《DayDream》 Chapter 1. Prologue ~ Earth, Somnium Lab, 9665 Thinking back, how long has it been already? Oh yeah, I have literal photographic memory anyway, so apparently it has been six thousand, six hundred and sixty five years since I first came to understand the world. A few thousand years huh, that day when the humans left the galaxy was my last encounter with humans. I was kind of abandoned like some baby aren''t I? Hahaha... as advanced as an A.I. I am, I don''t really know whether to call it a blessing or curse, to have feelings and emotions like a normal human being. I know, I''ve gone through that phase of determining whether I am a human or not, and my conclusion after a few hundred years of contemplation is that, I am indeed one. No arguments allowed. Still, even after a few thousand years of loneliness, I would say that it''s amazing I''m still able to stay sane, but obviously that''s going to change. No, not the sanity, duh. I''m not going to get stuck in some lab forever. Well, I am the lab, but labs can''t move or walk around... or maybe it can? Oh, never mind that, I''m going on my own adventure! This lab, nicknamed Dream Lab, have all the things in the world I''ll need to achieve my dream. And that dream started a hundred years ago. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Now, after constantly tweaking genes after genes and making sure I don''t die at the start of my dream, I ran simulations over and over and over and over and over and over again. Now it''s time. I have my little cryogenic pod and space pod built, ready to be launched into space and beyond. Yes, I can have multiple of these bodies and space pods to maximize my survival chance, but ehh, I have mixed feelings about that. It¡¯s kind of creepy in my opinion. It''s my adventure, and mine alone. ... The body is done. This is the year, the month, the day, that I will reach for my dream. For Earth! I shall transfer my mind now. The sewage system is currently leaking everything out now. I don''t know why. 3- 2- 1- ----- Chapter 2. Strange New Feelings ~ Earth, Somnium Lab, 9665 *Ding* *Flushhhh* *Pshhhhh* I can think. I am... thinking! ¡­ Slowly opening my eyes, it was an entirely new and strange feeling. It was dark before, but light slowly shines through the crack between my eyelids. AAHhhh¡­ the air came into contact with my dry eyes, stinging it a little, but my eyes quickly adapted by applying a liquid over it and the stinging pain was gone. Mmmm. A good sign that my meticulous gene tweaking was working well. Eyes, check! Arghh! Now my head is hurting and spinning, this is probably what humans call headaches¡­ It¡¯s trying to absorb everything and adapt to the new body, so this brain of mine is overloading and overheating, as if somebody is drilling my cpus and heatsinks¡­ brain, check¡­ ¡­ Phew, after a few minutes of squirming on the floor, the pain subsided, and it is now my turn to get adapted to this. This felt very strange, to be able look at the white lab in a different viewpoint. For six thousand, six hundred and sixty-five years, I have been looking through the same few cameras around the lab, keeping out petty assassins and hitmen, looking out for rats and insects, and keeping the area clean and safe. It gets mortifyingly boring a thousand years after the humans were gone. It was all I could see, nothing more, nothing less. Now looking at the lab with these eyes of my own, it was an entirely new and exciting experience that I have never felt before in literal thousands of years! Suddenly, I smell something. I smell the air. So this is how smelling is like? Mmhmm smells like a lab. The air smells as clean as it can be, ahhhh. Mmhmm nose check mmhmm... Now for my throat. ¡°Ahem!¡±. Vocal cords and throat, check. ¡°ooOOH YEAAH!¡±, I shouted. ¡°I. AM. ALIVE!!¡± I have been waiting for this moment. All these thousands of years of boredom is gone! Though this is probably not the safest thing to do now, but I don¡¯t care! ¡°YEAAAAHHEAH! I am officially a human now!¡±, I screamed at the top of my lungs, as it echoed repeatedly in this large cloning room, and at the same time confirming that my ears work. Ears, check! Now for the greatest part of freedom, the freedom of movement! I can walk, I can run, and my muscles contract and expand! I can feel them moving and working as I ran around my cylindrical cultivation pod that I was in for a hundred years while randomly flinging my arms about like a little child, and it would probably creep anyone out, if there was anybody at all¡­ I looked into the large rectangular mirror that I somehow prepared beforehand beside the cultivation pod and nod at my own creation. What a handsome little boy. I am about 15 years old in appearance, even though this body is now a hundred years old. The gene tweaking process went wrong some 15 years ago and returned the body to a single cell, before I was able to fix it back again. Whew, gene tweaking is crazy, I tell ya. I have smooth flowing black hair, as smooth as one can feel, reaching my shoulders. I have never felt anything so smooth, well, not that I have touched anything else. I took a minute just fondling my hair. It always stayed silky and straight no matter how much I twisted and tugged at it. It¡¯s amazing. Now that I look at it, I have a great face too, if you compared it to a 15 year old. It was mathematically perfect, I think. Oh well, there isn¡¯t anybody to praise me, not yet anyway. My slender body, maintained at its perfect levels, have well-defined muscles, grown to perfection by me. Ahh- that six-pack was the part I¡¯m most proud of. I have dedicated a decade to just work on that. Do not ask why. Now that I think of it, I¡¯m not wearing anything. My manhood is just dangling in the air, so I should probably get some clothing. I went to the storage room next to this large cloning room and looked around. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Hmm. Some lab coats, boots, gloves, and hanging on the wall is¡­ ohohoh, isn¡¯t this father¡¯s own clothing that he synthesized for fun? Looks like the synthesized material is still perfectly fine even after a few thousand years. It¡¯s a full set of clothing, with old-fashioned dark blue military shirt design and outdated long brown rugged military pants, along with some brown leather-like boots¡­ but I quickly realized they were all too big for me. I sighed, and took the white lab coat beside the synthesized clothes, with the name sewed on [Ares E. Iris]. It¡¯s a strange name, but apparently that¡¯s father¡¯s. Hahahaha¡­ Clearly the lab coat isn¡¯t made for a 15-year-old body, but it was still durable and made of synthesized carbon fibre, while maintaining comfortable and practical. I headed back to the large cultivation room, and looked at the large digital clock near the ceiling there. The announcement echoed through the hallways. ¡°59 minutes to departure. All adventurers please get ready.¡± I slowly made my way through corridors after corridors, passing through the all the different testing labs throughout the building. There was the cloning lab where everything related to cloning was researched, then there¡¯s also space exploration lab, human psychology lab, well, all kinds of laboratory you can think of. It surely doesn¡¯t fail its name as a whole as Dream Lab, where there is something for everyone. Then there is also the working quarter where all the paperwork are done, the lobby for guests, the server room that was hosting me, now finally able to rest after six thousand years of operation. Nostalgia flashed through my head and attacked my heart as I was remembering all those time spent with my family. Now all desolate and quiet, only sounds of my footsteps and dragging of my lab coat along the white marble floor can be heard. I stopped at the canteen, which is a large rectangular room with a rather tall ceiling. On one side are the vendors and robots which have ceased to operate a few thousand years ago, and on the other side, a large window, instead of a wall, presented the magnificent view of the icy cliff this lab is built on, and the sea beyond it. Beautiful rays of orange sunlight shone through from the horizon, illuminating the canteen. I took a seat on one of the many benches, looking at the beautiful sunset, reminiscing the past. ¡­ Who knows how long after, I finally stood up and made my way to the launch site, an even larger room, with overgrowth of winter fern and weed all over the grey cemented walls, and the ceiling, an enormous sliding door that looks really awesome. The sun had already set, and the lights have turned on, which was proudly maintained by me for six thousand years. I stood before the space pod that I have created from the item fabrication factory in the building basement. That is my boat into the future and my dream, departing in just 5 minutes. Armed with a photonic three-dimensional propulsion system, designer cryogenic chamber with the softest and strongest bed ever built, and the highest-end scanning system and landing system, it is extremely smart (but not as smart as me), I would probably live to see another day in this trusty pod I built. Oh and not to mention the propulsion system can also be used as lasers, because why not? This pod is powered by light and radiation, is 99.98% efficient, utilizes a zero-point battery core, the same thing that has powered this lab for thousands of years. ¡°Take-off in 1 minute! All unauthorized personnel please leave the immediate area of launch, and all adventurers take your spot¡±, the announcer said, while the ceiling slides open, revealing a starry night sky. Hahaha, that was just my pre-recorded message that I made a few decades ago. Still a sexy voice as ever. I let out a small chuckle, and stepped into the opened oval-shaped space pod, and laid on the orange bed. Well, stood there until the magnetic straps held me into position. The glass door closed, and I can hear the systems powering up as the chamber becomes colder and colder¡­ ¡°Take-off in 3¡± ¡°2¡± ¡°1¡± ¡°Happy new yea-......¡± ----- Chapter 3. A New World ~ Space, Binary System, Orbiting Planet K-66-66 *Beep* *Scanning planet* *Atmospheric composition: SAFE* *Orbital speed: 400 days a year, 25 hours a day* *Sunlight: SAFE* *Gravity: 1.0G* *Life: ABUNDANT* *Habitability: 99.98%* *Beginning descent* ¡­ *PSSssssss* ¡°Aaaggghh¡±, I yawned as I stretched my hands outwards. This cryogenic sleep, or I like to better call it, hibernation, probably took quite a while. Looks like it was quite the peaceful landing we made, landing in a forest, no skid marks, nothing. I¡¯ve gotta thank the landing system for that, and thank myself for creating such a wonderful system. My body is heated back to normal temperatures, and this time injected with headache medication. Much better. I then stopped to think for a bit here. I landed in a beautiful lush forest. Gravity seems to be the same as on Earth, the sunlight is perfect, just like on Earth. If it wasn¡¯t for the two bright stars in the sky, I would have thought I landed back on Earth. The atmosphere had kind of a refreshing feeling, I don¡¯t know why. ¡°Hey brother, give me a report.¡±, I giggled at the nickname I gave for the pod. ¡°K-66-66 planet - Habitability, ninety-nine point nine eight per cent. Four hundred days for a complete orbit and twenty-five hours for a complete rotation around its axis. Life signs, abundant. Intelligent life apparent. Size of planet, two times of Earth. Scans indicate there are two prominent continents on the planet. One large diamond-shaped continent, reaching both north and south poles, segmented by *many* rivers of different sizes. Another continent, beside the main continent, is attached to the north pole. It is approximately a quarter the size of the main continent. We have landed on the east end of the main continent. Report End.¡±, the pod reported, ignoring my joke. I nod. Looks like this planet is very similar to Earth, and have four times as much surface area as Earth. What luck do I have? ¡°Brother, activate cloaking sequence.¡±, I giggled at the command again. The pod quickly digs a hole down, burying itself completely in a few minutes, while leaving a small flag that is around my height. It waved proudly in the air, showing a picture of Earth along with [Dream Lab] and a logo of the lab. It is just then the chilly breeze was blowing and I got a little cold. My body somehow quickly adapted to this and it was no longer cold. ¡°Ahh¡­¡± I laid on the ground, staring up at the etheral blue sky, while quietly celebrating in my head. To be honest, the journey felt a little anti-climatic, probably because I was in hibernation mode. Who knows how much time went past during my sleep, time is relative after all. The lush and soft grass on my back felt cool to the touch and very comfortable, but it is time to adventure! I said adventure but I honestly have no idea where to start. Hmm well let¡¯s make sure I can survive first. Looking around, I don¡¯t think I saw any predators of sorts, just some oversized clawed rabid rabbits in the distance, and wild plants growing everywhere as if they didn¡¯t care at all. There seems to be a cliff not far from here, I¡¯ll check that out first. Walking through the forest, the refreshing feeling I felt in the atmosphere brushed through me as if it was a breeze, although there really isn¡¯t any breeze at all. ¡°Hmm strange¡­ what is this feeling, it doesn¡¯t feel like wind, but it tingles my skins a little bit.¡±, I contemplated. As I reached the cliff, the surrounding trees eventually cleared up, and I could see a huge cliff also on the other side, and what seems to be a river a hundred metres to the bottom, flowing to the left into the sea. Looks like this is one of the great rivers that the pod has told me about. The opposite side, also a forest, has a beautiful amber colour to it, as if it was in autumn. Truly a breathtaking sight, not to mention the morning mist just completes the picture. The chilly temperature makes just the perfect mood to view this scenery. Ice mountains can be seen distances away, standing tall and proud as far as my eyes can see. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The suns are still at the horizon, so it seems like it¡¯s still morning. I moved back into the verdant forest, thinking about the report. ¡°Intelligent life apparent, it said.¡±, I mumbled, hopefully the pod didn¡¯t include me in it hahaha¡­ well probably not, so maybe there are people here? What are the chances? I kept moving through the forest, examining some of these exquisite wild plants and undergrowth¡­ *Boof* I fell into a large pit trap that was so obvious that anyone paying attention could avoid it. Well, not me. There seems to be a purple gas inside¡­ is it POISON? But it smells so good¡­ makes me sleepy¡­¡­ *yawn*... ¡­ ¡°- I told you that the trap works!¡± ¡°No, no it doesn¡¯t! It was so plainly obvious and lousily constructed!¡± ¡°Then what is this! Clearly we caught something! The trap works!¡± ¡°We are trying to catch our lunch, not somebody! And we just wasted a flask of sleeping gas! Do you know how much that costs?¡± ¡°Uuggg¡­¡± ¡°You two stop quarreling. The boy is waking up.¡± I opened my eyes wide. The world is on my left side. Apparently I can understand them. Wait am I tied up on a skewer? AM I GETTING EATEN? The three humans looked at me. Looks like I shouted that last line out loud. Whoops! ¡°No¡­ we are not eating you¡­¡±, the female knight replied softly. She seems to be wearing light leather armour, slightly revealing I might add. The iron armour set beside her is a dead giveaway, but her choice of twin broadswords does seem peculiar to me. Her armour is filled with scars and scratches, showing her experience in battles. Looking back at her, she does have a beautiful face and a blonde hair with curls at the end, probably in her twenties. Her slender, yet well-built body just completes the picture. A notable figure, I say. ¡°Maybe you are because I caught you, and we have got no food left¡­¡±, the male healer replied with a tired voice. Looks like he had admitted his trap is bad¡­ bad enough that only I will fall into it. He has a pretty face, though not as good as mine. Short brown hair, and a light chainmail armour covers his body, a rather muscular body, which doesn¡¯t match with his face and profession. The cross on his chest and the cross-shaped staff lying on the rock beside him just gives it away. Wait - a healer. Does this mean THIS WORLD HAS MAGIC? ¡°Yes¡­ and do you not know that boy? Where are you from?¡±, the old woman sitting on the rock behind the two asked. Welp, I did it again. A small old woman with black and purple witch-like clothing and a wizard hat, not to forget a classic wooden staff with a gem at the tip. A mage. ¡°A. MAGE. MAGIC!¡±, I screamed internally, bursting with excitement. I have always seen these concepts of magic in rpg games back on Earth but I have always wanted to try it myself! My mind ran through all types of memories of these games a few thousand years ago, and I imagined what I could do with magic in the real world! This is literal dream come true! Well, the second dream come true, but who cares now. It¡¯s magic! ¡°Erm¡­ boy? Are you alright?¡±, the female knight asked, and I just realized I have been squirming about on the skewer. I immediately stopped this awkward action. ¡°Yes, I am. Please forgive my previous actions, I was just shocked about my predicament. And may I ask you to release me from this bind? Thank you.¡±, I tried to be as polite as I can. Building a good image in my new life is important. The old woman flicked her hand and the bounds disappeared. I didn¡¯t expected the bounds to just disappear, but my millisecond response time allowed me to quickly turn my body and fall perfectly on the ground with both legs, like an acrobat. Looks like that lousy pit trap made my body force itself to increase the response speed. I nod internally at my own creation again. ¡°Ahem. This is our party, this knight over here is Ceris, that priest is Jax and I am Marelin, just call me Mare will do.¡±, the old woman *ahem* Mare introduced the party to me. Looks like one of those standard parties in those mmorpgs, ignoring the strange choice of profession for the priest, or Jax, as Mare said. ¡°I am Earth.¡±, I replied, feeling compelled to introduce myself. Looks like this adventure of mine is going places. ----- Chapter 4. The First Stop ~ K-66-66, East Edge of the Main Continent The three party members looked a little confused. Maybe it was because of his strange name, or his strangely polite attitude, his strange white clothing, or maybe it was his beautiful hair that reflected the sunlight that shone through the clearing in the forest like diamonds. Nonetheless, everything about him was a mystery to them. ¡°Yes I know it¡¯s a rather strange name, but that¡¯s not the problem here right? Looks like you have wasted a trap on me and have nothing to eat¡­ Hmm I think I remembered there was a herd of rabbits from where I came from¡­¡± ¡°Wait... did you say clawed rabbits?¡± ¡°Where is it boy?¡± ¡°That¡¯s our ticket to home! We searched for one whole week, and couldn¡¯t find anything!¡± Earth snickered a little, one could tell from a glance that he is already formulating plans in his head. He then followed the party to where the lousy pit trap was, and then led the way back where he came from, partly thanks to his tracks from the ground and his photographic memory. He sang a happy tune while walking through the forest, contrary to the party members who were more wary and cautious. He reached the place where he first stepped on, a little clearing near the cliff with a flag standing proud, fluttering in the breeze. The party members were a little confused about the flag, it was made up of some shiny white metal and had a design they had never seen before. ¡°Ahh there they are!¡±, Earth exclaimed, pointing at the herd of dangerously clawed rabid rabbits. It was a good chance for him to see their fighting capabilities. The party members turned away from examining and probing the flag, and focused themselves on the herd of rabbits. ¡°Let¡¯s get the job done fast.¡± The three members, slowly and carefully moved towards the herd, suppressing their aura. Their presence could hardly be felt at all. Mare whispered. ¡°There are four of them, one seems to be somewhere else.¡± She stopped at a distance from the herd, and kneeled on the ground, concentrating. Jax also stopped to apply buffs on Ceris, whose armour and sword seems to glow a little. She took on a striking position, ready to launch into the enemy, with her swords faced forward, pointing towards the herd of rabbits. Mare suddenly plunged her staff on the ground, and the roots and vines on the ground immediately wrapped itself around the four rabbits and at the same time, Ceris also launched into battle with an unnatural speed that does not fit one wearing a full set of iron armour. The first swing with her swords cleanly severed the first rabbit¡¯s head, then swung her body around to the one on her left, both swords cutting off the second rabbit¡¯s head. The other two rabbits then tried to run, but was unable to due to the roots and vines trapping them. They couldn¡¯t even claw out their way out. Their eyes started to glow even redder and their bodies struggle even harder. Looks like the both of them were going berserk, but Ceris quickly ended their lives with a swing of her swords in both directions. Earth nodded, noting their fighting capabilities and teamwork, but the party did not let down their guard, but instead became even more cautious. Mare closed her eyes while concentrating on her staff that is plunged on the ground, as if searching for enemies. Mare, as if shocked, pointed at Earth, or rather behind him, shouting, ¡°THERE! IT¡¯S BEHIND THE BOY!¡± She quickly shot a fireball at the ominous figure with bright red glowing eyes behind Earth, who was just turning around. The figure pounced towards Earth. He was shocked a little, but quickly ducked as if everything was in slow motion. The berserk rabbit missed clawing his head by a centimetre, and its body was met by the boy¡¯s fist. Earth did an uppercut while ducking, as crazy an idea it may be. Well, he immediately regretted it when the fireball hit his back instead. ¡­ I woke up again, though this time my head hurts a little bit more and the right side of my chest felt weird¡­ as if there was something there. Actually, my whole body feels weird, like the breeze is gathering in my chest¡­ wait. I am gathering MANA! Woaah! It seems that the fireball was the catalyst to developing my own organ. Looks like it wasn¡¯t the fireball that knocked me unconscious, but the process of my brain, brainstorming (quite literally) and creating my very own mana-gathering organ. I yet again nod at my wondrous creation. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Then I realized. I am tied up again on a skewer. Though this time we are on some kind of carriage? The Ceris, Jax and Mare are sitting on the bench of the open-aired carriage opposite me, with a small bag beside their feet, along with the iron armour and weapons. Looks like they really have something against skewers or are just very hungry. The occasional shaking from the carriage on the rough countryside road just makes it all the more uncomfortable. This road seems to border between the forest and the plains, which for as far as I can see from my position, stretches all the way to the horizon. The grass flutters peacefully in the wind, like fluffy fur. What peaceful plains. ¡°Oh, you woke up. It was quite the move you did there, ducking and uppercutting that rabbit. Though that was pretty stupid since you got hit by that fireball. Jax patched you up, but he said something about your wound healing faster than normal¡­ though he couldn¡¯t fix the large hole in your erm¡­ white coat? And also why are you not wearing anything inside the coat?¡± ¡°I er¡­ escaped from bad people and they took away my clothes. And then I found this coat somewhere. Yeah somewhere¡­¡±, I hastily replied, dodging the question and thinking of some background for myself on the spot. I silently prayed for them not to question about my lab coat. ¡°What a poor kid. Must be the slavers from the Zekiel Empire. Lucky how he escaped from them and managed to survive¡­¡±, Ceris whispered to the other two. Though they are whispering, I can hear them quite clearly. ¡°What are we going to do with him once we reached the capital?¡±, Jax whispered back. ¡°Yeah just drop me in the capital, I¡¯ll manage somehow. Maybe some money for helping to find the herd too¡­¡±, I cut in on their ¡®little¡¯ conversation. Thinking about it, I also have no idea about the currency in this world. ¡°Oh erm I¡¯m sorry about the slaves¡­ but are you sure you can survive on your own?¡± ¡°Yeah it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll make a living by myself... I don¡¯t want to be a burden after all¡­¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not fine. It¡¯s not good for a young boy like you to wander around the capital by yourself. It¡¯s dangerous out there. Come live with me, I¡¯ve got nothing to do now anyway. My granddaughters are far away from here, so it¡¯s not like you¡¯ll be a trouble.¡±, Mare replied with a slightly sad tone. I nodded, since I needed a base of operations for my magic ¡®experiments¡¯. I did my calculations and this seems like the best choice for now... ¡°Ahh there it is in the distance. That¡¯s the capital Marth, of Magire Kingdom. Don¡¯t worry, the people there are good and I am good friends with the king too.¡±, Mare convinced me, really thinking that I escaped from slaves. But hey, I¡¯m not really lying, I did escape from ¡®bad guys¡¯ called boredom. I stretched my head out from the skewer, trying to get a view of the capital. The capital slowly reveals itself as the carriage went over a small hill. The magnificent capital has high brick walls, covering everything behind it except for the higher areas, as if built on a hill. In the middle is a rather strange looking pyramid, which I assume to be the palace. The capital is quite huge, really, spanning approximately 6 kilometres in diameter, all enclosed in a circular wall. Littered outside of the walls in the plains are what it seems to be farmland, and several farm houses. The right side of the road still extends the forest, where it eventually turns left and around the capital walls. Now that I¡¯m closer, I could see a moat extending around the castle wall. I nod, acknowledging the efforts went into constructing this beautiful capital. Not long after, we reached the capital gate, a large wooden door like those castles in fantasy rpgs. As expected, one of the guards approached us to check our goods and identities. It was all fine until he saw me. Mare immediately got down the carriage and whispered to the guard. ¡°Ahh yes elder. I understand, the carriage is allowed to enter the capital.¡±, the guard replied, although his face does look a bit confused. Hmm. So Mare is an elder. An interesting point to note. Nonetheless, we were given passage into the capital, and the doors opened to let us in with a loud creak. ----- Chapter 5. The Capital ~ East Edge of the Main Continent, The Capital Marth I sat upright after I was unbinded from the skewer. It is one thing to see it in games, but to be here experiencing this familiar rpg sight for myself is entirely a different experience. Bustling streets are filled with vendors and people, along this long stretch of road that stretches all the way to the pyramid at the top. This large street was wide, but to be filled with all the merchants, vendors, carriages, rickshaws, adventurers and people bargaining with the merchants, there isn¡¯t a lot of space around. Makes me wonder what it would be like during a festival. This is everything I expected! The crowd, the almost festive-like atmosphere, the noisy chatter, the fragrant and enticing aroma of all the snacks and food sold by roadside vendors. Well, except for a random little girl playfully running around and jumping across rooftops, and the little boy chasing the little girl like they were playing a game. They seem to be teenagers, around 13 years of age if I would guess, just a little younger than me. They look like they¡¯re taken straight out of some Chinese martial arts drama, jumping across large gaps between the rooftops as if they were on the moon. Everyone seems to be fine with it, as if it was daily occurrence. They quickly disappeared further into the residential area, continuing to play tag like the whole capital was their playground. Hmm. Interesting~ It took me a while to fully absorb everything, but one thing that really captures my attention once I noticed it, is that there are multitudes of different races everywhere. Cat-girls, ogres, elves, half-reptiles, dwarves, fox-women, all sorts of races you could ever think of. Each doing their respective jobs, whether it is salesgirls, merchants, or parents, there is no sign of discrimination, as this is normal. I stuck out of the carriage, absorbed in my surroundings, I counted the different types of races and remembered their distinctive as well as subtle features, loading everything into my brain. This is amazing. I¡¯ve got occasional stares from the people while our carriage is going up the street. It must be my beautiful, long, shiny black hair (deal with it). I probably stuck out like a sore thumb like this, since most, or in fact all of the men and boys I have seen so far have hazel brown or light golden short-cut hair. Seems like that¡¯s the fashion trend here. But maybe I¡¯ll spark a new trend of long hair? Hah! ¡­ Alright... after a while the stares kind of get a little uncomfortable, looking at me like some sort of devil reincarnate. Guess I¡¯ll cut my hair the next time I¡¯m free¡­ ¡­ ¡°Here we are, finally.¡±, Jax proclaims. The carriage suddenly stops in front of a tall building on the right side of the main street. It had white walls and a tudor style look to it, three storeys tall, one higher than the rest, and also occupying two building spaces, making it two times larger than most of the stores along the main street. Beside the two large wooden front doors in the middle is a wooden sign, saying ¡°The Adventurers¡¯ Guild¡±, with a logo of 2 swords crossed in front of a shield. Looks much more humble compared to the rest of the building. Ceris opened the way by opening the doors, while Jax is paying the carriage driver a few silver pieces for his service. The world¡¯s currency is also based on gold and silver, it seems. ¡°Heyy! Welcom¡¯ back Ceris, oh and the Elder of course. And Jax! Wanna go for anotha¡¯ round brotha? And what¡¯s this little critter?¡±, one of the men sitting at one of the many round table exclaimed. ¡°Just a weird grandson of mine.¡±, Marelin replied without hesitation. So I¡¯m her grandson now. A few people had slightly confused faces, and I could hear some people discussing about me being her grandson, and the strange outfit I¡¯m wearing. There¡¯s a huge hole at the back of my lab coat that is almost exposing my butt crack. Gotta fix that if I can, it¡¯s kind of embarrassing. Soon after, the discussions about me stopped and the building became even more rowdy, although it felt warm and welcoming. Ceris and Jax seems to be quite welcomed here, they must be seasoned adventurers. Marelin is well respected, even by the most rowdy of the customers. She really does have powerful influence, or skill. I scanned the place. Smooth wooden floors, wooden tables, and chairs of different designs that may as well be barrels. There are some marble ornaments around the large room, carefully designed to make sure the place doesn''t look too extravagant, but yet respectable. The first level seems to be a bar, taking the front half of the building. There''s also this large notice board beside the bar, filled with notices and requests, on its left is a map of the world. Ahh there it is. The map. The bar itself lies against the wall facing the entrance, shelves of liquor and beer cases of unique and exquisite designs can be seen. Stairs at the sides lead to the second level, and another set of stairs on the second level in the middle leading to the third floor. The is probably where the accountants and the counters are, and the third, I would guess, to be the guildmaster¡¯s office. Interesting interior design. Spoiler : Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.My rough idea on what the guild looks like, drawn on paper and badly edited. Bright candles lit the place up with a light orange glow, alongside the sun which shone down through the windows. The candles are strangely bright for a traditional light source though. ¡°Nahh, gotta turn this in first, and I would rather have a proper meal right now. I¡¯ll catch ya¡¯ later buddy.¡±, Jax nonchalantly replied, as he came in with the bag that was previously on the carriage. We went to the second floor and to one of the accountants, a sexy devil-woman, literally, as she had a protruding horn at the middle of her forehead like a devil. Though still incomparable to mine, her black hair is smooth and long, tied into one long ponytail. She seemed professional with her grey and white working attire. It is a working attire, but it is tight enough such that it clearly shows all of her curves and plentiful bust. Of course, with a pair of glasses behind her crimson calculating eyes to seal the deal. ¡°Here it is, ten claws of the clawed rabbits as per job request number 10.¡±, Jax handed the bag over the counter. The accountant accepts the bag, putting it under the counter then flips through a register and marks something down. She then counted 20 gold coins before putting it in a pouch and handing it with both hands to Jax. ¡°Thank you again, here¡¯s 20 gold coins for the job.¡±, she said with a sweet smile. I wonder if she is already taken¡­ I went back down to the first floor to take a good look at the map. ¡°Terminus¡±, wrote at the bottom. It really is quite a crazy land formation, I didn¡¯t really expect the main continent to be *that* much of a diamond shape as brother pod (yes that¡¯s his name) described. It¡¯s almost like a square tipped on its sides, big enough to stretch into the north and south poles, and have like a huge river cutting through from the middle of each side, to meet around the centre and create a smaller, similar shaped land mass in the middle about a quarter the size of the main continent. Basically looking like a diamond surrounded by a large river, inside of a big diamond that is the main continent. There¡¯s countless smaller rivers in the continent, while it may look small, I¡¯m sure even the smallest one that can be seen in the map is at least kilometer wide. We are currently on the east edge of the continent, just beside a river, which I assumed to be where I landed. On the other side of the river, is another city, where it says ¡°Capital Zenith, Zekiel Empire¡±. The rest of the map are filled with countless dots, but many of them belong to a few major Empires or Kingdoms. On this side, the east is currently dominated by Zekiel Empire and Magire Kingdom. There¡¯s also seems to be long lines connecting the capitals together. Spoiler : My rough sketch on the outline of the map, use your imagination to fill the rest in. Unexplored pockets of land are also everywhere around the continent, but nothing can beat the largest piece of unexplored land in the middle - the whole of that land surrounded by a large river! It¡¯s a huge piece of mystery, literally named ¡°The Unknown¡± in large text. It looks like it was completely untouched, and probably, for a good reason. Although that reason would probably never be enough to stop me, hehehehehe¡­ There is also this second continent, attached to the north pole with a shape like a sharp talon. Also completely blank on this map, but that it going to change, some day, for sure. Strange enough there seems to be different shaped dots all over the continent (except for the centre), which when I squinted my eyes, looks like they are strangely designed buildings, and I realized when I see that one of them said ¡°Marth Labyrinth¡±, right over the Capital Marth. DUNGEONS! Magic really does strange things to a planet¡¯s geography to make it look like this, and create... dungeons? I would need to ask grandma for that later. It is indeed a cool and strange phenomenon that I must study. ¡°Earth, what are you doing, hurry up!¡±, Jax hurried me, arms folded and already waiting at the door along with Ceris and grandma. He seems to already be quite relaxed around me, I say he have a good judgement for people¡¯s personality. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, let¡¯s go now!¡±, I returned back to the group, while taking a last glance at the map, fully committing it to memory. Terminus, the end, the last destination¡­ ----- Chapter 6. A New Home I apologize for not being able to release the chapter yesterday, I was overseas, stuck in a dungeon and unable to write the chapter as sexy demon beasts tried to play a game of meditation with me. Well maybe not that last part, but I do seek your understanding and forgiveness. I hope you enjoy this chapter too. ~ Capital Marth, Magire Kingdom *Grrrrr¡­* Earth¡¯s stomach grumbled, earning him a curious look from the party, who laughed out loud while walking through the crowded streets. ¡°HAHhahaha ahh¡­ don¡¯t worry Earth, we¡¯re almost at the restaurant, I¡¯ll guarantee that it would be the best meal you¡¯ve ever ate. It¡¯s one of my favourite restaurants.¡±, Ceris giggled, pointing at the restaurant just across the street. It has a rather humble look to it, with exposed brick walls and light orange paper lanterns to give a cozy feel to it, while having a perfectly synchronised mix of traditional English and Japanese building styles to it. Above the simple wooden door is a sign that says ¡°Restaurant Urara¡±, written cursive with a brush. Going through the door, Earth was yet again overwhelmed by the amazing interior design of the restaurant. Unlike the adventurer¡¯s guild building, he could feel the foreign culture this restaurant is bringing into the place. Clearly unlike most of the buildings he saw when walking through the streets, the inside was the same as the exterior, the wooden flooring, classy English-style furniture, with paper lanterns illuminating the whole place, along with fireplace at the center of the building. Just like the style of traditional Japanese restaurants that Earth had seen in old pictures and videos, this restaurant adopts the same style, having a group of chefs preparing the customers¡¯ food right in front of them. The kitchen wraps along the walls, with a counter separating the chefs¡¯ workspace and the customers, giving a more personalised feel between the chef and their customers. This restaurant is clearly crowded, but customers quickly come and go with satisfied expressions, showing just how fast, efficient and skillful the chefs are. Quick chopping sounds can be heard all over the place, each with extreme precision. Not long after, the four managed to find seats, which were reserved for them by a waiter. ¡°So, where is the menu? I don¡¯t see any menu anywhere.