªbut telling her about my own nervousness would only make hers worse.


    With a sigh, Erani looked back to the ceiling. ¡°I suppose. I just really don¡¯t likepeting against others like this. My build was in no way constructed for Human-versus-Humanbat.¡±


    ¡°Well, the key of all this is that even if you fuck up, you¡¯ve still got us to back you up, right? It only matters if we <em>all</em> fail. I mean, there can only be one winner in the end anyway, right? So all of us getting to the finals wouldn¡¯t even matter.¡±


    ¡°Oh no, does that mean I¡¯m going to have to fight <em>you</em> if we¡¯re the two semifinalists?¡±


    Iughed. ¡°And here I thought you were pessimistic about how you thought this would end up. I imagine we can just have one of us forfeit the match if ites down to that.¡±


    ¡°Good. I would hate to hurt you on ident.¡±


    ¡°See? That¡¯s the right mentality to have. Don¡¯t be afraid for yourself; be afraid for your opponents. They¡¯re the ones who have to go up against a hot badass Sorcererdy.¡± I grinned. ¡°Get it? Hot? Because you shoot fireballs? I¡¯m hrious.¡±


    Erani did her best to look unamused. ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s go to sleep. Big day tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°I thought you said the elimination round wouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±


    ¡°Ah, you misunderstand. It¡¯s not a big day because we¡¯re going to struggle, it¡¯s a big day because we get to go and crush thepetition.¡±


    Erani snorted. ¡°Alright, alright. Let¡¯s go to sleep, then. Wouldn¡¯t want to miss that.¡±


    When I awoke, Erani was already up, standing by the door and reading a paper that¡¯d been slipped underneath it.


    A muffled shout came from behind the door. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna get up!¡±


    ¡°You need to start getting ready!¡± Erani shouted back, still reading the paper. ¡°At least look over the announcement!¡±


    ¡°Ugh, why so early?¡±


    ¡°Because I know you won¡¯t get up for another thirty minutes no matter what I say, so I have to start <em>trying</em> now or else¡ª¡± she nced over at me and stopped, then lowered her voice. ¡°Oh, sorry, did I wake you up?¡±


    ¡°Apparently it¡¯s time to get up anyway, so I don¡¯t mind,¡± I said, crawling out of bed.


    ¡°It probably would be a good idea to start moving, actually,¡± she said, looking back over the paper. ¡°Seems like these next few days won¡¯t be as leisurely as we thought.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± I walked over and looked at the paper.


    <em>CONQUEROR¡¯S TOURNEY OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT</em>


    <em>Starting with this round, the elimination rounds of the Conqueror¡¯s Tourney will be conducted differently than how they have been in the past. In order to make a more engaging spectator experience and to reward the most qualified of contestants, a ranked reward system will be put in ce during the elimination round.</em>


    <em>Instead of being a pass-or-fail aptitude test asking contestants toplete a single task, this round will offer four different challenges contestants can attempt toplete. Finishing any single one of these challenges will allow an entrant topete in the official Tourney, making it easier for contestants to qualify. Rejoice!</em>


    <em>However, for the most qualified of contestants, if you are capable of finishing more than just a single one of the challenges, you will receive rewards to aid youter in your rounds during the Tourney. The more challenges you manage toplete, the better the rewards will be.</em>


    <em>This system will be exined further as the elimination round proceeds. For now, the first challenge will be revealed. The second will be revealed at the start of the second day of the elimination round, and the third and fourth will be revealed at the start of the third and final day.</em>


    <em>CHALLENGE 1: Turn in three full-grown desert crystals¡ªone red, one yellow, and one blue. Beware of the Sand Hive!</em>


    ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s been changed to still challenge the higher-Level people,¡± I said. ¡°Still, this first one shouldn¡¯t be too bad. I mean, I remember seeing dozens of those big crystals cropping up across the desert on our way here. Even if a bunch of them were in Sand Hive territory, there were still a bunch of them in safe areas.¡±


    ¡°...Which, those easy ones are probably being taken as we speak by hundreds of other contestants swarming the desert,¡± Erani said.


    ¡°Ah. Right.¡± I stood there, staring at the paper for a moment. Then I threw it to the side, hastily moving to cast Ethereal Armor and cover myself in Dark te. ncing over to our door, I shouted, ¡°Sylvie! Get up! We¡¯re moving out in two minutes!¡±

 Chapter 250: Bitter Bout

    Chapter 250: Bitter Bout


    Erani, Sylvie, Ainash, and I stood outside the city walls, gazing out into the desert. Our job was to find and retrieve one desert crystal of each primary color they appeared in¡ªred, yellow, and blue. And, of course, each of us needed to aplish that task, meaning we¡¯d actually need four of each of those colors¡ªone for each of us. So, we¡¯d have toe out here to grab them.


    Only, there was an issue.


    ¡°Do you even see <em>one </em>crystal out there?¡± I asked, hand over my eyes as I searched the empty dunes.


    ¡°It hasn¡¯t even been an hour since the announcement was posted!¡± Sylvieined. ¡°How have people already gone and taken everything?¡±


    ¡°You were the one who dyed us,¡± Eranimented.


    ¡°By <em>maybe</em> two minutes. Just had to get out of bed.¡±


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re still right by the wall,¡± Erani said. ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll start to find more as we venture further out.¡±


    ¡°Outta the way!¡± a voice shouted from behind us. I nced back to see a couple of people sprint by, armor nking with each step. They quickly disappeared over a dune and left us behind.


    ¡°Seems like we should get moving, then,¡± I said.Sylvie nodded. ¡°We should probably split up. If the crystals are really gonna be this scarce, there¡¯s no way we¡¯ll find enough for all of us traveling as one big group.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, and as long as we stay away from Sand Hive territory, being low on manpower shouldn¡¯t actually be much of a problem.¡±


    ¡°When we were with that merchantdy yesterday, she said they¡¯d only attack if they saw you taking crystals that were located inside of their territory, right?¡± Erani asked. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then yes, I don¡¯t think we¡¯d face any issues.¡±


    ¡°Great! Let¡¯s go!¡± And with that, Sylvie ran off.


    I nodded to Erani and Ainash. ¡°I¡¯ll go off to the left. Let¡¯s meet back here in a few hours? If you find enough for yourself sooner than that, just keep looking for others to fill everyone else¡¯s requirements. Hopefully, at least one of us will find an unlooted area.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a good n.¡±


    <em>¡°Okay!¡±</em>


    It took a while, but eventually I ended up spotting a crystal or two embedded in the ground. The specific requirements for the challenge needed the crystals to be ¡°full-grown¡± and rtively undamaged, though, and the ones I saw clearly didn¡¯t fit those criteria. We¡¯d asked around and found out that a full-grown crystal didn¡¯t need to be as big as those asional ones I¡¯d seen that were as massive as buildings¡ªor even the ones that were as tall as me. Instead, ¡°full-grown¡± just meant grown to the point where they¡¯dpletely developed their coloring, which apparently happenedter in their lifecycle. So, effectively, as long as I could see a color, it would work.


    So, with that said, pretty much none of the crystals around me had any color at all. They were all clear as ss, little outcrops in the sand. Well, either that, or they were smashed to pieces¡ªallpletely unusable. But hey, considering that there wasn¡¯t even <em>this</em> much closer to the city, I was making progress. I hadn¡¯t yet run into any Sand Hive territory, and I hoped I wouldn¡¯t. The challenge¡¯s description itself mentioned to watch out for them, and I¡¯d had first-hand experience on how much trouble they¡¯d give me if I angered them. That is, it¡¯d basically end up being a guaranteed Time Loop usage if they attacked.


    At this point, though, I was beginning to wonder if I¡¯d end up needing to try taking something from their ownership. I certainly wasn¡¯t having much luck trying to find safe crystals to harvest. I supposed that was the entire point of the challenge; the easy ones would be grabbed up quickly by the people high enough Level to move faster than anyone else, and then it¡¯d be down to who was willing enough to fight the Sand Hive to get the difficult ones¡ªand who was strong enough to survive.


    I¡¯d been boosting myself periodically with Expedite¡ªboth for the speed and to keep my Stamina high in this hot, difficult-to-maneuver-in environment¡ªbut clearly I was no match for people who¡¯d dedicated their entire builts for getting far out and grabbing the crystals quickly. Or, maybe it was the people with divination abilities that let them detect objects or see through familiars they could send out to scout for them? I had no idea; all I knew was that I was built forbat, not recon.


    It was as I wandered through the desert that I finally saw it. A small, deep red crystal sticking out from the sand in a small valley. The first wave of adventurers must¡¯ve missed it!


    I rushed forward to grab the crystal. It was around half as tall as my forearm, so pretty smallpared to the gigantic ones I¡¯d seen elsewhere, but as long as it had its coloring, it counted. Once my hands were around it, I pulled.


    It didn¡¯t budge.


    ¡­I pulled harder. Nothing. I squatted down, pushing with my legs to yank as hard as I could. The crystal didn¡¯t seem to care.