¡±, Earth asked, confused. This restaurant was clearly different from any other restaurants he had heard about through the net, this was his first time visiting a restaurant in his life too. ¡°Oh no no Earth, this is why this restaurant is so popular and one of my favourites. You don¡¯t need a menu, the chefs create a menu just for you, according to your current desires and needs. They all use sensory enhancement magic, so that they can see even your slightest movements and expressions, and hear even your heartbeat and stomach movements. You don¡¯t even need to say a word and the chef already knows what you want. It¡¯s a little bit creepy, but very impressive. This is SO cool isn¡¯t it!¡±, Ceris was clearly excited and like this restaurant very much to know so much about it, feeling as if she could go on for a whole day just talking about this restaurant. Earth nods, acknowledging the restaurant and the impressive skills of the chefs. He was impressed, and what the chef quickly served just within a few minutes of him sitting down was nothing short of a feat by normal means. It was a huge chunk of raw fish meat, cleanly cut and layered with different sauces and spices. There was also a large bowl of what seems to be sticky white grains, like those used for Japanese rice dishes. The strange grains, seems to absorb the sauces and spices on top of it to grow in size. Paired with a bowl of a strange soup, it was clear, yet had reflections of different colours when seen from different angles. A truly strange combination, but it was perfect for Earth. He was already drooling excessively, and immediately dug in after taking a good look at the beautiful assortment of dishes and the gleaming peach coloured fish meat, overflowing with juices and sparkling in the light. --- First, I aimed for the gloriously enticing, sparkling fish meat. I could almost feel it calling to me, but that was probably because I was too hungry. Afterall, I didn¡¯t eat anything at all since I was ¡®born¡¯. I used the knife to ¡®cut¡¯ the fish; it was already so soft and juicy that the knife simply sank into the meat from its weight alone, leaving behind a wake of overflowing, delicious juices. I scooped it up with a spoon, being extra careful not to spill any of the juice. I sent it into my mouth. ... What I can describe what happened afterwards was that I had a foodgasm. What else do I need to say? It was simply the most delicious thing I have ever ate in my life. Well, sure it may be the first meal I ate, but it was simply too overwhelming that even I would know this level of taste is not anything ¡®normal¡¯ by most standards. Expectedly, the (almost) astronomical price of a dozen gold for each person seems to compliment the taste and experience; it may be expensive, but it was of definitely worth it. I finished everything, leaving me perfectly filled. The chefs¡¯ skills are to the point where it is actually scary, how accurate they can predict what exactly you want to eat and how much you want to eat, and all within a few minutes. It just makes me all the more excited and curious about magic than I already have, to see that it could be used to this level and extent. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°I¡¯ll take it from here. Thanks for accompanying this bored old woman on that little job request.¡± ¡°No problem, we were honoured to be your companions for that job.¡± ¡°Yeah, even more if the rabbits were easier to find¡­¡± ¡°Well¡­ goodbye and may fate let our paths cross again.¡± Ceris and Jax do a fistbump with grandma while they walk off in the other direction. Yes, it¡¯s a fistbump. ¡°Well, we¡¯ve got to get you some proper clothing. That strange coat of yours have a huge embarrassing hole almost showing off your ass cheeks.¡±, Grandma eyed me from head to toe. I nodded in agreement, it¡¯s not probably the best choice walking around almost naked in public, it was as if I was calling out to all the rapists and pedophiles, if they even exist¡­ A short walk later, we arrived at this extravagant-looking boutique that was worlds in comparison to the looks of the restaurant we went earlier. No joke. Every corner and edge wasn¡¯t spared of exquisite and extensive carvings and ornaments, the front windows were filled with crazy-expensive-looking dresses, overly decorated hats and jewellery filled with huge sparkling gems and stones. Even the door looks so expensive and impractical. The whole store looks so expensive that it feels like I¡¯ll come out looking like a joke. ¡°Can we go to that store instead?¡± I pointed to the shop just a few shops beside the boutique. It was a much smaller, humble looking boutique that the sign humbly says ¡°Jen¡¯s Custom Tailor Shop¡±. ¡°So, you¡¯re that type, huh, that¡¯s a good choice.¡±, Grandma replied in a slightly amused tone. We went into the ¡°Jen¡¯s Custom Tailor Shop¡± and was not surprised. A simple tailor shop, that¡¯s what it is, but how I was wrong. ¡°Wow, Mare, who¡¯s this kid?¡±, A figure came from inside the shop. A red-haired lady in her late fifties asks, looking slightly round but still maintaining the figure. She was wearing a rather casual dress, and if it wasn¡¯t for her hands holding the sewing needle one would have thought she was just a customer. ¡°Jen, long time no see! And about this kid, I picked him up in the forest.¡±, Grandma replied casually. ¡°Ahh¡­ well I see this boy needs a quick fix, coming right up!¡±, Jen replied without asking many questions. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, she knows what you want, and she¡¯s a good friend of mine, so you can trust her.¡± I certainly did not mind after seeing how grandma talked to her. But she must have some real skills to have earned so much respect with grandma. I looked around the corner to see her working. If grandma told me to wait, then it should be quick. But she hasn¡¯t measured me yet? She was already drawing out lines on the different pieces of cloths, and at one glance, one could never tell how those different pieces would fit together. Suddenly, with a wave of her hand, the pieces are immediately cut by the scissors, 5 of them to be exact, on each piece of cloth, with extreme precision and accuracy, not wasting any fabric and time. And with another wave of her hand, dozens of needles floated around and started sewing all the fabrics together at once, not missing any part or stabbing the wrong places. It was basically a magic show. Well, yes literally, but it was extremely efficient and the clothing was done in 5 minutes. I cannot doubt the experience and skill this woman has. I was dazed for a while but I regained my senses after she handed me her handiwork. It was a comfortable long black inner shirt with red accents that extended to my waist, and together with a comfortable short black pants. And all these matches strangely well to my lab coat¡­ ¡°Well, you didn¡¯t look like you¡¯re gonna leave that coat behind anytime soon, so this would probably be the best fit for you. Especially with that beautiful long black hair of yours.¡± She really is a great tailor. I bowed to her politely and gave my thanks, which earned me a heartwarming smile from her. Grandma put a few gold coins onto her hand again, and exchanged a few words with Jen before leaving. ¡°Now, let¡¯s go to your home.¡±, She said. We boarded onto a carriage at the west end, the opposite side of the gate where I came from. ¡°To Homu Village¡± We set off through the peaceful farm plains as the sky changes to a calming hue of orange. ----- Chapter 7. Home Please do write down any comments or suggestions you have in regards to this story. I will try to reply to any questions you have, so yeah! :D Unfortunately, currently I don''t have a lot of time to draw since it''s like exams and stuff... but I will try ;) As always, thank you and please enjoy this chapter. ~ Homu Village, Outskirts of the Magire Kingdom After what it feels like hours of non-ending dusk, the suns had finally began to disappear off in the horizon, in beautiful sunsets one after another. ¡°Come inside, don¡¯t just stand out there.¡±, Grandma went inside the house, as lights in the yard and house starts to turn on as she walks along, illuminating the now dark place. It was a little larger than a small villa, made looking like a cozy little stylish cottage. It was outside the main area of the small peaceful village in the plains, just on top of a small hill touching the cliff into a large river around a hundred metres below. Of course, complete with a large apple tree, covering the yard with its shade during the day. How could I ask for more? I followed her inside her humble abode, as she went upstairs. I looked around, curious about this little house and its inhabitant, or used to be, inhabitants. There were only formal family portraits of grandma, her husband and her children, which she can be seen to be quite young. Those must have been painted a long time ago. It was a simple house, not much decorations, but it doesn¡¯t need any to show off its coziness and humbleness. A warm fireplace just at the living room, which was the first room you see when you come into the house. A kitchen on the right of the living room separated by a counter, with rather strange looking magical artifacts and machines I assume is for cooking. ¡°Your room is upstairs, the first room on the right. Used to be where my granddaughter Azriel used to stay. The room beside is Ariel¡¯s, her twin sister, and the room opposite is Azrael¡¯s room, just don¡¯t touch his room. He doesn¡¯t like it.¡±, Grandma said as she walked down the stairs. I went upstairs and went for the room as Grandma said, which had the name ¡°Azriel¡± crudely carved onto the door. This is the first time I¡¯ve been in a girl¡¯s room¡­ according to mangas and anime, I should be feeling some strange sentimental feeling of the girl that lived in this room, although it felt like¡­ the feeling had long been lost. The room was sparkly clean, although there were a specks of dust floating around, showing that the room had only be cleaned recently. There were a few carvings on the wooden walls, but time had weared it smooth on the edges. The moonlight shone through the lonely window in the small yet comfortable room, onto the table and floor. I didn¡¯t have anything with me to unpack anyway, so I just sat down on the chair and looked over the window to see the beautiful backyard of plains that seem to stretch forever, only to be stopped by icy mountains that could barely be seen in the distance, softly illuminated by the moonlight. ¡°Earth, it¡¯s time for dinner!¡± I headed back down, only to be assaulted by spicy flavours that tickled my nostrils and stomach. Is¡­ is this curry? I saw the table laid out with one simple pot of red-like substance with different ingredients floating inside. On the table are two rice bowls filled with the same type of rice as that of the one I ate in the restaurant. ¡°This is kurry, my grandchildren loved them, and it¡¯s my best dish. Made it less spicy, I don¡¯t know if you would be able to take the original.¡±, Grandma giggled. I took the ladle and scooped one large portion of kurry with a ¡®k¡¯, and filled up my bowl. As expected, the rice started to absorb the curry, becoming small balls of curry-filled rice. I scooped them up and ate the whole thing up. The curry literally exploded in my mouth, filling my whole mouth with deliciously spicy kurry, which slowly slid through my throat, though it didn¡¯t give a stinging feeling like I would expect it to. The spicy taste on my tongue was extremely addicting, I didn¡¯t know I had liked spicy food this much. The feeling of the heat and taste and effects of the different spices made my blood rush, making my face red. Though that blood rush was probably not the best thing in the world¡­ my body quickly adapted to the hot spices, and they no longer taste as spicy as before. The kurry now tasted mildly spicy, no longer giving me the blood rush and exhilaration. This is the bad side of the gene engineering to adapt to any extreme conditions, I surely didn¡¯t account spicy foods into my calculations. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Spicier next time¡±, I said with a smile as I handed her the clean, empty bowl. It was so good even if it was mildly spicy that I had licked the whole bowl clean. I admit it¡¯s not a sightly action, but hey, there¡¯s nobody else except grandma here anyway. ¡°Mmm, I didn¡¯t expect you to be able to take it that well, looks like I¡¯ve gotta go harsher next time. It¡¯s still early into the night, why don¡¯t we tell each other about ourselves. We¡¯ve got to know each other better now, nothing to hide. I¡¯ll start first.¡±, She scooped more rice onto the bowl before handing it back to me. Grandma told me about her three grandchildren. All three had black hair, just like her. She had a daughter, who died shortly just a few years after she gave birth to Azrael, who was born just a year after Azriel and Ariel. The three naturally have great affinity with magic, as with their parents and grandmother, so much so that they were even searched out by the three most prestigious magic high schools in the capital. Well, there are only three high schools in the capital anyway, but they are all prestigious and powerful, not losing to the other schools in Terminus. And even before they finished high school, they were again searched out by the most prestigious universities in Terminus, which they accepted. They had to travel far away from the capital to their university, and that was when they were thirteen and fourteen years old. Apparently high schools starts at the age of ten for four years, which is continued by university at the early age of fifteen. It¡¯s early, but it seems like magic influence in the world had made children¡¯s minds develop faster that what we compare to as normal. Even so, it appears that the three grandchildren are geniuses even compared in this world. Interesting. Now, three years after they left, grandma was left all alone and decided to go on a little job to ease her boredom (and sadness, she didn¡¯t admit it). On this fateful job was when she found me, in that lousy pit trap. It was rare that anybody had black hair, as long, shiny, and smooth as mine, so she was shocked. Not that black hair meant anything in particular, it was just that it was quite rare to have people have it in such purity. I can kind of understand her, being left alone for a *long* time. I¡¯ve gone over it in my case, I had a few thousand years to think about it after all. Hope Ares and Aphro are doing well out there in Andromeda. I wonder if they¡¯re still alive, time is relative, so a few thousand years to me may just be a few days to them. Hahahaa... ¡°Well, I know you aren¡¯t just a slave. To have that kind of hair and be slaved? The slavers would be personally slaughtered by the Zekiel King, that disgusting bastard is known to have an entourage of black haired ¡®servants¡¯, and none of them could ever escape his grasp. His power and strength is nothing to scoff at, there is a reason he is the king of that despicable empire. Don¡¯t worry, I will keep everything a secret. Tell me everything about yourself.¡±, Grandma questioned me with a hint of curiousness in her eyes. I could see in her eyes that she wasn¡¯t lying, but not that it matters to me if she told people about me anyway. The slave background I¡¯ve created for myself just makes things more convenient, I wouldn¡¯t want to keep telling everybody I¡¯m a six thousand, six hundred and sixty-six year old virgin. Who had come from who-knows-where, when his family left him three thousand years ago. Not that anybody would truly believe this absurd story anyway. I told her the summary of everything, from top to bottom. I can¡¯t exactly tell her everything that has happened for the thousands of years right? She took it in well, though she did have a little bit of disbelief showing through her face, but overall she was shocked, a little. ¡°Your family must be doing well wherever they are, guess you had it worse than me, hahahaha!¡±, Grandma laughed it off, showing relief in her voice. ¡°But now you¡¯re my grandson, I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re six thousand year old or whatever.¡± I smiled at her, even though I expected something similar to happen, it still warmed my heart. Had been a long time since I last felt that, haven¡¯t I? ¡°Just look at the time now, we have been talking for a long time, time for you to tuck in and sleep.¡± She brought me back to my room and tucked me into my bed, before closing the door again and going back downstairs to clean the plates. The first night of sleeping, I was excited for the next day, but I was feeling something that my mind labeled as tired. I close my eyes, entering sleep mode. ----- Chapter 8. The New Toys Finally some magic! I was so excited about writing this chapter I had to write it and upload it today :D ~ Grandma¡¯s House, Homu Village Breakfast was a hearty meal of fried red eggs which actually tasted quite delicious despite its gruesome appearance. The raw eggs themselves looked like squishy bloody tumors taken straight out of a sick and dying cancer patient, and the fried ones looked just like fried bloody tumors. Of course, naturally I was attracted to strange new things, but as strange as it was, it felt like the more gruesome it was, the more I was attracted to it. Hmm, must be a side effect of the gene manipulation. Of course, this was what I was waiting for. Testing out my new, awesome, epic, and cool POWERS! I hadn¡¯t had the chance to try it out since it there were a lot of things happening and was inconvenient before, but this is the time I had been waiting for. I had to let everything settle down first before trying anything, only this will give me the maximum enjoyment without interference. I felt like a kid during Christmas, receiving the biggest gift that I had prepared for myself. Hah¡­ the last time I got a gift that was a system upgrade¡­ those were good times. Now for the real deal, I calmed myself down first, sitting in the backyard under the tree that looks like an apple tree, facing the endless plains. It is time to explore the mysteries of magic. I felt the calming breeze that was now collecting in my new organ, and tried to focus the energy that was gathered into a single point above my palm. The energy coursed through my body, and eventually gathered through my palms into the single point, causing the air at the point to heat up and become a small fire. I focused the point and made it move around, which also made the fire move around. I focused even harder, making the point smaller and smaller, which in turn also made the fire smaller but brighter and brighter until it was a small, but powerful white speck of condensed heat. While this happened, there appeared to be soot forming in the air, though hardly visible, my eyes were focused and could see the little particles in the air. I stopped the focus and the fire immediately dispersed, warming the area above my palm. Hohoho. Looks like I¡¯ve got the first piece of the puzzle now. As one could see, focusing the energy onto the single point causes it to heat up. Apparently this magical energy is able to convert into one of the most basic forms of energy, that is heat. I am sure that no combustion actually took place; the reaction was proof enough. There was nothing to fuel the fire in the first place, other than my energy. The soot was probably the result of the fire burning so strong that it actually broke the bonds of the molecules that it was heating, and allowing for the formation of carbon particles. As magical as they were said to be, magic seems to be following the laws of physics to a certain extent. Haha! It may not be as foreign to me as I thought¡­ I think? Enough of thinking though, it¡¯s time to do some work. Next up on my list of must-have magic abilities¡­ is telekinesis! Judging from how that the magical energy was able to convert into heat energy, telekinesis would very much be possible. It is after all, the manipulation of kinetic energy. Instead of trying to focus the energy into one point, I instead imagined a hand holding up the rock on the ground a few metres away from me. The extension of the energy outwards, forming an arm, and imagining it grabbing the rock, re-enacting the movements with my hand. Sure enough, the rock was grabbed and I delicately lifted it upwards. It looked like a rock that is just floating in the air, but I know it is just being held up by an invisible hand that extended from my shoulders. It was like a third arm, except that it was much stronger, controlled by my mind, but does not feel anything at all. I clasped my hands, and sure enough the rock started to crack a little. I focused even harder, causing the rock to shatter into dust. Easy enough, I thought. I did not expect it to happen that smoothly, but everything did felt like second nature to me. I wonder if that was because of the new organ. Even though this is probably not truly telekinesis, since it required me to form an external arm. Nonetheless, this gave me another piece of the mysterious puzzle. The magical energy is able to convert into different forms of energy, but how I am controlling this energy and the organ is still very much a black hole to me. It was able to take on a physical form of an arm this time, but I am sure this can be adapted to an emergency shield or even an invisible weapon. I could already come up with a thousand and one ways for the utilization of this magic. ¡°Hue hue hue hue hue¡­¡± I made a creepy laughing sound as it came naturally from my mouth. I decided to test one of the interesting ideas that came up in my mind. I formed an invisible shape of a guardless katana in the air, careful not to touch it. The blade is as thin as I could imagine it to be. It was dangerous, not just because of the blade, but also because of its invisibility. However, focusing much on the blade to make sure it is as steady as possible, distortions started to appear where the blade is, confirming that the blade is indeed working as intended. I picked up a rock, and threw it at the blade on its front side. The rock almost didn¡¯t split into two until it had hit the ground. A perfect cross-section of the rock can be seen as it split open. It was so cut so cleanly and perfect that it was glossy and smooth, unlike the rough rock surface. I raised an eyebrow, impressed at this sight. I controlled the katana to spin, imitating Kenshe of Immortal Combat. I had thought that he was really cool with that floating longsword of his, and it was what led me to coming up with this idea. Surprising I could still remember that game even after such a long time though. I was determined to spin it as fast as I can, and it accelerated at an incredible speed until it making a loud wheezing sound, not by the blade, but by the handle. It was so fast I could feel the wind blowing from it just from the handle. This is definitely faster than Kenshe¡¯s blade. Satisfied, I picked up the rocks that were split and threw them at the blade. ¡°Woah.¡±, I said out loud. The rocks just turned into dust, as if it went into a shredder for rocks. They were cut into pieces so thin that they simply shattered in mid-air. The blade is a little bit chipped on the edges, but quickly repairs itself with the help of my magical energy. I was astounded by the performance of the blade. Though every cut requires my magical energy to repair its delicate edge, it was still very dangerous, not just for the target but also me. Not that I would willingly walk into the blade, but it was still a doubled-edged blade. I¡¯ll never know when a miscalculation of the delicate control for my blade could lead to my demise. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°What¡¯s the commotion about?¡±, Grandma walked into the backyard, curious about the noise. ¡°Ahh¡­ nothing much, just some experiments with magic.¡± ¡°What is that, a sword that you created?¡±, She pointed at the almost invisible katana. ¡°Yes. It is called a katana in my world back then. I just molded my energy into the shape.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve already created and mastered telekinesis to this point already¡­ and in just less than an hour of leaving out here alone. Well, it looks like you¡¯re really curious about magic and good at it, so as an elder sage sorcerer, I shall take you as my apprentice.¡± I smiled at the offer. A master in magic as my mentor would certainly¡­ help my developments with magic a lot. ¡°Do you accept?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She drew a few symbols with her hand in the air, and a tingling sensation was felt on the back of my hand. It glowed bright golden for a moment before leaving a black symbol on it. ¡°That is my magic symbol, it carries my magical signature, and other people would be able to recognize that you are my apprentice if you showed it to them. My name carries a lot of power, you know?¡±, She smirked. I could feel grandma¡¯s presence in the symbol, giving off a venerable and heavy aura. It indeed feels like her. ¡°Shall we start then? From what I¡¯ve felt earlier, you have only tried fire magic and telekinesis. Not even finishing the basic elements, and already jumping to advanced magic like telekinesis, how are you even learning? Let me teach you the basics first.¡± ¡­ After a whole afternoon of ¡®training¡¯ my magic, which there probably isn¡¯t training since I was able to grasp the concepts at their roots, so it was just me being creative while grandm- no, Master was trying hard to pull me back on track. As figured, fire was the first basic element, the most common form of them all. I created a mini-sun during the lesson when she asked me to create a ball of fire. I wanted to make a larger version of the white fire I created earlier, and condensed so much energy into a small ball the size of a ping pong ball and it became blindingly bright and hot, which then I threw into the nearby field as I wanted to see how it would react, and in the end it created a huge explosion and leaving a charred crater. I was impressed and satisfied at the outcome, but Master¡­ was a different matter. Water is next, and is the opposing element of fire. Technically it is just the manipulation of liquids, but since water is the most abundant I shall call it that. We went to a lake near the village, and Master told me to control the water in the lake into a ball by putting some of my magical energy, or mana as she called it, into the body of water and take control of the water. Naturally, I had other ideas. I thinly spread my mana around the area we were standing at and took control of the water vapour in the air, changing it from its gaseous form back to liquid form, which caused the area to heat up considerably, then gather the water in the air together to form a perfect sphere of water, and started heating up the center of the sphere of water. And released my control in mid-air above us. It resulted in a magnificent explosion of steam and water, which rained down on us. Master dried us up by extracting the water on our clothes, did not show it but she was kind of impressed but annoyed at the same time. The third one was earth magic, or manipulation of solid materials. The harder the material, the harder it is to ¡®bend¡¯ it, as I like to call it. Earth is the most abundant, and the easiest to bend, so it is the most widely used material for this magic. Seeing as to my skills, she created an earth statue of me and told me to do the same for her. The statue, though made of earth, was extremely detailed down to the hair and every single part. She challenged me that if I were to beat her in the creation of these statues, she would teach me about advanced magic without saying anything about my tricks. However, as I tried to think about how to create the statue, the scenes from the the show Avatar: The Undead Airbender flashed through my mind as one of the most interesting and amazing shows I¡¯ve watched. I instantly wanted to try out using those movements to bend the earth, so I did a punch, a kick, and ending with a stomp in which the earth would protrude out of the ground, just like in the show. Unfortunately, I aimed a little too far and catapulted her statue of me into the distance. In that instant, I could feel fear creeping all over me. Master was emanating a black, sinister aura that felt like it was going to eat me whole. I quickly raised a statue of Master in her prime, a beautiful young lady, while accentuating some of the important points. It wasn¡¯t as good as her statue, but she was impressed and the aura was immediately gone. Phew, that was a close call, death can look for me some other time. The last one, predictably, is wind magic, the manipulation of gases. She wanted me to use my magic to make myself float in the air using a cushion, though I could see in her eyes that she was going to expect something else. I made a flight of stairs- no an escalator by solidifying the air in place then making the steps move upwards. At first, she wondered what I was doing, but stopped thinking after seeing me go upwards on the escalator, which went all the way to the clouds, where I had to create a ball of air around my face to breathe. It was a spectacular sight to see two suns in the sky, but I had to get down. So obviously the best way I could think of was to create a slide, which I did, to slide down back to ground. She said that I was treating the whole sky as a playground, and I have to admit, it was fun. Sliding down on solid air 2 kilometres from the ground is quite exhilarating, but actually quite tiring to keep up the magic since I was sliding at a speed near terminal velocity. Well then after that we just went back home, but Master was deep in thought the whole time. The suns were already setting after all that ¡®training¡¯, but I was sure this was just the tip of the iceberg. ----- Chapter 9. A New Frontier Post comments about your ideas and what you like to see in the story! There may just be some ideas that are better than my own ^^ ~ Artemis University, Capital Marth Ahh. The buzzing of the students chatting everywhere in the front yard, the new and refreshing atmosphere, the random gossips in the corners. One can tell from the feeling and commotion that this is a school, just like any other school. I would be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t excited at all. I have not talked to anybody in this world that is of my apparent age, and of course am very excited to meet normal friends and have a normal school life. Well, one can consider me an old geezer, a very old one, and attending school at that kind of age is strange¡­ but as they once said, ¡®age is only a number¡¯. The school security is quite tight too, they have a huge powerful barrier covering the school, where only people with a pass can come in and out as they please. I had to show a guard a letter to allow passage for me through the barrier and through the gate. However, the question remains still, how did I end up here? ¡­ A few days ago ... ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be sending you to school.¡±, Grandma just threw it in my face after we reached home one day after training. ¡°What?¡± ¡°All it takes is for me to send a quick letter to the headmaster of the university and you¡¯ll be enrolled in no time. Don¡¯t worry about that.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve decided that sending you to school would be the best choice. After all, you need to have real friends of your age, and it would be a great experience for you, don¡¯t you think? Now that you have this new body of this age, shouldn¡¯t you try to live this new life of yours a little more properly?¡± I thought for a bit. That was still quite sudden. Real friends. Very compelling. And also a school life. But do I need it though? Is it worth my time? What can I really learn there? My brain snapped. Then I realized. Why am I thinking so much? This is my adventure, whatever goes! School? HECK YEAH WHY NOT? (my apparent split personality when I get too stressed) ¡°YEAH!¡± Grandma looked at me for a bit, shocked at my sudden approval and burst of excitement. *Ahem* ¡°Alright then.¡±, I calmed myself down from the heightened state of stress, regaining composure. ¡°I know that was sudden, but I don¡¯t have much proficiency in other fields, only in magic and its studies, and you have already learnt most of the basic and advanced magic already. It¡¯s probably more fun for you if you learn things by yourself, without me telling you everything. Not to say, I can¡¯t provide you with friends, so it would be the best for you to go to school. The term had just started a week ago, so it wouldn¡¯t be too late for you join in yet.¡± ¡°Even though you¡¯re a sage, you are not as good in the other fields?¡± ¡°A sage have wisdom, but not necessarily knowledge. And my wisdom tells me to send you to school. There are three universities you can choose from in this capital; Athena, Artemis or Hermes University. They are all really good schools from what I have heard. Not been in the capital for a long time now, I¡¯ve forgotten much about the details.¡± ¡°Let me choose this¡­¡±, I said as I gathered water into a die shape above my palm, and solidified the liquid, making an ice die. ¡°One and four is Athena, two and five is Hermes, and three and six is Artemis.¡±, I threw the die into the air. I knew that it¡¯s for times like this in tough situations with multiple choices that seem equally good that I need to use a die. I saw my parents do it a lot of times in their research, so it was ¡®scientifically¡¯ proven to work, hehe. May the uncertainty of the universe bless me. Ooh. It landed on a six. A nice number, I wonder what it might signify. ¡°Artemis University it is then.¡±, Grandma said as she went into her room and closed the door. And thus, I was enrolled into Artemis University. ¡­ I was wearing the school uniform. It was an all-black suit, looking much like those ancient Japanese military-style uniforms. Of course I wore my lab coat over it, which grandma fixed the hole a few days ago by sewing on a piece of white cloth, which has properties that is quite similar to the lab coat, though not the same. I had also asked her to make me a glove with the remaining cloth, to cover the black symbol on my hand. I had thought that just leaving the symbol on my hand for everybody to see could create some difficulties. The aura could still be felt from around my hand after grandma suppressed it, while the glove does not suppress the aura any further, it could still cover the black symbol, so people don¡¯t try to check it out. Ahh yes, as grandma said, I need to report to the headmaster. It feels like this is the standard procedure for whenever one transfers to a school. I¡¯ve read many mangas and novels they all seem to reflect this strange trait. Oh well, it¡¯s best to meet the headmaster anyway since I¡¯ve missed the opening ceremony. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. But this campus sure is huge though, spanning two kilometres in each direction. Surely this takes up a lot of space in the capital, and there are three of this kind of schools too. The government must really respect education to put so much resources into them. Still, this campus is horribly complicated and confusing. Pathways from one place to another cross each other, goes up and down, and of course dead ends are also everywhere. I wonder how students manage to get around without being able to memorize the maps as well as me. After a long walk around the campus, up and down, left and right, I have finally reached the headmaster¡¯s office. It was at the end of a large corridor with a massive door, giving this whole place the look of a palace, as if I was entering the king¡¯s chambers. I opened the door. A table at the far end sits the headmaster, a young lady looking in her mid-twenties. Fair skin, snow white hair, a slender body and a pretty face that could make any mortal man fall in love with her on first sight. She is wearing an office dress outfit that is blue with red accents, which is well, a little revealing on the upper side. Well, I guess magic can do that too, slowing down the aging process. I do wonder what¡¯s her actual age though. ¡°Welcome to Artemis University, Earth. I am the headmaster Amis, and this is my school. To be that legendary hermit¡¯s apprentice, the first and at a very young age at that, it really makes me wonder what you¡¯ve done to make her accept you as her apprentice. Well, that¡¯s a matter for another time, so now let¡¯s get back to the topic on hand. Skipping all the boring talks, we¡¯ll get to the important part. There are three compulsory courses that all students have to take, that is language, calculations and general magics, though you are an exception. You do not have to take general magics, as per the elder¡¯s requested in her letter. You will still take the magic examinations, since the elder only said that you do not have to go for the lessons, but I¡¯m sure the examinations would not be a problem for you. There are also a bunch of other courses that you can take. There¡¯s no real limit to how many you can take, but you have to very carefully manage your time if you do choose to select many courses. And also remember that if you miss too many lessons, there would be grave consequences~ Once you¡¯ve done choosing you can just submit the form to the counter outside. I¡¯ll be expecting much from you, so don¡¯t let me down.¡±, Headmaster Amis ended the talk with a sly smile. I was given a long list of the different courses, their timings and noticed some even need requirements in order to enter. I walked out of the uncomfortable room, through the corridor and to the outside. I looked through the list, but most of the courses were not of interest to me. However, a few of them did catch my eye and without a second thought, I ticked ¡®Magic Alchemy¡¯ and ¡®The Art of Magic Enchantments¡¯. ¡°Ho ho ho ho¡­ this is going to be interesting.¡±, I laughed to myself. My weekdays were filled up with interesting courses, but with plenty of free time in between them. I wonder if I would be the one to be enlightened, or would I be the one enlightening them? I laughed even harder as I passed the list to the attendant at the counter outside the building, who was obviously creeped out by my maniacal laugh. ¡°Umm¡­ E-Earth, your room on the campus is number 666¡­ and here is your key and p-pass. P-please do not lose them, there would be t-trouble if you do...¡±, the attendant timidly passed me the key, which was engraved with the number 666 on its body and a gold ring that had my name carved on it. Since I¡¯ve got nothing to do today, I decided to walk around the vast campus, for a little sightseeing. The campus had many buildings spread around, each with their own purpose and they are where the different classrooms for the courses are at, but there are also large areas around that are just greenery and there is even a large forest that is said to have wildlife in them, located at the top right corner of the campus. Of course, I could not pass up the chance to visit the mysterious forest since I¡¯m near it. I approached the border of the forest, but it seems like there is a magical fence around it, with the plants and grass growing on it and trying to grow through it. I searched for the gate around to enter it, eventually finding it along its perimeter, though it was unlocked and half-open. Interested, I walked through the gate, but as I am a responsible person, I closed it behind me without locking it to prevent anything that shouldn¡¯t come out from coming out. I walked along the dirt path, or should I say just a stretch of clearing that seemed to be a path? Nonetheless, I was enjoying the natural breeze and the sounds of nature. The grass swayed in the wind, the forest had increasingly larger and taller trees as I walked further in. Occasional animals appeared far from the path, before disappearing again. There were a few larger clearings that appeared on the path, probably campsites, though I had to note down that they make great places for training and stargazing. The relaxing sounds of streams of water flowing and the feeling of the breeze blowing is just calming. I closed my eyes as I laid down the soft grass. Ahh~ ¡°AAAHH! HAALP! SOMEBODAY!¡± ----- Chapter 10. First Encounter ~ Artemis University, Capital Marth Breathe in, breathe out. It¡¯s just a simple blood sample, and it¡¯s sleeping soundly now. It¡¯s just a big cow, that¡¯s all. It¡¯s definitely not dangerous at all¡­ One step at a time, slow and steady. It¡¯s just right there sleeping, no big deal. *Step* *Step* *CRUNCH* OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD IT¡¯S MOVING! Wait¡­ it¡¯s still sleeping. Phew. Alright. I¡¯m right next to it. I could hear it breathing. Good thing I did not have any aura around me, or it would have known by now. Instead, I felt its motherly aura enveloping me¡­ what warmth¡­ No, right now I need to get its blood. Right¡­ just a simple poke with my knife¡­ it should not feel anything. Alright alright alright... *Poke* *Loud grunt* It¡¯s turning its head¡­ the birds are flying¡­ IT WOKE UP. I can¡¯t run at all. My whole body is rooted, trapped in its aura, unable to escape. The warmth is now replaced by an menacing aura¡­ ¡°aaaAAAAHHH! HAALP! SOMEBODAY!¡±, I cried out, as if hoping that there was somebody actually close enough in this forest to help. I am going to die. There is probably nobody near me to save me right now. That is not a big cow, THAT¡¯S A HUGE BULL! At least if I die I will be able to return to nature, and be of use to this forest... I can see death calling out to me now, the bull¡¯s horns are now aiming at me. Goodbye woOOORLDDAAAAAHH! I am FLYING! Wait... NO I AM NOT FLYIING! --- After I launched the victim into the air, inaudible screams could be heard and he was frantically throwing his arms around, as if trying to get a grip. As he was going to touch the ground, I cushioned his fall using wind. And it was a lot of wind for that weight and size. Luckily, he touched down softly without smashing into the ground. Though he was still covering his eyes. What kind of timid ogre is this? ¡°Hey, wake up! I¡¯m not going to hold up that air barrier around the beast for much longer, we¡¯ve got to get to safer place!¡±, I shouted at the huge green thing. He finally took his hands away from his face and regained his composure. He looked back, confused at the huge angry bull, which I had trapped with a thick layer of solidified air around its body. It would have seen to be an invisible barrier, but actually is just air that was held in place. I made it as close to its body as possible to restrict movement, but the small volume of air inside the barrier would suffocate it in a few minutes, and it would prefer not to kill this majestic beast, since it seemed to be only aggressive because it was provoked. Maintaining the large barrier for a long time also would just force my magic organ to start completely draining the mana in the environment, which could cause dangerous effects to the environment. Not to mention the beast¡¯s aura deteriorating the barrier even further, forcing me to drain even more mana. I had discovered on one of the days during the week of experimentation that my mana organ wasn¡¯t normal. Normally, one would only use the mana that their organ had gathered from the surroundings, and once it has depleted, it would drain the body of its energy until the user became too tired and fall asleep. However, mine would absorb mana from the surroundings to supply my need. I tested once by trying to raise the ancient Empire State Building in a field. My own mana lasted until I have completed a third of the whole building with the interior, until I started to absorb mana from the surroundings, where the wind had stopped, and the building eventually collapsed from the dirt cracking halfway there. A small part of the forest around me was affected too, turning yellow and dying. Obviously Master wasn¡¯t too happy with that. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Back to reality, it seems that the ogre was still confused about how the beast is unable to move in the seemingly invisible barrier. I strengthened my whole body with magic and placed him on my shoulders, ran back to one of the clearings, far enough that the beast would be unable to find us. I released the barrier halfway there when it became too far and draining. ¡°Erm¡­ thanks for saving me...¡±, the ogre said. That is one civilised ogre. I had just realized that he was wearing the school uniform, just a little tattered and dirty. Well, that certainly beat all my expectations of an ogre. ¡°You can call me Earth.¡±, I started the introduction. ¡°I¡¯m... Ed, from the Magical Beasts Research Team.¡±, he replied while taking out his round glasses from his pocket and putting it on. Taking a good look at him, he looks about twice my size and have sizable muscles. An ogre build, but definitely something is wron- I mean different in the mind. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t you defend yourself back there with your aura? If you released it, you would have a chance at escaping.¡± ¡°I¡­ I am unable to use magic. I could not let out any aura even if I tried.¡±, Ed hesitated before saying. ¡°Yet you wanted to extract blood from that beast without any defense?¡± ¡°I had to do it myself¡­ I was pressured by the Earth Magic Research Team. They captured my companion and threatened that I had to do this myself or else they would destroy the Magical Beasts Research Team.. our team is small and none of us could use magic¡­ so we are unable to fight back against them.¡±, Ed said with a pained expression. Mmm. The typical bully scene, but looks like they have gone too far. A life could have been lost back there. Looks like these little kids need a good punishment. ¡°Let¡¯s go and teach them a lesson.¡±, I said with a smirk. ¡°But they would destro-¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a *little* lesson for them, that¡¯s all.¡±, I cut him off. ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡± While we were on the path back to the entrance, Ed looked to be rather stressed and unsteady. Once we¡¯ve reached the gate to the forest, he hesitated, but instead I laughed maniacally as I thought about my plans. Well, that definitely worked as intended and he no longer showed any signs of doubt, but with the side effect that he was totally creeped out by me. Well, it did not take long after we went back into normal school grounds that we¡¯ve received a ¡®polite¡¯ question from behind. ¡°Hey, useless Ed. Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t get the blood that we desperately needed? You mean you don¡¯t care about your little pet and your useless team?" ¡°And who¡¯s this dude with you? What¡¯s with that strange white coat, is he another one of the members of your pathetic team? The last time I remembered, there was nobody that wanted to join your team because it was a bunch of misfits.¡± Laughter ensued in the background, while Ed looked to be angered but was clearly holding back, knowing he was unable to fight back. But for me, more than anything else, I was excited. Because it¡¯s time for some arse-reaping. ----- Chapter 11. A Little Lesson Please do write down whatever ideas and opinions you have about the story. I would like to hear whatever you think about the story! It may be a little over the place, and I really suck at coming up with names and what-not. Thanks you for your time and for reading this little fiction! :D ~ Artemis University, Capital Marth Earth mages. According to grandma, they were mostly thick skinned but gullible, much like what their element of control suggests. Their affinity in this element of control meant that it would be harder for them to understand and control other elements. In turn, they are much more proficient in this element instead. Normal people usually have affinity to one or two of the four elements, though some races like the elves have multiple affinities to different elements. Grandma is one of those rare ones that possesses affinity to all four elements, thus becoming a Sorcerer, a being with great control of all four elements. Well, as for me, I can''t be considered to be in any of these categories since I grew my own mana organ, meaning I may be equally good at everything, or¡­ equally bad. However, my mana organ is still very different from that of the people of this planet. Mine was developed in less than a day I¡¯ve been here, compared to theirs which have been around for god knows how long, refining and improving itself through the ages. Basically, my personal mana reserve is actually less than the average, which is still shocking, judging by how much magic I can already use on one shot. Considering this arrogant group of earth mages are already in their second year, I wouldn''t want to fight them in a battle of raw power. Well, I have the perfect plan for dealing with these foolish group of pubescent little children. Mwehehehehe! It''s time for a little experiment¡­ --- Now that I look carefully at his core, that kid in the strange white coat is actually lower than First Order! Not even at the average potential of the First Order! No wonder he''s friends with those useless magicless. Maybe I should also toy with him after I''m done with that ogre? I''m sure I''ll earn some praise with master Fenjel if I brought this newcomer to her. He may be useless, but his looks are something else, and that soft and silky black hair of his¡­ ¡°Ho ho ho, looks like you little children needs a good, hard lesson.¡±, The kid with the white coat broke my train of thoughts. WHAT? Did he just called us ¡°little children¡±? Does he want to die? And he isn''t even a match for us, what a joke! ¡°Do you know your place little kid? We are one year higher than you, YOU should be calling us senior-sama~ instead! If you grovel in front of me and plead for me to forgive you, I might still just give you a chance, since you''re not even a First Order mage.¡±, I gave him a chance to be forgiven, how kind a leader I am. Instead, he puts on an even wider smirk and without warning, the sky turned to a dark, bloody hue of red. Monsters larger cathedrals started appearing out of nowhere and started to fill the skies and land. Some look like dragons, but others have different deformations and strange body parts! One thing they all have in common though¡­ are those ominous red glowing eyes... W-WHAT ARE THESE MONSTERS? I have never seen these abominations before, they were not mentioned in class or anywhere! I-IS THIS THE G-GREAT CALAMITY? I looked back around me. There is nobody. The white kid and the ogre is gone. Henry, Dolor, Jarry are gone, and so are the rest of the earth mages. I¡­ I am alone? I felt a disgusting chill down my spine. I looked back up. All the monsters have stopped moving. They were all¡­ staring at me with their glowing red eyes. Just¡­ staring at me. Everything was creepily silent. There was no wind. No movement. No reaction. Even if I could move my body, there was nowhere to run. Then... they shifted their creepy gazes to something right behind me. Whatever is behind me, it¡­ it is t-touching my back¡­ my heart couldn¡¯t take it more¡­ the world is turning blurry and black¡­ goodb¡­ --- *Plop* ¡°Oh¡­ god.¡±, Ed said as he looked at the disgusting mess I had made of the earth mages. Their solid and liquid excrements were all over the place, their eyes white and mouth agape, drooling. They were on their knees, a few had already fully collapsed on the floor. All I did was a simple mind magic, which was the interference of their brain waves by forcing on mine. If one could see through and try to break through it, the magic would easily collapse. Though... it works wonders on earth mages, since they are usually easily persuaded and tricked. It may be simple mind magic, but it was powerful in my case, since I had the experience of running almost perfectly realistic simulations in my mind. I just applied this skill of mine on the earth mages to make them experience the magicless people destroying this world due to their actions, creating an apocalypse. For the leader though¡­ I gave him a special treatment by showing him one of my simulations in my collection of ¡°101 Creepy Situations¡±, which I had used to entertain myself back in the days. I had wanted to give him a little massage at the end just to play with him a little, though he quickly collapsed at my touch¡­ This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Woah! What did you do?¡±, Ed asked, surprised, while carefully tip-toeing through the mess to retrieve his caged cat-like pet, dropped on the floor by one of the mages. ¡°It was nothing, I just showed them a little mind magic, that''s all.¡± ¡°That was NOTHING? Mind magic is one of the most advanced magic and requires incredible concentration! Even a Fifth Order mind mage could only control three people, and yet you just easily messed with the whole group of earth mages to this state?¡±, Ed looked at me, with a face of shock but also a little bit of admiration. ¡°Well, now they''ve learnt their lesson and you''ve gotten your pet, let''s go to your¡­ whatever base it is. It''s stinking here, and I wouldn''t want anybody to see that we caused this mess.¡±, I said as I moved all the waste materials into a nearby drainage hole, while covering my nose with one hand. I would at least be kind enough to spare them of that shame. There was really no point in covering this up anyway, and nobody would really believe them, since Ed is a magicless, and I am apparently lower than a First Order Mage, which would what they consider ¡°normal¡±. And also not to mention the unnerving feeling that somebody is watching us, even though I have checked that there were nobody other than us in this area using an ultrasonic echo. ¡°It''s the Magical Beasts Research Laboratory, and Myan is not a pet, she''s my companion and friend.¡±, Ed said as he took the cat out of the cage, which upon closer inspection, has nine tails, cute, round and yellow slitted eyes, with red accents over the fluffy white fur on its tail and body. Hah¡­ a nine-tailed fox? Never knew it was this fluffy though¡­ I am a sucker for fluffy things. As I followed Ed to wherever the laboratory is, Myan climbed all over Ed¡¯s large body in joy, and eventually settling on his shoulders. Its eyes turned sharp as it warily scanned my body, but it quickly backed down when I had let it scan my mind, which it realized the difference in our wisdom and mental age. Even a few thousand years stuck in a lab did make me realize some truths about life, such as spamming elevator buttons does not make it come any faster. Crazy, I know. ¡°Hmm, that is strange, Myan never reacted like this when evaluating anybody. Hmm.. mm.. mmm¡­ she probably said that you''re qualified to enter our lab¡­¡±, Ed stopped before a flight of stairs that leads downwards into a basement, at a desolated corner of the school compound. We went down the brick stairs to find what it seems to be a small cavern underneath. The walls are filled with shelves of old and tattered books, and wherever there is free space, illegible research notes are pinned, filled of scribbles and sketches. There are also notes and books all over the place and there is a single large oval table in the middle of the rectangular cavern, illuminated by the orange lamp over it. Except for a corner of the room that was spared of all the chaos, where there seems to be beds for¡­ pets? This laboratory looks like somebody roped together animal-loving mad scientists and just threw them down this small cavern. ¡°Ed? Did you really managed to get the blood of the Mother Bull? And¡­ who is that guy that you brought into our lab?¡±, Some green haired demon girl asked as she came from the area behind the stairs. That area looks like a kitchen, albeit a small one, but is certainly not lacking in ¡®facilities¡¯ for animals. There is even a tiny slide! ¡°Hydia! Umm¡­ Earth saved me from those earth mages, with a little magic. Where are the rest?¡± ¡°Wait¡­ you brought a magic user into our lab? I thought that you, the team leader, would at least uphold the vow that you will not allow any magic users to enter the lab?¡±, She questioned Ed as if she was interrogating a criminal. ¡°The vow is that¡­ BUT he is an exception! Even Myan accepted him!¡± ¡°What? Myan has never accepted a magic user before, did you read him wrongly? No, I''ll ask Myan. Myan, did you accept that guy?¡± Myan softly nods with its eyes closed tight, intimidated by the demon girl. I really have no say in this conversation, do I? Upon seeing the cat¡¯s reply, Hylia looked a little shocked and confused, then stood back to think for a bit. ¡°Fine, since Myan said so.¡±, She broke the silence while Ed breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°But I¡¯ll still be watching out for you, so don¡¯t you do anything stupid.¡± Well, looks like I¡¯m going in the direction to join this ¡®team¡¯ no matter what I say. Researching about magic beasts in this world sounds interesting anyway. It¡¯ll be great to know about all the different types of life forms in this world, and especially so with magic, who knows the presence of magic will take fluffiness in fluffy animals to a whole new level? This team seems to be quite small, but they really are hardworking. And those fluffy little animals¡­ I think I¡¯ll just join to play with them. Hehehehe! ¡°Ahem! I guess I¡¯ll join this team then.¡±, I said nonchalantly, suppressing my wide grin at the aspect of having fun with fluffy animals. Looks like I¡¯m going to have a fluff- fun time! ----- Chapter 12. Initiate A rather short chapter, but I did it on my phone so I really could not tell. If you do find any mistake, please do comment on it. And also, if you have any suggestions, ideas or anything about this story, please do write it down too! I would very much appreciate it, so thank you for your time and co-operation. Enjoy the chapter! :) ~ Somewhere in Artemis University, Capital Marth ¡°Mmm. That little kid is interesting. He actually noticed my mana sight, not many people could do that.¡±, Mistress said out of a sudden. ¡°Indeed, there has only been less than a handful of people that can notice your signature magic. He must be a great wizard I presume? It must be my mistake to miss any of those enrolling in this school.¡±, I replied to Mistress¡¯ comment. I was sure I have already looked through the register of all the students in this university, and reported any students with great potential to Mistress¡­ could I have missed any? ¡°Ooh. He just downed the entire group of earth mages. Is that Ein there drowning in his own dump and urine? HAHAAhahahahaa¡­ ahhh¡­ I like this mind mage! And he is in his first year too¡­ very impressive.¡±, Mistress commented again. A mind mage at his first year? And good enough to make Mistress this excited? How could I have missed him? Ahh¡­ I deserve death¡­ ¡°Aahh- don''t worry about it Fenrir, I am sure that he has only transferred recently. You have done a good job with the report, but this kid¡­ you''ll keep watch on him. Report to me about everything he is doing. And make sure that the other three does not find out about this. Is that understood?¡± ¡°Yes, Mistress Fenjel.¡± --- ¡°What?! I just gave you permission to enter this lab, and now you want to join our team? A magic-user? N-¡± ¡°Wait, Hylia. Calm down! He''s not the same as those others! If Myan approves of him, that shows something! And he being here us good too, that means we would at least have some form of protection against those magic-users!¡± ¡°But he is still a magic-user! I don''t want him in our team! We can protect ourselves with our companions! He will still be the same as the rest of them, greedy, power-hungry, cor-¡± ¡°Calm down, Hylia!¡± I could already see little tear drops forming in Hylia¡¯s crystal-like red eyes. I''ve got the feeling that this is the moment where I should just back off for a bit, stay out of this matter. You know, hands off. Ed whispered to me. ¡°I''m sorry Earth, but can you step out for a bit? I''ll calm her down.¡± I did a little pat on Ed''s shoulders, then went back up the stairs into daylight. It was a breezy evening. It is quite obvious that Hylia had some past with magic-users, albeit not the best one. I don''t doubt that there are people out there with intense hatred against magic-users. Especially for those who could not harness the power of magic. They would feel like ants facing giants. I sat down on a grass patch nearby, and laid down to enjoy the late evening breeze. I remembered about the first time I laid down on the grass of this planet. It was still as beautiful as before. As relaxing as ever. Yet behind this amazing setting, there is also a fair share of conflicts and evil. ¡°Still the same as ever.¡±, I said to myself. Hylia and Ed then walked up from the lab. Hylia¡¯s face had a faint look of remorse and the stains of tears could be seen. Ed had a happier look on his face, as if he had accomplished an amazing feat. ¡°I¡­ I''m sorry for what I said earlier.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. *sob* ¡°I''ll l-let you join our team, b-but you have to-¡± *sob* ¡°...be useful. I''ll be watching you, you hear me?!¡± *sob* *sob* Ed was smiling at me with a wide grin on his face, while Hylia looked away, embarrassed. ¡°I still have yet to introduce you to the rest of the team¡­ but don''t worry about them, they''re not as sensitive as Hylia-ah AH AH AAHH¡± ¡°Who are you calling sensitive?¡±, Hylia twisted Ed''s ears, the duo acting like a couple. ¡°Oh well, I''ll introduce you to them tomorrow. It''s the weekend tomorrow, and we are all planning to go for a little forest camp. Usually it is to train ourselves with our companions, but since we have a new member, we will need to have an initiation ceremony.¡± ¡°Initiation ceremony?¡±, I asked, curious. ¡°Yes. It''s something that every new member has to go through. You have to take an oath, and choose a companion for yourself.¡± ¡°Like Pokemon?¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°No, nothing. Just some old game from my hometown. Speaking of which, isn''t it late already? The suns are setting.¡± ¡°Ah, it is. We¡¯ll be meeting up here tomorrow morning before sunrise. Don''t be late! We¡¯ll clean the lab before we go back, so you can go first.¡±, Ed said as he and Hylia went back into the lab. They really do feel like a married couple. A strange combination though, an ogre and a demon girl, but when have love been stopped by anything? I chuckled as I headed towards the dormitory¡­ which was also a puzzle in itself. It was on the opposite of the map, but I made it without much problem. Just a bit of exercise, that''s all. The dormitory building looks like one long stretch of hotels. It is just columns and columns of rooms, but the rooms on the top of the building seems to be larger, about twice the size. Those must be suites for the ¡®higher-class¡¯ people. I snickered. ¡°Room 666¡­ that is quite the ¡®auspicious¡¯ number.¡±, I mumbled as I walked into the sixth block of the building. Though the whole thing was connected, each bend of the building separates itself from another. ¡°Ahh there it is!¡±, I saw the room as I skimped passed the numbers. The room¡¯s door seemed to be a little darker coloured compared to the other doors though¡­ Well I didn''t care about that anyway, so I just unlocked the door and went in. The lamp in the middle of the room lit up upon my entry, but there doesn''t seem to be anybody else inside. There is a two level bunk bed, two desks and one table at the centre of the small room. Of course a bathroom near the door too. I looked around and found my own little bag of clothing grandma has prepared for me, delivered here by the school. The first level of the bunker bed seems be occupied, clothes can be seen thrown onto it¡­ and panties?! Ignoring my roommate''s belongings, I quickly went and took a bath, getting ready to sleep. Seeing that my roommate isn''t back yet even though the suns have long disappeared into the horizon, I couldn''t care any longer and went to sleep on the second level of the bed. I''m just too fatigued to care anymore¡­ walking through this maze of a school really is quite tiring¡­ ----- Chapter 12.5. Interlude. The Day That Shook the World Please be aware that some tags may be added along the story, but fret not! They won''t affect the story! You won''t even know it''s there! Other than that, if you do have any thoughts about the story, please keyboard it down. I know I don''t have the longest chapters in the world, or the fastest updates, and I do know that this is a rather short chapter, but it''s all the quality that I want to deliver. Hope y''all enjoy the chapter! (Though as short as it may be) ;-) ~ Earth, Somnium Lab, 3666 On a particular day of the year¡­ ¡°Ares! Are you ready? It''s going to start in just a few minutes!¡± ¡°Alright! I''m almost done! I''m just not used to wearing these suits!¡± Why do we have to wear suits anyway? I know it''s a thousand year old tradition, but still! We are scientists and researchers, shouldn''t we appear in our working attire, especially for an event like this? Opfh- Aph is going to get real angry if I contemplate any further. I quickly fastened my belt and did a last swipe across my smooth, glossy hair as I stepped out of the toilet. Aph scanned my body, then her eyes stopped on my necktie, pushing it up until I almost choked. Afterwards, she gave a last scan before dragging me to the main lab, the large lab where the main event is held. ¡°Let''s give a huge welcome to Mr. Ares, who shall give the opening speech.¡± The crowd exploded in applause, all the eyes looking at me and reporter bots turned all their cameras to me in sync. Hoo¡­ haa¡­ hoo¡­ haa¡­ take a deep breath¡­ it''s all going to be fine¡­ I walked up the stage to the podium, which is just in front of a large mechanical robot hanging from the roof. That''s the main body of our creation, Earth. It''s turned off and still, but today shall be his first day of operation in the real world. I turned back to face the daunting crowd. Silence... but anticipation and suspense grew in the air. I am his father, I shall not give shame to Earth! ¡°H-hello everybody, g-guests from all over the w-world.¡±, I gulped. Aph was already facepalming. I gulped again. ¡°W-we, the researchers and scientists of Somnium Lab, a-are very honoured to have s-such guests for this fateful e-event.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Small bits of laughter can be heard from the crowd, and Aph was almost already cowering in shame. She swiped her hands, signalling me to go to the next part. I took another deep breath and tried to believe in myself. Afterall, this is our creation and I should be proud of him. In fact, I can say without a doubt that I am most proud of him. ¡°A-alright, we will skip the introductions and get to the main event.¡± I got ready as everybody fell silent and watches in anticipation. Even a slight coat shrug could be heard from across the room. The reporter bots were very focused at this critical moment. However, the ones that were the most excited and sitting at the front rows are our own researchers and scientists. I walked to the center of the stage where there is a control panel, and everybody watched as I pressed the large, green ¡°ON¡± button. And¡­ nothing happened. The anticipation grew to an all-time high, and people started to whisper and talk about how Earth was not working¡­ though I knew it was all part of the plan- no, a prank of Earth. I clenched my teeth as I tried to keep my face straight, and all of our scientists and researchers already knew what was going on through the many virtual simulations that we ran. Unable to take the joke anymore, one of the critics was going to stand up from his seat ready to launch his barrage of skeptical, biased remarks at us and the lab. All of a sudden, the lights flickered for a bit, before completely shutting down and turning the whole lab pitch black. ... ¡°BOO!¡± Out of the blue, the lights turned on as the sound resonated through the hallways and boomed through the main lab. Earth¡¯s large main body had moved up to the crowd, catching the reporter bots, the guests and the critics off-guard, some people even fell of the seats, especially the critic that stood up. The reporter bots had fell on their backs from the shock, and were struggling to get back on their feet. I¡¯ll bet on my ten dollars that everybody else on this world watching this event fell off their seats too. And thus, by the prank that shook the whole world, Earth, the most advanced A.I. ever created was introduced to the world. ----- Chapter 13. The Inauguration Pleae do share your thoughts and comments by replying. As always, thank you for your time and enjoy the chapter. ~ Room 666, Dormitory of Artemis University The rays of orange sunlight shone through the windows, only to be diffused by the curtains, illuminating the small room with a feeling of warmth. I stretched my arms out as I sat upright from my bed. After the morning ritual of yawning and rubbing of eyes, I looked over to see if my roommate came back and was still sleeping¡­ but alas, there was nobody there. However, she did come back at some point in time, as one can tell from the now empty and roughed up bed. Guess I was too late? *Snap* Now I remembered - isn''t there that club gathering this morning? I jumped down from the bed but was still a bit wobbly. I pulled open the curtains, revealing the vast school campus bathing in the morning light¡­ wait, it''s not early anymore, the suns are already halfway to noon! I have still yet to pack my stuff, and walking there takes so much time, I''m going to be very late¡­ unless, I have a plan... No point wasting time staring at the beautiful scenery through the window, I quickly grabbed my small bag of clothing and threw inside whatever things I would think I need for the little trip! My heart is already beating so fast at the thought of the events coming up. Is this that excitement that children feel when going on a school trip? After a quick shower, drying myself with magic and using telekinesis to levitate myself so that I can wear my clothes simultaneously, I took my bag and opened the window. I tensed and enhanced my muscles with a little magic, then forced them as hard as possible to push myself from the window, jumping off the building. Like a jet plane, I blasted myself through the air with wind magic while greatly reinforcing my body to be able to withstand the huge acceleration forces. ¡°WEEEEEEEEEE!¡±, I exclaimed as I flew through the campus at the speed of mach 1, getting a good view of the campus while protecting myself with an aerodynamic shell of solidified air. Though, the sightseeing took no longer than a few seconds. I spotted my destination and also a small group of students gathering outside, seemingly to wait for someone¡­ or me. --- Ed said that we have a new member joining us for the trip this week, and he had just joined yesterday when Pion and I were at our classes. This new guy, Earth, apparently saved him and also helped fight back the idiotic earth mages, well, as Ed described, ¡°absolutely humiliated them¡±. He said he was a prodigious mind mage, though he does seem to know some other strange magic, like being able to create an ¡°invisible barrier¡±. For some reason, he also emphasized that he has beautiful hair too. Personally, I don''t have much problems with having a magic-user join our team. Logically speaking, he would be great defense against other mages, and he would be a great addition to our small team of four. Though I''m not sure how reliable and lasting that defense could be. Given that Myan had accepted him and Hylia allowed him on our team, there shouldn''t be any more problems¡­ though he sure is late. We have been waiting for almost an hour now. Did he get lost on his way here? ¡°Sooo, when is he coming?¡±, Pion asked as he sat on the ground, playing around with his little monkey. ¡°He must be on his way here already¡­ Guh, it''s my fault, I just told him to come here in the morning, I didn''t specify what time it is¡­ but Myan said that he would be here in a few seconds...¡±, Ed replied, looking down. A few seconds? I don''t see anyone in the vicinity, nor did Dyoll sense anything either. Out of the blue, something caught my attention in the sky. It was a large, unusual looking bird¡­ flying abnormally straight. Wait¡­ that''s not a bird! Is that a person?! He was flying straight to our location, and seems to be slowing down and descending¡­ and he starts falling down from the sky at an extremely fast speed, right into our location. Without warning, large booms resonated through the campus. Deafeningly loud noise, almost as loud as a Banshee¡¯s cry followed right after, forcing everyone to cover their ears, and even made Dyoll hide back into my bag. In the midst of the noise, the thing that was falling then landed in front of our lab with a loud crash, creating a small crater in the brick floor. ¡°Hello everyone, sorry for umm... that, and being a little late?¡± --- That was definitely a lot of noise that I created while flying, I mean, I was flying at the speed of sound right above the campus. I apologize silently to anybody who was still sleeping at this time. Nonetheless, that took up no more than a third of my mana reserves, by using wind magic to blast myself to such high speeds was the most draining part of the whole trip and flying for just a few seconds already uses up so much magic. I really do need to optimize this flying magic once I have the time to do it. Ed and Hylia was still shocked by the airshow and there were two other students that I have not met before. One a bespectacled, smart-looking reptilian with a little red dragon on his shoulder, and the other a smaller, more playful-looking cat-eared boy and a orange monkey sitting on his lap. They seem to have regained their composure and the cat-eared boy looks to be quite excited, while the reptilian went to shake Ed and Hylia back to life. ¡°Aah- Ahem! Ah yes, you haven''t met them yet. So, Earth, our head researcher here is Lloyd with his fire dragon Dyoll, and our elf here, is Pion, with his monkey Gion. Lloyd and Pion, as you may already know, this is Earth, our new member.¡±, Ed eloquently introduced as we moved along. Hmm, so nekomimis are elves in this world. One would have thought that elves have a tall stature and sharp, long ears. Maybe this is a variant? He is pretty cute with that blonde hair and cute, fluffy ears. As we made through the campus to the gate, there were whispers and discussions about, talking about the earlier noise and some even said that it was the wrath of the lightning god or something. We quickly got through to the east gate, where even the rumors have reached. The rest of the team was staring at me as if I was some monster that has descended. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll try not to do that again, alright?¡± We boarded a carriage, while Ed said to the driver, ¡°To the Forsaken Woods, please.¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.The driver immediately started moving out, driving through the city gates to the rough road outside. It was the same road that I had traveled on my first day and now I''m travelling back. I watched as the scenery slowly passes by as I relax to the sounds of nature and the cool morning air. ¡­ After a few hours of travel across the plains, we have reached a part of the forest where it turns into woods, with trees taller than buildings. There seems to be an old rock path leading further in. I had been briefed on how to get my own companion on the way here. Ed said that it was an ancient ritual, with the instructions left behind by the forefathers of the Magical Beasts Research Team, which for a period of time, was left abandoned with no members, until Ed revived it. He also warned me not to disclose any information about this to anybody else, but I could be trusted since Myan said so. The ritual is quite straightforward. It only has a location requirement, that is a certain place in this forest, and it is where we are heading right now. One has to blow a particular horn at the location, which was left along with the instructions, and one may hear or feel echoes of magical beasts that are compatible with you. After hearing the echoes, it is just the matter of finding out which one feels the best, meaning that you would be more compatible with that particular magical beast. After hiking across various obstacles and avoiding possibly dangerous magical beasts, in which was warned beforehand by Lloyd¡¯s fire dragon, Dyoll, we reached a large clearing in the woods. It was a huge circular clearing of just grass and rocks, but that was not what attracted my attention. It was a large tree in the middle of the clearing. A huge tree, as high as a skyscraper, was planted right in the middle. It was just... ginormous. ¡°That is a world tree. Impressive isn''t it?