    <em>Gods damn this shit. </em>I knew these things grew out of the ground, but I didn¡¯t expect them to be rooted in like trees. The challenge had asked for them to be undamaged¡ªdid that mean I could just break it off at its base? Or would that count as damaging it? Maybe I needed to dig it out, or something.


    Just as I¡¯d put my hands to the ground, ready to start scooping sand out of the way to see how deep down the crystal went, I heard a voice.


    ¡°Hey! Get away from that! It¡¯s mine!¡±


    I turned around to see a man cresting a hill and running down at me. He was wearing chainmail armor with a¡­was that a halberd on his back? Some sort of polearm.


    ¡°I said get back!¡± he shouted, slowing to a walk as he got to the bottom of the valley with me.


    I stood. ¡°Not sure if you noticed, but I was here first. Sorry dude, go get your own.¡±


    He barked out augh. ¡°Not sure if <em>you </em>noticed, but it don¡¯t matter who was here first. It matters who¡¯s gonna take it. And that¡¯s me. So get.¡±


    Now it was my turn tough. ¡°Really? Listen, buddy, but your little n to intimidate newbies isn¡¯t gonna work on me. So unless you¡¯re prepared to die for this crystal, I suggest you head out.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s obvious you¡¯re new here; you don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing. So let mey down thew: I say you leave, you leave. You don¡¯t want to mess with me.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Okay. You¡¯re clearly not backing off. I¡¯m not going either. So then, how are we doing this? Are youing at me? Waiting for me toe at you? Do you wanna tell me the names of your family members so I can let them know what happened once this is done?¡±


    He wavered slightly, then grit his teeth. ¡°Confidence don¡¯t look good on a weakling like you. If you really got a death wish, then¡ª¡±


    ¡°Good gods, can you just get to the part where you attack me already? You¡¯re wasting my time that I could use to find some more crystals once I¡¯m done with you.¡±


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the vition.


    With a grunt, he gripped the halberd on his back, then drew it and pointed it at me. ¡°This is your death warrant you¡¯re signing, you know.¡±


    I stared at him, face unmoving. Not that he could see my face, with Dark te covering it.


    And then, he disappeared in a sh of movement. I had just enough time to think <em>oh shit</em> before the ded head of the halberd was swinging at my face, and I could just barely duck underneath to avoid getting hit. He twisted around and threw a stab my way, which I turned to the side to avoid, raising my arm to deflect the de away from me.


    The moment the metal touched me, I could almost feel it moving, like it had turned into a living liquid, trying to do¡­something. Immediately, I activated Expedite three times over and used the newfound boost in Dexterity to leap back, away from the mysterious weapon.


    As I fell back on one foot, watching my opponent recover from the follow-through of his attack¡ªalmost certainly some sort of Martial Art, for him to move that quickly¡ªI raised my hand and shot off a series of Rays of Frost. The first two hit dead on, but as I fired the third, he raised his weapon to block it with his de.


    For a moment, my attention was caught by his Level. The Ray of Frost notifications read <em>You have struck Level 23 Cavalryman</em>¡ªhe was higher Level than me, and he had a pretty umon ss, to boot. Not that I saw any sort of steed around here for him to ride; he seemed to be without his ss¡¯s specialty, in that case. Still, the way he was fighting, I felt pretty lucky to get away from him unscathed. And with some sort of Enchanted weapon, I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to get close to him again.


    He was also standing there, gazing at me cautiously. I was sure he was thinking the same thing about me that I was thinking about him¡ª<em>damn, this guy isn¡¯t a pushover, after all.</em>


    ¡°Magic, eh?¡± he called out to me. ¡°I had you pinned as a Melee-type, with that armor. What¡¯s your ss?¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting to see your ss, either. I¡¯ll tell you mine if you tell me what a Cavalryman is doing out here fighting without his mount.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re thinking I¡¯m gonna let you go just because you avoided an attack or two, you¡¯ve got another thinging.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t have it any other way. Could always let off some steam, y¡¯know.¡±


    He scowled. ¡°Arrogant little¡­¡±


    His sentence trailed off, and he charged ahead again. This time, I could see his weapon really beginning to shift and mold into something else, an otherworldly glow surrounding it. I prepared to throw my full suite of Curses at him and let him know just who he was dealing with, waiting to hit him with everything at the perfect time to throw him off his bnce. Five paces away from me, then four, then three, and¡ª


    ¡°Hey!¡± A voice came from beside us, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a group of people running down the dunes straight at us.


    My opponent slowed his charge to a walk, then stopped, looking over at them with a look of extreme dissatisfaction. His de stopped moving, shaping itself back into the typical shape of a halberd.