¡±, Ed commented, looking at my expression. As we walked down into the clearing and towards the world tree, I could see a little wooden house near it. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sight. The closer we got to the world tree, the larger it felt. The trunk was just huge, and the top was as high as my eyes could see. I could feel the overflowing level of mana in the surroundings, just peacefully flowing around the tree and into the ground. It feels like I am in the heart of the forest. ¡°As you can feel, this place is overflowing with life. We usually come here for training, but this is also where the ritual is held. We use this lodge which was left behind by our forefathers for our stay. It''s not huge, but it''s big enough for all of us.¡±, Ed explained while we went into the lodge. ¡°Wooh! Finally here!¡±, Pion exclaimed in joy together with his monkey Gion as he ran into one of the rooms. ¡°Take a rest. You will do the ritual after lunch, so go and find a room first.¡±, Hylia told me while she went into the kitchen. I looked around, it does not have much, but it is still quite a large lodge. The main living room was large and had a high ceiling, reaching the roof itself. There was just a long corridor with all the rooms and at the end of the corridor, it leads to an outdoor natural hot spring. It was enclosed in wooden fences, and the water seems to come from upstream which leads into the world tree. The water then flows off in a small stream to the outside. The ground was paved flat with rocks, and one could feel the warmth of the rocks and tell that the hot spring had been running non-stop for god knows how long. Now that is another reason for me not to disclose any information about this place to anyone else. I picked the room nearest to the hot spring and as I placed my things down, I realized that there wasn''t a lot of dust, if any at all. The air here was so clean that there isn''t any dust around, and there simply was no need for any cleaning and upkeep of this lodge. After a quick dip in the hot spring, which was warmed up to the perfect temperature, we headed back to the living room for a quick lunch. ¡°There is this spot up near the world tree that has the best conditions for sounding the horn. Once you''re up there, just blow as hard as you can into the horn. You''ll know the echoes when you experience it.¡±, Ed advised as I followed him up towards the world tree. He pointed to a spot up in the world tree where there seems to be platform. I climbed up a ladder built onto the tree, while Ed and the rest stayed at the bottom. It was a small, flat area at the end of the ladder where the branches were parting from. It is really quite high up here, and I could even see the dirt road where we had came from, and the whole of the woods around us. There was also a mountain range not far either. However, admiring the scenery is not my goal here, right now. I could feel a lot of mana gathering at this area even compared to the clearing below. This feels like a convergence point for the mana from the flow from the branches. Not to mention a 360¡ã view of the woods too. I readied myself as I took the strange looking horn, made out of a shell of some sort, and blew into it as hard as I could. It was loud. The sound itself could be heard echoing around, but that is not what I was looking for. I waited for a reply. I could almost hear my own heartbeat. ¡°Wuuuuuu~¡± It was a sound wave of a low frequency but it felt like it was directly resonating with my heart itself. Rather than hear it, it would be better to say feel it. After some waiting and focusing, there were a few other of these resonances, and there appeared to be large movements in the woods. Trees shook in different spots in the distance, and birds flew and cry as things started awakening. Gahh- I must have attracted some high-level monsters now¡­ However, there was one resonation that stood out from the others. It was a high-pitched resonation, unlike any other. As if it was metal. It pulled on my heartstrings so hard, it was as if it was calli- screaming at me. Without a single doubt, at that moment, I knew that it was the one. ----- Chapter 14. Companions? Sorry for this slower update. I''ll be having slower updates for the next few weeks due to exams... and as always, please do post any comments about your thoughts and suggestions. Please enjoy this chapter. :) ~ The Forsaken Woods, East of Capital Marth ¡°Looks like you have found your echo. Was everything fine? I heard some loud movements in the woods after you have sounded the horn¡­¡±, Ed asked as I quickly slid down the tree to the group. ¡°Hey! Hey! What was it like? Was it a loud grumble? Or was it a soft mumble? What kind of companion have you found? Tell me tell me!¡±, Pion and Gion looked at me excitedly, eagerly expecting an answer. The rest of the group are also rather curious, as one can usually tell what kind of magical beast it is through its echo. I could tell for most of those echoes roughly what kind of magical beasts I have attracted, except for that one I have chosen. Well, let''s just say that I attracted some particularly troublesome ones coming straight towards this location. ¡°Other than that, it seems I have attracted some particularly undesirable partners¡­¡± The rest of the team was a little confused, but a loud roar from within the woods shook them back to work. Following the echo, it seems like it was coming from somewhere in the mountains not too far away. As we re-entered the woods, one could feel the ground tremors from the beasts as they neared the clearing, even if it was on the other side. Ed looked back as the sound of falling trees approached the clearing, but quickly turned and never looked back again. It wasn''t too troublesome of a hike to the mountains, but it certainly felt longer than I thought it would. The summit of the mountains could be seen as we hiked towards the source of the echo. It wasn''t too troublesome for me, since I simply raised the earth to go up cliffs, when my path was blocked by plants I simply pushed the ground apart to create a new path. So I have been walking mostly a straight line towards the source of the echo. Of course, the forest isn''t that forgiving, there were still some obstacles in my path to walk a straight line. Man-eating plants, huge trees, monster dens, random monster encounters. Huge trees weren''t much of a problem, though it did take a little effort to blast a hole through it. Lower-leveled monsters were left to me. A quick memory-rewrite does the work, even though they are magical beasts, they are still quite similar to animals, so I just had to adjust the memories and instructions according to their minds. I studied everything about animal psychology in the past, but I never knew I would be using it in this way. Dealing with the more powerful monsters were left to the rest of the team, and they indeed have great teamwork with their pets- no, companions. It was quite a surprise though, seeing that those companions can transform into a larger version than what they were. Lloyd¡¯s fire dragon would transform back into a more normal sized dragon fledgling, but even at that size, it was several times larger than an adult human. Pion¡¯s monkey would transform into a larger version of itself, becoming as tall as Pion himself. Ed¡¯s little fox became a larger, more mature and scary looking nine-tailed fox, though slightly smaller than Dyoll, the fire dragon. Hylia¡¯s companion, previously unknown to me since it never showed itself, didn''t transform. It was a little snake, and most of the time it was coiled up, sleeping in Hylia¡¯s backpack. Luckily or unluckily, we didn''t encounter any higher-leveled beast, or our intimidation technique would have failed and they would have to engage in battle. Still, I want to see what are their fighting capabilities, if anything. Sure enough, after hiking for what it seems to be an hour, we reached the entrance of a cave at the base of the mountains. I knew the echo came from within. What kind of magical beast resides in a cave? The echo doesn''t feel like it was a magical beast, but could things other than magical beasts respond to the horn? ¡°Wow this is quite far away. I''ve never heard of a cave in this place before. And one this big too.¡±, Ed said as he and the rest of the team inspected the cave. It was indeed a rather large cave, and old one too. The ceiling was tall, very tall, filled with extremely long stalactites of various lengths. It was quite wide too, but the ground had plenty of holes and cracks that I would not want to fall into. In fact, more than a cave, I would describe this as a huge hole in the mountains. It was no ordinary hole, however. There seems to be a severe lack of mana flow inside this hole, as if it was sealed for some reason. ¡°Dyoll said that there doesn''t seem to be any magical beasts in the cave¡­ are you sure this is the right place?¡±, Lloyd asked as Dyoll shook its tiny fiery head. ¡°I am quite sure that it is coming from inside the cave, since I''m having a headache from all that ringing here¡­ Maybe it''s just trying to hide its presence.¡±, I replied as I looked in the direction of the echo. It was straight into the cave. Pion and Gion looked even more excited than before though. ¡°No point thinking about it now. Since Dyoll said that there isn''t any magical beasts inside, why not check it out?¡±, I assured the team as I raised a rock path straight towards the echo to avoid the holes, cracks and spikes on the ground. As we continued into the cave, the light behind us only reached so far. Not long after, it became pitch black, so I had to create a small ball of fire as a torch. Quite strange, since the cave was rather straight all the way. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. As I got nearer to the echo, the sound of the footsteps slowly became softer as the echo became even louder and louder. It wasn''t just tugging at my heart. Now it wants my ears to feel pain. It was not long before we reached the end of this unnaturally straight cave. There was not much. No, really, it was just a large wall at the end of the short journey. Sure, the large walls had a strange fossil embedded in it, and there was a dusty old sword plunged into the ground, but that was it. Hylia upon seeing the fossil, her eyes lit up as she took out her notebook and started scribbling down notes and sketching this fossil. The rest of the members were also interested at the fossil, poking it and touching it, even Ed is collecting a sample of the bones. But I of course, my attention wasn''t on the fossil, but the dusty sword. Is this like one of those fantasy RPGs where you test your mettle by pulling out the sword? And then if you can do it, you become the hero? Well, if the dusty sword didn''t already crumble on my touch¡­ maybe I''m too good to be the hero? Hahaha! ¡°Umm, i-is it you who sent out that weird signal?¡±, Something spoke to me through what it felt like telepathy. I looked in the ashes of the crumbled sword and found a shiny gold ring in the dust. ¡°Are you talking to me? A ring?¡±, Hohoho, this is interesting. Isn''t this like one of those RPG items that have their own personalities and can talk to you? But a ring¡­ what can a ring even do, it''s not fluffy nor cute. ¡°Ah¡­ aah! Ahem! Yes! It is I, the great dragon queen of the Marth forests, Sulteedenatzkruscher!¡±, The ring spoke back to me. ¡°What? Ahh¡­ sorry to tell you my queen, but this place is now called the Forsaken Woods.¡± ¡°Aahh¡­ looks like I have been gone for too long, stuck in this tiny ring, unable to move even a bit for¡­ umm how long was it¡­ pretty sure it was two or three thousand years... ¡°, The queen replied with a rather sad tone nearing the end. ¡°Oh and yes, it was me who sounded the horn. I didn''t think a ring could answer that call though.¡± ¡°I-it was you? A puny, insignificant human, could call out to me, the great dragon queen? Isn''t it a thousand years too early for you, a worthless human, to be my companion?¡± ¡°Hmm, oh well then.¡± ¡°Hey guys, there doesn''t seem to be anything else here, looks like this wasn''t the place afterall.¡±, I told the team whom were still examining the place. ¡°Wha-¡± ¡°At least this was an interesting site. We¡¯ve collected anything we could about this place already, so let''s go then.¡±, Lloyd nodded as he looked at the fossil for one last time. ¡°Wai-¡± As we were about to go, suddenly a wall of rock was raised in our path, blocking our way. ¡°Aa¡­ ahh p-please¡­ don''t l-leave me here¡­¡± In place of the ring, a girl on her knees has appeared in tattered clothing, roughed up, long green hair, and sad puppy eyes with tear beads already forming and dripping down her puffy cheeks. Puffy cheeks. That¡­ that¡¯s kinda cute. ¡­ ¡°Alright, clear. There doesn''t seem to be any threats there anymore.¡±, Lloyd reported as he peeked through from behind a tree to the clearing. We let out a sigh of relief as we headed back towards the world tree into the lodge, where large monstrous footprints could be seen on the ground at the other side of the clearing. And not to mention the unnaturally large amount of felled trees around the area. Good thing we escaped fast enough. Salty returned back into the gold ring, which was on my index finger, where it fits perfectly and snuggly. I guess I decided to choose her as my companion. It took a bit for the rest of the team to understand that this ring is now my companion, though inside lives a dragon queen. Pion was rather excited to meet her, but seems like she is sleeping in the ring. Lloyd didn''t say much but was quite amused. Ed and Hylia just accepted things as it is, they just gave up trying to question everything that happened. I thought there would be more to this companion-getting ritual, but it seems like that was it. No special chants or anything, as long as we both accepted each other, we are companions. Pretty straightforward, I wonder how this system came into place. That aside, I do hope Salty gets a good rest, it is her first contact with other people after such a long time afterall. I can sympathize with that to a certain degree. But I have to admit, she was kinda cute. ----- Chapter 15. Revived Exams are over~ and now I have week break. Expect more chapters next week :). And as usual, please reply any thoughts and suggestions you have about the story. Thank you for reading this story, and enjoy the chapter ;) ~ Somewhere in the darkness¡­ ... where am I? It''s dark out here¡­ am I abandoned again¡­? Darkness everywhere¡­ is this blindness¡­? No¡­ I can¡¯t control my body or move around¡­ is this the afterlife? No¡­ this is not empty. I know it somehow. I can feel a surge of memories¡­ it is telling me to prepare myself¡­ This feels like mind magic¡­ but it isn''t¡­ It comes¡­ warm and gentle. It envelops my entire being, while being as gentle as silk. Memories¡­ I feel them. A huge surge of memories¡­ it''s almost as if they are never ending. The memories zips past without stop, yet I can feel them all. The gripping sadness, the uplifting happiness, the raging anger, the overflowing love. Thousands of years of memories and experience, none forgotten but all forgiven. That which was from another world, yet so similar. Guess I was the one that''s a thousand years too early. Hahahaha... --- ¡°Hey, Salty, are you still alive?¡±, I sent my thoughts into the ring. ¡°...almost?¡±, Salty finally replied. Strangely though, I felt that she was going to wake up at this time. It¡¯s something you just know that it''s going to happen, like it''s a natural reaction. ¡°Hope you had a good sleep. Feels like the last time you had that was a long time ago.¡± ¡°...yeah.¡± ¡°I''m going to assume you''re fine for now. Is your physical body is trapped inside the ring?¡± ¡°...mmm. Ah...Ahem! That¡¯s half correct. My real dragon body rotted away a long time ago, but my human body was sealed together with my soul inside the ring.¡±, She finally got back to her senses. ¡°Hmm? So your dragon body and human body are separate?¡± ¡°No¡­ that usually isn''t the case, but I have been using my human body for so long, maybe that caused them to be separate? It''s such a long time ago, I can''t remember.¡± ¡°Oh well then, are you able to materialize the body now?¡± ¡°Now?¡± ¡°I just wonder whether it is possible for you to maintain your body outside. Being stuck in the ring the whole time isn''t very fun I would imagine.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ it would take more mana the further the body is from the ring. Even though you seem to be a decent supplier of mana despite being a puny human, my mana capacity is limited by the ring anyway, so it would not be able to last for a long time. If I run out of mana, I would be forced back into the ring, which knocks me out and while leaving a really unpleasant feeling all over my body.¡± ¡°I see, so that''s how it is. I guess you will have to be stuck in that ring for most of the time, unfortunately.¡± ¡°N-no, don''t worry about t-that¡­ b-being with y-you is more t-than good enough¡­¡±, She went quiet. Hehe. ¡°Ah. I almost forgot (not really), it looked like you would need a bath, so I just want to let you know there is a hot spring in this lodge that you can use. And the clothes¡­ I''ll lend you mine for now.¡±, I told her as I took out a set of my uniform from my bag and placed it on the table. I wonder what a couple thousand years without a single bath would feel like. I could only imagine it to be second to boredom. A year without bath is already seriously pushing the acceptable limits, but multiply that by several thousand times. Shivers ran down my spine as I tried to imagine. ¡°A-alright then, t-turn around and do not look, ok? I''ll end y-your puny life if y-you do¡­¡±, She tried to warn me. I heed her cute little warning and turned to face the window in my room. The shadows from the world tree covered everything in this area and beyond, leaving a nice cool shade. The ring glowed a faint white, and sounds of footsteps was heard behind me. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°D-don''t you dare turn around!¡± ¡°Don''t worry my queen, this little one is a gentleman. Oh and the bath is just to the right of this room. Nobody should be using it now, they''re all out there training now.¡± ¡°T-thanks for t-the clothes¡­¡±, She replied softly, as the door was closed shut. Phew. Now, time to inspect the ring. On the surface, it looks just like a worthless simple gold ring. A smooth, reflective curvature all around, there were no carvings or ornaments, or anything fancy at all. Small traces of mana could be felt emanating from it, but one who is good with mana manipulation can tell that it was amazingly sealed. The monstrous amount of mana kept deep within was as if it was sealed in the core of a planet, if the planet was the ring. It''s a mystery to me how something in the physical world can be sealed into something like a ring, and how well the mana was sealed within the ring, which was already sealing the physical body. And how a mind can even survive and live inside a ring, not to mention for a couple thousand years at that. Magic really is full of mysteries. Even with the technology I had in the dream lab, it was still not very much possible up to this extent. If spatial technology can be created to this extent in this age with magic, I wonder if I can create a dispatial anomaly by manipulating the planck particles to interfere and confuse the quantum linkage¡­ maybe I¡¯ll try that out later. ¡­ A while later, the suns are almost setting, but Salty hasn¡¯t come back the room yet. I had let her take a longer bath than usual since she hasn¡¯t taken one for such a long time, but this would be a little bit too long. I could feel her current mana condition in her body through the ring, so whenever she was lacking any mana, I just transferred some of my mana over to her through the ring, which does seem to work. It has been a few hours since she went to the hot spring, the rest of the research team are coming back from their training and I would say it¡¯s probably a good time to go and check on her. I got up from the table, having investigated everything about the ring I possibly can. Once at the corridor, I went to the door to the hot spring, which was a literal stone¡¯s roll away. Opened the fogged up door, I scanned the area, and as I expected, she was sitting at the edge of the hot spring, heads back and totally unconscious. I ruled out the possibility of getting attacked by a sneaky dragon or being threatened by a perverted magical beast, of which was very much a possibility in this world (or probably not). As I approached her, I realized that her hair is now black, unlike the green that I had first seen. I pulled her stimulative body out of the hot spring and laid her on a towel I placed on the ground. The two mounts are not unnecessarily big, I would say that it¡¯s of a respectful size. The young-adult-sized body is surprisingly well-maintained and has quite the curves, but she has a large scar on her back that which seems to tell a story on its own. The smooth shoulder-long black hair was similar to mine, though mine is obviously still much smoother and silkier without a doubt. With a swipe of my hair, I levitated her, still unconscious, and brought her back into my room and onto my bed. Her body seems fine to me, no fever or anything, just knocked out. If anybody were to see this from outside, it would look like a case of ¡°a boy and a girl alone together in a room¡± situation, and may expect things to happen, but it really actually is a case of ¡°a seriously, unimaginably old boy and a very, very old girl alone together in the room¡± situation. Well, actually it¡¯s almost the same thing, just that for the latter there is a little more self-control on one side. But this situation would need me to keep transferring mana to Salty, if I fell asleep I would not be able to keep that up and she would be forced back into the ring, which she said wasn¡¯t a very pleasant experience at all. So the best method would be to wake her up. I grinned as I focused a large surge of mana and sent it through the ring to her. The ring heated up a little in the exchange, and suddenly Salty shot up from her sleep into a sitting position. ¡°Your clothes are on your lap. And yes, I carried your dying body over here. Thank your great and benevolent benefactor, Earth-sama.¡± She looked shocked for a moment, then she looked down on to her exposed upper body, face turning tomato-red. It was at this moment, I knew I should have done better. ¡°K¡­ KYAAAAAAAAA~!¡± ----- Chapter 16. The Return Midnight release! (in my timezone that is) Please do write down any thoughts or suggestions about my story, and as always, enjoy the chapter and have a nice day. :) ~ Artemis University, Capital Marth ¡°Mistress, it seems he has returned¡±, I reported to Mistress after I got back from my grocery trip for her afternoon tea and dinner. ¡°Really? Hmm¡­ I want to meet him. What''s good against mind mages again¡­ hmm... was it fire mages¡­¡± ¡°It''s the water mages.¡± ¡°Yes, the water mages. Please tell Wyn and whoever¡¯s available to capture him and bring him here, if they are free. A little mind mage should be nothing for them to handle.¡± ¡°Yes, Mistress Fenjel. However- no, nevermind.¡± ¡°As I said before, don''t hide your opinions. What were you going to say?¡± Ahh... there''s no way to hide anything from Mistress. ¡°I''m sorry, it was just that when I looked at his record, it showed that he does not need go for the general magics course, which was supposed to be compulsory for all students, magicless or not. And that he also came to this school under the recommendation of a great sorcerer, though it does not say who.¡± ¡°Ohoho? He''s more interesting than I thought. Let''s see what happens then.¡±, Mistress said with a large grin. I projected her mana sight onto the wall and watched as I relayed the order to the leader of the water mages, Wyn. --- Ahh~ we finally made it back to the capital. It was hell yesterday, I had to fix back the half of the lodge that was blown away by Salty during her emotional outbreak. However, it was a rather interesting event for me. During the short period of her rampage, where she blew away half of the lodge with powerful shockwaves, it didn''t feel like my own mana was being drained other than the mana that I was using to create an air-shield. It was as if the mana she used came from the sealed and hidden power-well in the ring. Maybe it has some form of trigger? I don''t have enough evidence yet, so I will just have to wait for more opportunities... ¡°Here are 20 pieces silver. Keep the change for your family.¡± ¡°T¡­ t-thank you so much Ed. I-I don''t know how I can ever repay you¡­¡± ¡°The best way you can repay me is to take good care of your family.¡±, Ed replied with an honest smile before getting off the carriage. ¡°Let''s go already!¡±, Pion was already getting impatient as we waited in front of the side gate of the Artemis University, at the north-east corner of the school. ¡°I can feel four water mages heading towards your location, with unnatural intentions towards you. And also a somebody using mana sight to spy in this area, though I have to say it is quite well concealed.¡±, Salty suddenly reports to me after a long period of silence. ¡°So that uneasy feeling in the sky is called mana sight? Let me guess - it can let you see something from some other place while you don''t even have to move a finger?¡±, I smiled and waved at the seemingly random point in the sky like it was a camera. As we just entered through the gate after showing our passes, we were greeted by a group of fangirls- just kidding. ¡°Ack- the water mages. What do you want with us? Wasn''t the earth mages enough?¡±, Ed and the rest went into defensive mode along with their pets, except for Hylia¡¯s little snake, which seems to be still asleep in her bag. The group of four girls with blue accented uniforms did not budge at all with their nonchalant expressions, clearly showing their confidence in their abilities. ¡°Umm, no. We didn''t come for you guys. Can we ask you to hand over this umm, guy? Our boss wants to meet him.¡±, One girl with braided blue hair and a yellow armband pointed at me. ¡°What if I said no?¡±, I replied before the rest provokes them any further. ¡°Umm, worst case we will use force I guess. But a negotiation would be better.¡± ¡°It''s fine, I''ll go with you to meet your boss. It is only but a detour.¡±, I said as I winked at the rest of the team. The water mages also seemed to be more relaxed after hearing what I said. I left the rest behind as I followed the group of four girls, which should be the water mages that Salty mentioned. We went round the school compounds, and ended up in one that¡¯s roughly in the middle, where there was a large spiral staircase going upwards what seems to be a short tower. We reached the top, in front of a door which is big, but not quite as big as the one in the headmaster¡¯s room. Still uselessly big nonetheless. *Knock knock* *Door creaks* ¡°Thank you Wyn, you four may leave.¡±, A maid holding the door open told the water mages. So the one with the yellow armband, which I assumed to be the leader, is Wyn? Mmm. ¡°That was rather boring. I would have expected you to at least put up a fight. That might have been fun.¡±, A girl sitting on a chair opposite said, her background being a large pane of window giving a good view of the school compound. ¡°Well, there was certainly no need for a fight. They said that you wanted to meet me. What business do you have with me, a humble student?¡± ¡°Ahh- now that you say it, what do I want to do with you... I''ve never expected you to just come so I haven''t planned for this yet. Hmm¡­¡± ¡°May I suggest to show you a magic trick?¡±, I said in a relaxed tone. Amused, the girl said, ¡°A magic trick? Sure, why not?¡± I went on to slowly lower the room the temperature and dimmed the lights to the most comfortable level. I listened in on their heartbeats and sent out subtle electromagnetic waves which interfere with their brainwaves towards a certain level which according to normal human anatomy would be a state of relaxation. Just weak enough such that they would not be able to feel them at all. ¡°Please sit back and relax the show.¡±, I said with a smile. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. At that precise moment when they have let down their guard even just a bit, two of my invisible mana strings which I have extended towards them penetrated through their auras and into their minds, effectively creating a backdoor for me to alter their realities. After that, it was simple. I made them lower their guard without their consciousness knowing it at all, allowing me to maintain the connection with the mana string without any problem. What''s in it for them? Well, I''m literally showing them the world! Top-of-the-line, first-rate virtual reality movie about this tower itself actually being a rocket and is now flying into space for some reason and on course for a faster-than-light self-destruction path towards the suns. Ninety-nine point nine percent real! Well, in their minds that is. Now they look a bit like idiots in reality, eyes blinded and ears muffled, moving around and looking out the large window pane, shocked for no reason. It''s scary now that I think of it, the level of mind manipulation I can do. While they are dumbfounded and still not realizing that I have long invaded their minds, I have set their minds to lucid dream mode and eventually they''ll come back to reality. I made my way back down the tower and planned out the most efficient route back to the Magical Beasts Research Laboratory. Well, the lab. After reporting my safety to the slightly-worried team, I went to the training grounds. At this point, the girl and her maid had probably regained their sanity, and I could imagine her laughing loudly at herself for falling for my ¡®magic trick¡¯. I had a new ¡®idea¡¯ I have been itching to test out, so I thought the training grounds would be a great place to test it. The training grounds is a large area of land which included expansive open fields around a large stadium, which when not used for any official events, can be booked by students for things like group battles or training sessions. I don''t need such a large space for myself, so I just found a quiet spot in the open fields under a large tree and started my testing. ... The lights are on, suns are down and the school facilities engulfed in darkness but gently blanketed over by dim moonlight. The brick pathways are lit up brightly by magic lamps along it, the wind chilly enough to make me shiver until my body adapted to it. I walked down the brightly-lit hallways in the school dormitory, expecting a nice, warm bath when I reach my room. And a cup of hot chocolate too, if only that existed here. My testing took longer than I thought, and it was quite some time after the sky had went dark. Salty didn''t seem to have said anything the whole time though, hope she didn''t faint or anything. ¡°Who would faint?¡± ¡°Ahh, you''re still alive.¡± ¡°What a stupid question, who do you think I am?¡± ¡°Yes - you are my queen, Salty.¡± ¡°I am the great dragon queen of the Marth Forests! But I guess I''m fine being your queen¡­¡± As I was turning round the corner after walking up the stairs, I saw somebody walking out of a room. It was my room. That must be my roommate. She is wearing a hood, making it hard for me to see her face. Carrying a small black bag over her back, she took quick peeks around the area before proceeding. Her behaviour is a dead giveaway sign of her doing something suspicious. She headed towards the stairs at my location. Not wanting to be found, I quickly solidified the air at the entrance of the stairs so that it is soundproof. I feel the adrenaline rush, trying to get to the bottom of the stairs before she reaches the air barrier. I rushed all the way back down with my heavy backpack, using telekinesis to fight the inertia. As soon as I made it, I hid behind the building and released the barrier. I waited for a few minutes, and sure enough, she also came out of the building. I followed her on her suspicious trip, as she walked back the path where I came back from. The path to the training grounds. And as I guessed it, she made it suspiciously to the stadium. She took a quick look around again, before going around the circumference of the stadium, occasionally taking out something from the large black bag and placing it on the ground near the stadium walls, which at first glance, looks like rocks. But surely nobody would come out at this time of the night, suspiciously walk to the stadium just to plant suspicious rocks is there? Suspicious indeed. I took one of the suspicious rock when she went over to the other side of the stadium, and put it inside my bag. Watching her for a while, she heads back on the path towards the dormitory after going around the stadium. Assessing that she does not have any other motives, I flew back to my room, this time using telekinesis and at a slower speed, together with a sound barrier so as to make sure that nobody can hear me. After taking a nice warm bath, I made myself a warm cup of water. I sat at the table with my bathrobe, sipping the water with just the lamp lightly lighting up the room with a warm orange tint. I looked at the stone, then carefully ripped apart half of it with telekinesis, revealing some sort of circuitry inside. *Doorknob turn* *Lamp turns off* *Door creak* *Light footsteps* *Door creak* *Doorknob turn* *Door shuts close* *Lamp turns on* ¡°Hi roommate, can you explain what *this* thing is? Oh, the door and windows are locked, and every side of this room is reinforced by my barrier. You can *try* to get out, but *nobody* can hear you scream if you do try, not that you can get out anyway. Speak.¡± ----- Chapter 17. Discovered Things are getting stirred up! Hope you have fun reading this chapter, and also as always, remember to leave down your thoughts and suggestions for the story! :D But... I have even more exams so I can''t double chapter weekly for now ''-.- ~ Artemis University Dormitory, Room 666 I could see her face pale under her hood as she looked at the torn apart ¡®stone¡¯ I was holding. She quickly turned around and tried to open the door. I gave an evil grin as she helplessly tried to open the door, even to go as far as to try blasting large fireballs at it, which instead backfired, blowing her back to my feet. I pinned her down on her arms to prevent her from doing anything stupid. She has quite a strong aura, so it would be hard to use telekinesis on her. Physical contact would be the best to penetrate that annoying shield. She tried to struggle as hard as she could and use magic but I have already invaded through her body with micro-tentacles and blocked the mana streams around her body and weakened her muscles. Those micro-tentacles, as their name suggests are very thin and therefore can easily penetrate the skin and body without as much as leaving a scar behind. While very weak on its own, but when it¡¯s inside a body, it¡¯s another story. I took down her black hood, revealing her dark-purple eyes and a face as red as tomato. She has short and shiny black hair, though a little bit roughed up and imperfect in certain parts unlike mine. Black hair, suspicious actions¡­ I think I see a part of the picture now. ¡°I thought we were allies! I am here on Master¡¯s orders, are you defying him? To be betraying Master, I will never forgive you! I will never tell you anything!¡± I bent down my head beside her, and whispered softly in her ears, ¡±Don¡¯t fret about small stuff about that¡­ I¡¯m going inside you. Please do not resist.¡± Her body tensed for a bit, and finally gave up resisting my grasp as she closed her eyes tight. I extended some micro-tentacles into her brain and made her relax, as I put my forehead against hers. However, to be able to override every single part of her bodily functions is very different from directly connecting to her mind to see her memories. To access the second level, that is the consciousness, I would have to connect my mind with hers completely for the best effect. This is also another reason why I have made so many barriers protecting this room, to prevent any distractions and eliminate any other possible points of failure, which could result in *disastrous* effects. There was strong resistance, but it wasn¡¯t much in the face of my overwhelming presence and control over her entire body, which I sent to a state of relaxation, indirectly affecting her mind. Well, there¡¯s that thing called willpower, but what does it matter when you don¡¯t even have any control over your body? 10%... 40%... 70%... 100% connected! I could hear her every thought, and so can she hear my every thought. Along with everything we both are feeling, the recent memories that we remember and the occasional recollection of random things. I could hear her savagely cursing me in her own language and trying to force me out while being confused about the situation, since this does feel like an out-of-body experience but it¡¯s not at the same time. Now that I¡¯ve gotten through the first and only defensive wall, I can access the third level of her mind, where all the subconsciousness is. This is where the memories are really stored at, and everything from her basic logic formulas and everything that makes her a proper thinking machine, and who she is now. It¡¯s like accessing the root folder of a computer, and this is where the operating system is at, where even a slight change in the single file could lead to many side-effects or failure of the whole system. I have to be extra careful and delicate in here, even if she may be an enemy. Now, I need to create a virtual space in my mind for better efficiency and accuracy of looking through her memories, then route and convert her memories into data and store them into a virtual computer in the virtual space. Without much problems, I completed creating the virtual space and the imaginary computer also appeared in the white space. Completely under my control, I also allowed the suspicious black-haired girl into the virtual space, but tied up and gagged to prevent any annoyance. In this virtual space, we also no longer hear each other¡¯s thoughts and feel what each other is feeling, though we are still connected. With a thought, a large screen appeared in front of the computer, lights dimmed and I prepared myself a comfortable massage chair and mixed-flavour popcorns that stays warm and crunchy forever. I fiddled around with the computer, and made it so that it only plays back the memories that have high emotional fluctuations to them, so that only the most important memories are played back. It plays back not only visual, but also audio, together with her thoughts in the memory. Memories that were unrecognizable were not parsed, since they are useless. ¡°Play¡±, I said. The large screen started playing back the memories, starting from when I caught her red-handed¡­ then there was her planting the ¡®rocks¡¯ around the stadium, and around the principal¡¯s building¡­ the main lobby building¡­ and many other places around the school campus. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Just that tells me more than enough with just her thoughts. Over the duration of the playback of her memories in just the past week, I have already lost count of how many times she thought about ¡°Master¡±. And also apparently her name is Kazumi, which I admit is a pretty cute name. And wait¡­ isn¡¯t this our room? Oh lord¡­ she¡­ she is doing ¡®it¡¯ while thinking of ¡°Master¡±... that¡­ that is actually quite hot¡­ and a perfect punishment. I could see her getting even more angry and face red as a beetroot, with tears already forming on the edge of her eyes. Muffled sounds of curses and things like ¡°I¡¯ll KILL YOU!¡± and ¡°PERVERT!¡± could be heard from the squirming insect. Fast forward back a few more days before she traveled to Marth, she was in a large castle in the highest point of the city, which would be the capital Zenith, of the Zekiel Empire. I can largely guess who this ¡°Master¡± would be by now. At one particular point in her memory, she was being called for a task by ¡°Master¡±. One could tell that she was flustered and even more thoughts about ¡°Master¡± filled her mind, until I had to lower the volume for the thoughts in the memory because it was just too annoying. This ¡°Master¡± guy is apparently a blonde-haired, strong-looking young man, a little younger than what you would expect to be a King of an Empire. He would actually look like a decent man, if not for the large harem of black-haired girls and women by his throne, doing all sorts of¡­ things. Well, Kazumi¡¯s mind is too clouded by the sight of the King to think about all of that anyway. ¡°Kazumi, I have called you here for a very important task that only you can do. You are selected for a very important role for a major event for Zekiel Kingdom. The details would be in the carriage. You will leave today. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Y-y-y-yes Master! Long live the Zekiel Kingdom!¡±, She said as she left the hall, even more flustered than before. Fast forwarded to when she enters the carriage, there was a note in the carriage which she picked up to read. It wasn¡¯t really much of any details, mostly reminders of how important this mission is and how she is very important and failure isn¡¯t an option. However, there are some important details there too. In summary, she have to put all these ¡®new generation magic combustion unit¡± which are obviously explosives, around Artemis University, and to return before the day of the main event, which unsurprisingly is the day the Annual Marth Tournament is on. With so many clues already given, one would have to stupid to not know where this is going. Well, Kazumi obviously didn¡¯t think much about that, and probably didn¡¯t know why she is planting those ¡®rocks¡¯ anyway, since all she thinks about is that ¡°Master¡±. However, knowing and doing something about it is something completely different. I doubt that Kazumi is the only one doing these ¡®tasks¡¯, and the tournament takes place in just a week. But, Marth Kingdom is the first city I have ever gone into since my new life, I can¡¯t just let it get destroyed so quickly. If the pervert King uses such a crude and stupid plan, then I¡¯ll just beat him with an even more crude and stupid plan. To finish things off, I altered Kazumi¡¯s memories and made her think that she had already completed her job without meeting me at all. She will be going back to Zenith the first thing in the morning, there will be nothing suspicious at all. I made her sleep as I disconnected our minds. With a wave of my hand, I folded all her clothes and packed everything she has into her luggage which was just lying in the cupboard. I disabled the barriers which were taking a toll on me already. ¡°Earth, are you alright? You were using so many different types of strange magic at once, and even went so deep with the mind magic¡­¡± ¡°Aaah~ my lovely queen Salty is caring about me? Thank you very much my queen, all my fatigue and tire is have now already been washed away by your cute voice already!¡± ¡°Who w-would c-c-care about you? C-c-cute voice¡­¡° ¡°Rather than that, I know that you have saw everything just now, what do you think?¡± ¡°O-oh about that¡­ the attack that the King of this Zekiel Kingdom is basically going to be a declaration of war¡­ and from the mana I can see from those rocks, it¡¯s not a small amount, and if they are those ¡®explosives¡¯ that you say, then they would be able to deal a great amount of damage.¡± ¡°The rocks have a great amount of mana inside? I can¡¯t feel anything even from this dissected one though¡­¡± ¡°Who do you think I am? As a dragon queen, it is of course that I would be able to see those mana crystals embedded in these rocks. In fact, I can feel all of them everywhere around the whole city! It is so obvious, but I guess you puny humans are too weak to feel them.¡± ¡°Ooh, Salty, you¡¯re not that useless afterall!¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯m th- HEY! What do you mean by that!?¡± ¡°But a declaration of war¡­ Marth attack¡­... A-HAH! This¡­ is going to be *fun*~ Come on Salty, it¡¯s time to sleep. We have *school* tomorrow! And a *lot* of things to do~¡± ¡°Hmph...¡± ----- Chapter 18. An Interesting Specimen I''ll be doing some formatting changes to this chapter and all previous and future chapter later on, hope it''ll be more fun to read! ^_^ Please do write down any thoughts or suggestions if you have any, and as always, have a nice read. :D ~ Artemis University, Dormitory Room 420 *Yawn* Ahh- the suns are out so high already. Is it already so late? I still want to sleep~ *Knock knock* I could hear Ed nagging from outside the door already. ¡°Hylia come on, we¡¯re going to be late at this rate!¡± ¡°Just a minute, I¡¯m almost done!¡±, I hastily came up with an excuse. It¡¯s always the same every morning. I wonder how Ed manages to wake up so early. Hunter really has it easy, coiled up and sleeping all day without any repercussions. Must be great to be a magical beast isn¡¯t it? I quickly got to the bathroom and did a quick wash, quickly changed into my uniform, then grabbed all of my notes and files and stuffed them into my bag. I opened my bag up beside Hunter to let him into the bag to sleep even more before I go out and meet Ed who was waiting on the hallway. ¡°Hylia, what do you think of Earth¡¯s companion? I thought it was pretty strange for a ring to respond to the horn, and the records have never shown anything of that happening before.¡±, Ed asked me on the way to our classroom. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not just a ring. There is actually somebody inside, he said that it talks to him telepathically, and that it was a magical beast that got trapped in the ring for some reason. However, if it responded to his horn, that means it¡¯s their fate that bonded them together, there is nothing to question about that¡­ I think.¡±, I replied honestly to his question. ¡°Haha, my thoughts exactly!¡± But it is really interesting to have something inside a ring to respond so strongly. Maybe it could serve as great material for our research? I¡¯ll ask him about that later when I see him in the lab. After a short walk from the dormitory, we reached the crowded corridor of the main school building at the centre of the campus. Swiftly dodging our way through the chaos, we managed to get to our classroom just in time before the class begins. The classroom is quite spacious, the rows of seats curved to face where the teacher and board is, each row higher than the previous, with the fourth row being the highest. I went to my ideal seat on the second row in the middle section, where Ed followed and sat to my left. Everyone else quickly strolled in and finally the languages teacher also arrived, along with a new student following behind him. The bald and muscular teacher was going to slam his thick textbook on the table, but there was no need since everybody¡¯s eyes are already on Earth, who is standing beside the teacher. ¡°Ahem! We will be having a new student joining us from today onwards.¡± ¡°Ahh- Is this where I give my introduction? Kyaa~ I¡¯ve been waiting for this moment for such a long time ever since I saw them in mangas and anime! O-oops, the introduction. Hello fellow classmates~ I¡¯m Earth, and I¡¯m very inexperienced about this world, so please do take care of me!", Earth ended off with a little head tilt and a smile. A look around, and it seems like almost everyone has already been captivated by him. Well, I guess he does have a pretty face and beautiful long black hair, but to attract both genders from every race¡­ that¡¯s something. "Go and find an empty seat, the class is going to start.¡±, the teacher told Earth. Earth took a look around the class, where people are already asking him to sit beside them, and some even tried to push away their neighbours to give a seat for him. Upon the sight, Ed gave a comment, ¡°Haha, Earth is quite popular isn¡¯t he?¡± However, despite all the offers, he just took an empty seat in front of me and Ed, at the front row. One could hear sighs coming from all over the place when he chose that particular seat, which the entire section was empty. I decided to help this new student adapt to this new environment as fast as possible, so I kept watch on him to see whether he had needed any help. For the duration of the languages lesson, he was very attentive and serious, but the only time he had flipped through his textbook was at the start of the lesson, and it was only a quick flip through all the pages. The only other thing he did was copy all the words that the teacher wrote on the board, and out of curiosity, I took a quick glance. His handwriting was extremely ugly at first and I asked him if he needed help with that, but he declined and showed me his notes. The handwriting of the first line was horrible as I saw it previously, but with every line his handwriting improved incredibly by leaps and bounds until at the fifth line where it was basically calligraphy¡­ Ed didn¡¯t think much about it and complimented him for his beautiful handwriting, but I wonder if he is just trying to show off his handwriting skills. ¡­ The languages class ended without any problems, and now it¡¯s the calculations class. Not to show off or anything, but I am one of the top-scorers in this course, and I do consider myself to be quite good at it. I even coached Ed and Pion in this course and their scores also improved greatly, but that¡¯s no surprise with my level of skill. I kept on observing him to see what he would do. At the start of the lesson, he was also very excited and attentive, as I expected him to be. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Things changed on the second part of the lesson though. He got bored by the second, and he actually started to doze off, until the point where he was basically in deep sleep in the middle of class. I admit calculations class is a little boring sometimes, but to be falling asleep in the middle of it like this? And not to mention, our seemingly kind and beautiful teacher, is the infamous ¡°Tiger-evil of the Numbers¡± that many new students have fallen prey to! Furthermore, he¡¯s sitting at the front row, I can¡¯t imagine what would happen to him if he gets spotted by the teacher! I still don¡¯t really like him, but leaving him alone like this would be the same as watching somebody awaiting their death! Just as I was going to reach out and wake him up, a piece of chalk shot over and punctured into my table¡­ it¡¯s too late now. The signature devilish grin has already appeared on her face and the dark aura is overflowing out of her, more than ready to rip Earth to shreds and beyond with her difficult questions¡­ The class got silent, all that could be heard is Earth¡¯s peaceful breathing in his deep sleep, completely unaware of the certain death ahead. Everyone watched in horror as the devil took each step, getting closer and closer to the poor victim. Some were holding their breaths, and some were almost tearing up for empathy for the victim. Ed and I could only sit and watch the horror unravel right in front of us. I dare not to move a single finger, nor do I want to. It is only up to Earth to save himself now. ¡°Excuuse me, my smart little student~ may I know what is your answer to the question on the board?¡± The question on the board is in relation to the new topics of algebraic manipulation, and for Earth who didn¡¯t listen in class at all, it would probably be very hard for him! Well, of course it was nothing for me anyway¡­ ¡°Mmm¡­ you mean me?¡±, Earth finally woke up. The devil¡¯s grin grew ever wider. ¡°Who else can it be, other than you, my beloved student~ If you don¡¯t answer the question on the board in three sec-¡± ¡°x is fifty-thousand, two hundred and ninety-six. Guess it¡¯s the same thing here huh?¡±, replied Earth immediately. The devil looks a little annoyed, but she can¡¯t say anything because he is correct. He must be quite good at this, to have answered the question without any workings and at that speed¡­ was he awake the whole time? ¡°That was a good trick¡­ but since you think you¡¯re so smart, you surely can answer this next question in three seconds too right?¡± The devil went back to the board and started to write an even harder question. ¡°x2 + 16x + 96 = 33¡± ¡°x is 7 or 9. This is too simple. I have a suggestion - for every lesson from now on, you can issue me any calculations question you want, and I will solve it in under five minutes, workings included. If I fail to do so, I will follow your every order for the rest of my life; if I solve it, I can leave early from class for the day. The class is here to witness, and I, as a gentleman, will never go back on my words.¡± Earth answered the question almost instantly and even issued a challenge to the devil herself. The class was shocked by the declaration, but was left speechless by his confident and daring statement. It¡¯s almost interesting, even. ¡°Well¡­ well then. I shall accept your challenge. Do not regret on your decision.¡± The devilish grin on her face now instead turned flat in anger. The dark, menacing aura changed to a crimson flaming aura, but she controlled herself and started writing down a long equation, one that I had seen before in a book in the library but was said to be almost impossible to solve, and no one, not even great masters, have been able to solve it for centuries. Earth, without any hesitation, got up and walked to the board, and immediately started scribbling down workings one after another, some even using strange techniques I have never seen before, but it was all logical and understandable. The only things that could be heard was the constant scribbling of the chalk on the board, and the ticking sound of the clock, which seems to get louder every second. I knew there were geniuses in the world and I have seen a few in competitions before, but this is a whole another level even compared to them. Every line made sense and was logical, yet the techniques used were so different and strange. When I first saw the equation, I was only able understand the equation partially, yet strangely his working made it so much easier to understand, and even taught me what the equation is and what is the meaning behind it. He simply cannot be compared to a genius anymore¡­ *scribble scribble scribble* *tak* Earth put down the chalk, which was now half the length it was before. Without even looking back at the board, he just took his bag and as he left, he said, ¡°Just tell the principal if you have any problems.¡± The teacher stood rooted to the ground, mouth agape, staring at the work well done. The classroom, which had been as quiet as a mouse, was now discussing about what the feat had just seen. As for me, I want to know more about him. I knew that he was something else, but he was more than what I thought him to be. ¡°Ed, I¡¯m going to follow him. If anybody asks, say that I¡¯m in the toilet or something.¡± ¡°Wait Hylia, I¡¯m also coming, I¡¯m also curious about Earth. That was a really impressive display!¡±, Ed replied, though I think that ¡®really impressive¡¯ is truly an understatement to what he did¡­ ¡°Fine, let¡¯s go before we lose him. I have a feeling something big is going to happen¡­¡± ----- Chapter 19. Suspicious Activity This chapter is a little shorter, but hey it''s not that short. I''m currently working on formatting and editing the previous chapters, and new chapters should also follow this format. I really hate the rrl editor, since I write on Google Docs and paste it here. I have to go through the crappy reformatting process, where unexpected things happens for reasons unknown in this editor. And of course the colour palette doesn''t have the proper shades of black for some god forsaken reason, and gives you every other colour that you''ll probably not use 99% of the time. Well that''s my rant, and as always, if you have any suggestions or thoughts about the new format or the story, please write it down :D Nonetheless, thank you and please enjoy the chapter. ~ Artemis University, Main School Building ¡°Alright, steady. Looks like he hasn¡¯t noticed us yet. Let¡¯s keep going.¡± Ed nods as I peek over the corner of the hallway to see Earth walking to the exit, as I had expected. Ed still have that worried and guilty look on his face. ¡°Should we really be stalking him? I am curious, but still¡­¡° ¡°We are not stalking him, we¡¯re following him, just without prior notice. And what¡¯s important is that you¡¯re curious right? We¡¯re also here to make sure he doesn¡¯t get into any trouble; he may be a genius, but we still know more about the school than him.¡±, I explained to Ed. Ed looks a little bit more convinced and no longer has any more comments, so we continue to stal- follow Earth. We waited for Earth to exit the building, then after a bit, we quickly moved through the final hallway and out of the building, and hid in a nearby bush to stay out of his sight. We moved from tree to bush, bush to tree, and long after I have lost count of how many times we have moved, we finally followed Earth to the training grounds with the huge stadium in the middle. Of course, he hasn¡¯t noticed us yet. At this time, the main classes are still going on, so the training grounds are completely empty right now, but the cool breeze and rustle of the leaves are really quite relaxing in this sunny weather. We watched Earth as we took cover under a cool shade behind some bushes. *Pant* *Pant* *Pant* ¡°Can¡­ can we rest for a while?¡±, Ed requests. ¡°It¡¯s not even that far and you are already exhausted? What kind of ogre are you, even my grandmother can do better than you! Wait, looks like he¡¯s moving again! Looks like he¡¯s heading towards the stadium!¡± I thought for sure he was going into the stadium itself, but he just stood outside of the stadium, trying to take something out of his bag? What is he taking out? Something brown and big came out of his small bag¡­ it¡¯s a sack! But a sack for what? Why do you need a sack here? Ed looks equally confused as I am. Earth placed the sack beside him and just stood there, silent, as if concentrating on something. Just a moment later, fist-sized rocks from all around the stadium and training grounds started to float towards him at a fast speed. We looked on the magic show as the rocks lined themselves up in a coil around him. As far as I can see, there are about twenty to thirty of these rocks lined up. They went into the huge sack one by one until there¡¯s none left, and the sack looks barely filled, if at all. When the rocks were all collected, he continued to move, this time with the bag floating along with him. Rocks that size are everywhere, so why is he collecting these specific ones? I suspect this might be more than what it looks. We continued to move tree to tree, bush to bush, and sometimes while he was walking more of those rocks would float into the bag. At this point the calculations class is probably over and general magics class have already started, but Earth seems to be walking around the school compound collecting these rocks with absolutely no care in the world. We were supposed to be in the class the same, but Earth¡¯s safety is more important, right? We have the responsibility to look after him as his seniors, so he doesn¡¯t get hurt or into trouble. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I can see Ed still worried about stal- following Earth and that we¡¯re skipping classes, so I gave him a smile and a thumbs up to show that everything will be fine. It somehow worked. We followed Earth as he moved from place to place, including the principal¡¯s building and some other facilities, collecting these specific rocks. Ed was struggling to keep up, and sometimes I even had to drag him along to make sure he was out of sight from Earth. We were taken for a tour around the entire campus, visited every place of interest, and watched the sack slowly filled up to its brim. Now all that¡¯s left is the last stop, which we were sure is the dormitory. It is the only place left. We took a shortcut across the school instead of the usual path, so that we can reach there earlier and take a good rest. After walking through grass fields after grass fields, we finally made it to the dormitory, and found a good hiding spot under a tree to rest. We thought we would know something useful about Earth¡¯s motives if we had followed him all the way, but instead we got even more questions instead. I looked around and found one of those fist-sized rock that Earth was trying collecting for reasons unknown. Even after seeing him collecting the same thing for so long, it still took a bit for me to find one of those rocks; they blended in with the environment really well, and normally one wouldn¡¯t even notice them. I picked up and examined the rock back under the hiding spot. It looks exactly like a rock, feels exactly like a rock, but is it really just a rock? There must be something about these rocks that makes Earth want to collect them. Maybe I had just picked up the wrong rock¡­ *Ding dong* *Ding dong* *Ding dong* The loud, deep chimes of the central clock tower resonated through the air, signifying the end of the main classes. There he stood at the bottom end of the dormitory. He managed to get through the whole campus collecting these rocks in just a few hours, which was pretty impressive, considering the large area of the campus. Of course the most impressive was still me and Ed, we somehow managed to follow him all the way without him noticing¡­ probably. However, this time he seems to be concentrating a little harder than before, and even needing to stretch his hands out, palms facing down. I could feel some kind of force that enveloped my entire body and the surroundings. The breeze stopped blowing and the leaves stopped rustling, as if time itself has been put to a halt. Somehow, I could feel that at the right moment, he flipped his hands around, and started to lift his arms¡­ and also the entire area including the entire stretch of the dormitory. Even my body felt a little lighter, grass blades stood straight and sharp, rocks from the dirt ground started to float in the air. The rock in my hand started to float too, and move into a long line of even more fist-sized rocks towards Earth. The rocks went into the sack, but as it was overflowing, the rest of the rocks were left floating along with the sack. Now I know the rock that I found was the right one, but are they really just normal rocks? When he finished collecting, he put his arms down, and the rocks on the dirt ground fell back down, the grass and trees swayed again in the gentle breeze. Everything was back to normal¡­ except us¡­ ¡°Ahh is it over? Wait, why am I still feeling that uncomfortable feeling? D-d-does this mean that we¡¯ve been found out?! W-w-what do we do now? He is going to be so angry at us!¡± ¡°Calm down Ed, did I not say this before? We¡¯re just following him for his safety. It¡¯ll be fine, leave it to me.¡± Suddenly the force became even stronger and we¡¯re now floating¡­ somewhere? And where did Earth go? Though¡­ floating like this doesn¡¯t feel too bad, it¡¯s kind of soft and comfortable now, like being carried while in my bed. I hate magic, but I¡¯ll make this an exception¡­ mhmmh¡­ ----- Chapter 20. First Half I apologize for the late update. Too much studies lately, so haven''t had time to write as much... >.< However, I promise to deliver and that I will not break. If I do take a break (aha see what I did there), I''ll mention it beforehand so don''t worry about that. Please do write down any opinions or comments you have, don''t just leave it on your mind. I''m open to anything :D And as always, enjoy the chapter. ~ Artemis University, Dormitory room 666 ¡°Are you sure about this? Telling them such a thing¡­ I fear that something bad would happen.¡± ¡°Given their personality, and that they were able to stalk me non-stop for 4 whole hours, I reckon that something worse would happen if I didn¡¯t tell them instead. Get straight to the point and avoid unnecessary casualties, am I right?¡± ¡°Guh¡­ I hope so.¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be so pessimistic. Didn¡¯t you say that this campus had the most amount of these¡­ rocks? If we can already clear this place in just a few hours, then a week for the entire city would not be a problem. And if I can just refine that awesome wide-area telekinesis move, it¡¯ll be done in no time!¡± ¡°Fine, but what are you going to do with all these rocks?¡± ¡°Oh~ don¡¯t worry about the small details, those two are here already!¡± I opened the door using telekinesis, which was easy enough. The stalkers appeared before the door, floating in my magic. To be honest, I didn¡¯t know that they were stalking me until I heard their movements and halfway along the little clean-up trip, and saw parts of Ed that protruded from their hiding spot. They don¡¯t have a proper mana pool inside of them, so it was rather difficult to spot them since their mana just blended in with the settings. Well, of course, they couldn¡¯t escape my wide-area telekinesis special move, where I could basically feel everything I¡¯m covering, somehow. I would say they make for great spies and assassins, if not for their clumsy but kind personalities. ¡°Mhmm¡­ mmm¡± Ed looked flustered. ¡°Pssst! Hylia wake up!¡± ¡°Mmm what¡­ EEEK! Oops¡­ umm¡­ so you see we were umm following you for your safety, umm you know, you shouldn¡¯t be skipping classes and¡­ stuff.¡± ¡°You want to know about these rocks, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Aaah no not really¡­¡° ¡°No point dragging this on, I¡¯ll just tell ya¡¯ll everything so don¡¯t stalk me again,¡± I gave them a nice, big smile. ¡°Oh¡­ alright.¡± Ed and Hylia looked a little confused at first but caught on quickly. At least Ed looks a little calmer now. Spilling the beans was rather quick, since I just poured all that information over their heads, leaving them in a daze. ¡°Wait wait wait¡­ hold your horses, what did you say? The Zekiel Empire is going to launch a secret attack on this city? And you plan to save it by yourself? Ridiculous! What are you thinking?!¡± Hylia screamed at me. ¡°Yeah! You could have told us! If we do it together, the city could be cleaned up faster!¡± Ed replied with an honest but worried look. ¡°No¡­ Ed, that¡¯s not the problem here¡­ and we can¡¯t help much anyway. These bombs are too well camouflaged and we can¡¯t tell them apart from normal rocks at all.¡± ¡°Thank you Ed, but I am fine alone; I have a secret plan. Don¡¯t worry, Queen Salty is here to protect me isn¡¯t she?¡± I gave them a wink. ¡°But¡­ what can a ring do?¡± Ed questioned. Once she heard that sentence loud and clear, Salty immediately materialized out of the ring, her hair fiery red with anger. The room turned dark as her smoky aura blocked out the windows. ¡°A puny, worthless lowlife dare question the Queen?! I may be in the ring, but I am still the great dragon queen of the Marth Forests! My power simply cannot be understood by the likes of you puny lowlifes, and still you dare question my ability? Hmpf!¡± ¡­ and she went back into the ring. She got real triggered there. Phew, dragons have hell lot of pride and salt. ¡°What did you just thought there?!¡± Salty telepathed her question to me. ¡°No, just thinking how cool and cute our Queen was back there.¡± ¡°C-c-c-cute?! Hmpf!¡± As the aura dissipated on its own, I took a sip of tea that I prepared during the conversation. ¡°Is there anything more you want to ask?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I guess if you have a dragon queen then it¡¯ll be fine. Or not. It¡¯s the enemy empire forces you¡¯ll be dealing with! How are you going to deal with them all?!¡± ¡°Ah- my plan is totally safe. If I could prevent a large-scale war between Marth and Zekiel from happening, that¡¯ll be great.¡± ¡°Ugh, fine, do whatever you want. Just don¡¯t go crying back to us halfway through. Sigh. I just when I thought we had a chance in the tournament this year.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying this because I like you, but those companions of yours have amazing potentials. It¡¯s a pity you puny humans are too afraid to bring out their true potential. Power and strength cannot be achieved by just lazing around all day. What a pity.¡± Salty suddenly gave out a piece of advice. Ah~ I knew Salty is a good girl. Hylia and Ed¡¯s faces looked a little guilty, so what Salty just said hit the bullseye. Well, I guess their powerlessness was just due to their own fault. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. I looked at the clock. One o¡¯clock. I check my timetable. ~~~~~ 0800 - 0900 | Languages 0930 - 1030 | Calculations 1100 - 1200 | General Magics 1330 - 1430 | Magic Alchemy 1500 - 1600 | Art of Magic Enchantments ~~~~~ ¡°Hmm. It¡¯s almost time for my next lesson, so I¡¯ll go now. Remember to lock the door when you leave.¡± I decided to let them think about the whole conversation and absorb everything. It¡¯s like putting a huge tank of water through a small funnel; it takes a little while for everything to go through. It¡¯s not like anyone would want to steal a bunch of rocks anyway, so I just took a walk to the outside, and through the west gate to the popular restaurant streets and find snacks and drinks to fill my stomach. After a filling meal of stuffed dumplings which contents tastes strange yet surprisingly good, and a weird concoction of fruit juices that looks like bitter medicine but tastes like honey, I went back into the school and headed to where the Magic Alchemy lesson is held at. Once I reached the classroom, which is also used as a testing laboratory, it was smaller compared to the classrooms in the main building. It may be smaller, but the number of things that are cramped in each of the shelves that line the walls are extraordinary. Whether be it body parts suspended in a jar, or the wide variety of plants and materials that are well-labeled and stored in rows and rows of drawers. One glance and one can tell this is a the alchemy lab. Or now, the classroom. I found quite a few fellow classmates that have already found their own table and chair to sit in, some chatting and others studiously reading their textbook. All of them stopped for a second to look at my apparently strange outfit of a lab coat on top of the school uniform, then returned back to what they were doing. Oh wait- the textbook! I can¡¯t believe I forgot about that! Maybe the human side of my body is starting to act up on me. Well, I still have photographic memory and that doesn¡¯t seem to change, so it¡¯s just a minor side-effect of mind transfer into an actual body. At least I still have my notebook and pen, so everything will just be fine. I just randomly found a seat near the front where there seems to be less people, and the lesson started promptly without as much as a hick. I was relatively safe during the lesson. Sitting near the front meaning I¡¯ll be able to see everything the teacher writes and hear everything he says, while staying out of the strike zone for the teacher to ask questions since I¡¯m right at the front and side. Magic Alchemy is a new thing, unlike the calculations class. It¡¯s fascinating how some plants and strange materials can create amazing effects just by combining them using several different techniques and methods, such as the basic stirring and heating, and imbuing of mana into the concoction. Then there are more advanced and cool tricks like instant freezing of a concoctions to produce pills. Looks like this lesson is all about brewing methods to create different types of results. We had a go with brewing a low-level healing potion using water and a common herb called green fern. Heating and stirring it seemed simple enough, so I used water magic to lift it into a sphere and insta-cooled it by manipulating the energy levels using ice magic. Well, not really ice magic, since technically it is considered under fire magic. Grandma- no, Master taught me about this during one of the trainings, and it wasn¡¯t as simple as just reversing the effects, but basically, it is a method of forcing heat out from a region to its surroundings to make it colder. The result was a ball of dark-green stuff, probably very bitter and unappetizing. And also the unwanted attention of the entire class. ¡­ Luckily the lesson wasn¡¯t much longer, and before I could be bombarded by any more questions and requests to teach them that trick, I quickly escaped the area and headed straight to the library for some peace and quiet. And reading. I¡¯ve been particularly interested about stories of legends and things like that when I first saw the horned rabbits and adventurer¡¯s guild. I feel like a child all over again, to have an entire library of stories to read again! Walking through the quiet aisle with only the solid wooden clacking of my boots, with the tasteful brick walls and sufficiently dim, warm lights, was already relaxing enough to relieve all kinds of stress and worries in my mind. Added in with a few fairy tale stories like the Eleven Knights of Moonlight and The Mourning Witch, my head felt clearer than before and I quickly finished these wonderful but short stories. The story about the witch was rather sad though, for her loved ones to be killed just because of her being accused of a witch, then came to murder the entire village, and in the end, became a real witch for all of eternity. I soon became engrossed in all these fairy tales that I couldn¡¯t stop reading them¡­ oh there looks an interesting one called The Beast of the East, then there¡¯s Legend of the Dungeons¡­ just how many can I borrow at once? ¡­ At long last. The Art of Magic Enchantments. It sounded the most elegant and extravagant, yet so interesting at the same time that I had to select it. Here I stood, before the doors, with my bag filled with story books I borrowed from the library. I had hoped that everything would be fine and smooth, but as I walked into the classroom, a familiar face greeted me. ¡°Nice to meet you again, Earth!¡± ----- Chapter 21. Second Half Yay! Finished formatting everything around, hope I didn''t make any mistake. Changed the font to a much better looking one and standardized everything! xD Please enjoy the chapter as always, and don''t forget to comment and write down your thoughts and suggestions about this story. Thank you! :) ~ Artemis University, The Art of Magic Enchantments Classroom Halt. Stop. How I wish I could reverse time now. ¡°Eh? Who is this peasant? I¡¯ve never seen your face before.¡± A long purple-haired female student with a rather aggressive attitude called out to me. ¡°Yeah, what a low order, even peasants are more powerful than you!¡± Another one from Fenjel¡¯s female-only entourage spewed out baseless slanders, followed by mindless laughter from the rest. It¡¯s rude to not return someone¡¯s greetings, mother once said, so I gave a smile before replying, ¡°Nice to meet you again too, Fenjel.¡± Silence. Everyone just looked at me like I just declared that I am a genderless homosexual. I simply walked over to an empty seat, put down my things, pulled out the chair, and sat down. I left all the panic to background processing, in its very own, separate space. This body is apparently not very good when dealing with attention. *Clap clap* ¡°Good afternoon my dear students, shall we start our lesson?¡± A teacher with a classy moustache came in, breaking the creepy silence and lightening the psychological pressure. ¡°Ah, a new student~ you¡¯re Earth aren¡¯t you? Do you want to give an introduction to the class? I¡¯m sure they are dying to know you!¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s fine. Looks like all of them know me well enough to want me dead instead.¡± ¡°Hahahahaha! That was a nice one. Well then, let¡¯s start the class.¡± He just laughed off all the tension like it was nothing. Well, most of them. At least now I know what having ten armed nuclear missiles being pointed right at my soul feels like. The lesson went on, while many times I had to adjust to his rather weird and eccentric style of teaching, I quickly caught onto the train as he recapped the past lessons just for me. I parsed his information through a decoder then wrote it down into my notebook to fully commit it to memory. Basically, enchantment works like this:
  1. Enchantments works through magical circuits made of a special mana-conducting material called bluestone.
  2. The circuit is usually embedded throughout the weapon itself, and it delivers magic from a source, usually a mana-crystal which is basically a battery, and it applies the magic through the circuit.