    I looked over, too. A portly man¡ªseemed like a Magic-Type, maybe a Cleric¡ªwas jogging over to us, trailed by anky Melee-Type with a sword and a short bowman.


    Therger Cleric stopped at the bottom of the valley, taking a few breaths as he looked between us.


    ¡°What are you two thinking?!¡± he shouted. ¡°Fighting with each other during the Tourney elimination round is strictly forbidden! Are you two trying to get yourselves disqualified? Arrested?¡±


    The Cavalryman took a step forward, cing a hand on his chest and speaking in a much different tone than the one he used with me. ¡°Sir, I was just defending myself! You have to believe me, this foreigner came at me with his savage Spells and began threatening my life! Look, you can still see the frost biting my skin from his attempt on my life.¡±


    I looked at him. ¡°Oh, you fucker. Seriously?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m in no position to make judgements on who was in the right and who was in the wrong here,¡± the man said. ¡°But you two ought to stop your scuffling unless you¡¯re prepared to face the consequences.¡±


    ¡°Look,¡± I said, ¡°he was trying to take one of my crystals, I said no, he attacked, and I retaliated. It¡¯s nothing more than that. If you¡ª¡±


    ¡°This one?¡± the man walked over to the red crystal protruding from the ground.


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re about to try and fight me for it, too.¡±


    ¡°No, I think not. In fact, if the two of you can¡¯t agree on who should get it, then¡­¡± He lifted up a food, and before I could stop him, he stomped down, crushing the fragile thing beneath his heel. ¡°Nobody will. There. Now that there¡¯s no more reason to fight, you two can¡ª¡±


    ¡°What the fuck is wrong with you?!¡± I demanded. ¡°That was mine!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, what in mes are you doing?!¡± my opponent shouted. ¡°That was thest one I needed!¡±


    ¡°You two aren¡¯t responsible enough to have something between you, clearly!¡± the man responded in a stern voice, like a parent trying to discipline his unruly children. Only, he wasn¡¯t our dad, just some fucking loser meddling in business that wasn¡¯t his.


    The Cavalryman took a step forward. ¡°Since when were you the one who decides when people are acting ¡®responsible¡¯ or not? I¡¯d say I was handling the issue of an arrogant kid not knowing his ce <em>perfectly</em> well.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°and I¡¯d say I was being perfectly mature in my response to some dickweed who can¡¯t tell when he¡¯s trying to rob someone who could kill him at a moment¡¯s notice.¡±


    The Cleric¡¯s scowl grew tighter and tighter. ¡°Y-you two¡­!¡±


    Hispanion, thenky one, walked up and ced a hand on his shoulder. ¡°Hey, let¡¯s just go. I told you not to try and break up fights anymore.¡±


    ¡°But don¡¯t you see what¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± the Archer said, ¡°we got more crystals to find. Let¡¯s head out.¡±


    After a moment of hesitation, thenky guy pulled the Cleric away, leaving me and my opponent alone in the valley once again, minus one red crystal.


    ¡°What a fucking asshole,¡± I muttered.


    ¡°I know, right?¡± the Cavalryman said.


    I turned to him. ¡°Are you stupid, or something? You¡¯re the one who caused all of this; obviously, if he¡¯s an asshole, you¡¯re an even bigger one.¡±


    His hands tightened around his halberd. ¡°Do you want me to kill you <em>that</em> badly, that you¡¯re still trying to provoke me despite having no reason to fight?¡±


    ¡°No, actually, I¡¯m <em>not</em> trying to start a fight with you, because I don¡¯t attack people for no fucking reason.¡±


    ¡°I clearly had <em>perfectly</em> good reason to attack you, considering you were trying to take something that was rightfully mine.¡±


    ¡°I was standing right fucking next to it! Under what definition of ¡®rightfully¡¯ is that yours?!¡±


    He huffed out a breath. ¡°You people are always like this. What a stubborn, stupid country.¡±


    I stared at him for a moment, taking a second to control my breathing. <em>This jackass¡­</em> ¡°Hey. What¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°Tell me your name.¡±


    ¡°And why would you want to know that?¡±


    ¡°Just tell me.¡±


    ¡°...I¡¯m Godo Tucker, if you gotta know.¡±


    ¡°Alright then, Godo. I don¡¯t have any reason to fight you, as long as you don¡¯t wanna fight me. So how about you go off that way, and I¡¯ll go the opposite direction, and we don¡¯t have to see any more of each other again.¡±


    ¡°Sounds perfect, actually.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. But I want you to promise me one thing.¡±