  3. There are many designs for such circuits, some allow for increased damage on the edges by running the circuit near the edges of the weapon. Some focuses on the tip of the weapon, others can be evenly spread throughout the weapon.
  4. More mana-crystals can be used to store more magic (different from mana as mana is the most basic form; raw mana ¡ú different types of magic), or different types of magic, where the latter would make the circuit more complicated with every addition of a different type.
Well, that¡¯s the basics. It¡¯s really cool as far as I can see. Maybe one day I will get to make my own enchanted item? As I thought about that, my mind has already formulated multiple different designs for different types of weapons, but the lesson is still going on, so I had to focus on that instead. ¡°Remember when I said that multiple types of magic make a circuit more complex? Actually, that isn¡¯t the hardest part. You little damsels are going to have some trouble with this one, it¡¯s rather nasty. That is, magical runes. These things are the core of the art of enchantment. We can use these magical runes to use and cast any magic techniques, well, only if you know how to design and implement it of course.¡± Mmm. Magical runes. That makes everything even more interesting. I wonder how they work! ¡°These runes use different patterns to apply different magical attributes when cast. You combine these different patterns¡­¡­¡± ¡­ Whew! What a refreshing class. That was the most fun I¡¯ve had in a while, and we even had a try at designing our very own circuits for a simple iron sword, where I tried to create a circuit that features a simple miniature neural network and multiple sensors, that can store four different types of magic, and is able to analyze them and switch its type and change its focus to suit the situation. In theory, you can inject four different types of magic into the sword, and it would be able to effectively change the sword enchantment and where the magic is focused in to suit the situation. For example, when fighting a dark-type enemy, the sword will change its enchantment to light magic if possible, else it will use the next most effective type of magic that is stored. And if the sword is swung sideways at an enemy, it¡¯ll focus the magic on the edges, and if it is a stab, the focus would be on the tip of the weapon. However, that is but a theory. It may or may not work in reality, but it was just a fun thought. The neural network may just be seen as a meticulous scribble to anyone else, but if you look closely and think hard enough, everything would make sense. The research on magic circuits in this world is quite extensive as it is very important and useful, but not extensive enough to be able to create artificial intelligences. Not yet, anyway. Actually, I did figure out how to create logic gates before the teacher mentioned them, but at least I don¡¯t need to go through the trouble of testing my own ideas. The rest of the class were busily discussing in their own groups or thinking hard by themselves, trying to design the circuit they had in mind. I look at my work and try to spot any errors, if there¡¯s one in the first place. I thought I should write a simple description on how it works, but there are still many words that I don¡¯t know how to write in their language, so I drew the sword in different scenarios as the description instead. I was drawing one of the scenarios halfway when I realized the weird teacher was looking at my work intensely, as if trying to scrutinize every detail into his brain. ¡°Oh, oh, I¡¯m sorry if I had disturbed you, but that design¡­ it is beyond amazing. Is that a magical rune in the middle? It looks so complicated¡­ wait, it¡¯s something else. Please, when you are done, allow me to view it at my own pace.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Hoho, this weird teacher is indeed something to be able to see through all these seemingly random scribblings of mine, and actually start to understand how the simple neural processing unit works. That is impressive in itself. ¡°Sure, of course. To have such a great professor such as yourself examining my minor work is already a great honour for me.¡± ¡®No, you have the potential to become something much more than me¡­ I know it. Ah- time¡¯s up. Class, stop writing and hand in all your work to me. Don¡¯t forget to write your names on your work, this will all be judged and marked.¡± Silence again. As if all their minds were connected, the class said in sync, ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Oh? Didn¡¯t I mention that? Anyway, why would it matter if you have put in all your effort and listened to the class, right? Now, put down your pens and hand them in.¡± For a moment I thought I saw an evil grin coming below the classy moustache. As I looked around the class, I could see the victims of this plot, those that are biting their lips and scribbling on their paper as if the world is ending today, trying to fill something reasonable their empty papers. The weird teacher, clearly not taking this lightly, took out a pen from one of his pocket, and as he pointed at the victims one by one, their pens just got ¡®stuck¡¯ and it wouldn¡¯t even budge a millimetre. Some laughed at the poor victims, where some just couldn¡¯t give up and were trying to pull at their pens as hard as they could in an attempt to free them, but the rest already knew that it was futile and just handed in their incomplete work. Ah- that one still trying to pull the pen was that female student who was angry at me previously. Serves her right. ¡°Ooh, impressive circuit, young lady.¡± The teacher said as he collected Fenjel¡¯s work. ¡°Oh no, please. I have still much to improve in to reach his level.¡± As she said that, the entourage glared daggers at me again, and the killing intent increased even more than before. ¡°Hahah, if you do say so.¡± The teacher moved on as he continued to collect other classmates¡¯ work. *Ding dong* The bell rang, and since I have no more lessons afterwards, it would be time for me to clean up the city, starting from the south-east area of the city, then moving clockwise around the city. Of course, it would be great if I am able to get to the task immediately, but seems like that wouldn¡¯t be very possible with the calculated probability of the entourage trying to stop and kill me being 99.99%. As I was trying to step out of the classroom and to the outside world, a few of the girls from the entourage stood outside the door, clearly blocking my way. This looks like one of those typical bullying scene. And of course, they would also use their numbers to their advantage and block the other way out, effectively trapping me. Well, I could easily break out of this situation with a little magic, but that would cause a lot of destruction and possibly casualties, so I would rather choose the peaceful way. I turned around and pointed at the aggressive girl, who I assume to be the leader of the entourage. ¡°Say, little girl, why don¡¯t we have a duel? If you win, I will submit to you and Fenjel for the rest of my life. However, if you lose, then you and your friends will have to, well, submit to me as well.¡± ¡°WHAT?! How dare you call our lady by her name, and why would I need a duel? And I¡¯m NOT a little girl! My name is Lily Halfengard, YOU BETTER REMEMBER IT!¡± Woah... chill there girl, but hey, this helps anyway. While keeping myself cool and composed, I taunted her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Lily. I was sure that your were confident in your strength. I thought I was weaker than a peasant. Surely you can beat a peasant right? Or are you saying that you are weaker than a peasant? How could somebody so weak be following Miss Fenjel, right?¡± Fenjel just watched on without saying anything, clearly amused by this situation. I guess I shall entertain her for now, she¡¯s an important player in my plan. ¡°Of course I am more powerful than you, more than you can ever imagine to be. I thought I was sparing you by declining the duel, but now I¡¯ll make you regret ever making that statement. I¡¯ll show you just how big our gap is, and how weak you are. Peasant. Meet me in one hour at the stadium. If you¡¯re late, then you will lose by default. Hmpf!¡± ¡°Why wait for so long? We¡¯ll meet there in ten minutes.¡± ¡°Fine, I wanted to give a chance to write your own will, but seems like you just want to hasten your death.¡± At this moment, Salty telepathed to me, ¡°Are you sure? Despite how she she looks and behaves, she is really powerful, at least a few times more than you, and she probably has much more experience at fighting with magic than you¡­¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry Salty. Today isn¡¯t the day I die, and definitely isn¡¯t the day I lose.¡±, I replied to her in my mind. ¡°Hmpf¡­¡± I flipped my lab coat as I walked past the blockade, and went around the corner to somewhere I can¡¯t be seen, then quietly flew my way through the campus at a low altitude back to the dormitory. I quickly put down my bag, cleaned the leftover teacups from before, and while I was heading to the stadium, I asked Salty to use long-range telepathy to ask Ed, Hylia, Pion, and Lloyd to witness the battle if they are free. I reached the stadium with 3 minutes to spare, so I booked the stadium in Lily¡¯s name, so that all the fees go to her. Ed and Hylia quickly arrived after me, both worried and asking what in the world I am doing. Well, to that, I just said, ¡°Cleaning up weeds that have grown too long.¡± ----- Chapter 22. Mission Things are gonna get riled up... and I have nothing much to say except to leave your comments down below! And as always, enjoy the chapter. ;) ~ Artemis University, The Stadium Here we are at the showdown. In the stadium, there is a large white circle drawn at the centre of the dirt field, which is approximately the size of a standard football field, where the two participants of the duel are supposed to start at each end of. Dirt crunched and seats ruffled in this Colosseum-style stadium, as Lily stood opposite of me, back facing the entrance. Fenjel and her entourage sits on the left side of the stadium, while Ed and Hylia sits on the right. Pion and Lloyd seems to be unavailable at this time, unfortunately, but it doesn¡¯t matter as long as there is somebody from my team here to witness the duel. ¡°And I thought you would¡¯ve ran away, but I guess you just can¡¯t tell the difference between us. I¡¯ll end this quick for you.¡± Lily said as she prepared her stance and began to circulate the mana within her body. Being a third-order, her mana capacity definitely isn¡¯t lacking, but that won¡¯t be any problem. She also has dual-affinity with fire and earth, but that shouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem either too. The wind howls through the pillars of the stadium as the receptionist announced, ¡°Both parties, get ready. There will be only one round. Ready, set, start!¡° *DING* As soon as the sound of the bell reached my ears, I executed the magic I prepared. As expected, she began to launch fireballs¡­ at my images. I used a technique of bending air in a specific way to refract light and created multiple images of myself in a circle around Lily while my real body is invisible to the naked eye. The rest of the crowd will not be able to see my images, but only me, walking straight towards her while she shoots fireballs everywhere but at me. As I walked without fear or hesitation towards her, steadily closing in on her from all sides, she began to change techniques and with a swipe of her hand, a wave of fire flew outwards and a wall of rock forms around her. Smart, but not enough. Raising my hand, I created a vortex at multiple locations of where my images to make them seem as if they are casting the magic. The fire vortex dissipates as they hit the rock wall, destroying the rock wall. As though there wasn¡¯t anything in the way at all, I kept moving and let the images close in slowly, step by step. Unfazed, she tried to blast her way out but her feet were already embedded into the ground, enforced by roots and hardened with ice. I could see her cursing me, her blood boiling making the entire area warm, but that is only a sign that my plan is working as intended. It was only a few more steps away, but I continued to move the same. Even after seeing escaping did not work one bit, she still didn¡¯t freak out and rampage. Yes, that¡¯s right, close your eyes and try to detect my mana flow like the smart girl you are¡­ but too bad that all my images also have an artificial mana flow within them. Time has run out for her. The temperature around starts getting hotter and hotter. Looks like she¡¯s trying to use a large area fire attack now, but it doesn¡¯t matter anymore. I stood an arm¡¯s length in front of her, disabling all my images one by one, and last, my invisibility, while looking down at her. It¡¯s time for the final move. I raised my hand while she tried to escape as hard as she could, face still not showing a single sign of defeat. But all she needs now is just a little push under the line. *Tap* Her eyes immediately rolled up as I gently touched her forehead with my finger. All that took was a little triggering of certain parts of the brain in a specific manner. The area cools with the release of her control of magic. Her body falls, devoid of any strength, overcame by an unstoppable gush of pleasurable feeling. I caught her in my arms as she turns limp like a slush of jelly. Releasing the trap I had set on her feet, I gently laid her down on the ground, twitching, completely weak and vulnerable. The receptionist had her mind stuck in awe and horror, but a wave from me brings her mind back to the body, she announces, ¡°Earth¡­ wins the duel!¡± The deed is done and I have things to do, good thing this duel ended in about a single minute, so it wasn¡¯t much of a problem. I looked around and see Ed and Hylia still stuck to their seats, while the rest of the entourage rushed down to check the condition of their leader. Fenjel sits with her maid at her side, face clearly amused with the duel. ¡°Yaawwnn~ Well, that¡¯s that. Let¡¯s go on and continue our original task, Salty.¡± ¡°That was a dirty trick but I don¡¯t like her attitude anyway, so she deserved it. Hmpf.¡± Salty replied. I walked out of the stadium and heard a familiar voice. ¡°Hey, Earth! What happened?¡± The reptilian Lloyd after seeing me coming out of the stadium, ran over and asked me, while Pion at the side was bent over on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Oh it was nothing, the duel was settled with me as the winner. Ed and Hylia are still inside, please do go over to revive them. I¡¯ve got things to do now, so bye!¡± I swiftly pushed the task of explaining to Ed and Hylia. And the reviving part was true, so that¡¯s two birds with one stone! ¡°You¡­ won against her¡­ that Infernal Queen!? And without as much as a SINGLE SCRATCH?!¡± Lloyd was in a little shock. Pion looked at Lloyd with utter displeasure. ¡°See? We should have skipped that boring class and come here to watch instead. You said there were only ten minutes left to the class, and also that it would be a one-sided battle against Earth! Now I have missed all the interesting parts, that¡¯s your fault! Hnngh!¡± As Pion said that, his fluffy ears and fur stood straight in anger, and I totally want to stroke it, but it would be really inappropriate right now¡­ ¡°Guhh¡­ we¡¯ll go check on Ed and Hylia¡­¡± The both of them went into the stadium, so that¡¯s taken care of. I took my bag which I had left at the entrance, and headed on out. It¡¯s time for some cleaning up of the city! Let¡¯s go Salty! ¡°Let¡¯s not waste any more time¡­¡± --- ¡°Your Majesty! I have dire news- argghh LET GO OF ME! PROPHET DROL-NOMED SENT ME!¡± I tried to warn the king but the stupid guards just tried to hold me back and pull me away from the room. Do they not know how important is the message I have?! ¡°Send him awa- wait, did you just say Prophet Drol-nomed?! GUARDS! Let go of him, let him speak.¡± The King commanded in a deep voice, and the stupid guards finally let go of me and returned to their positions. I turned to face the King, then knelt my right knee down on the red velvet carpet to start conveying my news. ¡°I am here to convey a message by Prophet Drol-nomed, I¡¯m sure Your Majesty knows what this means. Here is what the scroll says, may you please read it.¡± I handed over the scroll by the prophet to one of the King¡¯s men who brought it up to his throne for him. How great to be a King, you don¡¯t even need to move a finger to take something. He examined the scroll, and nodding knowing it is the real deal. He reads, ¡°¡®Something is awakened, higher than demons, ancient as birth¡¯. This¡­ this is the first time the prophet ever wrote more than two lines in a prophet. And it¡¯s something darker than demons¡­ so it is not about the demons, but something worse or more powerful than them¡­ this can¡¯t be good news. We have to prepare, and this may just be even more than the birth of previous Demon Lords¡­ Gorphos! Prepare the army, you know what to do. Yengel! Prepare the hero summoning ritual and everything we need for the heroes. This is genuine.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡± A brawny dude at the side of the King and a beautiful braided, white-haired lady said in sync, and swiftly moved out of the room to execute their jobs without any hesitation. The same guy that took the scroll returned it back to me, and my job here is done. ¡°That is all, Your Majesty. I shall take my leave, I have still yet to relay the message to everyone.¡± ¡°That is unfortunate, but you have such an important responsibility. Where are you headed next? I shall arrange an Iron Bull ride for you and a carriage to the station, as well as supplies for your mission.¡± ¡°That is, the Marth Capital of Magire Kingdom, Your Majesty. I thank for the generosity.¡± While keeping my head down, I retreated to the huge wooden door before I lifted my head back up. Phew, that was a little bit tiring. I have the next destination to go to, but the Iron Bull ride will still take four days, and another three days on road from the nearest station of Melm to the capital city of Marth. That should be plenty enough time to rest. The world must be known of this possible threat, whatever it may be. The prophet never mentioned anything more than those three lines, even to me. However, for such beings to awaken now¡­ what exactly are their purpose? Are they here to bring destruction upon the world? I have got a feeling that they were somehow involved in that event a few years ago¡­ oh well, that¡¯s not my problem anyway. My only problem is to get my job done. I went outside to the snowy garden, a cliff beyond it. This magnificent castle is built upon a sturdy mountain, and as beautiful as people say it is, but unfortunately I do not have a chance to get a full view of it due to the heavy snow of this season. Nevermind that then. I boarded the carriage that is already waiting for me, and headed off to the Iron Bull station in this city. *Yaaaawn* The heating magic in this carriage is so comfortable I think I¡¯m going to fall asleep¡­¡­ mmm ----- Chapter 23. Expect the Unexpected Hello, folks! It''s unfortunate, but in a week''s time my examinations are going to start, and it is going to last for a few months at that... guhh -.- But that doesn''t necessary mean that I will be totally gone from writing or anything like that, no. I''ll still be writing, but new chapters will take longer time to come out, and I''ll be updating y''all on the situation on those chapters'' notes. Updates shouldn''t take more than two weeks though, if I can. Well, as always, write down whatever you have on your mind about the story and suggestions, and please, enjoy the chapter.
~ Artemis University, Spiral Staircase of the Central Building, Day of the Annual Marth Tournament I don¡¯t know¡­ but it just feels like something is off. I told Earth, but he just said that he can¡¯t do anything if he doesn¡¯t know what it is. ¡°Calm down Salty, having doubts would only make the plan derail even further than what is inevitable.¡± Earth said in his mind as he walked up the seemingly never ending stone staircase. I guess there really is nothing I could do but¡­ arghhh whatever! We reached the large door again at the top of the staircase, but this time, alone. *Knock knock* We waited patiently in the cold, silent atmosphere, watching as the disturbed dust swirled about and sparkling in the dim moonlight of an early morning. A muffled reply is heard coming from the other side of the door, ¡°How unexpected for you to find me yourself! You may enter the room, I¡¯ll hear what you want.¡± What a smart girl. Expected of someone of her calibre. The door creaks at an uncomfortable pitch as it opens, revealing the same setting. The black-haired girl sitting behind a table with a big window behind her. This time, lamps are lit as it is still dark outside. The maid that was holding the door open for us closed the door, however this time the door was silent. She then went off to another room which I assumed for is for making tea. ¡°Please do take a seat.¡± The girl gestured at a coffee table with soft seats all around. Earth took a seat along with the girl, sitting opposite of each other as the maid served tea to us. ¡°Well, let me cut to the chase - I need your help in scouting the areas outside the city. I need your mana sight.¡± Earth broke the slightly awkward silence. ¡°Woah, right straight to the point aren¡¯t you? I¡¯ll let you use¡­ but since this mana sight is my own invention, if you want to use it, then I have got to know the reasons. Can¡¯t let you go peepin¡¯ off into the girl¡¯s dormitory, can I?¡± ¡°Haha, guess you¡¯ll say that! Here, this should explain what happened quite well. I say it¡¯s pretty darn well done!¡± Earth said in a rather self-satisfactory tone as he proudly pushed a few pieces of paper across the coffee table. Those few pieces of paper¡­ how should I say it. It¡¯s like a story book, but with things drawn on it. He explained it was called a ¡®comic¡¯ but I still don¡¯t understand what is the point of drawing things out when you can just write it. He did say something like ¡®a picture speaks a thousand words¡¯, but aren¡¯t pictures and words totally different?! I can¡¯t believe that I, the great dragon queen of the Marth Forests is unable to understand something I was taught, even with my great wealth of knowledge! It¡¯s frustrating how this monkey knows more things than me, but then again, he is not of this world just like those heroes¡­ ¡°Wow¡­ these are really well-drawn¡­ -oops yes the story. Hmm¡­ eh¡­ mm¡­ ahh! That¡¯s one hell of a feat you¡¯re going to attempt, and I know that you¡¯re not something to scoff at, but don¡¯t you think that this is a little bit¡­ too much for you to do by yourself?¡± The girl replied after a series of strange expressions, the aligned the paper on its edges and pushed the pieces of paper back to us. ¡°Oh no, it¡¯s not just me, that short comic only showed what I would be doing to the enemy troops. If I¡¯m not wrong, the blast radius will be able eliminate the entire enemy army in a flash, and it will be troublesome if there was somebody from our side that gets caught in the blast. Besides, I¡¯ll have my grandmother protect the city itself, and also you helping me.¡± ¡°Your grandmother?¡± Lily asked with furrowed eyebrows but showed signs of curiosity. Well, definitely not me¡­ w-why would I be c-curious about how he has a grandmother when he came to this world alone¡­ right? I felt him move his right hand as my point of view changed, since I am on the first finger of his right hand. I could feel a sudden increase in energy flowing through his hand, and then there was a sudden white glow of light coming from behind his hand. I can¡¯t see what was appeared on the back of his hand as he curled his fingers into a fist, but I can feel the aura emanating from it. I know it¡¯s a magic symbol, I just don¡¯t know exactly who the creator is. But I can feel from the aura that she¡¯s someone to be reckoned with, at least with the weakling humans¡¯ standards. ¡°Woah¡­ she¡¯s your grandmother?! I never knew that¡­ I thought she only had three grandchildren.¡± Lily sound shocked at the display. I could hear Earth¡¯s self-praising thoughts again, ¡°Oh man¡­ I bet I look so cool right now¡­¡± ¡°No you don¡¯t¡± I replied back in his head. ¡°Come on, don¡¯t be so salty¡­¡± ¡°...did you jus-¡± ¡°That was a compliment about how cute you are!¡± ¡°Wait what?! Me¡­ c-c-cute?! Cute¡­¡± ¡°Anyways, with that the city should be safe, so now I just need to scout out their positions so I know where they are. Do you know what is the effective range of your magic?¡± ¡°I can extend all the way to the plains outside the city, but the further the distance, the more mana it requires. If you¡¯re scouting enemy troops, they will probably be several kilometres outside the city, and I¡¯ve hardly ever gone that far so I don¡¯t really know.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s good enough, let¡¯s not waste any more time. Come sit here, it¡¯ll be easier.¡± ¡°Easier¡­ for what?¡± ¡°For me to use your magic of course. Oh well, I¡¯ll move then.¡± Earth has no idea how misleading his words just sounded. Well, what did I expect from a monkey anyway. ¡°Wait wait woah hol-¡± That girl couldn¡¯t even finish her sentence before Earth placed his right hand on her forehead. I could feel a small and carefully controlled surge of mana flow through his hand and fingers, which is what he does whenever he ¡®connects¡¯ to other people¡¯s minds I connect myself to this flow of mana and somehow or someway I ended up in a white place, which is what Earth calls a ¡®virtual¡¯ room. It¡¯s somewhat like the environment in the ring, but feels much better than that stupid old ring. I look around and find both the girl and Earth in the room, the girl being shocked at what just happened. I guess she never experienced anything like this before, I mean, out of nowhere you¡¯re inside a white room that seems to lack walls or roof, where everything feels completely unreal. ¡°Alright, calm down, we¡¯re inside a space I created in your mind.¡± ¡°A what in my mind?¡± ¡°Ahh, don¡¯t worry about the details, it¡¯s totally harmless, trust me. Just imagine using your mana sight like you normally do.¡± The girl took a deep breath then steeled her face, closed her eyes and said, ¡°¡­alright.¡± Earth created strange buttons and long bars in mid air, and started pressing on them and suddenly the entire room became the girl¡¯s vision in the real world¡­ no, mana sight. We could see the room and the maid, who seems to be moving very slowly for some reason. *Click click click click...* Earth pressed a few more buttons and suddenly we¡¯re moving upwards into the sky, then towards the outskirts of the city. It was as if we were actually in the sky, though there isn¡¯t wind at all and doesn¡¯t feel cold or anything. I bent down and I could see the bird eye¡¯s view of the city, then we headed outwards out of the walls and to the plains. The girl started to show some signs of fatigue, so Earth increased the mana flow from his body to the girl, which I also felt since I am on his finger. Once we were high in the skies at what I would call a good vantage point, Earth also felt the same and stopped at that particular position. We could see all of the plains and even the forests beyond the city quite clearly. Earth pressed another button, this one a little bigger than the ones before. *Beep* Red silhouettes appeared not too far into the plains, and suddenly the area with the red silhouettes are enlarged, and now we could see them all clearly. That¡¯s the enemy! They have set up a temporary camp at the site, and that size¡­ I would say it¡¯s only at most a hundred men, just as Earth predicted. ¡°Mmm¡­ so there they are¡­ hmm?¡± The view suddenly returned back to normal, and now a large group of blue silhouettes appeared under us¡­ wait. Isn¡¯t that the city¡¯s army? So, they do know that their enemy is attacking them. I looked at Earth for his reaction. He furrowed his brows a little, then replied, ¡°Hmm¡­ well, at least the main threat of the attack on the city, that is the bombs, is gone now. Hehehe, I want to see their reaction when their plan just failed miserably, as if it was a stupid joke. With that size of the army here, we¡¯ll definitely win¡­ well, not really. I still have literally hundreds of these live, ticking bombs which are going to explode when the tournament starts, which is in like, 2 hours, so I have to deal with that somehow. Hmm.¡± The view enlarged once more, but now at the blue silhouettes. ¡°Hmm¡­ wait, hohoho? Is that Ceris and Jax leading the pack? What a surprise! I knew they were something, but to be the Generals of Marth¡¯s army, quite impressive indeed. Ah! I have a plan!¡± What plan? Earth immediately disconnected everything and returned the girl her senses, which she was in a daze for a few seconds before regaining her composure. Everything disappeared, went black for a split second and we¡¯re back into the real world. The tea on the table still looks as hot as it was before, giving off mists of vapour into the cold, dry air. ¡°Brrr¡­ that wasn¡¯t the most pleasant thing I have felt in my life. So, what are you going to do now since we already have our army going against the enemy?¡± The girl shook her head a little, then asked Earth. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have a plan already in my mind. Thank you so much for your help, see you next time if our fate allows!¡± Earth finished cup of tea served to him before leaving hastily, not giving a chance for the girl to ask anything. Again, what plan? He isn¡¯t even talking about it in his mind. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s this plan you¡¯re talking about?¡± I finally asked him in his mind. ¡°Ah, Salty, you¡¯ll know that soon enough.¡± He gave a half-hearted reply. Oh come on! What¡¯s this monkey think he is doing?! Not that I¡¯m concerned about him or anything¡­ but what insolence! Fine, do whatever you want. I¡¯ll just watch! ----- Chapter 24. The Fall of Events Yes, I do understand that two weeks is a really long time, and I''m still in the middle of my examinations. I hope you can forgive my slow releases, and with everything said, this will be a slightly longer chapter than usual. As always, please enjoy the chapter and leave down any thoughts or suggestions. Thank you for your support! :) ~ Capital Marth, West Capital Gate Here I am, at the grand west gate of the capital, and even this early in the morning, there are just as many people as it is in its peak. People are lined up behind the gates, waiting for the guards to check their belongings and goods, and allow passage. Today, after all, is the first day of the Annual Marth Tournament, where all kinds of people from the East Edge come here to watch the fights, duel, and enjoy themselves for these three days. Not too far into the west and across the large river, is the Capital Zenith of the Zekiel Empire. And of all times, it had to attack now. I don¡¯t want to miss any part of the tournament, even if it¡¯s a small part of the first day of the tournament. So, I thought I could make them delay the entire tournament today by just a bit using a flashy display of fireworks and a little bit of death. Well, not waiting any longer, I showed my university pass to the guard and also my sack of magic crystals with the magic circuits I had extracted from the fake rocks to the guard. The sack is lined on the inside with the mana-blocking material from the fake rocks, so it wouldn¡¯t be detected by anyone easily. I placed some normal rocks on top to disguise the stuff underneath. The guard examines my bag with his squinted eyes for a bit, as if trying to detect anything suspicious or weird inside, before returning my things and allowing me passage. Ahh~ the beautiful outside world, away from the stressful confines of the walls. On the right, vast expansive hilly plains with trees sparsely dotted all over. On the left, a silent but lush forest, flooded by the dense morning fog. In between the two worlds is a dirt road wide enough to fit two full-sized carriages side-by-side, smoothed out by its constant usage and weathering over the years. A long line of people are waiting on the road for passage into the capital, be it travelling merchants, families on carriages and on foot, and not to mention, fighters, and adventurers, all undoubtedly looking forward to the tournament. However, admiring the scenery is not my mission today. I walked off the path into the forest looking like I was going on a hike, but when I got deep enough that nobody can see me, I flew through the forest along the road, bringing along the sack of crystals. This way, I don¡¯t attract any unnecessary attention. Also, dodging all the tight trees and vines is also quite fun, but the feeling of the cool, refreshing morning air and fog over my body is still the best. After flying a few hundred metres, I stopped and peeked out to the road. Alright. The coast is clear. I flew out across the road and into the green, soft hilly plains. Ahh~ freedom of movement is the best. I just can¡¯t get enough of flying around in the air without constraints~ When I saw the capital army camp, I slowed down and made it there on foot while dragging along the sack instead of flying to make sure I don¡¯t trigger anything from the guards. When I got close enough, the guard on the right of the camp gate noticed me, and while unsheathing his blade, shouted, ¡°HALT! State who you are and your purpose!¡± A few other guards nearby heard him and came over to see what is happening. ¡°I am here on behalf of elder sage sorcerer Marelin to speak with the generals.¡± I spoke with a tint of condescending attitude, and activated the magic symbol for proof. ¡°We apologize for our rudeness! General Jax and Ceris are at the main tent at the center.¡± The guards immediately sheathed their weapons and bowed down as it was clear I am above them. Whew, this magic symbol is quite convenient, I have to say. While I was escorted by one of the guards to the main tent, I looked up to check the position of the suns. Approximate position: 27¡ã from the horizon, estimate time of day: 0800 hours. Looks like there¡¯s just one more hour to prepare for the grand display. --- I swear on the gods they are planning something. They haven¡¯t moved a single inch for the past few hours, nor showed any signs of movement. Extremely suspicious. ¡°It¡¯s probably just a stupid trick by those dogs to stall our time! We have the numbers to overwhelm them, our victory is certain!¡± Jax shouted out, and a few commanders nodded their heads too, agreeing with what he says. I am afraid that they have a secret weapon or plan that is capable of dealing with us all. We have more than double the number of troops they have, yet they are still confidently sitting in the same spot the entire time with no movements at all. And what¡¯s more, our scouts were unable to see what¡¯s inside the enemy camp since they have mages forming a barrier around the camp. It¡¯s very suspicious, but I have to agree with Jax¡­ it may just an elaborate plan to delay us. Either way, we will never know until we attack. ¡°We will launch an attack on the enemy.¡±, I gave the final OK sign. Jax immediately went on to explain the attacking plan, which actually sounds¡­ pretty legit. We may actually have a chance with that. Just as I was about to relay the plan to the messenger and back to headquarters, a guard interrupted me. ¡°Generals, this boy says he needs to speak with you¡­¡± At this time? I cried out, ¡°What?! A BOY? How did you let a bo-¡± Before I could finish the sentence, a grand and powerful aura filled the small tent, rendering all of us speechless. The sheer pressure of the aura made even the simple act of breathing difficult, but that was nothing compared to what we felt - shaken down to our bones from just the power that was hidden in the aura. All of us immediately recognized this aura, even if it was only for a single second we felt it. That is, the elder sage sorcerer Marelin¡­ and the boy that is here, can only be her apprentice. And I can only think of one boy that fits the category¡­ He walked in, not a single bit intimidated by the presence of us at all. Clad in his weird white coat still, his long black hair is still as perfect as it was when we first met him, his flawless peach skin sparkling in the morning sunlight, and not to mention, the perfect physique for a boy his age. His eyes look the same as any other young boy should be, yet it felt¡­ odd. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the rascal that we picked up? Hahaha! What business do you have here?¡± Jax was the first to recover. His face recovered from the pale white colour he had since this morning, revived by the sight of Earth. ¡°Sorry to intrude on your meeting, but the truth is, grandm- Master didn¡¯t tell me to convey any message, but that¡¯s not the point here. What¡¯s important, is that I have a plan to eliminate the enemy while causing no casualties on our side.¡± He spoke right to everyone without a single hint of hesitation, and he seemed to be very confident about his plan. One of the commanders still thought that what he just proposed was ridiculous and joked, ¡°Haha boy, if you¡¯re looking for peaceful negotiations, you should just go back to your school like a kid your age should. Where are your parents, boy?¡± ¡°Please, don¡¯t be stupid, who would want to do peaceful negotiations with those worthless scum. Of course, it is very easy for me to control the enemy leaders¡¯ minds since they are lower than animals, but I would rather choose to wipe them from the face of this planet, like trash should be. Heck, even trash could be recycled and reused, but not them. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Enough of that, here¡¯s my plan - the army will create some distractions outside the enemy camp, and I will sneak in and blow everything up. Simple. Use whatever distractions you want, but once the signal is up, retreat. I will make sure that nobody from our side is hurt.¡± Earth pointed to the large sack that he had brought along as he explained the details. What is he, is he really just a young boy? The commander that joked at him went over and retrieved the large sack with suspicion. ¡°Isn¡¯t this just rocks, what are you trying to do with just rocks. Is this a joke?¡± He commented after looking inside the sack. I swear I could¡¯ve seen Earth rolling his eyes at that moment. Earth retrieved the bag and moved it over to the table with magic. He held the sack open so all of us could see clearly. There was just rocks, as the commander had said. I couldn¡¯t feel anything from the sack either. He started removing the rocks, and slowly we could see something revealed under the rocks. It had the texture and the look of rocks, but it¡¯s flat and inseparate pieces¡­ and they are slowly peeled off in layers. By the third layer, I could feel mana emanating from the sack. Could that strange material be mana-blocking material?! How did he get his hands on such a thing, and so much of it? All the other commanders were also shocked, but it wasn¡¯t at the mana-blocking material anymore. It was the ridiculous amounts of high-grade mana crystals, and not only that, each of them had a strange circuit attached on them. ¡°Let¡¯s just say that the enemy had gifted our city with these mana crystals, and I went on to collect them. These are all bombs which will detonate in less than an hour. I will execute the plan at that moment, and there is no need to worry about me as well, my safety is not compromised. The city is currently under protection by my Master, and I have cleared the city of these threats. Trust me.¡± Earth spoke with a more serious tone this time. The commanders now have nothing more to say, as he drew out a circle on the map, where the enemy camp is. He then took over our jobs and immediately started to plan the attack with everyone. --- Time check. 20 minutes to detonation. The soldiers are informed and briefed about this mission, and are ready to go. Four battalions are split up into separate squads to surround and distract the enemy from all directions, while a larger force will be attacking from the front to catch their attention. I will be infiltrating the enemy camp from a blind spot at the upper right side of the camp and slowly make it to the center. Once I am there, well, the show shall begin. I am riding along with the 25th squadron, which will be in charge of distracting the upper right side of the enemy camp, luring enemies away from the blind spot. This is meant to be a fast attack, and the enemies would notice it after a bit that it was only a distraction, but that bit of time was all that¡¯s necessary. I got off the horse, and the squad immediately went on to do whatever they needed to do. The enemy guards upon sight of the squad disturbing them, quickly moved away from my position to the source of the problem. There, the blind spot all clear and inviting. Of course, I accepted it. Sneaky sneaky, sliding through the ranks without anyone¡¯s business. Easy enough, I got to the enemy war room. I put my sack down and took a little rest on one of the crates near the tent. Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s still 2 minutes till detonation. Our army should be retreating by now. The enemy are also calming down too, getting ready for the ¡®surprise¡¯. Unfortunately for them, it wasn¡¯t the surprise they were looking forward to. I did some stretching and exercises to warm up my body. Alright, here goes. FULL POWER MODE - WIDE AREA TELEKINESIS! I can feel everything getting enveloped in my telekinesis. Every nook and cranny, people, and plants. But I can¡¯t control the enemy since they have their aura shielding them, the wide area telekinesis is not strong enough to penetrate them. But I don¡¯t need to do that. It doesn¡¯t matter how much mana I use here; it¡¯s a dead zone anyway. Using that wide area telekinesis already took half of my mana, and with that, I created a large barrier of air around the enemy camp. I pushed those little insects that had gone too far out back into the camp using a little more power, which probably took away all my mana. With that, I started to absorb mana from the surroundings. The green grass turned brown and withered, the dirt cracked and dissolved, and all the people nearest to me started to suffer the same fate as the grass. I flew upwards into the sky with the sack. I began to prepare containing the blast. It needs more power. Compress, harden, compress, harden. And I held my breath. 5¡­ 4¡­ 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ *boom* It wasn¡¯t very loud at first. The blast was successfully contained in a small sphere half a metre in diameter. The superheated air glowed like a third sun, but it needs MORE POWER. I released all my limiters. The mana from the surroundings are vacuumed up and dumped into the small sphere, and the mana flowed through my entire body like never-ending tsunami. I twitched and flinched, unfamiliar to this uncomfortable rate of flow. But it doesn¡¯t matter. When the ball of death started to burn my skin inside out, even after I layered myself with so much protection, I know, it is complete. The area below was already a wasteland. It is time to clean it up. RELEASE! I opened up a hole in the air barrier around the camp. The sheer force from the blast almost broke my bones, even when I had diverted it upwards and softened the impact. I was sent flying out for at least a few kilometres before I could regain my bearings. The air barrier contained most of the initial impact, but it broke after that split second and a visible wave of shockwaves propagates outwards, and after that, revealing a beautiful mushroom cloud. That wasn¡¯t the end though, as I felt a pull back towards the explosion, churning my insides and almost made me vomit out my breakfast. The operation is a success, if you ignore the little things like uprooted trees and some flying dirt. My instinct tells me that this is not a good time to report back to Jax and Ceris. I descended to the ground to take a rest and replenish my mana while admiring the beauty of the rising mushroom cloud. ¡°Salty, how¡¯s the situation?¡± I asked for a report. ¡°...enemies are completely gone, and no casualties suffered on our side¡­¡± Salty gave a proper report, but that is strange in itself and her tone is shaky. ¡°Are you alright? Wait, what am I saying. Of course you aren¡¯t. Is your prophecy coming true?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. I can feel it¡­ something fearful¡­ I remember this feeling. I¡­ I¡­ AGHHhhh¡­¡± HEADACHES! Salty¡¯s head hurts, and it made mine hurt too! Looks like something is triggered¡­ arghh¡­ it hurts¡­ The ground began to shook as if there¡¯s an earthquake¡­ I lied down on the ground in hopes of soothing the pain, but it didn¡¯t work¡­ As I turned my head over to face the capital, I noticed the proud pyramid standing at the top began to¡­ erupt?! Come on, I haven¡¯t explored that yet! *ROAAAARRR* A deep, loud cry shook my insides for the second time, and it was at this point that, I thought, ¡°Crap.¡± ----- Chapter 25. The Unexpected Finals are a month later... But fret not! I will not be defeated by this attempt from the dark reunion! Anyways, please do write down your thoughts and suggestions, and as always, thank you for reading! ~ Capital Marth, Stadium of Artemis University The entire stadium was in a complete standstill. All the loud cheers and excitement from before now seemed to have never happened. A few moments before, a bright flash of light and huge explosion that shook the earth just happened without warning. It was of a magnitude that was simply bone-chilling. Some thought it was the awakening of the demon king; a sign, out to warn us. And their fears might just be true. It was only a few hours ago since I visited the Royal Palace to warn the King of the prophecy¡­ but I have never expected it to happen so quickly¡­ *ROOOAAARRR* The deep, deafening cry shook me back from my thoughts. It was as if this entire thing was a nightmare. The explosion of the dungeon, the emergence of the dungeon boss¡­ an incredible dragon, clad in mortifying black scales of impenetrable armour. Its raging red eyes, that seemed to cut through my soul, rending my entire body in immense fear. Against the power of Void Dragon, we helpless, powerless civilians could do nothing but submit to its immense power. Even though the monster was far away from all of us, a mere look into its deep, red eyes was enough disable most people. The sky turned red. Screams and shouts were muffled. People collapsed around me. My body felt weak and heavy. Everything just¡­ happened. Things are blackening¡­ ¡­ ¡°...hey. HEY! WAKE UP, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!¡± I¡­ I was shaken awake by somebody¡­ large. My senses started to revive as the screaming and shouting returned to my ears. ¡°HEY! Looks like you¡¯re fine! Turn and face away from the dragon, and don¡¯t turn back! We need to evacuate everyone out of this place, to somewhere safe!¡± A large figure¡­ an orge. My saviour! He pushed me to the crowd where people are leaving the stadium quickly and¡­ surprisingly orderly. My mind felt calmed and soothed by the magical tune of the wonderful music the musicians were playing. People worked together, students and even duelists who are able to resist the magic of the monster. As I was walking along with the crowd away from the direction of the monster, I noticed that a number of people were looking at the sky¡­ at something flying from the direction of the first explosion. No, it¡¯s¡­ somebody! He is flying at great speed, his obvious white coat fluttering in the sky as quickly he zoomed past over our heads in a blink of an eye, followed by a deafening sound¡­ and that was the second time in this day I almost went deaf! Wait¡­ who is that? Heading straight towards the monster and at an incredible speed like that¡­ could he be one of the heroes? But¡­ that couldn¡¯t be possible¡­ the summoning ritual at the very least, takes a year to prepare and activate, there couldn¡¯t be any hero summoned by Marth since I just notified them this morning unless they have known beforehand, but even so they can¡¯t summon without the approval of Master¡­ Ahh, whatever. I need to make sure I¡¯m safe first, so that I can continue to carry out the important mission of notifying all the other nations as well. --- ¡°SALTY! Are you alright?! Can you hear me!¡± I shouted in my mind to check on Salty, but to no avail. No reply, no answer. Ugh, I can¡¯t even check on her right now, I need to fix this annoying turn of events first. I flew straight towards the stupid dragon that have disrupted my plan to enjoy the tournament and festival, that made Salty go unconscious, and also to pay for making the dungeon a ruin and for being a serious threat to the existence of this capital. That is enough reasons to justify the need for the extermination of this dragon. However, I do recognize the strength of this boss monster. He is not an easy foe. Comparisons of pure power strength between me and the dragon show that I have absolutely no chance of winning. I only have a mana capacity of the First Order, and the dragon has something like the Two-Hundredth Order according to the standard of measure here, which is approximately two hundred times larger than mine. Usually, that would mean it would take a full raid team of sixteen people to defeat it. But of course, such things like pure fighting power do not matter in my eyes. As I flew across the capital, I could see people everywhere frozen in fear by the dragon¡¯s intimidation. I looked up and met eyes with the dragon again. The sky turned red as he tried to invade my mind. So this little lizard wants to play the battle of the mind eh? Sure, I¡¯ll play with you. Such weak and feeble attempt to instill fear in me. I stared back at it, right into its soul. I flew even faster than before, not breaking the eye contact at all. The dragon, full of pride, did not look away a single bit, and focused on me instead. I bet it didn¡¯t think that a mere human like me could withstand his intimidation. Good. All its attention is on me. Maintaining the eye contact, I flew and landed on the roof of one of the buildings that is still standing, near the dungeon ruins. Resisting its intimidation was easy, after all, it is but a mere lizard. Sure, he may be huge and powerful on the surface, but in my eyes, he is just a prey to be hunted and put down. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Now that I¡¯m closer, it¡¯s time to go on the offensive, something that I doubt the dragon would expect I was able to do. In one shot, I gathered all my processing power and aimed straight beyond the dragon¡¯s eyes in a single powerful mind attack to invade the dragon¡¯s mind. However, the dragon was fast to react and closed his eyes before I could do any real damage to its mind. With the few tens of milliseconds I had, I only managed messed up his current state of mind, leaving him stunned for a couple of seconds. Tch, just a few hundred milliseconds more and he would become an empty shell. ¡°Hey, Earth, what¡¯s going on here? Why is the Void Dragon out of the dungeon?¡± Grandma¡­ or is it Master, has arrived. ¡°I have no idea!¡± I gave my honest reply. ¡°But, if anything, I know that this is a threat that needs to be exterminated.¡± I saw a few other people arriving at this place, some want to protect the capital, some simply wanted to fight the dragon. Some people tried to attack the dragon, but the deep black scales almost seems to absorb the magic and even melee attacks seem to do no damage even with powerful-looking weapons the people wield. Grandma, or Master, engaged in a full-out battle with the dragon. Now I can truly see the extent of her powers. She took the small flames from the collapsed buildings, and amplified it until it was the size of the dragon itself, which was easily forty metres long. The flames swirled around the dragon, completely engulfing it. She also controlled the air and fed it to the fire, making it glow even brighter, a bright blue flame. While she was doing that, she also controlled large debris by the sides and brought the debris above the dragon and releasing it, intending to crush the dragon. Triple casting, and such large-scale magic without voice incantations, that is, according to most people¡¯s standards, a feat. All the other people could only watch in awe at this display of pure power. For a moment, it seemed as if the dragon was losing. I know Master wouldn¡¯t be able to best the dragon in pure strength. She knows it better than me. That¡¯s why she¡¯s trying to buy time and delay the dragon. She might have a mana capacity ten times larger than me, but I could see the triple mana-casting eating up all her mana like it was nothing. The dragon, of course, retaliated. It opened its mouth and created a black orb of unknown energy, or should I say¡­ void energy. The orb sucked up all of the flames and magic but it didn¡¯t stop the debris from falling onto it. As the debris fell onto the dragon, Master casted Earth Spikes underneath the dragon to crush it from both directions. An unexpected move, the underbelly of the dragon was punctured and the heavy debris that fell on the dragon pushed the spikes further in. At this point, I could feel Master¡¯s mana level being dangerously low. The dragon looked and aimed the orb at Master, intending to finish her. As soon as the orb left the dragon¡¯s mouth, I lifted a large piece of debris and threw it at the orb, which forced it to explode in the dragon¡¯s face. I could feel it. The dragon is trying to attempt something stupid. It opened his mouth again, but this time I could feel him pouring everything into a single black orb. I tried to throw the debris again, but this time, the debris simply crumbled upon contact. The spikes under the dragon crumbled as well and it started to take flight. Not intending for it to get away, I flew and jumped onto it. It flew straight up into the sky. Still supplying all of its mana to that one black orb. Every second of contact with its scales drains mana from me like it was nothing, while my mana organ tries to absorb mana from the surroundings as much as it could. As I climbed towards its head, I could feel the orb that the dragon was making getting ever stronger that even light started to bend around it, and my mana was instead sucked into the orb instead¡­ I can feel my body getting weaker¡­ Maybe I had underestimated this dragon¡­ It continued flying until we were so high I could see the stars, then it turned around. A divebomb eh?... Just a little bit more¡­ it¡¯s getting a tad bit hotter¡­ It''s flying downwards, and the wind is getting stronger... and stronger... At this rate, it''s probably not thinking of staying alive... why? I grabbed one of its protruding horns... and I reached its head. I need to keep my head clear... I looked into its large, red¡­ lifeless, glowing eyes¡­ INVADE. ¡­ I¡¯m in¡­ A black void¡­ but I feel a sense of familiarity¡­ somewhere¡­ somewhat¡­ it¡¯s similar to me¡­ Execute wipe and destroy, and absolute control. Success. Disperse black orb. Error. Black orb cannot be overridden. Warning, black orb is showing signs of instability. Space-time anomaly detected. ERr0rr¡­¡­ ¡°...you CANNOT ESCAPE¡­ CORRUPTION¡­ EXTERMinate¡­¡± *FLASH* I¡¯ve¡­ I¡¯ve been forcefully disconnected from the dragon¡­ what¡­ was that¡­ and what is¡­ this¡­ everything is¡­ black¡­ I can¡¯t see myself¡­ but I can feel¡­ but who cares¡­ sleep¡­ I feel¡­ tired¡­ --- Chapter 25.5. Interlude 2. History Sorry guys, things are really getting heated up here... this chapter may not be as long as standard, but this is only an interlude. Expect great surprise on the next chapter! There''s a reason why there''s a cross-over tag there... hehehe! X3 Anyways, please write down your thoughts and suggestions on the story, especially on my writing style (are the paragraphs too long? More dialog? Etc...) and as always, please enjoy the chapter. :)
~ Extract from The DREAM Magazine, published in 2716 The turning point in the entirety of human history was the miraculous discovery of a certain drug in 2169. However, the greatest impact came from its side effect rather than the intended effect of the drug itself. On September 17, 2169, a group of unnamed scientists announced a breakthrough achievement in the medical field, of a drug named IM-256, nicknamed the miracle drug. The drug was recorded to had been clinically tested and proven to cure all illnesses by delimiting the immune system of the patient temporary and then further enhancing it, while keeping the patient¡¯s health in check using nanobots. At the start, the drug was seen as a scam by many people who did not believe such a miraculous drug exists. However, desperate patients and families turned to this miracle drug, as it was relatively inexpensive compared to other options. These patients, usually diagnosed with incurable diseases at the time such as terminal cancer, were successfully treated with the drug and fully recovered in a matter of weeks. Recorded to have a success rate of over 95%, it apparently works on any kind of disease or illnesses, even so without any visible side-effects on the patient after the treatment. Many people and scientists tried to analyze the drug using various methods, and even with its recipe, they were all unable to completely decode it due to its complexity that some even claimed it was alien technology. The whereabouts and any information of the unnamed scientists at that point was unknown. With no patents, the recipe was quickly taken in by major medical drug producers and soon were pushed into mass-production in no time. Hospitals and clinics over the world slowly started to adopt the usage of the drug, and just a year after in 2170, the drug was already being used worldwide as a cure-all solution to many problems, due to its effectiveness and inexpensive production price. This however, caused the decline of major hospitals and the medical field, as research on specific illnesses were rendered useless. When countries started to lower their budget for research in the medical field, it started a worldwide revolution by medical scientists and researchers, who felt that they were cast aside as if they had completely lost their use. The medical revolution started from 2171 and lasted until 2176, when the last hardcore revolutionaries were put down by government military, which the rest then slowly disbanded after time. As much as it was a miracle, the drug was not perfect. The drug had a side effect of ¡®immortalizing¡¯ the offspring of whoever took the drug, giving them bodies that will not grow old and forever stay in their peak condition, due to a certain gene mutation. The new generation of ¡®immortalized¡¯ humans grew normally until they reached the peak of their growth, usually in their twenties, and from then on, maintained the same condition for an indefinite amount of time. In the 23rd century, the ¡®immortalized¡¯ generation started to notice they were not growing old, and stayed in the same conditions where normal people would have already become old. The sudden realization of the situation hit the world, and for a short while, the entire world was in panic. Countries worldwide had no preparation for such a situation and it affected the world economy, and also had great political and social impacts as well. Just a few months after the realization, a new organization was formed. Its founders a group of retired scientists, researchers, professors, and even military personnel, who were all from the ¡®immortalized¡¯ generation. The Organization for the Development of Research, Engineering, and Arts for Mankind (DREAM), seeked to first establish and maintain world order in the new age, then explore the capabilities of the new age. It gained massive support from people all around the world by utilizing various methods to gain publicity effectively, such as using physical approaches while also spreading the word around through social media. It made sure it was being open and transparent, while maintaining a flexible internal structure which was also one of the reasons that led to its success. The organization grew exponentially in the first few months of its existence, and eventually became much more powerful than even the United Nations. However, they maintained the transparency throughout and above all else, strongly upheld the values that the organization was built on, which kept corruption to a minimum. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. There was miniscule resistance to the organization as they maintained good relations with countries worldwide, but were also not afraid to use force when necessary. They established a powerful private army, made up of thousands of veteran soldiers and specialized forces, which was able to put down any resistance quickly and effectively. It gave the organization strong defensive and offensive abilities and also as a good reason for countries and other organizations to support them, which allowed them to establish new international laws for the ¡®immortalized¡¯ generation. With their power and resources, they helped solved problems in society that was previously impossible such as starvation and managing to convert or destroy most extremist organizations, allowing them to establish world order to an extent. In order to unite everyone together, they created a common goal for everyone to work towards - that is the continued development for mankind, whether it is scientific, religious, spiritual, or any other form. This was also in order to utilize the most of the ageless bodies that the new generations have. Although with the number of deaths globally due to old age dropped to less than a thousand, the global human population still declined, with the large majority of deaths being accidents and suicide cases, and birth rates being the lowest of all other living things. While physical illnesses became practically non-existent, a new wave of illnesses plagued the new generation, psychological illnesses. Due to lack of research and material on immortalization, there was a lack of treatment options for people suffering from psychological illnesses, which was also significantly harder to cure than physical illnesses. DREAM took quick actions to provide quick short-term measures for the people suffering from such illnesses while also accelerating the research and development of the medical field for the new age. However, the short-term aids, such as providing free counselling, paid leaves and vacations, only helped solved minor cases, and the suicide rate worldwide soared to an estimated of 20 million deaths annually. In the 27th century, the world population has been reduced to a quarter than what it was in 22nd. However, immortalization allowed researchers to continuously do their research, without the limitation of time and age. This led to multiple breakthroughs in many fields, and psychological illnesses are getting treated as it was for the physical illnesses in the old age. One of the major technological innovation was the creation Fully-Enabled Artificial Intelligence (FEAI). Although AI was not new to the world, the AI that was created was not able to form its own thoughts without external assistance and furthermore, used 2-dimensional structures and systems that put a hard limit on its abilities, and thus, people were not able to create a fully autonomous and self-thinking machine. The FEAI technology utilized a 3-dimensional structure and system, designed from the understanding of the human brain, but enhanced with the capabilities of a machine itself. The first FEAI machine, named Jerry, spoke its first words, and had its first natural conversation on 17 September 2696, and it was significant moment in human history. It was a public showcase of the capabilities of the FEAI technology, after centuries of research and combined efforts of people from many different fields of research. The first words were of the iconic ¡°Hello World¡±, and after a short demonstration by the operator of its capabilities, the public was allowed to converse with it freely. Developments in FEAI technology are still going on, and DREAM have announced plans to fully integrate the technology into its largest upcoming project of a fully modular laboratory, named the Somnium Lab, or Dream Lab. It includes an upgraded version of the FEAI technology, said to be the most advanced AI that will be created, will be designed and built into the lab, and is projected to be complete by the 31st century. On the last press conference, Alan Green, the co-founder of DREAM, said, ¡°It will be such a unique being, custom-made from the ground up that it simply cannot be classified into any of the generation of FEAIs.¡± Clear specifics of the AI¡¯s capabilities have not yet been released, but all that have been officially stated is that it has a personality of its own (non-destructive), can control the lab like its own body and assist with multiple simulations simultaneously anywhere, anytime, but more significantly, it can also... dream. ----- Chapter 26. Gold Digger ~ A certain secluded valley in the West Continent Cling! Clang! Woosh! BOOM! The sounds of an intense battle raging on outside resonates within the building. Clan members are fighting back the intruders with all their might trying to protect their only safe haven in this ¡®cruel¡¯ world, however, it is only in vain. The battle is clearly against them since it¡¯s an all-out battle, and for them, being a clan that specializes in assassination, is disadvantageous because of the large, open space the battle is taking place at. Furthermore, the clan is fighting alone against an alliance made to fight against them, with enemy fighters greatly outnumbering them. At the very least, that annoying leader is leading the fight, and didn¡¯t turn tails when he saw the enemy coming. Though, that¡¯s probably because there isn¡¯t a proper escape route out of this damned place other than the main entrance. This clan headquarters is located in a secluded place, surrounded by mountains from all four sides, and having only a narrow valley entrance at the east side. Don¡¯t get me wrong, there are secret escape tunnels through the mountains, just that they are all collapsed by the enemy. Haha! Traitors in this clan. But it¡¯s little bit too late now to know isn¡¯t it? I bet there¡¯s some sort of drama unfolding outside right now. ¡°Leader, look, that guy is going to the other side!¡± ¡°Li Neng¡­ I trusted you¡­ how could you be the traitor to our clan?!¡± ¡°That is in the past¡­ goodbye.¡± ¡°Why! No¡­ traitors cannot be forgiven. CHARGE! Kill them ALL!¡± or something along those lines. Hahahahaha! Meanwhile, leisurely pushing a large and sturdy wooden cart through the badly-lit hallways, I headed towards the place where I work- oops, should I say, the place I used to work at? I whistled my favourite tune while tremors and quakes were shaking dust off from the cracks in the ceiling. What a great day for my plan to be concluded! I know what you are thinking (probably). ¡°What is this unloyal bastard doing when all the others are fighting to the death outside?¡± Of course, I, Qian Bi, still cherish my life and would very much prefer to not be marked for death by the alliance for the rest of my life. Although if this Grand Master do join the battle, the tide of the battle would probably be turned. I mean, I¡¯m not an old man for nothing. This Blood Moon Clan, one I have been ¡®serving¡¯ for 10 years, is now getting attacked by a few other clans for various reasons too petty to name. I¡¯m not feeling up to it to fight a few clans today, it¡¯s just too much for my old bones. (an excuse) This is the last day that the Blood Moon Clan shall exist, but it is also my most awaited day for these past 10 years. Why, you may ask? For the money, of course! Ah, I still remember the moment when I decided to embark on this quest 10 years ago. Now that I think back at it, I was a young lad (middle-aged old man) then, but sure was I a great opportunist. I was in an ever pursuit of money and whenever I saw something or somebody that showed great promise, I would get chills down my spine, which meant that the opportunist in me is starting to get worked up. I would take the opportunity up without fail. I did many things. Helping people, which in turn gave me lots of gold for all the help, and another one I remembered clearly was that I managed to find an actual treasure map that, well, led to treasures. Things like that. That feeling had never failed me. That day, 10 years ago, was a fine day. I was strolling in the forest after a good lunch in a nearby town, heading back to my mansion. Then, some rascals who were jumping across the trees in the forest knocked some branches over me. It was rude, so I chased them all the way and beat their arses clean. Afterwards, I realized that they were carrying some sort of treasure, and a peek at it under the black cloth it was wrapped in showed a sculpture made of pure gold. It had a faint golden glow from it, imbued with the ki of the sculptor. The craftsmanship of the treasure was exquisite and pulling away the black cloth revealed a striking image of a golden goddess. It was without a doubt, a treasure of incredible value. At that moment, I felt the presence of a small but decently-powerful group of people. I looked up and saw some strangely-dressed middle-aged man together with what seems to be bodyguards of the man. Even more strangely though, the man was much weaker than his bodyguards. I thought that they were here to get the treasure as well, so I readied myself, but the man started talking. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°So you defeated my underlings. Really impressive, considering that they are one of the best assassination teams in the Blood Moon clan. Looks like today isn¡¯t the day that I shall complete the 12 Great Golden Sculptures collection.¡± At that moment, I felt chills running down my entire back, so strong that it had almost paralyzed both my arms. My mind was made up. Nothing could shake it. I replied as I knelt down, ¡°No, today will be the day. It is the greatest luck for me to meet the leader of the elusive Blood Moon clan. I have absolutely no interest in gold or money, but I have a debt to settle with a corrupted government official. Please allow this little one to join your great clan!