    He scoffed. ¡°And why do I owe you a promise?¡±


    ¡°Because you tried to fucking kill¡ªyou know what? I¡¯m not even gonna argue. You¡¯ll want to fulfill the promise, anyway, so it shouldn¡¯t be a problem for you to make it. I just want to formally ask you, is all.¡±


    ¡°Spit it out.¡±


    ¡°You better try as hard as you possibly can during this tournament. Because I want to face you in the pit, and I want to fucking destroy you in front of everyone.¡±


    He grinned a toothy grin. ¡°I¡¯ll only promise you that if you promise the same.¡±


    ¡°Deal.¡±


    ¡°Deal.¡±


    ¡°See you, Godo. Try not to die stealing from any other adventurers before you find me again.¡±


    ¡°And you try not to die challenging people to duels that you have no right to challenge.¡±


    We each walked away, heading in opposite directions.


    <em>Right. So, then, the issue with sticking to areas that are safe from the Sand Hive is that I have to deal with </em>people<em>. Honestly, I¡¯d rather chance it with the monsters than have to meet another asshole like that.</em>


    Arriving at the top of a hill, I gazed off in every direction, looking for them. Off in the distance, I just barely caught the glimpse of movement through the dusty air.


    <em>Perfect. Monster territory. Let¡¯s go that way.</em>

 Update

    Update


    Hey everyone! It''s been a while.


    Sorry about the unexined break from the series. I was okay, just had some family stuffe up and it took my attention away from writing, and when I came back, I realized I was having some severe motivation issues with Minute Mage. I''d always assumed these issues would solve themselves after taking a short break, but that has not seemed to happen. Unfortunately, writing Minute Mage has simply gotten harder and harder as I continue to do so. I think this is partially because of the fact that the beginning of the story was something I wrote several years ago at this point, and I''ve grown a lot as an author since then. There were foundational mistakes I made when writing early chapters that continue to make aspects of Minute Mage difficult to write today, and, while I enjoy writing something that puts my skills as an author to the test, being forced to constantly grapple with these issues every time I sit in front of a keyboard is mentally taxing.


    Ultimately, I ended up making the decision to say this: <strong>I am taking an official break from Minute Mage</strong>. It''ll be on hiatus, and I don''t know when I''ll return to it. I hope to continue the story someday---I still have a lot of ideas for what will happen next---but I''m not sure when that might be.


    <strong>However, I am not quitting writing.</strong>


    I waited a bit to make this announcement because I wanted to ensure I didn''t leave you all without anything from me to read. And as of today, I finally have something for you---a brand new series, and one that I think is some of my best work yet.


    A while back, just for fun, I decided to try spending some free time between chapters writing some new stories. And it turns out, I had a far easier time writing them than I did with Minute Mage. One of those ideas I decided to continue to develop, and it''s recently reached a length of over 100,000 words---about an entire novel''s worth of content. It''s something I''m very proud of, and that I''ve been eager to share for a while now.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    You can find the story here. As of me writing this announcement, it has ten chapters avable on RoyalRoad, but as I said above, there''s a lot more that I have ready to upload that''ll be releasing ining days.


    Here''s the synopsis: <strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>BLOOD MAGUS: A RITUAL MAGIC LITRPG</strong>


    <strong>A ritual gone wrong gave him the world''s deadliest ss¡ªnow all he wants is blood.</strong>


    Zeth stole the most powerful ritual magic in the world from a mad cultist. A ss that''s fueled by the blood of his enemies and human sacrifice. One that''s illegal to use, punishable by gruesome death. And now that he has it, he''s faced with a choice: hide away for the rest of his life from those who would hunt him down, or embrace the power, bing the hunter to get revenge on the murderer that stole his friends'' lives.


    For Zeth, that''s no choice at all.


    His enemies have to die; and he ns to use every eldritch ritual, drop of blood, and demonic summoning he can to kill them.


    I really hope you check this new story of mine out! It''s something that I am seriously extremely proud of, and that I''ve put countless hours of work into---and hopefully, it''s something I can keep writing for a very long time.


    As the story is very new, doing things like reading, following, and especially rating/reviewing is extraordinarily helpful to its growth. So please, if you''ve enjoyed Minute Mage thus far and would like me to keep writing as a career, go read the story and give whatever support you can! I am extremely grateful for each and every one of you, and I wouldn''t want to lose mymunity of readers when swapping from writing one story to another.


    Anyway, that''s all. Once again, please go check out my new story, and thank you all for reading Minute Mage. It''s been an absolute st, and I hope to see you around.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!