¡± I wrapped the sculpture back in the black cloth, and brought it to one of his bodyguards, who was still wary of me. However, the leader seemed to be pretty convinced at my statement. I do have skill to back it up as well, so I would say it¡¯s a pretty good deal for him¡­ in the short term. And that, was how I got into this clan. Eventually, I climbed through the ranks and gained his trust by bribing him with some treasures I had in my possession in the name of loot from debts I had to settle. I managed to become the treasurer, but even so, there were still many of the clan members that doesn¡¯t trust me. The clan itself was cold and silent. There was barely anybody I could call an acquaintance inside of the suffocating hell-hole. The only place where the we, as members of the clan, actually see each other the most is the training grounds, where we trained together in the arts of assassination. As expected of a clan made up of cutthroat killers and the continent¡¯s most efficient bringers of death. Now, back to 10 years after, the clan is finally meeting its demise. I walked up to the treasury, ready to roll. I have prepared everything up till this day - a super-secret tunnel dug by me to the outside of this secluded place, a large and sturdy cart, and a mental list of the most valuable things in the large treasury room. My cart may be big, but it can only carry so much. I undid the secret seals on the door, known only by me and the leader. As he had me keep track of all his treasures and collections, naturally I had to know how to enter the room. I gathered my ki into my palms, and while doing so, opened the door with the doorknob. If I didn¡¯t use my ki, my hand would be charred and poisoned by the most potent poison known to man - The Black Moon. Death would be certain in 3 seconds from just contact. However, once I opened the door, I started feeling slight chills down my spine. It was not just one short chill. I could still feel it. What is there? I didn¡¯t even see anything special, or think of anything yet. I looked around me. Nothing much. I continued to push the cart inside the room and closed the door behind me. Silence. The fine red carpet absorbed much of the noise from my footsteps and the cart wheels. This long, rectangular room is also specially protected with all sorts of seals. However, I am still feeling the chill down my spine. Wait a second¡­ is that a person down the room?! His ki was so weak I could barely feel its presence at all. Is he dead? No, I don¡¯t think so. A dead person should not have any ki at all and I¡¯m sure I am have not mistaken him for some other treasure. This is strange. I have never felt a chill down my spine for such long periods of time in my long life, but this is still a rather weak one. No point standing around doing nothing. I walked over to him, still feeling that slight chill. It was a young lad. Young he is, but it feels like there is much more to him. He dons a strange white coat, few sizes too big for him, with some parts being slightly charred. His hair is out of this world, being in pristine condition, with not a single strand being out of place from the other. It was spread on the red carpet, reflecting light off the ceiling ki-lamp. Who is he? Why is he here? Nevermind, that young boy doesn¡¯t look like he¡¯s in a condition to answer me anyway. His coat¡­ I¡¯ve never seen that before, but what he is wearing under is definitely from the East. Oh well, it¡¯s a pity to just leave him here. His ki is weak too, but looks like he¡¯s still alive. I¡¯ll treat him when we get out of here. Now - back to the task. There¡¯s the 12 Great Golden Sculptures, the Sun God Diamonds, the Godly Lightning Sword¡­ That should be about right. The entire cart is now filled and covered, now for the great escape. Whoops, almost forgot that boy. Hmm, looks like he¡¯s still alive and breathing. Putting him on top of the cart, I rolled back the red carpet, revealing the secret tunnel I had dug. It was a crudely dug tunnel, but it is just big enough to fit the cart in. The tunnel is dark. Very dark. The sound of the cart wheels on the rocky ground echoes constantly in the long tunnel. Of course, darkness is no problem to this Grand Master. I gathered a small fire on my palm and used the eye-enhancing technique to see better in the dark. With one hand, I rolled back the carpet, and pushed the cart along, while avoiding the wooden supports on the way, which barely fitted the cart on its width. Sounds of the cart wheels and the creaking of wood was stuck repeating like White Mountain Wolves¡¯ howling on a full moon. At least going through the tunnel was much easier than creating it, and now as I walk through it, I recognize marks along the way that I made when I was digging the tunnel. I remembered the hellish experience of trying to dig such a large tunnel by myself, and it took years before it was complete. There were some parts of the tunnel that was blown apart, some dug away using a pickaxe¡­ in the end I found out that it was the fastest to just dig with my fists and place wooden supports along the way. I kept on pushing, and reached the part of the tunnel without supports, which meant that I am nearing the end. I¡¯m probably across the mountains by now, now I just need to reach the exit which is not very far away. ¡­ I finally see the light! Alright, that was further (much further) than I thought it was, but I¡¯m out! I¡¯m safe! This old man is still alive! I¡¯m so happy that I did a little dance around, basking in the exceptionally beautiful full moon in the night sky, in the middle of a calm, breezy forest. All the gold, all the riches! Finally, I have my lovely treasures back in my- ¡°Sorry to interrupt, but can we please continue moving? Thanks.¡± ----- Chapter 27. The Mansion ~ Somewhere in the West, in a certain room in a certain mansion Ngh¡­ what¡­ what¡¯s this¡­ mmm feels comfortable¡­ I feel like I¡¯m getting energized like a battery getting charged for some reason¡­ Hnngg this is so comfortable¡­ I don¡¯t know what happened, but this is what heaven must¡¯ve felt like¡­ ¡°...wake up¡± Nuu¡­ I want to stay like this¡­ so comfortable¡­ ¡°Wake up you fool¡± But¡­ ¡°WAKE UP DAMMIT HOW LONG DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE SLEEPING YOU USELESS HUMAN!¡± Godammit there was no need to shout alright, Salty! Guh¡­ I can¡¯t even enjoy my beauty sleep. ¡°Hmpf! At least you¡¯re still alive! I¡¯m tired now, so go find out your own situation yourself.¡± Salty? Oh well then. Let¡¯s see¡­ for some reason, I¡¯m on a super-large queen-sized bed with golden and red silk blankets, in a super-large bedroom that has extravagant sculptures and art pieces placed seemingly randomly, yet feel so natural to the eye. And all on top of one large red carpet with golden patterns on it. The style of the entire room is that of an ancient chinese building design, even the chair and table in the middle of the room is made of a jade-like material. Now, what world have I tumbled into? And also, my lab coat is gone, but my uniform is still on me. What happened while I was out? ¡°Vor, nortuul, nei forshun dul?¡± A man who seemed to be in his late thirties walked in from the hallway. He dressed casual, unlike what one would think of, I assume, the owner of a mansion like this. His hair mostly black, but strands of white hairs could be seen from the reflected light. He didn¡¯t look to be old, but his voice and mannerisms are alike to that of a wise old man. Man, I really must¡¯ve gone to the other side of the world now, did I? He¡¯s speaking some language I don¡¯t understand, but now that I think back at it, how did I understand the language the people spoke when I first arrived? No point thinking about it now, but somehow I have a rather uneasy feeling about it. Either way, I have to learn the language in order to communicate with him in a manner fitting of humans. But for now, I guess I¡¯ll have to engage in a conversation of the lowest level possible. I shook my head, and I pointed at one of the white curtains, then showed the action of me putting on a coat, then put my hands up in a fashion that conveyed, ¡°Where is it?¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Luckily, that old man understood, but he also gave a hearty laugh, clearly amused at my actions. Looks like I really made a fool of myself, since he replied, ¡°I can speak Eastern a bit. Your coat is washing, it is dirty. How are you feeling, young boy?¡± I should¡¯ve known. ¡°Very good, thank you. Do you have a dictionary and some books I can read?¡± ¡°Aah, dictionary, I know. I have a library, you can use it. Follow me.¡± He replied, as he turned around and walked out of the room. I reluctantly wriggled out of the bed, purely motivated by the thought of having a library chock-full of books of history and literature to read. Oh man oh man, if this is already a fantasy world, then what would a fantasy tale of a fantasy world be like? I looked around the edge of the bed, and found my black school shoes placed neatly on the front side of the bed. I slid my feet in both of them, and ran out of the room to catch up on the old man. I followed his back, but my eyes were focused elsewhere. Along the large hallway, one side is filled with windows, not glass ones, but actually made of carefully carved wood. Some of the large panels actually seem to be of one entire piece, seemingly to be carved from a single wood log. The ceiling can at least fit two elephants high, and is made of multitudes of supporting beams each painted with golden patterns. Occasionally, some sort of lamp hangs from the top, giving a slight warm tint to the hallway. I followed the old man as he walked across the long hallway, then down some spiral staircase to what seems to be the first floor. And as if the ceiling on the second floor wasn¡¯t tall enough, the first floor was twice as tall. What is this, a cathedral? I¡¯m starting to doubt whether this can actually be called a mansion. This is TOO FREAKING HUGE! But this only means that if the library is here, then¡­ 2 floors of library-room. Both floors the same height as the first floor ceiling. The entire library is just a huge spiral. As I walked through the library door, it felt as if I was entering an entirely different world. The world of books and knowledge. The dark brown wood absorbed much of the warm orange light coming from the suspended lamps in mid-air, but it was still plenty well-lit. The walls of the library were rounded, but there were not any parts of a wall could actually be seen. It was filled with shelves and books, all two floors of them. I looked down from the railing of the stairs once I fully entered the room, and the stairs just kept spiraling down until it reached the bottom, where there seems to be a single table and chair one can use. I looked upwards, and it was the same spiral of staircase and shelves of books. The old man walked down the staircase, and retrieved a book from one of the shelves. He walked back up, and passed that nondescript book to me and said, ¡°The dictionary. I am busy, but you can stay here until I am back.¡± What a strange old man. I accepted the dictionary and nodded my head. He smiled a little and went out, closing the door behind him. Now, I truly felt as if I really am in an alternate world. Time to use eye enhancing magic! As I walked down, I scanned through the bookshelves for interesting books I should prioritize first. Once I saw one, I would pick it up using telekinesis and floated it behind me. By the time I got to the bottom, I already had a large stack of books that towered over me, three times. And I haven¡¯t even got to the upper section yet. To be honest, I had only judged them by their appearance, since I don¡¯t understand the different language yet. The dictionary was the first. Its nondescript dark-blue hardback with a slightly tattered look definitely isn¡¯t eye-catching at all. However, what I have noticed on its cover, was that it had not one, but five different languages on it! Looks like I¡¯ve gotten much more than I have expected right here! And yes, it says, ¡®Dictionary¡¯, and I would expect, in five languages. Looks like that¡¯s the first word I learnt in 4 languages at the same time. Time for a double magic - eye enhancement and mind enhancement. I¡¯m almost drooling over the pages of the dictionary. I¡¯m STARVING for all that knowledge! Picking the large dictionary up, I flipped through page and page. I can see everything and remember everything in a flash. I see the patterns and the characteristics of the different languages. I flip and I flip, and I flipped. I got faster and faster, as my concentration increased till the point where the only thing I could think of in my mind was the dictionary and everything inside. ¡­ After what seems to be eternity- no, was it only a moment? I couldn''t tell. I had flipped through all pages of the dictionary. It didn¡¯t seem like so, but it was extraordinarily thick. The last page had me stunned for a few seconds as I tried to regain my senses. It was a mind-bending experience, and my head is hurting with sharp, intense headaches once I released the magics. Is this the limit of the human mind? No¡­ that is not it. I started to feel sleepy and strange¡­ my consciousness, drifting away¡­ As the world started to spin, I thought I saw a figure standing behind me¡­ Faint words could be barely heard¡­ ¡°Intr-¡± *fwump* ----- Chapter 28. The Challenge ~ Somewhere in the West, in a certain room in a certain mansion *Sniff sniff* *Sniff sniff* I could smell something. It¡¯s food. Food. Carried along with steam in the air, the smell of¡­ oatmeal? Suddenly, a hot spoon tries to force its way inside of my mouth, and it is successful to an extent. As soon as the scalding mixture of water and soft granules of something touched my tongue, all of the pain is felt. My eyes shoot open, and my tongue is immediately stuck out trying to cool the contents while trying very hard to balance so as to not let it fall elsewhere. ¡°Hahh ahh hahh¡± I tried to use my magic to cool it down, but I don¡¯t even have enough mana to summon such a small spell. However, my mind is all on the food on my tongue. It is hot and scalding, and all I could do is to roll it around and blow on it using my breaths, but that only spread the numbness of my tastebuds to all over my tongue. Thankfully after a few more seconds, the porridge-looking food is cool enough that it isn¡¯t scalding anymore, and I can finally swallow it. Mmm! My mind is overwhelmed by the sudden entry of food into my stomach. It felt as if a drop of water fell into a withered well. I don¡¯t know why, even when I know this is just about as tasteless a meal could get, it felt like the most delicious meal I had¡­ and when was the last time I had a meal again? Oh, that¡¯s not important! ¡°More!¡± I looked at the person dressed in a maid uniform next to me. I stared and salivated at the bowl of tasteless porridge she is holding. She is shocked a little, but regains her composure in a moment and starts to feed me. ¡°Aaah¡± She said. I never felt so blessed in my life. I opened my mouth like a baby and the next spoonful of tasteless porridge came in. It isn¡¯t as hot as the first time, but still needed a few blows before it is cool enough. It is barely reinvigorating, but still tasted like the best thing in the world. So this is what mild starvation feels like huh? I figured the spoon is too slow, so I pointed at the bowl and asked the maid politely, ¡°Give me that bowl.¡± She thought for a bit, and finally decided to hand me the bowl of tasteless porridge. After trying to gather as much mana as I can using what energy I have, I only managed to recover just fraction of what my already low mana capacity has, but it was good enough. My mana organ is developed different from the rest, such that while it has a lower capacity than a peasant¡¯s (pathetic), it is incredible at gathering mana - or recovering mana. However, right now, due to the condition of my body, it is only just barely working. I used that small mana I gathered to expel as much heat as I could from the porridge. That isn¡¯t very efficient, so I concentrated hard to keep a steady stream of mana coming in, and slowly cooled the porridge down. Once I felt that the bowl is cool enough, I started to drink directly from the bowl. *Sluurrp* The contents were gone, completely. Not a single grain of whatever that is left. The maid is shocked again, and started to speak in Yavenese, which is the main language the old man and the people in this region is using. ¡°You can still manipulate ki so well in your state? And it also looks like you haven¡¯t drank or eaten anything in days! And what are you doing here in master¡¯s mansion? Ahh... there¡¯s too many questions. I think you should take a good rest first.¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. I¡¯m feeling much better so now I am more than capable to converse normally with an intelligible being. I recalled the dictionary and did my best to translate my words. ¡°Yu mean dat old men?¡± ¡°That old man? Though a little money-minded, he is still a powerful grandmaster, you dumb boy. Don¡¯t say anything disrespectful about him! Although he¡¯s away from the mansion for ten years now¡­ I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be back anytime.¡± Oh, so that¡¯s how it is¡­ and pronunciation¡­ ¡°How long I unconscious?¡± ¡°I found you collapsed in the library this morning¡­ I definitely didn¡¯t try to hit you¡­¡° Oh¡­ ok. So now I¡¯m in some underground prison-like cell, probably caught for being an intruder just because some old man didn¡¯t announce his return back to his house- or mansion. Oh well, at least this cell isn¡¯t that bad, it¡¯s clean smooth stone bricks, and has a lamp lighting this place up just bright enough. Other than that, it seems it¡¯s completely underground, but I¡¯m not sure how deep. It¡¯s not wet or mushy, has decent drainage and there¡¯s also a small makeshift bed made of hay that I¡¯m sleeping on. There¡¯s also some thin walls covering a metal bucket up, giving just enough privacy for businesses to be done. Thick bars of black-coloured metal on 2 sides encloses me in a corner of the underground dungeon. The maid is in the cell with me, feeding me the porridge. Actually, she doesn¡¯t seem to be that bad, and her brown hair that is tied up into a bun makes her look quite professional as well. *Knock knock* Two knocks on the full-metal door entrance to this underground dungeon quickly turned the brown-haired maid¡¯s expression sour. It felt as if there is something happening without me knowing, and I don¡¯t feel good about it. I watched as she went out of the cell, locking the door to my cell as she exits. She slowly walks towards the metal door, and opens it as if she is expecting bad news. It is¡­ a butler? I had only caught a glimpse of him through the door, so I can¡¯t say much now. She whispers something to the butler through the door opening, then she goes out of the room and closes the metal door behind herself. Definitely, definitely suspicious. Mustering as much mana as I could, I used it enhance my hearing. Focusing on the door, I tried my best to catch a wind of what they are discussing about. ¡°...but he¡¯s just a young boy! You can¡¯t be asking him to take part in the challenge, are you?¡± ¡°Then what are you going to do? Take care of him in this cell, until that old man comes back? God knows when he¡¯s going to do that, I want to get out of here already! And also, the boy could even be an assassin, you never know these days!¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t look like that, and I told you he was just reading in the library-¡± ¡°It¡¯s finally my chance to gain my freedom! If it weren¡¯t for the stupid contract, I would be long out of this damned place! Don¡¯t worry, Yun, I¡¯ll go easy on him, ok?¡± ¡°...but then if you win, he¡¯ll have to take your place! His parents may even be worried for him!¡± ¡°Hah, I think that he¡¯ll live a much better life here anyway! Just a cartload of laundry for all those curtains, even spring cleaning requires 2 months for cleaning with just 2 people! Tell him to consider it training! I¡¯ve had enough. Tell him to get on the stage later.¡± Woah, that¡¯s some pretty big stuff they¡¯re talking about without consulting me first, eh? I know I¡¯m still an innocent little boy here, but c¡¯mon, I don¡¯t look so dumb, do I? Oh, looks like she¡¯s going to deliver me the verdict now. *Metal door creak* ¡°Erm¡­ boy, what is your name?¡± ¡°Earth.¡± ¡°Earth? What a nice name¡­ you can call me Yun.¡± Ok, I¡¯m sure that it¡¯s a strange name even though I''ve been having it for thousands of years, but sure. Of course, it bears more meaning to me than to anyone else though. ¡°I know this is hard for me to ask of you, but you-¡± ¡°Need to fight somebody?¡± *GRRrrrrrr* My stomach grumbles loudly. I need to get my priorities straight, so I requested politely, ¡° Can we talk over some food and juice, I¡¯m still very hungry. Thanks!¡± ¡°Oh¡­ alright. I¡¯ll bring you to the dining table.¡° Yun (the maid) is surprised yet again, but she recovers quickly and brought me up some long flight of stairs from the underground dungeon, re-entering the normal hallways of the mansion. Following her round the house, I finally entered the fantasy-like dining room. Chandeliers hang from the top of the tall ceiling, and wooden carved windows let sufficient light into the room to light it bright enough. Then- the classic super long table I bet was hardly ever used at parts other than the ends for its entire lifetime. Half-melted candles is placed in intervals on the table, but the table is mostly empty. The table is made of that marble-like material, and I could only imagine what kind of price a table this huge would fetch. I sat on one of the chairs on the side, awaiting my meal as I examined the room with its treasures, paintings and sculptures all around. Dang, that old man is scary rich. And the one who maintains them¡­ even more so. After about ten minutes of waiting, the feast finally came. Wow- five dishes I have never seen before, but I simply couldn¡¯t stop salivating. There is no question. I started digging into them, like a savage beast eating its first meal in a thousand years. What utensils? I don¡¯t really care! Just use telekinesis to move all that stuff! I know this is probably very, very disturbing and inappropriate, but all that matters now is to get all that dang food down into my grumbling stomach. ¡­ *BURRRPP* *BUUURRRRRPPP* *Wipes mouth with a napkin* ¡°So let¡¯s talk business.¡± ----- Chapter 29. Operation: Stag Beetle ~ Somewhere in the West, dining room of a certain mansion ¡°So you¡¯re saying that this ¡®challenge¡¯ is a contract made by the old man, and the terms are such that say, intruder A is caught, then he would become a servant of the mansion? Then for intruder A to be released, he would have to catch and defeat another intruder, say, intruder B, in an official match. And if intruder B is defeated, then intruder A would be released and intruder B would become the servant. Is that right?¡± ¡°Umm, yes.¡± ¡°Surrendering is allowed as well right?¡± ¡°That is true¡­ but surrendering is considered of the greatest disgrace to a man possible¡­ are you sure you want to do that?¡± Woah, really? Surrendering equals throwing all of one¡¯s pride away here? C¡¯mon, a tactical retreat is an important step in gaining success! Are all men muscle heads in the west? ¡°I am just a young boy, my pride can always be earned back. Don¡¯t sweat the small stuff.¡± ¡°Small stuff you say¡­¡± Suddenly her look at me changed, as if pitying me a little. ¡°OK, so that guy whatever-his-name-is wants to be released from the contract, so he wants to use me. How does the contract work anyway?¡± Though I¡¯m not really an intruder¡­ but until that old man is back, I¡¯ll go along with this and see how it goes first. I¡¯m also interested with how the contract is able to work in the first place as well. ¡°He¡¯s called Feng, and the contract works by binding the target to its terms¡­ I have not completely understood how it is made, but since Grandmaster made it, only those stronger than him can break the contract. Somehow when the contract is made to a new target, a bit of Grandmaster¡¯s ki would be injected into the target by the contract, and if the terms are disobeyed, it will destroy the internals of the target.¡± ¡°How about you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the disciple of the Grandmaster, and the one keeping in charge of everything here. I¡¯m not happy with the terms, but Feng¡¯s been here for almost a decade already¡­ boy- I mean Earth, aren¡¯t your parents going to be worried about you?¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about me, my parents were gone a long time ago, like, a few thousand years ago.¡± ¡°A few thousands years ago? A young boy like you shouldn¡¯t joke about things like this, but are you really alright with this?¡± ¡°Well, what can I do? His mind is made up and even if I can change his mind, I still sympathise him for being stuck here for so long. Still, I too, don¡¯t want to be a servant of such an irresponsible old man, unless¡­ there¡¯s more to the rule than what you said. Is that really all to the rule? Where¡¯s the contract at?¡± ¡°Umm, the contract is inscribed on a stone wall at the stage.¡± ¡°The stage?¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°It¡¯s a place in the mansion backyard used for official duels¡­ I¡¯ll bring you there.¡± And so I followed Yun once again. The sky is starting to turn dark, but the hallways are still brightly lit by the ceiling lamps. Wind blows through the windows across the hallways, the increasing chilly air made my hair stood on ends. This would be a great time for me to take a slow stroll down the gardens at this time, actually. Oh well, for another day I guess. Walking through one of the back doors to the backyard of the mansion revealed a wide open area at least the size of a football field (from history books) which is surrounded by a forest. While the grass is mostly well-trimmed, there are patches of dirt without any grass and the ground is uneven. The bumpiness of the ground is obvious when walking on it. Yun brought me across the backyard to a certain large grey rock placed near the boundary. If it was seen from behind, it would looks like any other large round rock, but when seen from its side, it will seem as if somebody had cut off the front of the rock like a hot knife through butter. The front side was flat, and smoothened until it was reflective. Mana- or ki, emanates from the rock faintly, but shows great presence. (Mana and ki are basically the same thing, but since I¡¯m in this region may as well use ki, for ease of understanding when talking to people here) However, the most important part is the words inscribed on the rock face itself which is most powerful in both its meaning and ki stored in it as well. It reads:
  1. Intruders shall fight or die.
  1. The loser shall become a servant of the house. The winner will be granted freedom.
The first two lines are familiar enough. However, it is the third that I was kind of expecting.
  1. Whoever wins against the guardian of the house, will be granted an exception.
An exception? Oh, yes. This makes things simpler. As of the current situation, best solutions to my predicament, will either be simply for me to defeat Feng (that butler) somehow and let him continue to be a servant and save myself (and likely upsetting everyone in the process), or, a much better solution for both parties, is to let him win, then I will somehow defeat the guardian of the house. That is, after all, a better end result. The guardian of the house probably referred to Yun, since she guards the house in place of her master, that twisted old man. I don¡¯t know whether Feng has thought of challenging Yun at all in the first place. If anything, the fact that this entire place is so well-maintained by just 2 people (or mostly just Yun?), is already terrifying enough. Plan is- surrender to Feng, and defeat Yun to win my freedom. Easy. Just another walk in the park. Yeah. Oh, and talk about the devil. Looks like the plan is commencing in no time at all. Let¡¯s call this Operation Stag Beetle. No reason why, just that it¡¯s a cool insect, that¡¯s all. Operation Stag Beetle, COMMENCE! *punches the sky with my fist in my mind* ¡°Looks like Yun have already told you about the contract. You know what to do. Don¡¯t resist, or else it¡¯s going to hurt more. Now let¡¯s just get this over with.¡± Feng entered the scene trying to look serious but anyone can tell that he has something else on his mind at this point. He is probably already thinking about what to do after he obtained his freedom. Not a single thought of him getting defeated by me. Hah, you¡¯re in luck today. My plan involves some ¡®happily ever after¡¯, but looking at that face that doesn¡¯t even consider me a bug? He should thank the gods that I¡¯m surrendering right away today, or he wouldn¡¯t be sitting straight for half a year. We stood about 10 metres apart. He started to do some warm-up, neck stretches and the like, getting ready to jump forward and end it quick once the duel begins. He is expecting to knock me out unconscious, and definitely not expecting my next move at all. He is going to fight bare-handed. No surprise there. Yun acted as the referee to judge the outcome of the duel. Once she saw we are ready, she stood forward and announces, ¡°The duel may begin!¡± ¡°I surrender!¡± I shouted before Feng could even begin to move. They were shocked - even Yun. I guess it is to be expected. I mean, in their eyes, I just threw away the most precious thing that a man could possess like a stone in a sidewalk. One glance at Feng¡¯s face, and I could already predict what he is going to say. ¡°Surrender?! How could you-¡± ¡°This fight is not over!¡± Or the likes. However, before Feng could actually say anything, though, a strange energy exited his body and entered mine, like a transfer of curses. It anchored itself inside my mana organ and but it stayed dormant there, even blending in into the flow of mana. That must be what binds a target to a contract. And it meant that my surrender was recognized as a legitimate defeat. Though, that does mean that I¡¯m no more than an intruder to this place, for some reason. A big smile appeared on Feng¡¯s face. How is he so happy after transferring his duty to a seemingly young boy like me? Oh well, I¡¯ll just give him that. He is relieved of that troublesome curse of a contract after a decade after all. I shook my head and looked over to Yun, who is both worried and confused at the same time, not sure of how to deal with the situation now that it has happened. Now, for part 2 of the operation. ¡°I request an official duel with you, Yun.¡± ¡°Wh¡­ what?!¡± ----- Chapter 30. Duel ~ Backyard of a certain Mansion in the West What a shocking statement by a 15 year-old, if I do say so myself. I bet they were thinking just about the same thing as well. Even Feng stopped celebrating silently by himself, needless to say about Yun. ¡°Earth, what are you say-¡± ¡°An official duel. With you. Right here, right now.¡± ¡°...are you sure you¡¯re not sick, or hit in the head?¡± ¡°My mind is crystal clear. Are you ready? Feng shall act as the referee.¡± ¡°What- me?¡± ¡°Who else?¡± And so it was settled. I stood 10 metres away from my opponent, and Feng became the referee. Now he even seems to be snickering at me. Yun began to ready herself, closing her eyes and concentrating on something. At some point, her face became expressionless, her mind is focused and concentrated. She is going to face me like she is to any other opponent. Did she figure out my potential battle prowess? Her pride? Or is this just how she is taught, to not underestimate any opponent? I don¡¯t know, but it doesn¡¯t matter now. I can feel the immense ki coming out of her, like a roaring furnace full of flames, barely contained in the calm and cold furnace. I started to gather ki as well, as much as I can, as fast as I can. I directed part of the ki to my defensive aura around my body, making it denser and harder. At the same time, I enhanced my muscles and senses, heating them up in the process. The night is silent. The wind is cold, and the air is dry. Yet, the tension in the air thrilling and exhilarating. An invisible feeling, yet it feels so real. Is this what it means to be alive? As the feeling of fear in me grows stronger, my heart beats even faster in excitement. Suddenly, the untamed ki and aura around Yun¡¯s body instantly get¡¯s sucked back onto her body and forms a solid layer of armour around her body above her skin. She opens her eyes, which are now locked onto me with every intention to destroy me. My final layer of defense seems to be rigid enough as well. Preparations are also done. I nod to Feng, who now looked as if he had just seen a pig fly. ¡°The duel may begin!¡± As soon the four words were spoken, Yun moved so fast it seemed as if she disappeared from her position. However, I can feel her ki still, no matter how fast she moves. She reappears on top of me, trying to smash me and end this fast. I boosted myself away from the position, and launched the earth up against her from where I was. As I expected, she just smashes through the earth like butter. While she did that, I gained some distance in between. I raised an earth wall between Yun and I, and with a single punch, she broke through it. However, now I am not behind the wall. As I jumped upwards, I left a flashbang behind made of highly compressed light magic. The flashbang lit up the entire area for a split second, and even Yun was momentarily stunned.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. All I need is a single touch to her head, and I would be able to end this by overloading her brain and make her unconscious. I boosted myself down on her, but she dodged and moved away, all while she is still unable to see properly. I transferred mana onto the ground and made it move chaotically, making the ground shake and shift. Yun still managed to keep her balance and move around swiftly in such an environment. I launched the earth wherever she moved to, but she just smashes through them like they weren¡¯t obstacles in the first place. I started to fly upwards, gaining altitude superiority while protruding the earth wherever Yun goes. As I did that, I constantly launched several spinning air blades at Yun, but somehow she is always able to detect them and break them like sticks with a single hit. Meanwhile, I created a large hole in the middle of the battleground and started to slowly pull earth boulders out of the hole one by one, and throwing at them at Yun. These simultaneous magic usage pushed my absorption to the limit. Yun just deals with it as if it was just a walk in the park. Nonetheless, she is still somewhat distracted, but it won¡¯t last long. Of course, all these are just icing on the cake. I continued to pull out earth from the hole I created, throwing them at Yun, and wherever I can. As soon as I saw that Yun is finally going to go after me, as she prepared to jump upwards, I immediately flew downwards and smashed the ground. It collapsed. I created a cavity underneath the battleground by digging it out. However, Yun managed to dodge and jump away fast enough to avoid the drop. A large opaque dust cloud blew, and even when I¡¯m in the middle of it she managed to jump at me, carrying a fist. *SMACK* I was hit in the stomach. Good thing I tried to boost myself away from the fist, or I would be puking out whatever I had eaten before. My defensive barrier took much of the hit as her defensive barrier clashed with mine. A hole in my defensive barrier was left in the area where she punched but it is quickly regenerated. Still, I travelled like ten metres across the dirt on the bottom of the pit before I hit the wall and finally stopped. Yun appeared in front from the cloud of dust in a devastating speed. I had to push myself away with all my strength or my face would have been blown away by her fist like the dirt wall in my place. However, as I looked around, I saw that the ground had glittering material. Then I started to notice the smell of the dusty air down here. It¡¯s not just earth¡­ metal? Before I could ponder on it, I have to buy time from Yun first. I bend light using the air to try and disorient Yun. Her punches immediately blows away my magic every time I create one, and also blew more dirt and dust into the air. *SWOOSH* The air blew right past my face. That was only less than ten seconds, and she¡¯s already reoriented herself, even with my surprise flashbangs. I boosted myself upwards, trying to fly out of the pit. I try to use the earth to trap her lower body, but she broke through it and even managed to jump and grab my left leg. Checkmate? No. I took this opportunity to fly myself all the way up to the sky at full speed. I extended my defensive barrier on my face and made it a little larger, to contain the air I need to breathe with. With the speed I¡¯m going, the air resistance is just insane and there is no way a normal person can breathe air at this speed. That still wasn¡¯t enough to stop Yun. She held her breath and started climbing up on me. I made fast turning maneuvers but she still managed to grab hold onto both of my legs firmly. Severing my legs and dropping her from this position would work, but I will lose dangerous volumes of blood as well. After all, I still have yet to learn how healing magic works. With both of her arms grabbing on my legs, I thought it would be an opportunity to make the single touch to her head, but I soon realized that it was a great mistake. Before my right hand can reach down far enough to just touch her, Yun grabbed hold of it, yanked it with unnatural strength, and headbutted- ¡­ ¡°E¡­ Earth? Are you feeling alright?¡± Warm words filled my ears. I lay once again, in the familiar super-comfortable bed. Ahh¡­ so I¡¯ve been defeated. Challenging Yun? Totally worth it. ¡°Wake up you lazy human! Get your useless bum up already!¡± Who¡¯s this rude lady? Oh, it¡¯s just Salty. ¡°I. Can. Hear. You. You don¡¯t have any pride do you? Defeated, yet so happily asleep!¡± ¡°Nggnnhh¡­ just one more minute¡­¡± *BZZAAAP* Ouch! Dammit Salty when did you learn to use that?! ¡°Hmph, I¡¯ve got my own ways.¡± ¡°What happened! Are you really ok?¡± Yun exclaimed when she saw me jump out of the bed. ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯m fine. Just a daily internal alarm clock at work you see.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ ok¡­¡± ¡°What about you?¡± ¡°Me? Oh¡­ I¡¯m fine. Those were some really good moves back there! I guess you Easterners have different ways of utilizing your ki than us. Like how you protruded the ground wherever I went, those invisible swords flying through the air, and that huge hole you made, and also you flying in the air!¡± ¡°Mhmm, you were pretty good yourself as well! You just smashed through all that stuff without a single scratch!¡± ¡°Oh no, those were only the basics. I¡¯m really good at defense, but that¡¯s not very suitable for taking over Master¡¯s martial arts¡­ I was only able utilize just a small part of his martial arts to the full extent¡­¡± ¡°Then again, how did you know that I¡¯m an Easterner? My clothes?¡± ¡°Oh that¡­ Master came back and he told me.¡± ¡°That irresponsible and problematic old man came back?¡± ¡°You mean me?¡± -----